The Coolidge examiner., 1937-11-11
Leading Azores Portugal.
Tourists Find MGZlY Interesting
Things in the Azores islands

a large cave with a fresh-water lake
Albert prince of Monaco, who did
much scientific work in the seas of
these northern islands, describes il
as "a unique miracle of Nature"
Sac Jorge is beautiful and wood
ed; its pastures are famous in the
archipelago. In the port of Villa
das Velas there is a statue to the
memory Of a native Of the island
who struck oir' in California and
left money for the sick and poor
of his boyhood home.
PicO's Wines and Cattle.
Pico. whose imposing volcanic
peak rises 1921 feet above the sea.
is poorly watercd and raises its
vines in an unusual way. In riffs
in the old lava flow, lupine is placed
TO decompose. and in this i'm
provised soil the young vines are
planted. Pico wine is stronger in
alcoholic content than other
AZorian wines.
The men Of Pico are famous whal-
ers. There are lookoutS on the hill
tops. and when the call, "Baleia!
Baleiai" rings out, the specially
built boats are swiftly launched,
towed nowadays by a motorboat.
and of they go TO chase the giant
of the deep. Harpoons, thrown by
hand, are used, and spears when the
exhausted whale is at last brought
alongside-a combat requiring cour-
age and skill.
II is interesting to watch the load
ing Of cattle at Caes do Pico, future
beefsteaks for Lisbon At all of the
Azorian ports you anchor ofshore
The cattle are rowed out in barges,
10 or IL to a barge A broad sling
is placed under an animal, a rope
tied fore and aft to prevent kicking
and, by means Of cable from the
ship securely hooked to the sling
the creature is hoisted aboard most
humanely.
The conical mountain Of Pico, the
glory of the Azores, is best seen
from the island of Fayal, separated
from Pico by a channel about four
miles wide. In winter ii wears {
mantle Of snow You see it pearly
gray, with girdle of floating
clouds; clear and blue, sharply out
lined against the sky; glowing rose,
fading to mauve and deepest purple
against a star-spangled background
"a er-to-be-forgotten sight No
other volcanic peak appears so sea-
girt and isolated as this queen Of
the North Atlantic.
Cable Station at Horta.
Horta, on the island of Fayal, is
a town well known to Americans in
the days of New England windjam-
mers and whalers 1t is the seat of
the oceanic cable stations. In one
building six companieS-British.
German. Italian, French and two
American-are housed. They trans
NIT, through many systems of chan
nels, messages to stations in North
America, Europe, and South Africa,
and, by interconnection. to every
part of the world. Four staffs do
the work of relaying. In the cen
ter of the building is a four-way
window through which messages.
mainly in code, are passed. Thus,
should Jones and jerks Of New
York cable TO their Rome repreSen-
tative. the message. received by
one of the two American com
panies, is handed through the win
dow and a moment later is being
received in Italy.
1t is nights sail from Fayal to
the jagged rock of Corvo, a single
extinct volcano which thrusts only
its head above the sea.
Corvo's 700 hardy sons and daugh,
ters, whose home is lashed in winter
by the sea in its fury, are isolated
for weeks at a time. even from
their only near neighburs on the is
land Of Flores, IL milcs away In
spite Of hard work and exposure
they are a sturdy lot, living a sim
pie. contented life.
Flores is the most beautiful of all
the islands. Water is so plentiful
that streams cascade into the sea.
The hedges Of blue hydrangeas the
floral wonder of the Azores. are at
their best from July to September
on nearly all the islands. growing
to a height of 10 TO 20 feet. In
Flores trails are actually cut
through tunnels of these sky blue
blossoms. Masses of golden broom
drape the cliffs. The island is with
out roads, but one is soon to be con-
structed