22

BUCKETS AND POTTERY.

was done, to describe some symptom of her own. We left in great good humour, much amused at their clever finesse.

The women, the cattle, poultry, and children, shunned us in our ride round Fayal, as if strangers were seldom seen there; but the cottages of the poor had less the appearance of poverty about them than in the villages of St. Michael's, where the people are less shy.

The red pottery used for water-carrying in St. Michael's is wanting here, and in its place conical buckets of a clumsy construction are made use of. I shall not soon forget the pleasure experienced in seeing the first water-pitcher when we landed on that island. It was on the head of a woman, thinly clad in loose linen; her petticoat and shawl clung to her figure, and fell over it in folds, like the drapery on a statue. She passed lightly across the top of a street, and was out of sight in an instant. One bright spot upon the wet pitcher twinkled in the sun,- her hand was just raised to steady her burden, and nothing but her single arm and naked feet was to be seen. She walked erect and fearlessly along, with unconscious grace, until, stooping with her pitcher, she turned into her small cottage. In place of

GENTLEMAN FARMER.

23

these vessels, which are as classical in shape as an antique urn, the people here use a wooden bucket with a broad bottom and narrow mouth, made on a plan of the vulgarest utility.

The breed of cattle in Fayal, though small, is particularly good. We noticed between Cedros and Horta some cows, which, in beauty of shape and sleekness of skin, it would be difficult to match even in England.

Passing through several plantations of Fayas, as we approached the city, we met some few persons coming out for an evening ride. One of these was a type of a class of small proprietors in the islands, who rank a little lower than the "morgados," and probably answer to that class who are called with us "gentlemen farmers." He was finely dressed in shabby clothes, with a military cap, long mustachios; and wore one lanky silver spur strapped to his right boot. His semitheatrical half-military manner, and showy longtailed piebald, reminded us of one of Astley's men, airing a saddled circus horse; the pannel commonly used here, being somewhat similar to the padded saddle, on which the genus Ducrow perform their feats of horsemanship. He bowed well, and clattering and slipping over the stony

24

OUTSKIRTS OF HORTA.

road, as the horse ambled down the hill, was

speedily gone.

The next people we met were a man and his wife, jogging out on an airing. The man was mounted on a high bay horse, like a faded mourning-coach horse, turned rusty by age and long exposure to the sun; the wife under a wide umbrella, spread to keep her from occasional slight showers, sat sideways on a quiet black ass, which kept a-head, bustling and jerking along when it expected to be outstripped. The man and his wife having passed, and bows having been properly exchanged, there followed a few men and women, with wood and baskets balanced on their heads; and presently we were among the houses and cottages on the outskirts of the city; and, descending a short hill, we came once more into the forlorn streets of Horta, which the heavy rain, that still remained in large puddles in the streets, had swept of all living objects save an occasional cur. The night was coming on apace, and we were not sorry to halt once more at our inn door. We found our fiddle-faddle landlord with his cheerful face, in a state of the greatest possible excitement and flurry about a festival in which he was to act a prominent part;

PREPARATIONS FOR WHIT-SUNDAY.

25

and he told us that our bed-room, which happened to be the largest room in the house, was in the course of things to be turned into a chapel of the Holy Ghost. The morrow being Whit-Sunday, this change was to be made, and in the room below, an entertainment was to be given to his friends, at which he was to preside.

And so ended our trip round Fayal. There is a good deal of sameness in the scenery, which is pretty and pastoral, not bold or grand in the least degree. Perhaps the best scenery in the whole island is between this and Cedros. There is a succession of pleasant valleys, some of them tolerably wooded, and all bearing the marks of good cultivation.

CHAPTER III.

They dance and sing and laugh away their time,
Fresh as their groves, and happy as their clime.

DRYDEN.

Whit-Sunday at Horta.- Public feast to the poor.- Crowd in the streets. - The "Cloth Animal" in Horta.- Priest blessing bread.-Distribution of food.

MAY 19, Whit-Sunday.-A day of great festivity in Horta. We were told that the islanders made a vow "long time ago," that if an earthquake which had done great damage, did not recur, they would distribute annually to the poor, for a certain number of years, so much bread, meat, and wine. The earthquake ceased; and the vow has not only been punctually performed by the makers and their descendants; but, when the term expired, it was renewed, and the public distribution of food still continues.