ORNAMENTS OF THE POOR.

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and ornaments manufactured in this island, which are made of pure Brazilian gold, and, although coarse in workmanship, are designed in excellent taste. It is a matter of wonder to see such handsome ornaments suspended from necks and ears peeping out of poverty-stricken hovels; but, as there are no saving banks, or three per cents, gold crosses, ear-rings, and the other "hardware that women wear about their persons," may be an Azorean mode of accumulating capital, and preferable, perhaps, to another investment said to be common among these non-commercial islanders, as it was in England at one time, that of burying their dollars in the earth.

*

To an invalid, one of the advantages of change of climate is the hope that it constantly supplies him with, of amendment,

"We see by the glad light

And breathe the sweet air of futurity;

And so we live, or else we have no life."

As for the notion of making the most of and enjoying the present, is it not contrary to the very constitution of our natures?-for as the child places his happiness in boyhood, so does

VOL. II.

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HOPE OF INVALIDS.

the boy in manhood, and the man looks forward to some resting place on the ladder which he is climbing, as the point of happiness, and, as he reaches that, to one step above it; and then, as his hopes vanish one by one, and his vain or absurd expectations are disappointed, he hopes for a purer ray, a more serene enjoyment. Happy are those who have always had this principally in view; a deep under-current, upon which other hopes merely floated, like loose weeds or flowers on a perpetual and pure stream.

CHAPTER XIII.

Non omnes arbusta juvant humilesque myricæ.

VIRG. ECL. lib. 4.

They unto whom we shall appear tedious are in no wise injured by us; because it is in their own hands to spare that labour which they are not willing to endure.

HOOKER.

Excursion to the Seven Cities.-Porto Formoso.-Wine shop.Capellas.- Ass-riders in St. Michael's. —Amusing objects on the road. The Seven Cities. Wretched improvements.

Catharina and her cottage.

Ribeira Quente to the Furnas.

Return by Ponta Delgada and

JULY 11, THURSDAY.-On Monday morning (July 8) I started from the Furnas for Ribeira Grande and the Capellas, on my road to the seven cities (Sete Cidades), a little village in a

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EXCURSION TO THE SEVEN CITIES.

deep valley among the mountains, bearing this singular name.*

The path to Ribeira Grande led up the north side of the Furnas valley to the brow of the mountains; and, after skirting the edge of the crater for about a mile, dipped into a deep pumice lane, bordered and fringed with long fresh ferns, over-hanging heaths, and long brambles, and then opened on a wide and level district, resembling a flat heathy common, destitute of trees. The road consisted of a multitude of separate paths, divided and bordered with fine grass, and occasionally intersecting one another, just as may be seen among forest by-paths, or roads over unfrequented English commons. It wound along before us,

* We were unable to ascertain the origin of this remarkable name; nor is there, as far as we could learn, any island tradition to throw light upon it. It has been suggested, that the spot may have been called the Seven Cities from some such reason as a place in the west of Ireland is called the Seven Churches.

OBJECTS ON THE ROAD.

229

a-head, with here and there a few moving objects to indicate the track. You might, for instance, occasionally see a donkey and his indolent rider slowly plodding along, or a flock of pert black goats, tinkling with bells, and attended by their sober goatherd, who whistled to them as they browsed by the way-side, and jumped on and off the steep places and banks; or a few red cows standing in a shallow pond, ruminating and flicking off the flies, while boys, dressed like their fathers, in dwarf carapuças and suits of light-blue linsey-woolsey, sat by to watch them. Besides these objects, there was no living being to relieve the monotony between the Furnas and Porto Formoso, a village through which we passed on our road to Ribeira Grande. The green heaths before us, intermixed with fern and brambles; in the distance, conical hills, covered with the same; beyond these, mountains rising high above them in less regular forms, and still clothed with the same green garments; the distant ocean to the north "gleaming like a silver shield," and unruffled by a single breeze, constituted the quiet and monotonous scenery through which we passed. Among the heath stood a few melancholy fir-trees, keeping watch over two or three