It AA’as about five o’clock when our now somewhat
wearv cavalcade drew up before the door of the hotel
in the Alllage.
AYe had been told hy the British Consul at Ponta
Delgada that about four miles beyond the village,
folloAving a bridle path across a ridge and along the
border of a lake, we should find a comfortable, commodious
hotel, kept hy an Englishman, where, if Ave
gave due notice, Ave could get all accommodation.
Unfortunately there Avas no time to give notice, so we
determined to go on chance.
One or two of us started off on foot, while the gear
Avas being transferred from the carriages to a tra in of
donkeys, to give Mr. and Mrs. BroAvn AAffiat preparation
Ave might, and to organize some dinner. AYe had a
lovely Avalk,—np a winding p a th among the rocks to
the top of a saddle, Avhere a beautiful blue lake ahont
a couple of miles in length, bordered with richly-
Avooded cliffs, lay below us. On the opposite side,
about a couple of hundred feet above the lake, we
could see Gren’a, Mr. BroAvn’s house; and nearer us,
on the shore of the lake, a group of natural cauldrons,
Avhere the water Avas hubhling and steaming, and
spreading AAldely through the air a slight and not
unpleasant odour of sulphur. No human habitation
except Air. Brown’s Avas visible ; hut though the scene
seemed singularly quiet and remote, its richness and
infinite variety in light and shade and colouring pre-
A^ented any oppressiA^e effect of extreme loneliness.
Air. BroAvn met ns at the d o o r; Ave told him th a t
there Avere about a dozen of us who wanted rooms
and food, and he n aturally ansAA^ered th a t he had
nothing to give ns, and p u t it to our common sense
hoAV it could he possible th a t he, in his primaeval
solitude, should he ready at any moment to entertain
a dozen hungry strangers, to say nothing of their
servants and their asses. Notwithstanding, there was
a reassuring twinkle in Mr. Brown’s shrewd, pleasant
eyes. W e wrung an admission from him th a t there
was plenty of room in the house, th a t fowls might
he got, and eggs and tea. Mrs. Brown j oined us, and
her appearance was also re a ssu rin g ; so Ave shouted
for the u rgent tub, and left the rest to fate. Shortly
we saw the long string of asses winding, Avith our
changes of raiment, round the end of the lake, and
it Avas not to our surprise th a t about eight o’clock Ave
found ourselves sitting before an admirable dinner,
Avith all our arrangements for the next couple of days
settled in the most satisfactory way. AA^e sent the
carriages hack to P o n ta Delgada, with orders to meet
us a t mid-day on Monday at Villa Pranca, a town on
the southern coast of th e island; and we engaged
some fifteen or twenty donkeys for Monday morning
to take us and onr effects over the ridge and down
the steep passes to the shore road.
Next morning some of our party walked to the
Roman Catholic chapel in the village, and afterwards
went to see the hot springs ; pthers wandered about
on the slopes and terraces overlooking the lake,
enjoying the quietude and beauty of the place.
But for the birds, AAliich were numerous, and the
distant murmur of the boiling springs, the silence
was absolute. Now and then a large buzzard, Buteo
vulgaris, on account of whose abundance the islands
were first named from the Portuguese word agor, a
kite, rose sloAvly and soared in the still air. A genuine