DA COSTA AND THE MISTURAS BATHMAN AT THE BATHS OF THE FURNAS, and according to the national love for nicknames, he is more frequently called by that name,-was about his pastors, who seem neither "to take nor point the way to heaven," but to lead, like the rest of their fraternity in the island, immoral lives. The result of old Pepino's experience was, that generally speaking there was not so much marrying in the Furnas as when he was a boy; that as for the priests, each one was a Colebs in search of a wife, and that the difficulty of finding was not great; that the Padre of the village had one wife; but that the curate, like the woman of Samaria, had had many, and she that he then had was not his wife. He spoke lightly of their habits, as if he was not conscious of any impropriety in the priest following the example of his neighbours; could duly distinguish between the man and the office; and took off his carapuça with all politeness to the brawny curate, who shortly afterwards emerged in heavy cloak and white napkins from his luxurious warm bath, and mounting his ass pricked homeward. Marriages of convenience seem to be managed in two ways: in one, the parties themselves think it convenient, or are persuaded by their friends that it is so; in the other, those peculiarly interested are not much consulted, but the affair is arranged by their parents. The former is the mode of proceeding in England, whilst the latter, which savours strongly of the old school of implicit obedience, is adopted in countries where the spirit of feudalism (at least in the highest ranks) is not yet extinguished. It is therefore the fashion here. A boy and a girl who are heirs to conveniently adjoining estates, are for that reason, VOL. II. M or for some other quite as cogent, betrothed; and a gentleman who is eligible, instead of undergoing the details of courtship, intimates his wish to the parents of the young lady, and the affair is speedily settled. Whether as a consequence of this, or owing to the general laxity of morals, and natural voluptuousness, the marriage tie is constantly broken by the men in the most open way. Indeed, where the priests as a whole body set the example of breaking their vows to God, can it be wondered at that their flocks stray from the right path? "If they be foul on whom the people trust, Well may the baser brass contract a rust." June 13.-A fine bracing day with a N. E. and N. W. wind. Walked down Ribeira Quente. Found hot springs and heard rumblings in the earth. Met with a spot which was white and clayey like the soil at the Caldeiras. The ground was hot and reeking, smelt strongly of sulphur, and sent up hot steam from holes in the surface. Men were bottling the cold iron water at the Caldeiras for Lisbon. Among the white soil, near the beds of several of the boiling iron springs, our servant dug up numerous small round stones varying in size, from that of large peas to that of walnuts, completely covered with a burnished metallic coating, which was probably sulphuret of iron. June 14.-"Let the whole world stand if the whole world does not confess that there is not in the whole world a damsel more beautiful than the Empress la Mancha the peerless Dulcinea del Toboso." So say the Furnas peasants of their valley among the mountains; of which they are as fond and as proud as the Swiss of theirs. The contentions between the natives, as to the merits, of each island, are quite as energetic as if they were attended with results. Three servants from the neighbouring Islands of Pico, Fayal, and Flores, after uniting in their disgust at the valley of the Furnas, fell to loggerheads in the most ludicrous manner when the comparative merits of the other three came to be discussed; and might possibly have come to blows if it were usual for intemperate discussions to end in blows. But their vehemence goes off in action, -they beat the air instead of belabouring one another. A muggy relaxing day, very oppressive to the |