Though there was the most immense swell that I have ever seen rolling up on our port beam and the winds were rather light and variable, we could keep all our canvas full and drawing and did not expect any interruption in a comfortable and pleasant passage, when K. reported sick and thought he was going to die; and after consulting my medical book I thought so too. It was the fault of my eyes and of the small print that I fell into this mistake, and when after four days he was still alive I felt that I must have made a wrong diagnosis; but by that time I could not read any print. I should have thought about nothing but my navigation, which was all I could do to get the ship along, for we were nearly 1,000 miles from anywhere; but I forgot that I had come out here for a rest-cure and worried myself into such a state of blindness that I ran considerable risk of missing the Western Islands altogether. But three days of a 6-knot breeze brought me within hail of a passing Japanese steamer, who confirmed my position; and next morning I woke to find the huge cone of Pico hanging over my head; and you will say that it would be hard to miss Pico which is 7,500 feet high; and I tell you that Pico is for three-quarters of the time in the clouds and it was very obliging of him to be clear on the morning of this 5th of May. As we drew nearer, the wind fell to a calm through which the long unfamiliar rattle of the surf on a stony beach came loudly; and as we drifted along the sound of church bells ringing the Angelus; and, for the tide was almost done, most welcome of all, the chugging of a motor-launch that had seen my signals of distress. And the owner of that launch was a decent man and did not read into those two flags their ordinary meaning, "You may charge me what you like for your services," but towed me into the harbour of Horta for a very small sum, where the ship was tied up to a Government buoy and I, after seeing K. to the hospital, sat down to complete my interrupted rest-cure. The island of Fayal, and all the others except Santa Maria, which alone is a remnant of the old continent, occupy part of the site of Atlantis, but are the product of later volcanoes. Like many other volcanic islands they come and go; the last came in 1811 and went in 1812; and even the more permanent in position are not always permanent in shape. Of that I was reminded by the ceremony which I saw on Whit-Sunday, by which the City expiates a vow to provide a meal for the poor if the flow of lava that threatened Praya do Norte stopped. It was laid out on tables running the whole length of the main street, at the top of which stood the memorial chapel, from which came three old men in long scarlet gowns; and the first was beating a tabor, and the second a triangle, but the third, because he was very old indeed, was walking with a stick; and they recited to a queer barbaric chant the history of the eruption. A priest followed them, blessing the meal; and as soon as he had gone small boys went in and rummaging behind the altar produced large bundles of rockets which they let off indiscriminately, while several bands played different tunes, and wherever there was space enough to do so without killing anyone land mines were sprung. This is good, healthy, unselfconscious religion, strange to our respectable and sect-ridden country. Some at least of these islands are of a respectable antiquity; Corvo had a trade with Carthage, and I am by no means sure that the Milesians did not come from them; and some people even say all Western civilization. Certainly the architecture of Fayal has considerable affinities with that of Ireland, which is so unlike either the Northern or the Roman styles. But from the appearance of the people one can tell nothing of their origin, for in this island they are heavily crossed with the Flemish. The signs of this are on their house-fronts. Just as at Pernambuco, which was once a Dutch Colony, these are covered with small tiles, sometimes a chequer work of two colours, but more often white with the same pattern on each, which produce a handsome effect but have, by requiring large flat surfaces, killed the older manner of building with bold bases, strings, and cornices of stone. But the finest collection of tiles in Fayal if not in the world (though a church at Pernambuco runs it close) is in the chapel of Nossa Senhora da Guia, which had another origin. Three Dutch ships were out of their reckoning in a heavy gale, and the Commodore vowed a chapel to

Our Lady on the first land he saw. And he had to build it on the lip of the steepest little volcano you ever met, hanging over a crater at the bottom of which (for one side is knocked out) is a pool of the sea 300 yards across. They did not go into that, for the entrance is too narrow, but round the corner into Horta Bay; as many vessels have done since, and lastly mine; and if there is any trouble about my offering to Our Lady of Limerick, it shall go to Our Lady of Guidance at Fayal. And when they had built the chapel to her they put the story of their miraculous delivery on the front of the altar, and round the body of the chapel a landscape of the period diversified with very tall and ruinous temples and porticoes, among which walked very small gentlemen in steeple hats and plus fours, talking to Adam and Eve or the Christian Virtues or whoever it may be, all in blue tiles; but in the sanctuary separate tiles, each with a picture; one series windmills and drawbridges, another small craft with the various rigs of the seventeenth century, birds, flowers, fishes, and, most amusing of all, whales; a fearsome gallery of impossible monsters. This chapel is now only used by whale-men; once a year for their feast-day, and the rest of the time as their look-out place; for whaling is, after football, the national sport, and a man sits up here, 500 feet above the sea, all day in the season looking out for spouts. But while I was here he saw none; a sad disappointment, for the Pico boats killed two sperm whales, but of course I could not get out to them in time. As in the old days when these things were done commercially American whalers used to call here for harpooners, Fayal is very distinctly the next parish to New Bedford, and in fact has contributed largely to the population of the latter place. I was therefore not surprised to see that two locally built schooners - the Pico farmers who built and manned them are also an enterprising people - were, in hull design, copies of the Gloucester fishermen, and the latest type at that, the racing fisherman. Consequently, though they were twice the size of my ship, I do not think they would carry very much more cargo than I could. Evidently freighting, like whaling, is regarded primarily as a sport. They were rigged with very tall narrow sails, nearly of a size, but the larger forward, peaked very high, and with no topsails; an ugly rig and the new stiff canvas set very badly in light weather, but the weather round these islands generally exceeds in the other direction, and no doubt they would look better with a reef or two tied down. Naturally this island was full of good seamen, and several wanted a passage with me; but nowadays the immigration laws make such casual engagements troublesome and expensive, so as, although K. was now quite well, I felt my self-sufficiency rather shaken, I had asked my sister to come out and see me safe home. When she came I rashly appointed the 1st of June for sailing, and communicated this to Dublin; whereupon my friends there appointed the twentieth for my arrival, and for the holding of a great reception, and communicated that not only to me but to the Press of the world.

from ACROSS THREE OCEANS by Conor O'Brien 1927

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