Isles of the sea; or, Young America homeward bound : $b A story of travel and adventureOptic, Oliver
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Isles of the sea; or, Young America homeward bound : $b A story of travel and adventure
Optic, Oliver
Seafaring life -- Juvenile fiction
“Here is a steep one on the starboard,” added Murray.
“That is only half the height I named. It is Monte Queimada, a volcano.
Its sides look like a mass of cinders; but the streets and roads of
this vicinity are of the same thing, as are many of the sides of the
hills. Now we are approaching Monte da Guia. It is nearly five hundred
feet high. That building on this side is a chapel.”
The boats pulled around the point, and soon came to an opening in the
cliffs, not more than an eighth of a mile wide, into which the Prince’s
gig, leading the way, entered, and proceeded about a quarter of a mile.
“Now we are in the crater of a dead volcano,” said the doctor, after
the oarsmen had been directed to lie on their oars. “The inside of it
has been blown out by the commotion of the elements, and one side of it
has caved in so as to form a passage into it. You can see clearly the
form of the crater on the land side. We call these extinct volcanoes;
but they are liable to break out anew at any time. Nine years ago the
earth was fearfully shaken by internal commotions, so that the people
left their houses, under whose falling walls they were in danger of
being buried, and lodged in tents. But the ground may open and draw
them in at any time.”
The students gazed with wondering interest at the interior of the
crater. The fleet of boats then pulled out and around the Point into
Pim Bay, an enclosure formed by the peninsula at the end of which is
the Caldeira Inferno, as the burnt-out volcano is called, meaning “the
caldron of hell,” a name to which it is properly entitled. Pim Bay is
only a quarter of a mile wide; but it is perfectly sheltered by the
high hills mentioned, and the island, on three sides, but is open on
the south-west. It has a castle for its defence; and the streets of the
town of Horta extend over to it, so that the port is used for loading
small vessels.
The boats returned by noon, and the students were well pleased with the
excursion; but most of them were anxious to get out into the country,
where the orange-trees were in their glory. After dinner they were
permitted to land, and visit the town, or roam on the hill-sides, as
they chose.
“Nearly two hundred whale-ships used to come into this port for
supplies, and to unload their oil, which was shipped from here to the
United States,” said Dr. Winstock, when the party had landed at the
mole. “A great many of the people of these islands have engaged in the
whale-fishery in our ships, which has induced them to emigrate to our
country; and there is a part of New Bedford called ‘New Fayal.’”
“I think I should emigrate if the ground was liable to open and swallow
me up,” said Scott.
“The people are used to that sort of thing,” added Murray.
“Used to being swallowed up in the earth!” exclaimed Scott. “I believe
it would take me a long time to get used to that sort of thing; for I
am inclined to think it hurts.”
“Used to the liability, I mean,” protested Murray.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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