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CULTURAL
DA HORTA
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Núcleo Cultural da Horta
Editor / Editor
Ricardo Manuel Madruga da Costa
Tiragem / Circulation
350 exemplares / 350 copies
ISSN 1646-0022
Editorial / Editorial
por Magda Costa Carvalho. ................................................................................... 9
Direitos humanos em tempo de crise. Três teses sobre uma tarefa inacabável
Human rights in critical times. Three perspectives on a never ending task
por Viriato Soromenho-M arques........................................................................... 147
VÁRIA
CONTRIBUTED PAPERS
MEMÓRIA
MEMORY
REVISTA DE LIVROS
BOOK REVIEWS
(2014) Carlos Manuel Gomes Lobão, Uma Cidade Portuária – a Horta entre 1880-1926.
Sociedade e Cultura com a Política em Fundo. 2 Volumes, Horta, Ed. do Autor.
por José Miguel Sardica.......................................................................................... 373
EQUIPA EDITORIAL
EDITORIAL TEAM............................................................................................................ 447
LISTA DE AUTORES
INDEX OF AUTHORS....................................................................................................... 453
Notas Editoriais
Editorial Notes................................................................................................................... 461
Editorial
Editorial
estudos um pouco por todo o mundo: como com a forma como é o mesmo
os Direitos Humanos. encarado e consubstanciado institu-
Com a maestria de uma Assessora cionalmente.
Científica a quem manifestamos um No tocante aos conteúdos que com-
profundo agradecimento pela perti- põem as outras rubricas da Revista,
nência e rigor com que organizou o são estudos de relevância para a com-
caderno principal deste número, a preensão de aspetos da vida açoriana,
Doutora Berta Pimentel Miúdo, Pro- que desde há séculos marcam a nossa
fessora Auxiliar no Departamento de identidade social e cultural enquanto
História, Filosofia e Ciências Sociais Região: seja o fenómeno da emi-
da Universidade dos Açores, temos a gração a partir da realidade da mais
grata honra de apresentar um exce- pequena ilha do Arquipélago, seja o
lente volume em torno da temática impacto da produção e exportação
“Direitos Humanos: atualidade e vinícola no Pico ou as narrativas de
perspetivas”. viagens nos Açores.
Com contributos nacionais e inter- Fechamos com a Revista de Livros,
nacionais de muito abalizadas penas, em que mantemos atualizada a publi-
o Boletim marca assim o seu lugar cação de estudos que têm os Açores
nos estudos em torno de tão impor- como pano de fundo.
tante temática filosófico-política. Tal Mais uma vez, este é um alinha-
como aconteceu nos números ante- mento que muito orgulhosos nos
riores, procuramos enquadrar o tema deixa, já que estamos certos de cola-
no contexto do nosso Arquipélago, no borar no cumprimento dos objetivos
entanto o dossier extrapola essa abor- estatutários que norteiam o Núcleo
dagem. Os Direitos Humanos são Cultural da Horta, pela promoção
apresentados transversalmente, en- de uma publicação que oferece, não
quanto categoria filosófica e marco apenas aos Açorianos, mas a qual-
político, de acordo com um enten- quer cidadão do mundo, o reconheci-
dimento universal do conceito, bem mento da sua humana identidade.
Human Rights:
some perspectives
Nota introdutória ao dossier
“Direitos Humanos: atualidade e perspectivas”
Berta Maria Oliveira Pimentel Miúdo
Universidade dos Açores
obstante, todas essas razões convergem para a razão última dos direitos
humanos: a dignidade humana, a dignidade da pessoa.
O conceito de dignidade é a pedra angular dos direitos humanos. Desde
1948, com a adoção e proclamação, pela Assembleia Geral da Organização
das Nações Unidas (ONU), da famosa e matricial Declaração Universal dos
Direitos Humanos, a dignidade humana tem lugar central nos documentos e
discursos sobre a matéria. São consabidas as palavras que fazem do “reco-
nhecimento da dignidade inerente a todos os membros da família humana
e dos seus direitos iguais e inalienáveis” o alicerce de um mundo melhor,
fundado na tríade composta por liberdade, justiça e paz, bem como a contun-
dência com que no Artigo 1.º do mesmo documento se estipula que “Todos os
seres humanos nascem livres e iguais em dignidade e em direitos”1. Como se
depreende, a definição do conceito é preterida em favor da uma subentendida
compreensão do mesmo, de timbre universalista, como expressão da natu-
reza humana, natureza esta que exige respeito. Nos Pactos Internacionais
adotados em 1966 pela mesma organização, nos respetivos preâmbulos, é
repetida a ideia de dignidade como expressão da essência do ser humano,
porém acrescentando-se que os referidos direitos, iguais e inalienáveis,
“decorrem da dignidade inerente à pessoa humana”2, o que faz da dignidade,
igualmente, uma força motriz geradora de direitos.
Em tempos mais recentes, a Carta dos Direitos Fundamentais da União
Europeia, entrada em vigor em 2009, após a assinatura do Tratado de Lisboa,
consagra a “Dignidade” como Título I. Sem definir o conceito, afirma‑se no
Artigo 1.º que “A dignidade do ser humano é inviolável. Deve ser respeitada e
protegida”3. A aparente redundância da formulação jurídica não deixa de ser
interessante, pois ao criar um ‘espaço sagrado’ cria também linhas de defesa
horizontais e verticais desse reduto essencial, mas também não deixa de ser
preocupante, precisamente porque vinca as dificuldades do seu reconheci-
mento e confirma a suspeita da sua vulnerabilidade. A Carta dos Direitos
1
Declaração Universal dos Direitos Humanos, in http://direitoshumanos.gddc.pt/3_1/III-
PAG3_1_3.htm (consultado a 15 de dezembro de 2014).
2
Pacto Internacional sobre os Direitos Civis e Políticos, in http://direitoshumanos.gddc.pt/
3_1/IIIPAG3_1_6.htm (consultado a 15 de dezembro de 2014).
3
Carta dos Direitos Fundamentais da União Europeia, in http://www.europarl.europa.eu/
aboutparliament/pt/20150201PVL00015/Direitos-humanos (consultado a 15 de dezembro
de 2014).
Berta Maria Oliveira Pimentel Miúdo 15
4
Jürgen Habermas, “The Concept of Human Dignity and the Realistic Utopia of Human
Rights”, in Corradetti, Claudio (Ed.), Philosophical Dimensions of Human Rights. Some Con-
temporary Views, Dordrecht / Heidelberg / London / New York, Springer, 2012, p. 68.
5
Ibidem.
16 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
Ibidem, p. 69.
6
Ibidem, p. 72.
7
Berta Maria Oliveira Pimentel Miúdo 17
8
Cf., por exemplo, Enrico Berti, “Philosophy and Human Rights”, Ontology Studies 11, 2011,
pp. 21-27.
9
The Virginia Declaration of Rights, in http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/virgi nia_
declaration_of_rights.html (consultado a 26 de março de 2015).
10
Déclaration des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen, in http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/Droit-
francais/Constitution/Declaration-des-Droits-de-l-Homme-et-du-Citoyen-de- 1789 (consul-
tado a 26 de março de 2015).
18 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
Antero de Quental, Política, Obras Completas, Ponta Delgada, Universidade dos Açores,
11
1994, p. 149.
Berta Maria Oliveira Pimentel Miúdo 19
12
Informação disponível in http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/OlderPersons/IE/Pages/IEOlder
Persons.aspx (consultado a 20 de dezembro de 2014).
20 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
13
Disponível in http://www.Portugal.gov.pt/media/2283722/20141231-cdh-portugal-comunicado.pdf
(consultado a 31 de dezembro de 2014).
Berta Maria Oliveira Pimentel Miúdo 21
14
Charles Beitz, The Idea of Human Rights, Oxford, Oxford Univ. Press, 2013, p. 8.
15
In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All, in http://
www. ohchr.org/Documents/Publica tions/A.59.2005.Add.3.pdf (consultado a 20 de dezem-
bro de 2014).
22 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
16
Informação disponível in http://responsibili tytoprotect.org/ (consultado a 20 de dezembro de
2014).
Entre universalismo e relativismo:
para uma ética intercultural
Summary: Our aim is to reflect about the compatibility between the cultural diversity of
peoples and universal principles proper to human rights. With this in mind, we discuss, on the
one hand, fundamental themes of ethics and multiculturalism, and, on the other hand, some of
the more strenuous debates between those who follow a universalist line and those adopting
communitarian perspectives (from the more moderate to the more radical), that is, between
those who sustain justice as a truly universalizable good and those attached to the singular
goods of diverse forms of life; along the way, we further explore the concepts of culture, iden-
tity, citizenship, representation, and the dualities of equality and difference, of universalism and
relativism.
24 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
Understanding that equality is not opposed to difference, but to inequality, and that difference
is not opposed to equality, but to mass homogeneity that tends to reproduce itself, opens the
way to the search for a way of establishing minimal principles upon which it becomes possible
to anchor a conception of basic human rights, of a universal character, without underestimating
the cultural peculiarities of different peoples who do not enclose themselves in their specifici-
ties – inasmuch as they are both inscribed within the horizon of an intercultural ethics. In short,
this article deals with the problem of human rights and multiculturalism.
1. Ética e multiculturalismo
3
Charles Taylor, “The Politics of Recogni- reconhecimento, trad. port. de Marta Mach-
tion”, in Amy Gutmann (ed.), Multicultur- ado, Lisboa, Instituto Piaget, pp. 84, 87.
alism: examining the politics of recogni- 4
Ib., pp. 72-73; trad., p. 93.
tion, Princepton (New Jersey), Princepton 5
Aristóteles, Política, 1253a 1-5, edição
University Press, 1994, pp. 64, 66. Id., Mul- bilingue, trad. António C. Amaral e Carlos
ticulturalismo: examinando a política do C. Gomes, Lisboa, Veja, (1988), pp. 52-53.
28 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
9
Charles Taylor, “Le juste et le bien”, Revue 10
Ib.
de Métaphysique et de Morale, 93 (1), jan- 11
Cf. ib., pp. 43-45.
vier-mars 1988, p. 41.
30 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
14
Will Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship, reivindicar a autonomia de governo quando
op. cit., p. 204, n. 11. elas compõem a maioria num território e
É a partir de uma argumentação em favor formam uma comunidade histórica. Os imi-
dos direitos colectivos que Kymlicka legi- grantes distinguem-se dos nacionais no
tima uma cidadania multicultural diferen- plano dos direitos colectivos na medida em
cial. Além disso, distingue entre dois tipos que eles imigraram de um modo «individual
de direitos multiculturais: 1) os direitos das e voluntário». Eles não poderão reivindicar,
minorias nacionais, e 2) os direitos das mi- por exemplo, o direito de se governarem
norias étnicas. No plano dos direitos, faz, porque não ocupam um território de modo
pois, uma distinção útil entre minorias étni- maioritário; mas Kymlicka reconhece-lhes
cas e minorias nacionais. Para este filósofo, direitos poliétnicos: ele pensa que a socie-
“é evidente que os grupos de imigrantes não dade de acolhimento deve ser hospitaleira
podem reivindicar os mesmos direitos que para com novos chegados a fim de facilitar
as minorias nacionais” (Will Kymlicka, «Le a sua integração, reconhecendo-lhes certos
libéralisme et la politisation de la culture», direitos distintos. Estes direitos poliétnicos
in Michel Seymour, Une Nation peut-elle são direitos a uma representação política
se donner la Constitution de son Choix?, equitativa, medidas de discriminação posi-
Montréal, Bellarmin, 1995, p. 108. Segundo tiva, financiamento pelo Estado de activi-
Kymlicka, as minorias nacionais podem dades particulares, etc.
Acílio da Silva Estanqueiro Rocha 33
nos Estados Unidos –, para lutar con- que é equivocado atribuir à referência
tra discriminações, por exemplo, no cultural o constitutivo desses grupos
aceso às universidades, mediante um – negros, mulheres, idosos, homos-
tratamento diferenciado com mem- sexuais, minorias étnicas e nacionais.
bros de certos grupos, mas visando Se, por exemplo, a integração no
os indivíduos e não os grupos23; em- grupo das mulheres está mais na fisio-
bora se acabe por beneficiar o grupo logia, será a idade aquilo que caracte-
a que pertencem os indivíduos assim riza alguém como membro do grupo
beneficiados, não é à comunidade dos idosos, como o que define um
enquanto tal que são atribuídas tais indivíduo como pertencendo ao grupo
prerrogativas. Não se trata da políti- dos homossexuais será a sua orienta-
ca de “reconhecimento” reclamada ção sexual (aliás, para muitos homos-
por Taylor, mas de medidas que estão sexuais, nem sequer é essa orienta-
na base de oportunidades iguais para ção o elemento organizador de suas
alcançar a velha igualdade entre os in- formas de vida). Deste modo, não é
divíduos, preconizada pelos liberais. uma cultura particular o núcleo iden-
Aliás, para Barry, importa também tificador da identidade de um grupo
a protecção de membros individuais ou comunidade, devendo atender-se
contra a opressão do próprio grupo. mais às formas de discriminação que
A posição de que “a cultura não é o originam situações de injustiça e que
problema” deriva dessa outra questão, devem ser combatidas.
segundo a qual um grupo se define Daí que, para Barry, “a cultura não é
como “um colectivo de pessoas dife- o problema e a cultura não é a solu-
renciado de um outro grupo por for- ção”26. Esta posição pode ilustrar-se
mas culturais práticas ou pela forma com um “teste de cidadania”, nos ter-
de vida”24. Ora, para Barry, um dos mos seguintes: será que o direito x,
nós górdios de equívocos do multi- reivindicado em nome da diferença
culturalismo, e das suas soluções, é cultural, vai contra interesses funda-
a derivação das diferenças de grupos mentais dos cidadãos de um Estado
pelos rasgos culturais por estes parti- democrático? Ou será que esse direito
lhados”25. Barry retorquiria a Young não afecta interesses fundamentais
23
Ib., p. 113. Cardoso Rosas, “Multiculturalismo e anti-
24
Iris Marion Young, op. cit., p. 43. multiculturalismo: perspectivas sobre a cida-
25
Brian Barry, op. cit., p. 305. dania diferenciada de minorias sem base
26
“Culture is not the problem and culture is territorial”, Actas do II Congresso da Asso-
not the solution”, ib., p. 317. No que se ciação Portuguesa de Ciência Política, Lis-
segue, na interpretação de Barry, cf. João boa Editorial Bizâncio, 2006, pp. 708-709.
38 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
dos cidadãos? No primeiro caso, o usar o capacete, ou até por não pode-
direito x não deve ser outorgado e a rem usar os seus punhais ou espadas
legislação que o consagra – se exis- em público (devido à proibição geral
tir – deve ser revogada; no segundo do uso de armas brancas). Da mesma
caso, o direito pode ser outorgado e forma, comunidades judaicas ou mu-
é a legislação que coarcta esse direito çulmanas em Itália podem reclamar a
– nos casos em que exista – que deve isenção das normas gerais do abate de
ser revogada. animais de modo a poderem garantir
Note-se que as mesmas leis e polí- que os animais são sangrados vivos
ticas não têm de ter o mesmo impacto (para serem kosher, ou hallal). Ora,
para todos os indivíduos afectados para Barry, devemos perguntar: será
e não há nisso nada de errado. Uma que as isenções requeridas vão contra
determinada legislação não trata todos interesses fundamentais dos cidadãos
por igual mas equitativamente, com de um Estado democrático? A partir
consequências diferentes para os indi- daqui, temos o dilema: se a lei é sufi-
víduos afectados: é possível que uma cientemente defensável à luz desses
determinada disposição legal afecte interesses, então as isenções não
de uma forma decisiva os interesses devem ser concedidas; se, por outro
de A e proteja apenas os interesses de lado, não o é, então a razão acon-
B; mas isso é inevitável; a lei, por selha, não ao estabelecimento da
exemplo, deve proteger os interesses isenção, mas antes à revogação da lei
das crianças em não serem moles- e das obrigações que ela consagra.
tadas e deve penalizar os interesses Deste modo, segue-se que é do inte-
dos pedófilos em molestar crianças. resse da comunidade que o abate de
Ora, as isenções reclamadas por animais siga regras estabelecidas de
comunidades imigrantes específicas higiene e controlo sanitário, e, por
– geralmente em função de práticas isso, não há lugar a isenção das regras
religiosas – devem ser consideradas gerais; do mesmo modo, a não isen-
à luz do princípio da equidade. Com ção no caso do turbante ou no caso
frequência, os pedidos de isenção de do punhal ritual tem a ver com princí-
obrigações válidas para todos assen- pios fundamentais relacionados com
tam na reclamação de que existe desi- a segurança das pessoas e a segurança
gualdade e não falta de equidade; as- rodoviária; se os princípios em causa
sim, os Sikhs na Grã-Bretanha podem não forem fundamentais, a isenção
reclamar discriminação pelo facto de deve ser concedida a todos, mediante
não poderem usar o turbante, porque, a revogação da proibição em causa.
como motociclistas, são obrigados a Já no caso da criança Sikh, no Reino
Acílio da Silva Estanqueiro Rocha 39
espaço político culturalmente homo- um lado, salta aos olhos uma certa afi-
géneo, deve conduzir a reconhecer‑se nidade entre a teoria de Habermas e
que o pluralismo cultural é hoje o a perspectiva universalista dos direi-
objectivo principal que cabe ao espí- tos individuais adoptada por Barry,
rito democrático34. Todas estas pre- não é menos verdade, por outro lado,
missas delineiam um imenso desafio que o modelo habermasiano de demo-
para as democracias, e não é certo cracia deliberativa opõe-se à persis-
que aquilo que se designa de “multi- tência de um liberalismo insensível
culturalismo” esteja à altura da pro- às diferenças culturais35. Por isso
blemática. Somente a democracia mesmo o tema do multiculturalismo
permite fazer respeitar ao mesmo ocupou a atenção de Habermas, logo
tempo a diversidade das culturas e o que irrompeu na cena do debate
universalismo dos direitos fundamen- ético-político.
tais; mas, a este propósito, é preciso Uma teoria da justiça não pode de-
não confundir o ponto de vista cul- pender de factos contingentes, histó-
tural com o ponto de vista moral: a ricos ou culturais; ele deve possibi-
confusão entre diversidade cultural e litar uma posição crítica da política e
enriquecimento moral imuniza toda da sociedade. Todos os seres humanos
a cultura da crítica moral. nascem e vivem livres e iguais em
direitos e este juízo deve aplicar-se
d) Para uma “ética procedimental de a todas as sociedades; obviamente,
reciprocidade” as políticas multiculturalistas perdem
muito do seu impacto se elas não
O debate entre o culturalismo liberal estão estreitamente articuladas com
de Kymlicka e o liberalismo iguali- programas de luta contra as desigual-
tário de Barry ajuda a esclarecer os dades sociais e económicas.
contornos da discussão e permite A nossa posição parte do pressuposto
enquadrar com mais propriedade a antropológico das “necessidades hu-
posição de Jürgen Habermas. Se, por manas básicas”36 onde se funda uma
34
Ib. p. 319. 36
Cf. Ernst Gellner, Culture, Identity, and
35
A este propósito, e sobre Habermas, ver o Politics, Cambridge, Cambridge University
nosso estudo mais desenvolvido: Acílio da Press, 1987, p. 29 ss. O autor caracteriza aí,
Silva Estanqueiro Rocha, “Democracia deli- uma sociedade moderna, como requerendo
berativa”, in João Cardoso Rosas (org.), os seguintes requisitos: alfabetização, mobi-
Manual de Filosofia Política, 2.ª ed. revista lidade social e igualdade formal (não
e aumentada, Coimbra, Almedina, pp. 137- obstante, uma “desigualdade fluída”).
‑182.
42 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
Anita Budziszewska
Key-words: culturalization, international law, right to culture, international courts, human rights.
The article has been inspired by the their evolution. It describes the notion
publication by Federico Lenzerini of culture as the driving force behind
titled The Culturalization of Human changes, through incorporation of
Rights Law1, which discusses the cultural aspect into international law.
evolution of human rights as a result The theses presented in the publica-
of extensive inclusion of the role of tion fit well within the context of the
culture in international law in the ongoing debate on the reformulation
sphere of human rights. of the role and perception of inter-
The publication is an attempt to national law2, whose traditional no
answer the question about the nature longer meets the needs of contempo-
of human rights and the direction of rary societies.
The relationship between culture and and the functioning of different legal
human rights already has a long cultures next to each other. Cultural
tradition and commonly functions rights therefore have to be subject to
as ‘cultural rights’, included in the the same determinants, although it is
package of second-generation human self-evident that culture and human
rights. This qualification, however, rights are interdependent, interrelated
is not clear and sufficient. We have and that they affect each other4. But
to remember that the very notion of this interdependence is not perma-
culture is broad, heterogeneous and nent and final. There are two reasons
multidimensional3, and additionally for this: First, human rights are a
complicated by cultural diversity
4
See e.g.: Y. Donders, “Do Cultural Diversity
and Human Rights Make a Good Match?”,
1
Federico Lenzerini, The Culturalization of International Social Science Journal 2010,
Human Rights Law, Oxford, 2014. Vol. 61, Issue 199, p. 15; D. Ayton-Shenker,
2
See: M. Koskenniemi, From Apology to “The Challenge of Human Rights and the
Utopia, Finnish Lawyers’ Publishing Com- International Protection of Cultural Diver-
pany 1989; and A. Paulus, “International sity: Some Theoretical and Practical Con-
Law After Postmodernism: Towards Re- siderations”, International Journal of
newal or Decline of International Law?”, Minority and Group Rights, Vol. 14, 2007,
Leiden Journal of International Law 2001, p. 231; R. D. Schwartz, Human Rights in an
vol. 14, no. 4. Evolving World Culture; and A. A. An-Na’im,
3
A. Kroeber and C. Kluckhon gathered 196 “Problems of Universal Cultural Legiti-
different definitions of culture. See: Cul- macy for Human Rights”, in: An-Na’im and
ture. A Critical Review of Concepts and Deng (eds.), Human Rights in Africa:
Definitions, Cambridge, 1952. Cross-Cultural Perspectives, 1990, p. 331.
Anita Budziszewska 45
fairly new issue, and therefore have human rights may not be passed over
a rather experimental status so far5; in the discussion on the future shape
only the future will reveal and shape of the latter9. So where is the evo-
their actual nature. Second, we need lution of human rights heading? In
to remember that the notion of cul- the opinion of Lanzerini, the current
ture is also subject to constant evolu- reinterpretation of the application of
tion, transformation and adjustment human rights standards is the conse-
to social changes. Consequently, the quence of the idea of cultural plural-
approach to the function played by ism. Therefore, when writing about
culture in human rights is changing the culturalization of human rights
as well, and so does its impact on the (although without defining it), he
evolution of these rights6. This ele- brings to our attention the process of
ment is so important that some even evolution of human rights, in which
believe that culture plays a central they change from a traditional uni-
role, is the driving force7 stimulating versal idea to a multiculturalist idea,
the evolution of human rights8. There- which makes it necessary to interpret
fore, the growing role of cultural these rights in line with the needs of
determinants in international law and specific societies and individuals10.
5
H. J. Steiner, “The Youth of Rights”, 9
See: S. Borelli and F. Lenzerini (eds.), Cul-
Harvard Law Review, Vol. 104, 1991, tural Heritage, Cultural Rights, Cultural
p. 917. Diversity. New Developments in Interna-
6
See: A. Pollis and P. Schwab, “Human tional Law, 2012.
Rights: A Western Construct with Limited 10
See: F. Lenzerini, The Culturalization of…,
Applicability”, in: Pollis and Schwab (eds.), op. cit, p. 10. In his opinion, the analysis of
Human Rights. Cultural and Ideological human rights should start from the level of
Perspective; and A. Bleden Fields and rights of individuals. He quotes the Ameri-
W.‑D. Narr, “Human Rights as a Holistic can Anthropological Association’s ‘State-
Concept”, Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 14, ment of Human Rights’ – see: American
1992. Anthropological Association, J. Steward
7
F. Lenzerini, Culturalization of…, op. cit., and H. G. Barnett, “Statement of Human
p. 145. Rights (1947) and Commentaries”, in: M.
8
Cf.: J. Symonides, “Cultural Rights: A Ne- Goodale (ed.), Human Rights: An Anthro-
glected Category of Human Rights”, Inter- pological Reader, Wiley-Blackwell, 2009,
national Social Science Journal (1998), p. 23. The document was produced even
595; J. Symonides, “Cultural Rights”, in: before the adoption of the UDHR (1948)
J. Symonides (ed.), Human Rights. Concept and stresses that an individual develops his
and Standards, 2000; F. Francioni and M. personality through culture because he is
Scheinin (eds.), Cultural Human Rights, a member of a certain social group, which
2008. sanctions a specific lifestyle shapes the
46 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
18
A. Pollis and Schwab, ibidem, p. 9. Communication No. 549/1993, 29 July
19
Ibidem, p. 12. See also: Grażyna 1997, UN Doc. CCPR/C//60/D/549/ 1993/
Michałowska, Problemy praw człowieka w Rev.1, 29 December 1997; Leonod Raihman
Afryce (Human Rights Problems in Africa), v. Latvia, Communication No. 1621/2007,
Warszawa, 2008. 28 October 2010, UN Doc. CCPR/
20
Ibidem, p. 147. C/100/D/1621/2007, 30 November 2010.
21
See also: Sandra Lovelace v. Canada, Com- 22
See: General Comment No. 12: The Right
munication No. 42/1977, 6 June 1983; Ivan to Adequate Food (Art. 11 of the Covenant),
Kitok v. Sweden, Communication No. 197/ 12 May 1999, E/C.12/1999/5, General
1985, 27 July 1988; Lubikon Lake Band Comment No. 13: The Right to Education
v. Canada, Communication No. 167/1984; (Art. 13 of the Covenant), 8 December
Ilmari Lansman et al. v. Finland, Com- 1999, E/C.12/1999/10, General Comment
munication No. 671/1995, 22 November No. 15: The Right to Water (Arts. 11 and 12
1996, UN doc. CCPR/C/58/D/671/1995, of the Covenant), 20 January 2003, E/C.12/
22 November 1996; Apirana Mahuika et 2002/11, General Comment No. 14: The
al. v. New Zealand, Communication No. Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of
547/1993, 27 October 2000, UN Doc. Health (Art. 12 of the Covenant), 11 August
CCPR/C/70/D/547/1993, 15 October 2000; 2000, E/C.12/2000/4.
Francis Hopu and Tepoaitu Bessert v. France
48 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
28
Ibidem. zbrojnych. 60-lecie konwencji haskiej i
29
Ibidem, p. 204. 15-lecie II Protokołu (Protection of Cul-
30
Ibidem. See also: Hanna Schreiber, Anita tural Heritage During Armed Conflicts.
Budziszewska, “W stronę prawa do kultury” 60th Anniversary of the Hague Convention
(“Towards the Right to Culture”), in: E. and 15th anniversary of the 2nd Protocol),
Mikos-Skuza, K. Sałaciński (eds.), Ochrona WCEO, Warszawa, 2014.
dziedzictwa kultury w czasie konfliktów
50 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
(care for material and non-material tural and natural heritage, creative,
property, subsidizing cultural under- literary and artistic activity, etc.,
takings, establishing and maintaining which have the greatest chance to be
museums and culture centres, cultural realized in developed countries. An
education, etc., as well as broadly element of such understanding of the
understood access to these goods)31. right to culture can be found in, for
The ‘right to culture’ in the first example, the Polish initiative of the
meaning is ‘scattered’ among many National Centre for Culture and the
conventions and declarations and city of Wrocław aimed at enshrining
often is considered equal to group the ‘right to culture’ in the European
rights of national and ethnic minori- Convention for the Protection of
ties, indigenous peoples, or the right Human Rights and Fundamental
to self-determination. This concept is Freedoms32 and the Charter of Fun-
mainly characteristic of multiethnic damental Rights of the European
and multicultural states (South Amer- Union33. So far, the Polish project has
ica, Asia, Africa). In this interpreta- been a stimulus for a discussion on
tion of the term, the ‘right to culture’ the issue of ensuring access to high
refers to groups for whom their culture, participation in cultural and
distinctive cultural identity remains artistic life, which – according to the
an integral part of their way of life. representatives of the National Centre
The second interpretation of the right for Culture and the city of Wrocław
to culture is associated with issues – should be confirmed in law34.
such as cultural life, access to culture, Unfortunately, under this interpreta-
cultural education, protection of cul- tion, ensuring access to culture has an
31
See: Hanna Schreiber, Anita Budziszewska, Centre and the city of Wrocław to enshrine
“W stronę prawa do kultury…; and Bożena the ‘right to culture’ in a Protocol to the
Gierat-Bieroń, Prawo do kultury. Nowy Convention for the Protection of Human
obszar aspiracji obywatelskich” (“The Right Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, avail-
to Culture. A New Area of Civic Aspira- able at: http://dzieje.pl/kultura-i-sztuka/pol
tions”), Kultura współczesna, No. 3, 2014, ska-chce-zapisania-w-europejskiej-kon-
pp. 194-195. wencji-praw-czlowieka-prawa-do-kultury
32
Cf.: Polska chce zapisania w Europejskiej (accessed on: 13 December 2015).
Konwencji Praw Człowieka prawa do kul- 33
See: Debate on the right to culture in the
tury (Poland Wants the Right to Culture Centennial Hall, see: http://www.wroclaw.
Enshrined in the European Convention pl/debata-o-prawie-do-kultury-w-hali-stu
on Human Rights) – an interview with the lecia (available at: 13 February 2013).
Director of the National Centre for Culture, 34
See: http://wroclaw2016.pl/prawo-do-kultu
Krzysztof Dudek, on the proposal of the ry/ (accessed on: 17 February 2015).
Anita Budziszewska 51
economic aspect as well, which raises ing for states and with which citizens
questions about the activity of asso- of the signatory states may file indi-
ciations, culture institutions, local vidual complaints.
governments for which paid access The debate on the ‘right to culture’
to cultural achievements is one of is not at all groundless, however, as
the ways of operation. Furthermore, shown by numerous court judgements
there is the crucial issue of copyright and opinions of commissions work-
and distribution of cultural works. ing in the area of human rights. The
The notion of enshrining the ‘right to significant role of culture is also under-
culture’ as the right of access to high lined in the judgments of the Court
culture in the European Convention of Human Rights. The Court is aware
for the Protection of Human Rights of the need to take into consideration
and Fundamental Freedoms is also and respect cultural differences as the
justified35 because this would make basis for the peaceful coexistence of
the right to culture a fundamental groups representing different cultures
right and would trigger the relevant and of the significant role played by
procedures aimed at guaranteeing intercultural dialogue36. The judge-
these rights by the signatory states; ments of the European Court of
we need to remember that the appli- Human Rights37 confirm such rights
cation of these rights is controlled as: the right of access to culture38,
by the European Court of Human the rights to artistic expression39, the
Rights, whose judgements are bind-
Tarzibachi v. Sweden (No. 23883/06, 16
35
Ibidem, Polska chce zapisania w Europej- December 2008), Jankovskis v. Lithuania
skiej Konwencji Praw Człowieka prawa do (No. 21575/08), ENEA v. Italy [GC] (No.
kultury… 74912/01, § 106, 17 September 2009),
36
See: Aspects of Intercultural Dialogue Boulois v. Luxembourg (No. 37575/04, § 64,
in the European Court of Human Rights’ 14 December 2010).
case-law – report of the European Court of 39
See: case Müller and Others v. Switzerland
Human Rights of 2007. (24 May 1988, Series A No. 133), Otto-
37
See: Cultural rights in the case-law of the Preminger-Institut v. Austria (20 September
European Court of Human Rights, Council 1994, Series A No. 295-A), Karataş v. Turkey
of Europe /
European Court of Human case ([GC], No. 23168/94, ECHR 1999-IV),
Rights, January 2011, available at: http:// Alınak v. Turkey (No. 40287/98, 29 March
www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Research_re 2005), Judgment in Vereinigung Bildender
port_cultural_rights_ENG.pdf (accessed on: Künstler v. Austria (No. 68354/01, 25
13 February 2015). January 2007), Lindon, Otchakovsky-
38
See: case Akdaş v. Turkey (No. 41056/04, Laurens and July v. France ([GC], Nos.
16 February 2010), Khurshid Mustafa and 21279/02 and 36448/02, ECHR 2007-IV).
52 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
40
See: Chapman v. the United Kingdom 42
See: Beyeler v. Italy ([GC], No. 33202/96,
([GC], No. 27238/95, ECHR 2001-I), ECHR 2000-I), Debelianovi v. Bulgaria
(Muñoz Díaz v. Spain, No. 49151/07, 8 (No. 61951/00, 29 March 2007), Kozacıoğlu
December 2009), Ciubotaru v. Moldova v. Turkey [GC], No. 2334/03, 19 February
(No. 27138/04, 27 April 2010), Sejdić and 2009), Hamer v. Belgium, No. 21861/03,
Finci v. Bosnia and Herzegovina [GC], Nos. ECHR 2007-V, Turgut and Others v. Turkey,
27996/06 and 34836/06, § 43, 22 December No. 1411/03, § 90, 8 July 2008; Depalle v.
2009), Sinan Işık v. Turkey (No. 21924/05, France [GC], No. 34044/02, § 81, 29 March
2 February 2010), Cyprus v. Turkey [GC], 2010); Hingitaq 53 and Others v. Denmark
No. 25781/94, §§ 241-247, ECHR 2001- (dec.), No. 18584/04, ECHR 2006-I).
IV, Cha’are Shalom Ve Tsedek v. France 43
See: Sorguç v. Turkey, No. 17089/03, § 35,
[GC], No. 27417/95, ECHR 2000-VII, 23 June 2009), Cox v. Turkey (No. 2933/ 03,
Dogru v. France, No. 27058/05, § 72, 4 De- 20 May 2010), Lombardi Vallauri v. Italy
cember 2008, Ahmet Arslan and Others v. (No. 39128/05, 20 October 2010).
Turkey, No. 41135/98, 23 February 2010), 44
See: Chauvy and Others v. France, No.
Sidiropoulos and Others v. Greece (10 July 64915/01, § 69, ECHR 2004-VI), Monnat
1998, Reports of Judgments and Decisions v. Switzerland, No. 73604/01, § 64, ECHR
1998-IV. 2006-X); Lehideux and Isorni v. France, 23
41
See: Senger v. Germany (dec.), No. 32524/ September 1998; Garaudy v. France (dec.),
05, 3 February 2009), Baybaşın v. the Neth- No. 65831/01, ECHR; Orban and Others
erlands (dec.), No. 13600/02, 6 October v. France, No. 20985/05, 15 January 2009);
2005), Ulusoy and Others v. Turkey (Dink v. Turkey, Nos. 2668/07 and others,
(No. 34797/03, 3 May 2007), İrfan Temel 14 September 2010); Kenedi v. Hungary
and Others v. Turkey (No. 36458/02, 3 (No. 31475/05, § 43, 26 May 2009).
March 2009), Catan and Others v. Moldova 45
A. Margalit and M. Halbertal, Liberalism
and Russia (Nos. 43770/04, 9 June 2009, and the right to Culture, Social Research:
Podkolzina v. Latvia (No. 46726/99, ECHR An International Quarterly, 80 (2), 2004,
2002-II), Birk Levy v. France (dec.), pp. 449-472.
No. 39426/06, 21 September 2010).
Anita Budziszewska 53
Principle”46. It should also be noted the right to culture will rather take the
that the right to culture that Margalit, form of the right to retain their cul-
Halbertal and Gans write about con- tural ties and identities, the freedom
cerns culture understood as lifestyle, to practice the customs and traditions
ethno-linguistic background as well cultivated for centuries.
as traditions and customs, passed on The division of the right to culture
for generations. into only two concepts is, of course,
As we can see, the ‘right to culture’ a considerable simplification, and we
is a vague, imprecise and very broad should remember that each of them
expression. Its understanding and contains different elements and com-
interpretation depends on the cultural ponents. One of these is the aforemen-
specificity of the given state and the tioned Polish initiative, understood
perception of the role culture plays as the right of access to high culture.
in the society, the country’s level of For a broader analysis of the nature
development and ethnic diversity. It of the right to culture we would need
seems that the right to culture under- to review all the documents and inter-
stood as an aspect of high culture can national agreements that concern cul-
be realized in highly developed coun- ture, and then list all the elements and
tries, in which culture and cultural life components of the right to culture.
are important enough for the country An important place in this mosaic of
to be forced to create conditions con- diverse legal documents is occupied
ducive to its development. On the by the judgements of the European
other hand, there are less developed, Court of Human Rights due to the
multicultural countries often struggl- role the Court plays in the European
ing with problems of existential im- system of human rights protection.
portance (water shortage, extreme The fact that countries are clearly
poverty, internal conflicts, including wary of accepting the status of cul-
ones caused by cultural differences) ture as the fundamental right shows
located in regions such as Africa, that culture is in fact underestimated
Asia, South America, or the Middle among human rights. It seems that
East. For these societies and regions countries are not yet ready to guaran-
tee this right or are afraid of possible
consequences and overinterpretation
46
Chaim Gans, “Individuals’ Interest in the
because it is unclear how to broadly
Preservation of Their Culture”, Law and
Ethics of Human Rights. Multiculturalism interpret the right to culture, when
and the Anti-discrimination Principle, Vol. 1, ‘the concepts of broadly understood
Issue I, 2007. cultural rights, protection of cultural
54 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
property and protection of national and at the same time their object:
heritage are inextricably interwoven, culture itself’47.
creating a vast array of legal stan-
dards with the common aim of pro- 47
See: H. Schreiber, A. Budziszewska,
tecting the source of these standards W stronę prawa do kultury, op. cit.
A (in)cultura dos direitos humanos
António Teixeira Fernandes
Sumário: Numa cultura dos direitos humanos, é naturalmente o homem o ponto central de
referência. Tudo depende da maneira como ele é concebido. A filosofia dos direitos humanos,
nos séculos xvii e xviii, tendeu e privilegiar mais a elaboração de um regime político do que
a emancipação humana das inúmeras servidões em que o passado o havia enleado. Por toda
a parte, a liberdade continua ainda hoje a ser limitada, a igualdade negada, encerrado como
está o homem na “jaula de ferro” de uma burocracia que o sufoca e impede a sua plena
realização. Nesta sociedade do consumo, em que o capital fabrica os produtos e as pessoas
para os consumir, o homem acaba, ele mesmo, por ser descartável, coisa de usar e deitar fora,
tão fáceis são as próprias ruturas humanas tidas como mais sólidas. O homem deixou de ser
um mistério, com toda a dignidade que isso contém. O desenvolvimento de uma cultura dos
direitos humanos tem como objetivo promover a dignificação da pessoa, como ser de relação.
O homem, como excesso de si mesmo, para além de ver estendidos os limites da sua exis-
tência, necessita de um contexto em que possa respirar a liberdade na partilha de bens em
igualdade de condições existenciais.
Summary: In a human rights culture, the human being is naturally the central reference point.
Everything depends on how he/she is conceived. The philosophy of the human rights, in the
17th and 18th centuries, privileged the elaboration of a political regime, rather than the human
emancipation from the countless forms of servitude that haunted the mankind in the past.
Even today, freedom continues to be restricted everywhere, equality is denied, because the
human being is jailed in an “iron cage” of a suffocating bureaucracy that does not allow
his/her total fulfillment. In this consumer society, where the capital manufactures products
and the people to consume them, the human being ends up being disposable, something that
can be used and thrown away, and even the human bonds regarded as the most solid are easily
broken. The human being is no longer a mystery, with all the dignity that this contains. The
development of a human rights culture has the purpose of promoting the dignity of the person,
as a relational being. The human being, as someone that exceeds himself/herself, not only
needs to extend the limits of his/her existence, but also a context where he/she can breathe
freedom by sharing goods in equal existential conditions.
56 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
Key-words: human dignity, human rights, human mystery, human problem, intimacy and
transparency, domains of denials of rights.
tério que rodeia cada um tem a ver dade civil é o domínio da fragmen-
com o facto de se estar empenhado tação, com reflexos no interior do
em comum no mundo pela simples homem. A perda de sentido espiritual
razão de se existir e coexistir. A pes- do homem faz com que se difunda
soa é uma relação, e a liberdade é con- uma mentalidade acompanhada de
cebida como “uma conquista sempre práticas de hedonismo, centradas no
precária”, pois “a partir do momento cuidado do corpo. Além disso, haverá
em que a insignificância do indivíduo que contar com uma multiplicidade
é proclamada, a via está aberta a de aceções em razão da pluralidade
todas as tiranias, em particular, às de culturas. Em função dessa diver-
que se exercem hoje sob a capa de um sidade, se podem diferenciar, mesmo
vocabulário democrático”. O teólogo no interior de uma mesma comuni-
holandês E. Schillebeeckx, recupe- dade nacional, as formas como se
rando a perspetiva bíblica da alma entende e se trata o homem.
como maneira humana de ser cor- Procurando superar o dualismo carte-
poral, defende igualmente a unidade siano, agora no campo da literatura,
do homem, sustentando que o corpo Virgílio Ferreira, adotando uma visão
é humano na participação do mundo claramente existencialista, procura
espiritual da alma, e esta é humana promover “o homem à consciência
na comunhão com a corporalidade. de si, da sua dignidade”, que é a de
O homem é espírito na corporali- “um corpo que pode dizer ‘eu’”. Num
dade, e daí a necessidade de uma corpo em que se é, todo o milagre
permanente afirmação da dignidade acontece, porque “tudo se cumpre
humana. O problema estará em cons- num corpo. Aí moramos, aí somos”.
truir e defender a dignidade humana Exaltando o homem na sua unidade,
num mundo em vias de tecnicização e o escritor sublinha a sua dignidade de
de isolamento solipsista das pessoas. espírito, sustentando que “o espírito
Charles Taylor pensa que “o perigo trespassa tudo o que somos”. Em seu
não reside tanto num controle despó- entender, “a consciência é projeção
tico como na fragmentação, isto é, na de si e o corpo a possibilidade dessa
inaptidão cada vez maior das pessoas projeção: um corpo é a realização de
em formar um projeto comum e em um espírito”. Toda a grandeza e toda
coloca-lo em execução”5. A socie- a dignidade do homem se medem
tividade humana, desenhando a base car para debelar o mal. Isso seria
material de vidas futuras. cometer um enorme atentado contra
Uma outra situação perversa tem a os direitos fundamentais do homem.
ver com a conversão das sociedades 4.4. O homem vive, cada vez mais,
em autêntico Big Brother. Quase não numa civilização de altos riscos e no
existem hoje, na vida social, espaços meio de uma natureza desvirtuada.
de privacidade. As pessoas são cons- Nesta selva, o “progresso” aparece
tantemente vigiadas, com gravação rodeado de enormes perigos. A catás-
de imagem e de som, no seu deam- trofe de Chernobil e as ameaças que
bular nas movimentadas ruas das se lhe seguiram tornam presente o
cidades e no interior dos estabeleci- contínuo risco de contaminação
mentos, como lojas, cafés e restau- atómica. A dinâmica do capitalismo
rantes. Tornou-se possível seguir, ao conduz a catástrofes ecológicas.
pormenor, os passos de cada um. A “consciência verde” vem chamando
Quem vigia controla, e quem controla a atenção para a radiação nuclear, os
destrói a liberdade do outro. As socie- lixos radioativos, a desflorestação, o
dades disciplinares, analisadas por desenvolvimento da genética agrícola
Michel Foucault, que funcionavam e a criação de alimentos transgénicos,
por encarceramento, são substituídas as emissões de dióxido de carbono, os
por sociedades de controlo contínuo e buracos de ozono e o efeito de estufa,
de comunicação instantânea. o aquecimento global, a poluição quí-
Vai crescendo igualmente entre mica e as chuvas ácidas. A “irrespon-
alguns segmentos da população o sabilidade como sistema”, de que fala
medo de que esse controlo possa ir Ulrich Beck, faz com que os desafios
mais longe, instalando-se chips no da era nuclear, química e genética
corpo dos indivíduos. Uma vaga de sejam ilimitáveis espacial, temporal
roubos de crianças em Inglaterra e ou socialmente.
em países da Europa continental des- Destruindo-se o meio ambiente do
pertou a vontade, tempos atrás, em homem, em causa se põem as condi-
algumas populações, de que se pro- ções da vida humana. Uma consciên-
cedesse desse modo em relação aos cia ecológica envolve, cada vez mais,
filhos. As autoridades não seguiram os direitos humanos. A consideração
tal via na resolução do problema. do homem como ser moral conduz à
A incivilidade e a criminalidade, em reivindicação dos direitos civis, polí-
desespero de causa, podem despertar ticos, sociais e culturais. Mas porque
de novo esse desejo no seio das popu- ele é igualmente um ser vivo, isso
lações, levando à tentação de os apli- impõe a proteção do meio natural.
António Teixeira Fernandes 67
da cidadania ativa torna patente um Costumes, Lisboa, Edições 70, 1992, p. 79.
António Teixeira Fernandes 71
dendo, nesses casos, ser indispen- próprio homem que está em causa,
sável promover a garantia de tais mais como mistério do que como
direitos para assegurar a dignidade problema. À volta do mistério, se
daquela natureza. A cultura destes desenvolve a ideia do indivíduo autó-
direitos não se encontra sequer sufi- nomo e responsável. A responsabili-
cientemente disseminada na mentali- dade pessoal é central na conceção
dade geral europeia. Haverá que ven- humanista da vida, mas o conceito de
cer depois inércias, sendo o homem responsabilidade encontra-se já con-
essencialmente, como o definem tido no do direito. Se o homem é uma
Dostoïevski e Schopenhauer, um ser contínua construção, será de esperar
que se habitua a tudo. A cultura dos que, à medida desse crescimento, se
direitos humanos esbarra com essas afirmem novos direitos. Só que na
inércias. Liberdades e direitos estão situação atual, que Ulrich Beck
ainda sujeitos ao poder discricionário chama “irresponsabilidade organi-
da política. O enfraquecimento das li- zada”, deverá estar-se bem atento aos
berdades fundamentais entra mesmo atentados aos direitos reconhecidos
em contradição com a ideia de uma como àqueles que despertaram nos
Europa como espaço de cultura e diversos meios sociais.
de liberdade. Uma democracia deli- Os direitos estabelecidos são conti-
berativa implica uma comunidade nuamente ameaçados e os direitos
de cidadãos ativos que participam emergentes são sufocados no seu
na definição e na realização do bem desenvolvimento. A retração finan-
comum. Mas a sociedade encontra- ceira e a imigração dificultam a ex-
se também em contínua mudança, tensão do seu exercício, e os direitos
em simultâneo com uma crescente emergentes não encontram espaço
humanização do homem. Porque a de expressão. Mas, “onde quer que o
inquietude é uma atitude perante a perigo cresça, cresce também o que
vida e a realidade pessoal de cada salva” diz Hölderlin. A proximidade
um, os direitos humanos não podem do perigo conduz mais claramente
ser definidos uma vez por todas. para o que o supera, aumentando a
O homem é um composto de finito reflexividade pessoal e social. Tal é
e de infinito, de necessidade e de o apelo do homem que aspira à sua
liberdade. Sem a salvaguarda do mis- plena realização. Os direitos huma-
tério do homem e da vida, não serão nos devem evoluir no sentido de um
possíveis nem a emergência de novos padrão universal, ultrapassando o
direitos humanos nem a proteção dos âmbito da cidadania ligada à nacio-
já consolidados na vida social. É o nalidade. O recuo do Estado social,
72 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
com o recuo dos direitos sociais, e no seu exercício pleno, já que a exi-
a difícil integração dos estrangeiros gência de respeito pelos direitos hu-
têm contribuído para avivar o debate manos encontra hoje mais audiência,
sobre os direitos humanos dos cida- sinal de um fortalecimento da cons-
dãos. Que a ocasião sirva para criar ciência humana e de compaixão de
uma verdadeira cultura da cidadania, uns pelos outros.
Direitos humanos e direitos das crianças 1
Armando Leandro
Sumário: Os direitos humanos são entendidos como fonte, fundamento e inspiração essen-
ciais a conceções e intervenções de qualidade no quadro de uma sociedade democrática, sendo
que os direitos das crianças surgem como um dos domínios mais paradigmáticos do potencial
impacte significativo daqueles direitos. O reconhecimento ético, cultural, científico, social e
jurídico dos direitos das crianças é uma aquisição civilizacional decisiva, cuja concretização
envolve a ação de múltiplos agentes sociais e de atores específicos. Trata-se de um caminho
de renovado humanismo capaz de fazer valer o direito à esperança.
Summary: Human rights are understood as the source, foundation and essential inspiration
to conceptions and interventions with quality in the context of a democratic society, and the
rights of children emerge as one of the most characteristic areas of potential significant impact
of those rights. The ethical, cultural, scientific, social and legal recognition of children’s rights
is a critical civilizational acquisition, whose implementation involves the action of multiple
social actors and specific actors. This is the path of a renewed humanism able to enforce the
right to hope.
Palvras-chave: direitos humanos, direitos das crianças, comunidade local, dignidade, esperança.
No termo «criança» incluímos, conforme o art. 1.º da Convenção da ONU sobre os Direitos
1
da Criança, todo o ser humano com menos de 18 anos, abrangendo assim também os usual-
mente designados como jovens.
74 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
1. É com imenso gosto e sentimento que nos cabe viver – uma democra-
de privilégio que correspondo ao cia que, além de representativa, seja
honroso convite, que muito agradeço, participativa e cognitiva, e tenha pro-
para colaborar com o admirado fundas raízes éticas e humanistas.
Núcleo Cultural da Horta, escrevendo E julgo que assim é porque são
um singelo texto para o seu presti- características dos Direitos humanos,
giado Boletim. nomeadamente:
Entre as várias determinantes deste
sentimento, saliento: o muito apreço – Têm como fundamento essencial a
pelas pessoas que dirigiram o convite indiscutível e inviolável dignidade
ou estiveram na origem da formu- de toda a pessoa;
lação amável e generosa do desafio; – São seus atributos a universalida-
o afeto e a admiração que tenho pelas de, a indivisibilidade e a interde-
maravilhosas «Ilhas de Bruma» e pendência e correlação de todos
suas extraordinárias Gentes; o tema esses Direitos Humanos;
escolhido pelo Núcleo para o seu – A sua interiorização é a melhor
Boletim e a qualidade da vertente cul- via para a assunção dos correspon-
tural e cívica com que o perspetiva. dentes deveres e responsabilidades,
ancorados num autêntico sentido
2. Ao falarmos de Direitos Humanos, do Outro;
incluímos não só a sua dimensão – Têm um caráter não estático mas
jusnaturalista-universalista, mas tam- dinâmico e de progressiva afirma-
bém a sua acepção de Direitos Fun- ção e descoberta, pelo contínuo estí-
damentais, que são os Direitos mulo da interiorização dos Direitos
Humanos jurídico-institucionalmente Humanos a atuações visando a sua
garantidos. efetiva concretização nas reais situa-
Penso ser positivo abordarmos as ções humanas, diversificadas e
questões cruciais da nossa época com frequentes novas cambiantes;
– que tanto interpelam e podem rea- – Implicam a obrigatoriedade da ga-
lizar ou afetar as pessoas – à luz dos rantia às pessoas do seu gozo em
Direitos Humanos, no seu enqua- pleno, sem discriminações.
dramento atual, por me parecer que
esses Direitos são fonte, fundamento Vou centrar-me preferencialmente nos
e inspiração essenciais a conceções e direitos das crianças como Direitos
a intervenções de qualidade no quadro Humanos porque se me afigura um
de uma democracia à altura das vir- dos domínios mais paradigmáticos do
tualidades e dificuldades deste tempo potencial impacte significativo da con-
Armando Leandro 75
Sumário: O texto explora a ideia de direitos humanos e os papéis que são convocados a
desempenhar no quadro do processo de construção europeia – em concreto, em alternativa
ao modelo moderno, utilitarista, de organização social e política –, argumentando que a inte-
gração europeia não começou pela economia, mas pelo direito, mais especificamente, pelos
direitos humanos no quadro do Conselho da Europa. Paralelamente, e em particular no con-
texto atual, argumenta-se que é nos direitos humanos, e não na economia, ou nas finanças, ou
na lógica de alianças flutuantes do século xix e da primeira metade do século xx, que a Europa
poderá encontrar instrumentos capazes de lhe permitir, por um lado, superar a crise interna
de que enferma e, por outro, reencontrar o seu lugar no quadro do sistema internacional.
Summary: The text explores the idea of Human Rights and the roles they are called upon to
fulfill in the process of European construction – in concrete, as alternative to the modern,
utilitarian, model of social and political organization – arguing that European integration did
not begin with the economy, but with rights, specifically, with Human Rights in the frame-
work of the Council of Europe. In parallel, and particularly in the context of the present
crisis, we argue that it is from Human Rights, not from economics, finance or the xix century
logic of fluctuating alliances that Europe will be able to draw instruments that may allow her
both to overcome its internal crisis and to find its proper place in the international system.
Clarisse Canha
Sumário: A associação ‘UMAR’ nasce em Lisboa nos movimentos pós 25 de Abril e surge
nos Açores na década seguinte. Da atividade pontual nos anos 80, evolui e afirma-se numa
atividade regular. Na evolução da UMAR nos Açores, identificam-se diferentes etapas e
linhas de trabalho: debate público sobre os direitos das mulheres, formação-ação, combate à
violência doméstica e de género, promoção da mulher no trabalho, ação nas multidiscrimi-
nações, e ativismo pelo fim da violência contra as mulheres. Com base em trabalho local em
diferentes ilhas, desenvolve ação de âmbito regional, nacional e mundial. Articula atividades
e projetos com organizações de outras áreas de intervenção, integrando trabalho em rede e
parcerias ativas. A UMAR nos Açores tem tido papel determinante no ativismo feminista, na
promoção da igualdade e luta contra as discriminações, com impato nos direitos humanos das
mulheres e nos desafios neste campo de ontem e hoje.
Summary: The association ‘UMAR’ was born in Lisbon as part of the pro-democracy move-
ments of April 25th, and appears in the Azores in the next decade. One-off activities in the
80s evolved towards more regular activity. In the progress of UMAR in the Azores, different
stages and lines of work can be identified: public debate on women’s rights, action-training,
promotion of women at work, action on multiple discriminations and activism to end violence
against women. Based on local work on different islands, regional, national and global level
actions have been developed. Activities and projects with organizations in other areas of inter-
vention have also been articulated, integrating networking and active partnerships. UMAR in
the Azores has had a leading role in feminist activism, in promoting equality and combating
discrimination, with impact on women’s human rights and on the past and present challenges
in this field.
94 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
1. Introdução
Correspondendo ao convite para a como as perspetivas e desafios que
apresentação de um texto sobre o se colocam no aprofundamento do
trabalho da UMAR em prol dos direi- trabalho feminista e da promoção da
tos das mulheres e da igualdade de igualdade, integrando a igualdade
género deu-se início à escrita de um de género.
conjunto de ideias e relatos, a partir Torna-se pois oportuna a escrita deste
da experiência, observação, reflexão e artigo e o enquadramento que nos é
memória, das últimas décadas, sobre proposto em: “Direitos Humanos:
o percurso desta associação na ação atualidade e perspetivas” – o papel
feminista nos Açores, o ativismo, o da sociedade civil na promoção dos
trabalho em rede e parcerias no campo direitos humanos”.
dos direitos das mulheres e da igual- No início do século passado, Virgínia
dade e na luta contra as discrimina- Woolf, escrevia: “e pensei em como
ções nomeadamente as discrimina- é desagradável ser trancada do lado
ções de género. de fora; e pensei em como talvez seja
A redacção deste artigo surge numa pior ser trancada do lado de dentro”.
ocasião em que nos dedicamos de Na segunda metade do mesmo sécu-
forma especial a um projeto sobre a lo, na emergência dos movimentos
história da UMAR nos Açores, onde sociais do pós 25 de Abril de 74, a
se procura captar a evolução da asso- UMAR nasceu, em Lisboa, em 1976,
ciação e as diferentes etapas no cami- e na década seguinte (no decorrer
nho da emancipação das mulheres, dos anos 80) lançou a atividade nos
identificar pontos de referência do Açores e, já no início dos anos 90, foi
trabalho de ontem e de hoje, assim constituída uma delegação regional
Clarisse Canha 95
8
Lançamento do Projeto SOS Mulher – inau- 9
Destaca-se, em factos e datas históricas, ini-
guração do serviço, em Ponta Delgada, a 11 ciativas na área do género, na Universidade
de Dezembro 1997. dos Açores.
102 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
até invisível! Neste contexto coloca- É também nesta etapa que se reforça
ram-se novos desafios como a inves- a prática da investigação-ação no per-
tigação-ação que a associação veio a curso da UMAR nos Açores. Com
desenvolver. incidência no mundo do trabalho,
emprego e a conciliação da vida
A humanidade tem duas asas profissional, pessoal e social, foram
desenvolvidos três trabalhos com
Formação e investigação-ação
base em diferentes ilhas, numa pers-
a nível local e regional
petiva local e regional.
Em 2002, destaca-se a realização de Em 2006 foi realizado em Angra do
encontros formativos em São Miguel Heroísmo, um estudo sobre a “A con-
e em Santa Maria sobre “Igualdade e ciliação da família e da vida profissio-
Feminismos”, e ainda no Verão deste nal”, no qual se procura comprrender
ano uma digressão do grupo Gera- como é que os casais profissional-
ção Viva levou a vários localidades e mente ativos distribuíam o seu tempo
instituições dança de intervenção e a numa semana normal de trabalho15.
mensagem de que a Humanidade tem “As mulheres na agricultura” foi o
duas Asas13.14 tema do estudo realizado em Santa
Da formação-ação, no decorrer destes Maria, também em 2006, num tra-
anos, destaca-se a formação e sensibi- balho coordenado pelo núcleo de
lização sobre a Igualdade de Género ilha dando particular atenção àquelas
e a Violência doméstica sobre as mu- mulheres que fora do mercado formal
lheres, com a realização de sessões de trabalho laboram na agricultura.
dirigidas a grupos, sobretudo jovens Laboram dentro do núcleo familiar,
em contexto escolar, constituindo uma sem título, sem remuneração15. Ficou
prática que se tem vindo a desenvol- o desafio de aprofundamento nesta
ver e aprofundar até hoje, e que conta área relativamente a alguns indica-
também, com o crescente envolvi- dores já lançados e às realidades nas
mento de professoras/es dos estabele- outras ilhas da região.
cimentos de ensino.
13
Nas Asas da Igualdade foi o nome de pro- Comunidades. Volume V Coletânea coorde-
jeto da UMAR Açores, desenvolvido em nada por Rosa Neves Simas.
2007 – Ano Europeu da Igualdade. 15
“Empresárias Invisíveis. As mulheres na
14
“A conciliação da família e da vida profis- agricultura”, artigo de Maria Joseph Sem-
sional (...)” Agostinho Leão Pinheiro Soció- pere em A Mulher e o trabalho nos Açores
logo UMAR-Açores Delegação da Terceira. e nas Comunidades, Volume VI, Coletânea
Ver A Mulher e o trabalho nos Açores e nas coordenada por Rosa Neves Simas.
104 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
com uma temática cada mês que, ao pesca, iniciado anteriormente e foi
longo do ano, fomenta o desenvolvi- realizado ainda um estudo sobre
mento de mentalidades e políticas de O género nas empresas, em parceria
Igualdade levando os/as participantes com a empresa Norma Açores.
a desenvolver propostas concretas O projeto de investigação-ação As
para a Igualdade”, foi um projecto mulheres na pesca nos Açores tinha
que assumiu e mantém significado também como objetivo a criação de
na UMAR-Açores. Simboliza o apro- uma rede de mulheres na pesca cujo
fundamento qualitativo. Projecto para resultado representou um importante
todas as pessoas, abordou temas rela- passo na valorização e visibilidade
tivos às mulheres em diferentes áreas das mulheres do setor. Neste contexto,
da sociedade, envolveu instituições, destaca-se também o incentivo à par-
associações e pessoas das mais varia- ticipação das mulheres nas organi-
das áreas, numa dinâmica transversal zações e associações do setor assim
e participativa. Apostou-se no asso- como o empenho na criação de asso-
ciativismo, na parceria e na compo- ciativismo feminismo, como é o caso
nente pedagógica de debate e partici- da Ilhas em Rede Associação de
pativa. Mulheres na Pesca nos Açores20.
No ano de 2008, declarado pela União
Ações de rua marcam movimentos Europeia “O Ano Europeu do Diá-
logo Intercultural” surge o projecto
As ações de rua constituem um tipo
Migração, Interculturalidades e Gé-
de atividades em que a UMAR tem
nero. Foi também a vez de A Mulher
apostado nos Açores, com a envol-
e o Trabalho: Edição e lançamento
vência local das delegações de ilha,
da Coletânea coordenada por Rosa
sobretudo a partir dos anos 200019,
Neves Simas: A Mulher e o Trabalho
realizando ações, em São Miguel,
– nas Comunidades e nos Açores, e
Terceira e Faial, reforçando movi-
de garantir a participação dos Açores
mentos contra a violência sobre as
no Congresso Feminista, em Lisboa.
mulheres e pela igualdade.
Finalmente, neste mesmo ano, 2008,
No campo dos estudos de género
assume-se uma nova pagina associa-
prosseguiram-se projectos de inves-
tiva, em termos estatutários: a UMAR
tigação-ação como As mulheres na
Sumário: A Declaração Universal dos Direitos Humanos, adotada em 1948, foi decisiva para o
reconhecimento do Ser Humano enquanto Património da Humanidade, sendo justo reconhecer
uma evolução positiva da consciencialização coletiva abrangendo os direitos cívicos, sociais,
económicos, políticos e culturais. Porém, a luta pela defesa dos Direitos Humanos conhecerá
sempre avanços e recuos. Ao refletir sobre a temática dos Direitos Humanos, a AMI pretende ir
ao âmago da sua visão, da sua missão, dos seus valores e, sobretudo, da sua ação. No dia 5 de
dezembro de 2014, a AMI comemorou o seu 30.º aniversário. Foram 30 anos de luta contra a
intolerância e contra a indiferença, 30 anos a acreditar num futuro diferente e melhor, 30 anos
a cooperar pela construção de um mundo mais justo, 30 anos de perseverança, 30 anos de
sonhos, 30 anos de projetos, 30 anos de concretizações, 30 anos dedicados à causa dos Direitos
Humanos.
Nobre, F. (2015), The way AMI worked, works, and intends to continue to
work in the promotion of Human Rights. Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da
Horta, 24: 111-117.
Summary: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948, was decisive for
the recognition of the human being as World Heritage, being fair to acknowledge a positive
evolution of collective awareness covering the civil, social, economic, political and cultural
rights. But the struggle for the defense of human rights will always know advances and retreats.
By reflecting on the theme of Human Rights, AMI intends to go to the core of its vision, its
mission, its values and, above all, of its action.
On December 5th 2014, AMI celebrated its 30th anniversary. 30 years of struggle against
intolerance and against indifference, 30 years believing in a different and better future, 30 years
cooperating to build a more just world, 30 years of perseverance, 30 years of dreams, 30 years
of projects, 30 years of achievements, 30 years dedicated to the cause of human rights.
1. A génese
Demorou mais de cem anos até que dos portugueses a figura do Ombu-
a instituição passasse as fronteiras do dsman, por ocasião do II Congresso
seu país de origem: primeiro para a Republicano de Aveiro, que decorreu
Finlândia, por ocasião da sua inde- em Aveiro, de 15 a 17 de maio de
pendência, em 1919, e, depois, para a 1969. Posteriormente, no I Congres-
Dinamarca, em 1953, e em 1962 para so Nacional dos Advogados, que
a Noruega. Neste mesmo ano, deu-se a se realizou entre os dias 16 e 19 de
saída da Escandinávia para o resto do novembro de 1972, apresentou uma
Mundo, através da Nova Zelândia. comunicação sobre o assunto.
A Assembleia Parlamentar do Con- Em 1971, José Magalhães Godinho
selho da Europa, de 22 de janeiro de defendeu a criação de um conselho
1975 – tendo presente que as formas nacional de defesa dos direitos, com
usuais de controlo judiciário não per- funções semelhantes às do Ombuds-
mitem sempre reagir com a rapidez e man. Competir-lhe-ia, designadamen-
eficácia bastantes a todos os aspetos te, promover, para além de diligên-
e a todos os desvios da administra- cias junto do Governo e organismos
ção moderna. E considerando que o públicos, inquéritos, investigações e
Ombudsman, o comissário parlamen- estudos acerca da eficácia das normas
tar ou o médiateur desempenham asseguradoras dos direitos e liberda-
uma dupla função de importância des fundamentais da pessoa humana,
primordial de proteger os particulares inscritos na Constituição e na Decla-
contra os abusos das Administrações ração Universal dos Direitos do
Públicas e de, mais genericamente, Homem.
contribuir para o aperfeiçoamento das No já referido I Congresso Nacional
Administrações –, recomendou ao dos Advogados, de 1972, Vasco da
Comité de Ministros que convidasse Gama Fernandes apresentou uma
os Governos dos Estados-Membros comunicação defendendo a criação
que ainda não haviam adotado aque- do Ombudsman, com o propósito de
la instituição ao estudo da possi- prevenir e de promover a defesa dos
bilidade de designar, tanto a nível direitos, em geral, e das liberdades
nacional como a nível regional e ou públicas, em particular.
local, pessoas que assumam funções Ainda na mesma ocasião, Mário
correspondentes às dos Ombudsman Raposo foi relator do IV tema
e comissários parlamentares então («O advogado perante o processo
existentes. civil») no qual defendia que o
Terá sido Vital Moreira quem, pela pri- Ombudsman assegura a cada cidadão
meira vez, trouxe ao conhecimento a certeza de poder viver em condições
122 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
7
João Caupers, O Cidadão, o Provedor de 8
José de Faria Costa, “Razões de uma
Justiça e as Entidades Administrativas Inde- razão II”, Diário de Notícias, 7 de outubro
pendentes, Lisboa, 2002, p. 85, ss. de 2013, p. 47.
126 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
13
João Caupers, ibidem. João Caupers, ibidem.
14
Miguel Menezes Coelho 129
15
Diogo Freitas do Amaral, Ombudsman Diogo Freitas do Amaral, Limites jurí-
16
Apesar de surgir «num contexto espe- der a sua influência além fronteiras.
cífico de transição democrática»19, De início, marcando decisivamente
primeiro com a consagração legal e, a figura do Defensor del Pueblo que,
depois, com a constitucionalização, o em 1978, surge na Constituição espa-
Provedor de Justiça português teve a nhola. É o que atesta Alvaro Gil Ro-
virtualidade histórica de lograr esten- bles, autor do projeto de lei orgânica
que regula o Defensor del Pueblo, ao
recordar que «a Lei Portuguesa foi
17
Ombudsman – Novas competências..., op.
cit., p. 231.
18
Gomes Canotilho e Vital Moreira, Cons- Catarina Sampaio Ventura, Direitos
19
6. Conclusões
O Ombudsman configurou, logo no que se configurou, desde sempre,
seu surgimento, na Suécia, há mais como um órgão de defesa e promo-
de 200 anos, uma instituição ambi- ção dos direitos e de outras situações
valente. jurídicas subjetivas dos cidadãos
Surgiu como um instrumento do que, num primeiro momento, e como
poder real, mas que, enquanto tal e resulta claro do n.º 1 do artigo 1.º do
paradoxalmente, o limitava. Decreto-Lei n.º 212/75, de 21 de abril,
Dois séculos depois, em Portugal, visou a justiça e a legalidade da atua-
o Provedor de Justiça é «um órgão ção da Administração Pública através
constitucional de garantia dos direi- da investigação, por meios informais,
tos, liberdades e garantias enunciados das queixas dos cidadãos e da procura
no Título II da Parte I da Constituição de soluções adequadas.
e dos direitos a eles análogos»23,
eleito pela Assembleia da República, A especial natureza do Provedor
resulta das suas particularidades,
destacando-se a independência, a im-
23
Augusto Silva Dias e Francisco Agui-
lar, O Provedor de Justiça e o Processo
parcialidade, a acessibilidade, a espe-
Penal, O Provedor de Justiça – Novos Estu- cialização em administração pública
dos, Lisboa, 2008, p. 12. e a falta de vinculatividade das suas
136 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
Sandra Furtado
Sumário: Uma viagem de duas décadas sobre a intervenção com vítimas de violência domés-
tica nos Açores, e em particular em São Miguel, é o que nos propomos apresentar. Divulgar
informação sobre este tema não se tem revelado suficiente para o minimizar. É necessário
pensar de forma diferente para que se produzam mudanças nos comportamentos de quem
conceptualmente condena a violência, mas, na prática, tem dificuldades no que à autorregu-
lação respeita. Como fazemos prevenção da violência doméstica nos Açores? Quais os desafios
que nos coloca a sociedade atual? De que forma poderemos melhorar as respostas nesta área?
São questões para as quais queremos aqui suscitar reflexão.
Summary: A journey of two decades on the intervention with victims of domestic violence in
the Azores, and in particular in Sao Miguel, is the proposal that follows. Disseminate informa-
tion on this subject is not enough to combat it. Now is the time to think differently to produce
changes in the behavior of those who conceptually condemn the violence, but, in practice, have
difficulties at the level of self-regulation. How do we make prevention of domestic violence in
the Azores? What are the challenges that we face in today’s society? How can we improve the
responses in this area? These are questions that require some reflection.
das sobre a urgência desta incum- sivo durante o último ano e 21%
bência. A informação é sem dúvida reconheceram já ter adoptado este
importante, mas manifestamente insu- tipo de condutas em relação aos seus
ficiente. parceiros. À semelhança de outros
O trabalho desenvolvido nos últimos estudos internacionais (ex.: Kaura,
20 anos nos Açores, no âmbito da Allen, 2004), predominam os actos
prevenção, tem sobretudo dependido que comummente se designam de
da criatividade de técnicos/as, que, ‘formas menores’ de violência: insul-
com poucos recursos, tentam espa- tar, difamar ou fazer afirmações
lhar pequenas sementes promotoras graves para humilhar ou ferir, gritar
de igualdade, deixando, no entanto, ou ameaçar com intenção de meter
ao abandono os terrenos semeados. medo, partir ou danificar objectos
Umas sementes sobrevivem, prova- intencionalmente ou dar uma bofe-
velmente a maioria não, atendendo tada. (…) No que se refere às dife-
a que não há uma continuidade para renças de género, não se encontram
o propósito a que se destinam, sendo diferenças significativas, embora no
disso exemplo, as ações de sensibi- que diz respeito a pequenos actos de
lização. Mesmo que se pretendesse violência as mulheres admitissem
avaliar o impacto do trabalho já de- uma maior taxa de agressão (Matos,
senvolvido, seria tarefa árdua, por ca- Caridade, Silva e Machado, 2006)”
recer de instrumentos adequados que (Matos e Machado: 2011).
permitissem, na devida altura, avaliar
alterações no domínio das atitudes e Estes são dados reveladores da pre-
dos comportamentos. Esta informa- mência da prevenção primária, em
ção seria uma enorme mais-valia para particular em faixas etárias anteriores
nortear as presentes e futuras inter- ao início das relações amorosas.
venções a realizar em meio escolar. As ações de sensibilização, em con-
Facto é que a violência nas relações texto de sala de aula, devem conti-
íntimas tem início mesmo antes da nuar a ter lugar, sobretudo quando
coabitação, e sem diferenças signifi- ocorrem a pedido dos estabeleci-
cativas entre sexos, como nos reve- mentos de ensino – atendendo a que
lam os dados de uma equipa da Uni- é considerável a probabilidade de o
versidade do Minho. tema ser explorado para além do pe-
ríodo reservado à ação. No entanto,
“(…) um estudo pioneiro (Machado, a implementação de um programa de
Matos e Moreira, 2003) revelou que prevenção da violência doméstica, na
15,5% dos jovens referiram ter sido comunidade educativa, enfrenta mui-
vítima de, pelo menos, um acto abu- tos obstáculos. Trabalhar num con-
Sandra Furtado 145
Bibliografia
Summary: Human rights are never neither fully grounded nor sufficiently protected from
historical erosion and the risk of falling back into oblivion. Linked to the dawn of modernity,
human rights are now entangled in the crossroads of “reflexive modernity” (to use Ulrich Beck’s
wording). In this paper three proposals are made about the crucial challenges that humankind is
facing and the key role that a wider understanding of human rights plays in a positive response
that may provide for a positive outcome to these challenges.
O que se poderá ainda dizer sobre os aquele que confere aos parlamentos
direitos humanos numa altura em que nacionais eleitos pelos povos o poder
as leis do mundo político se inclinam exclusivo de fazer as leis. Como com-
cada vez mais para o peso das coisas preender o processo, absolutamente
que têm um preço de mercado, e cada antidemocrático, de “aprovação” do
vez menos para aquilo que tem valor e Tratado Orçamental (entrou em vigor
é fonte de valor, fora da estrita esfera em 2013), que foi imposto aos povos
das transacções? Nas relações inter- da União Europeia, violando não só o
nacionais, longe vai o tempo da diplo- Tratado de Lisboa, mas usurpando as
macia exigente, em que os progressos competências orçamentais dos parla-
em matéria de direitos humanos cons- mentos? Propomos ao leitor, justa-
tituíam uma linha da frente da diplo- mente nesta hora de crise e perigo
macia europeia ou norte-americana. para os direitos humanos, ao que nos
Hoje, a lógica da vantagem econó- acompanhe numa breve viagem onde
mica pura e dura, a urgência no acesso procuramos recuperar apenas o que
a bens naturais estratégicos cada vez permanece essencial, a saber, a natu-
mais escassos, parece substituir todas reza inacabada e inacabável da funda-
as outras considerações. A recente en- mentação e consolidação dos direitos
trada de uma sangrenta ditadura afri- humanos, tanto a uma escala domés-
cana para a CPLP reproduz, à nossa tica e constitucional, como, por maio-
modesta escala, este voraz niilismo ria de razão, no âmbito do sempre im-
activo que esmaga a própria memória perfeito direito internacional público.
dos direitos humanos. E que dizer da Esse âmbito essencial torna-se parti-
orgulhosa Europa, onde, na voragem cularmente visível através da consi-
da erroneamente denominada “crise deração das três teses que de seguida
das dívidas soberanas”, se espezi- se enunciam.
nharam princípios sagrados como
Vladimir Safatle
Sumário: Trata-se de discutir o direito de resistência como direito humano fundamental, isto
a fim de pensar as consequências de tal centralidade para a compreensão da política em sua
dimensão anti-institucional. Através de uma gênese do direito de resistência, o artigo insiste na
necessidade de não limita-lo à enunciação de princípios liberais ligados às liberdades indivi-
duais. Por fim, procura-se discutir a importância da dissociação entre direito e justiça para um
conceito substantivo de democracia real.
Summary: The aim of this article is to discuss the right of resistance as a major human
right and to think the consequences of this proposition for a comprehension of politics in its
anti-institutional dimension. Through the genesis of the right of resistance, this article defend
that we can’t reduce it thinking that it simply describe liberal principles linked to individual
freedom. At the end, I try to discuss the importance to dissociate right and justice for a substan-
tial concept of real democracy.
Genealogia da resistência
3
Milton, John, “A tenência de reis e magis-
1
Calvino, João, A instituição da religião trados”, in: Dzelzainis, Martin (org.) e
cristã, São Paulo: Unesp, 2009, p. 882. John Milton, Escritos Políticos, São Paulo:
2
Müntzer, Thomas, Sermon to the princes, Martins Fontes, 2005, p. 4.
Londres: Verso, 2010, p. 96. 4
Idem, p. 63.
158 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
A plasticidade da democracia
Summary: In this work we study the phenomenon of emigration from Crow Island, especially
to the United States during the nineteenth century and the first two decades of the twentieth
century. Emigration from Crow Island allows us to know, from the official documentation, this
reality that belongs to the history of Portugal and the Azores in which the inhabitants of Crow
Island fall in. The reasons had to do with the famine crises that followed with some frequency,
leading to wide spread hunger and diseases that affect the populations of more scarce resources.
Emigration appeared as an escape from these situations. However, it is impossible to know
much of the information due to illegal immigration.
Introdução
No âmbito do Seminário – Projeto Ano da Licenciatura em História na
em História – ministrado pelo Doutor Universidade dos Açores, foi-me pro-
Carlos Rilley da Motta Faria, no 3.º posto pelo docente estudar a emigra-
168 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
ção corvina no século xix e princípio oceano, para utilizar uma expressão
do século xx. O tema suscitou-me das Atas Camarárias.
grande interesse, dadas as particula- Neste trabalho pretende-se estudar o
ridades com que se reveste aplicadas fenómeno da emigração dos corvinos
ao movimento demográfico da mais para os EUA, durante o século xix e as
pequena ilha dos Açores. primeiras duas décadas do século xx.
A emigração é um fenómeno de todos Para uma melhor compreensão do
os tempos. Portugal foi, nos últimos fenómeno, faremos o seu enquadra-
500 anos, um país de emigrantes, com mento, relacionando-o em seguida
vagas sucessivas, organizadas pela com a baleação americana nos Açores.
Coroa ou por iniciativa particular. A relação das baleeiras com a comu-
A ilha do Corvo, situada no extremo nidade corvina também será abor-
da Europa, foi um local de cruza- dada e, finalmente, os locais onde os
mento de rotas ao longo dos tempos. corvinos se instalaram no mundo que
Estas rotas permitiram o contato dos apresentam algumas das caracterís-
corvinos com o mundo. No dealbar ticas da emigração dos corvinos.
do século xix, a baleação americana Este trabalho baseia a sua reflexão
estava em franco progresso. Foram nos documentos oficiais, nomeada-
as baleeiras americanas que propor- mente os Livros de Registo de Passa-
cionaram aos corvinos a fuga daquele portes do Governo Civil da Horta e
“torrão” de terra plantado no meio do Atas da Câmara Municipal do Corvo.
3
Ibidem. 6
Miranda, Sacuntala, A Emigração Portu-
4
Ibidem. Os moldes da emigração promo- guesa e o Atlântico – 1870-1930. Lisboa,
vida pelo Coroa serão, com as devidas dife- Edições Salamandra, 1999, p. 47.
renças, retomados com o Estado Novo, em 7
Serrão, Joel, “Conspecto histórico da
pleno século xx, para as colónias de África, emigração portuguesa”, in Análise Social.
mas essa comparação não é objeto do nosso Lisboa, Instituto Superior de Ciências Eco-
estudo. nómicas e Financeiras, Ano 8, n.º 32, 1970,
5
Ibidem. p. 610.
Hélio Nuno Santos Soares 171
miséria nem falta de trabalho, dado sua passagem»9. Não era escravatura,
que havia falta de mão-de-obra na mas, dadas as condições de trabalho
agricultura. Por estes motivos, para o e as restrições a que estavam sujeitos
relator, a única razão para motivar a os emigrantes, aproximava-se da
emigração é a ambição de enriqueci- escravatura, por este motivo se desig-
mento rápido. Joel Serrão classifica a nava de “escravatura branca”. A prá-
explicação de simplista, indo buscar a tica do engajamento também existiu
resposta à emigração a autores como nos Açores.
Alexandre Herculano e Orlando Uma particularidade da emigração
Ribeiro, para os quais os reduzidos açoriana oitocentista, nítida sobre-
salários, a ausência de investimento tudo no último quartel do século, é a
na agricultura, a existência de uma viragem para outros destinos que não
indústria reduzida e a pressão demo- o brasileiro, nomeadamente o Hawai,
gráfica exercida sobre a terra eram na altura designava-se o arquipélago
os motivos mais que suficientes para por ilhas Sandwich, e Estados Unidos.
incentivar a emigração portuguesa8. Desde os finais do século xix e ao
Uma questão muito polémica durante longo do século xx, a emigração
o segundo quartel do século xix foi açoriana direcionou-se quase sempre
a prática do engajamento de colonos para os Estados Unidos. É o ciclo dos
para o Brasil, fenómeno que a opi- Estados Unidos, no dizer de Sacuntala
nião pública portuguesa designaria de Miranda10. Esta mudança de destino
“escravatura branca”. Segundo Artur abrangeu primeiramente o grupo cen-
Madeira, «o engajamento consistia tral e ocidental e só posteriormente o
na assinatura de um contrato com o grupo oriental11. Ricardo Madruga da
capitão do navio pelo qual, em troca Costa defende que esta emigração é
da passagem, o colono teria de tra- de caráter individual, de cariz clan-
balhar na nova terra entre 3 e 5 anos destino, e motivada pela presença da
para pagar a soma despendida com a frota baleeira americana12.
8
Ibidem, pp. 610 e 611. 11
Rocha, Gilberta Pavão Nunes, “A emigra-
9
Madeira, Artur Boavida, “Emigração”, in ção na sociedade açoriana: os EUA como
Enciclopédia Açoriana, Direção Regional destino”, in Galiza e Açores – A rota da
da Cultura. <URL: http://www.culturacores. América. Pena, Alberto; Mesquita, Mário
azores.gov.pt/ea/pesquisa/Default.aspx?id= e Vicente Paula (Coord.). Lisboa, Funda-
2987>. ção Luso-Americana, 2002, p. 38.
10
Miranda, Sacuntala, A Emigração Portu- 12
Costa, Ricardo Madruga da, “A emigração
guesa e o Atlântico – 1870-1930. Lisboa, do Faial para os Estados Unidos da América
Edições Salamandra, 1999, p. 47. no século xix”, in Galiza e Açores – A rota
172 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
incerta num quartel frio, com gente ção para os Estados Unidos da Amé-
estranha, e sujeito a uma alimentação rica. Os primeiros emigrantes açoria-
de má qualidade, muito diferente da nos a instalarem-se nos Estados Uni-
gastronomia insular e do aconchego dos da América remontam à década
familiar. Para combater a emigração de vinte do século xix, maioritaria-
clandestina foi exigido às autoridades mente embarcados nas baleeiras ame-
locais uma vigilância mais rigorosa. ricanas, propriedade das companhias
No ciclo do Brasil, os navios que da costa leste e mais tarde da Cali-
faziam o transporte de emigrantes fórnia19. Eram maioritariamente ho-
legais e clandestinos transportavam mens provenientes das ilhas do Faial
outra carga até aos Açores, nomea- e Pico que se instalaram e trouxeram
damente contrabando, para depois as famílias. Foram eles que, eventual-
levarem os novos passageiros. No mente, incentivaram a emigração de
caso dos emigrantes para a América, familiares de forma gradual. Na Cali-
no decurso do século xix, as baleeiras fórnia, um outro núcleo chegou à
americanas foram o meio de trans- procura do ouro, instalando-se, poste-
porte escolhido, principalmente para riormente, como proprietários agrí-
quem embarcava nas ilhas dos grupos colas. Segundo Maria Baganha, estes
central e ocidental. Somente em finais dois núcleos de emigração de finais
de oitocentos os grandes paquetes do século xix, foram impulsionados
transatlânticos começaram a realizar pela preocupação económica, pela
viagens regulares e possuindo grande necessidade de reunião de famílias
capacidade de transporte. Estes pa- separadas, pelo desejo de estender
quetes tinham duplo objetivo: trans- os benefícios da emigração à restante
portar emigrantes para os países ame- família, pelo o anseio de regressar à
ricanos em desenvolvimento e trazer terra natal e de possuir um pedaço
para a Europa produtos agrícolas de terra seu na mesma20. Todas estas
diversos produzidos nesses países. razões favoreceram o aumento da
Como já dito anteriormente, o nosso deslocação de pessoas entre os Açores
estudo debruçar-se-á sobre a emigra- e a América.
19
Ibidem, p. 90. Cf. Costa, Ricardo Madruga Alberto; Mesquita, Mário e Vicente Paula
da, “A emigração do Faial para os Estados (Coord.). Lisboa, Fundação Luso-Ameri-
Unidos da América no século XIX”, in cana, 2002, p. 66.
Galiza e Açores – A rota da América. Pena, 20
Ibidem, p. 92.
174 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
centenas de navios passaporte para alcan- duas décadas, a Coroa exigia, siste-
çar o seu sustento e esperança de desafogo, maticamente, levas de recrutas aço-
dignidade do seu carácter e da sua coragem
rianos para o Brasil, estipulando o
física e moral30.
número a enviar31. Por exemplo no
Quem embarcava nas baleeiras ame- ano de 1809 solicitava-se um contin-
ricanas? É a pergunta que podemos gente de 3.000 recrutas. Estes núme-
formular. A resposta é simples, eram ros, certamente não eram satisfeitos,
maioritariamente jovens. Porque em- como o autor bem explica. É notório
barcavam? É a segunda pergunta. o embaraço das autoridades em satis-
Estes jovens viviam num ambiente fazer as exigências da Coroa. Todavia,
saturado pela exploração agrária, em o autor avança com uma estimativa
que cada palmo de terra era disputado imprecisa de contributo dos Açores
por uma densidade populacional rela- face aos pedidos da Coroa, em que
tivamente alta, assim os recursos eram estima uma mobilização na ordem
escassos. Consumiam as suas forças dos 4.000 a 5.000 jovens. Esta situa-
no amanho da terra, das vinhas, no ção tornou-se dramática, porque os
pastoreio dos animais. Gente de fé, jovens partiam na incerteza do re-
dado que era a única esperança a que gresso, que era o mais provável!
se podiam agarrar, conformada, numa Separavam-se famílias, privavam-se
simplicidade iletrada, em que o único de braços para a agricultura, comér-
objetivo era sobreviver e colocar cio e ofícios. Temos assim um efeito
comida diariamente na mesa para desagregador de famílias e comuni-
toda a família, mesmo que esta fosse dades inteiras. O recrutamento abran-
igual à do dia anterior e do dia se- daria durante o restante século, mas
guinte. A tudo isto se acrescia a carga manter-se-iam a memória deste pe-
fiscal a que estavam sujeitos, em que ríodo e o horror ao serviço militar.
a estrutura fundiária das ilhas era Os fatores económico e militar foram,
diversa, mas, na generalidade, a provavelmente, os que mais influen-
maioria da população não detinha ciaram a saída de jovens das ilhas.
nem o chão do casebre onde habitava. Entrar numa baleeira era um ato de
O recrutamento militar era outro fla- desespero e coragem. Desespero pela
gelo que vai marcar todo o século xix situação que se vivia nas ilhas; cora-
e início do século xx. Nas primeiras gem porque se atiravam os jovens
30
Ibidem. ‑Geral (1800-1820). Horta, Núcleo Cultural
31
Costa, Ricardo Manuel Madruga da, Os da Horta/Câmara Municipal da Horta, 2005,
Açores em finais do regime da Capitania- pp. 199-203.
Hélio Nuno Santos Soares 177
33
Ibidem, p. 121 e ss. 37
Ibidem.
34
Gomes, Francisco, A Ilha das Flores: da 38
Ibidem, p. 663.
redescoberta à actualidade (subsídios para 39
Ibidem, p. 664. Cf. Bragaglia, Pierluigui,
a sua História). Lajes das Flores, Câmara “Maurício António Fraga & C.ª Lda”, in
Municipal das Lajes das Flores, 1997, Enciclopédia Açoriana, Direção Regional
p. 652. da Cultura. <URL:http://www.culturacores.
35
Ibidem, p. 661. azores.gov.pt/ea/pesquisa/Default.aspx?id=
36
Ibidem, p. 658. 8133>.
Hélio Nuno Santos Soares 179
40
Vieira, Luís Filipe Nóia Gomes, Concelho 27 de Julho de 1901. Podendo-se especular
de Santa Cruz das Flores (1890-1920) – a existência de um livro por década obte-
Entre a estagnação e o progresso. Ponta remos o início desta competência do Admi-
Delgada, Universidade dos Açores, Edição nistrador do Concelho de Santa Cruz na
fac-similada, 2012, p. 134. O primeiro livro década de setenta de oitocentos.
de registo de emissão de passaportes pela 41
Saramago, João, “Breve notícia histórica
administração do Concelho de Santa Cruz sobre a ilha do Corvo”, in Vila Nova do
das Flores encontra-se desaparecido, so- Corvo – inventário do Património imóvel
mente existe em arquivo o livro n.º 3, com dos Açores. Angra do Heroísmo, Direção
início em 1 de Julho de 1891 e termino em Regional da Cultura, 2001, p. 15.
180 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
dos mares; e muito menos ainda lhes pode ‑nos o trabalho árduo necessário à
ser imputada a sua diminuta importância sobrevivência na ilha: «são os corvi-
comercial, que está, em relação com o
nos um povo laborioso, quase só
numero de habitantes deste pequeno cabe-
ço que muitas vezes, como no anno pró- entregue aos próprios recursos»44.
ximo findo, não produz o suficiente para O contato com as baleeiras america-
a parca alimentação de seus infelizes nas permitia as transações e também
habitantes; o que os obriga a imigrar e a o quebrar da monotonia da vida da
procurar regiões mais férteis e mais hospi- ilha. Se recordamos a importância
taleiras42.
dada ao “dia de S. Vapor” no decurso
O isolamento da ilha era notório, com do século xx, certamente veremos a
a ausência de transportes regulares, e importância atribuída às chegadas
os que havia tornavam-se verdadei- dos navios baleeiros ao Corvo no
ramente desconfortáveis43. Somente século xix, já que eram uma porta de
a necessidade ou verdadeira curiosi- comunicação com o exterior. Também
dade se impunham a um espírito mais neste campo os irmãos Bullar são
aventureiro. Os diferentes visitantes nossas testemunhas: «de vez em
da ilha, que registaram as suas im- quando aportam ao Corvo navios
pressões, dão-nos um imaginário de baleeiros americanos para se abaste-
ilha isolada e pobre. O motivo fun- cerem»45. Comunicar com os baleei-
damental para este isolamento dentro ros não devia ser fácil, devido à lín-
do próprio arquipélago foi a ausência gua, mas o contato sistemático com as
de comunicações regulares. Por outro tripulações e a emigração nas mesmas
lado, a ilha estava fora das rotas favoreceu a aprendizagem da língua
comerciais da época. Perdeu a sua inglesa. Continuando a servirmo-nos
importância geoestratégica do Antigo do relato dos irmãos Bullar, ficamos a
Regime. saber que o padre João Inácio Lopes
Os irmãos Bullar visitaram a ilha do sabia «algumas palavras de inglês»46.
Corvo em Abril de 1839. Confirmam- Para um homem que, provavelmente,
pouco viajou e passou a vida nesta
42
Livro de Atas da Câmara Municipal do
Corvo de 19/4/1902 a 29/5/1905, fl. 35,
sessão de 27/6/1903. 44
Bullar, Josefh e Henry, Um Inverno nos
43
Cf. Soares, Hélio Nuno Santos, O Corvo Açores e um verão no Vale das Furnas. Tra-
e os transportes marítimos – 1832 a 1984. dução do Inglês por João Hicckling Anglin.
Trabalho realizado para a disciplina de 2.ª edição, Ponta Delgada, Instituto Cultural
História das Revoluções, ministrada pelo de Ponta Delgada, 1986, p. 251.
Doutor Carlos Rilley Faria, Licenciatura em 45
Ibidem.
História, no ano letivo de 2012/13. 46
Ibidem, p. 256.
Hélio Nuno Santos Soares 181
47
Ibidem. 52
Ibidem, fl. 20, sessão camarária de 15/10/
48
Livro de Atas da Câmara Municipal do 1870.
Corvo de 9/6/1868 a 5/2/1880, fl. 9v, sessão 53
Ibidem, fl. 21, sessão camarária de 20/10/
camarária de 4/9/1869. 1870.
49
Ibidem, fl. 10v e ss. sessão camarária de 54
Ibidem, fl. 26, sessão camarária de 12/9/
11/9/1869. 1870.
50
Ibidem, fl. 14, sessão camarária de 16/10/ 55
Ibidem, fl. 34v, sessão camarária de 5/12/
1869. 1875.
51
Ibidem, fl. 19, sessão camarária de 11/10/ 56
Ibidem, fl. 54v, sessão camarária de 7/12/
1870. 1879.
182 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
facilitar esta emigração (…). Inútil toda a se tornar num ponto para depois desapa-
repressão de emigração, torna igualmente recer, quase com certeza que, sem que
errisorio o vigor das leis militares, despo- ninguém o visse, terá começado a chorar.
voa estas ilhas, e prepara-nos num futuro Deve ter sentido o desamparo que outros
talvez não muito remoto a anexação do já também sentiram ao deixar de repente
archipellago, á bandeira estrelada; facto de serem crianças e se tornarem homens,
que dificilmente se poderá evitar: quando levando só, como um amuleto contra o
todos ou quazi todos os habitantes d’estas mal, a bênção dos pais59.
ilhas forem súbditos dos Estados Unidos
da América (…). Vem rogar-lhes se sirvam As atas simplesmente nos falam das
modificar a legislação actual58 (cf. Anexo crianças embarcadas, que eram decla-
III).
radas na Câmara de modo a que o
O pavor ao recrutamento era uma seu nome fosse retirado da lista de
realidade, mas do ponto de vista da recenseamento militar. Os mesmos
maturidade um jovem entre os 18 e os documentos são omissos, de forma
25 anos conseguia enfrentar melhor direta, quanto à partida de jovens
uma situação de separação e afasta- clandestinamente. Mas a expressão
mento do que uma criança entre os 8 e «cada pedra das nossas costas é um
os 13 anos. Ser privado do aconchego caes d’embarque a facilitar esta emi-
familiar numa idade tão precoce é gração»60 é elucidativa desta realidade.
traumatizante, como bem sabemos. Em 1911, após a mudança de regime,
Vázquez de Acuna a este respeito faz o trauma do recrutamento continua,
a seguinte descrição a respeito da par- por esse motivo a Câmara do Corvo
tida do corvino Carlos Nascimento: solicita ao Ministro da Guerra para
que tome medidas de modo a evitar
Desde aquele cone vulcânico, achatado no a emigração:
decurso de milénios, zarpara Carlos rumo a
New Bedford. Uma pena surda invadia‑o, Afastado do convívio social e reduzido
chorando para dentro na despedida dos exclusivamente ao amanho de suas terras
seus que supunha, sem se enganar, que e culturas de suas searas; teem uma repug-
nunca mais voltaria a ver. E, enquanto o nância, diremos melhor, teem um horror
vento inchava as velas e a sua ilha se ia tal ao serviço militar, que, apesar da alegria
afastando cada vez mais no horizonte, até com que receberam a noticia da Implan-
tação da República e da confiança com
58
Livro de Atas da Câmara Municipal do
Corvo de 19/4/1902 a 29/4/1905, fl. 98v Manuel Gomes dos Santos, s/l, DRC, 2004,
e ss., sessão de 29/4/1905. p. 40.
59
Postigo, Váquez de Acuna Marquês Garcia 60
Livro de Atas da Câmara Municipal do
del, O Corvino Carlos G. Nascimento. Trad. Corvo de 19/4/1902 a 29/4/1905, fl. 98v
por Manuel del Pino Morgádez e Vítor e ss., sessão de 29/4/1905.
184 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
que d’Esta esperamos benefícios que até Na biografia de Carlos George Nasci-
hoje lhes teem negado os governantes mento é-nos relatado o testemunho
transactos, quasi desfalhecem ao imaginar
que seus filhos terão de ir aguardar em
de uma odisseia familiar, que a famí-
um quartel militar, o toque do clarim para lia viveu na emigração de oitocentos
marchar ás horrorosas inventualidades de numa clara relação com a baleação64.
uma guerra61 (cf. Anexo IV). Carlos G. Nascimento nasceu em
1885 na ilha do Corvo, sendo o mais
Partiam rumo a um destino desconhe- novo de onze irmãos. Filho de Carlos
cido, com a obrigação de pagar a pas- Lourenço George e Maria de Jesus
sagem servindo numa campanha ba- Nascimento. O pai era pescador e
leeira de vários anos. Uma verdadeira baleeiro, ausentando-se por longas
exploração a que estavam sujeitos por temporadas, por vezes por longos
parte dos capitães e armadores. anos. O avô George Jousef Lourenço
Foi a bordo destes navios que os já fora baleeiro algures nas décadas
corvinos, segundo a tradição oral, de vinte e trinta do mesmo século65.
aprenderam a fazer as famosas barre- O irmão mais velho partiu numa ba-
tas do Corvo, transmitindo a técnica leeira para New Bedford, dedicando-
no regresso à ilha62. Para Francisco ‑se à caça da baleia, o mesmo acon-
Medeiros, estes emigrantes que se- teceu com outro irmão que apanhou
guiam a bordo das baleeiras«foram a boleia numa baleeira, mas não se
guarda avançada de muitos outros emi-
dedicou a este ofício, indo instalar‑se
grantes que se lhes seguiram»63. São eles
em S. Francisco, onde montou um
que ao desembarcarem num porto
estabelecimento hoteleiro, seguindo
dos Estados Unidos da América, do
as pisadas de uns tios paternos. Foi
Brasil ou do Chile prepararam a ida
seguido pelos demais irmãos. O irmão
de familiares no futuro. O caso que
Francisco foi estudar para o Semi-
seguir apresentamos transmite-nos
essa ideia.
63
Medeiros, Francisco, “Baleação Ameri-
61
Livro de Atas da Câmara Municipal do cana”, in Enciclopédia Açoriana, Direção
Corvo de 29/10/2010 a 28/12/1912, fl. 10v Regional da Cultura, 2000. <URL: http://
e ss., sessão de 24/12/1010. www.culturacores.azores.gov.pt/ea/pesqui
62
Cf. Soares, Hélio Nuno Santos Soares, sa/Default.aspx?id=5517>.
Da tosquia das ovelhas às coberturas de 64
Postigo, Váquez de Acuna Marquês Garcia
cabeça na ilha do Corvo – Açores. Univer- del, O Corvino Carlos G. Nascimento. Trad.
sidade dos Açores, Trabalho elaborado para por Manuel del Pino Morgádez e Vítor
a disciplina de Antropologia Cultural dos Manuel Gomes dos Santos, s/l, DRC, 2004,
Açores, ministrada pelo Doutor Rui Mar- pp. 11 a 19.
tins, ano letivo de 2012/13. 65
Ibidem, p. 28.
Hélio Nuno Santos Soares 185
nário de Angra, seguindo para New rumo a um novo destino, numa clara
Bedford onde o pai tinha amigos, diferença entre as duas primeiras, em
tornando-se pároco da comunidade que emigravam para regressar à ilha,
portuguesa66. Juan do Nascimento, deixando mulher e filhos atrás. A ter-
tio materno de Carlos George Nasci- ceira geração emigrou para não mais
mento, também embarcou numa ba- regressar à ilha. Verificamos a impor-
leeira e seguiu para o Chile, insta- tância dos laços familiares que foram
lando-se na cidade de Santiago, tor- mantidos, permitindo o apoio aos
nando-se livreiro. Carlos George do que ficaram e desejaram partir com
Nascimento imigrou para o Chile, o intuito de se estabelecerem no país
chamado pelo tio materno e autori- recetor. Outro caso é o filho de João
zado pelo pai, que tinha boa imagem Lourenço Innocencio, este informou
do país, seguiu para o destino sul- a Câmara do Corvo, para efeitos de
‑americano, em 190567. Embarcou recrutamento, que o seu filho Manuel,
numa baleeira cujo piloto era amigo de 13 anos, tinha partido para Cali-
do pai rumo a New Bedford, onde o fórnia na companhia do tio António
irmão Francisco, sacerdote, o aguar- Lourenço Brizida72.
dava68, atravessou o país rumo a Outro dos aspetos que sobressaem
S. Francisco de comboio69. Nesta nesta odisseia familiar é a utilidade
cidade encontrou os irmãos mais ve- dos contatos e amizades estabelecidos
lhos e outros parentes, permanecendo pela geração precedente, neste caso
cerca de dois meses com eles, para o pai de Carlos George Nascimento,
depois embarcar rumo ao Chile em que lhe permitiu ir à boleia numa
meados de Novembro70. Também baleeira sem ter de pagar a passagem.
temos a notícia de um tal de José Fraga Não esqueçamos que nesta época a
que tinha um armazém de revenda navegação transatlântica a vapor já
na cidade de Concepción, no Chile, fazia viagens regulares, mesmo assim
que é apresentado como exemplo de a opção foi enviar o filho com os
sucesso71. O testemunho apresentado velhos amigos e conhecidos.
relata-nos três gerações de emigran- A presença de baleeiras não estava
tes da mesma família, que sentiram a isenta de perigos. As intempéries
necessidade de melhorar a sua condi- eram frequentes, mesmo nos meses
ção partindo nas baleeiras americanas
70
Ibidem, p. 58-59.
66
Ibidem, p. 18. 71
Ibidem, p. 32.
67
Ibidem, pp. 34 e 39. 72
Livro de Atas da Câmara Municipal do
68
Ibidem, p. 39. Corvo de 16/10/1898 a 4/8/1900, fl. 19,
69
Ibidem, p. 51. sessão de 13/5/1899.
186 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
de verão. Nas ilhas não existiam por- na época de caça à baleia, baleeira
tos abrigados, havia baías e ancora- Charles & Therry naufragou nas
douros, mas que estavam dependentes costas do Corvo, conseguindo a tripu-
dos quadrantes do vento para deter- lação salvar-se73. Os naufrágios nas
minar se os navios podiam abrigar‑se imediações do Corvo eram uma fonte
nelas. O navegar à vista de terra de madeira e bens, numa ilha que
também acartava riscos. Em 1845, carecia de vegetação.
Massachusetts
16. Califórnia
61.
A emigração legal corvina tem as suas cação para os dois casos terá que ver
características próprias. Os corvinos com as ligações familiares já exis-
integram-se nos grandes fluxos emi- tentes.
gratórios de oitocentos e novecentos.
As fontes documentais deste estudo
são os Livros de Registo de Passa- 5.1. Emigração para o Brasil
portes do Governo Civil da Horta
(cf. Anexo I) e as Atas da Câmara Como tivemos oportunidade de ver
Municipal do Corvo (cf. Anexo II). no ponto anterior, a emigração para os
Antes de iniciarmos a nossa análise, EUA foi sempre expressiva ao longo
queremos apresentar dois casos isola- do século xix. Mas os corvinos inte-
dos de emigração para o Chile: uma graram-se no chamado ciclo do Bra-
mulher solteira de 28 anos, que parte sil, mantendo uma emigração mais ou
em 1897 e um jovem de 13 anos, em menos constante para esse destino,
1917. Ambos embarcam, provavel- embora não o possamos comprovar,
mente, via Lisboa, onde fariam outro do ponto de vista documental, com
transbordo rumo ao distante Chile, números. A observação dos Livros
certamente numa longa viagem, com de registo de Passaporte do Governo
algum conforto proporcionado pela Civil da Horta no período de 1890 a
navegação a vapor. Daí a necessidade 1920 lança algumas luzes sobre este
de obtenção de passaporte. A expli- destino. Entre 1896 e 1902 emigra-
Hélio Nuno Santos Soares 189
35
30
25
20
15
10
0
1898 1899
1900 1901
1902 1903
1904 1905
1906 1907
1908 1901
1914 1915
Fonte: Atas da Câmara Municipal do Corvo – Requerimentos à Câmara do Corvo a pedir a desnaturali-
zação portuguesa (1898-1915).
Conclusão
75
Vieira, Luís Filipe Nóia Gomes, Concelho Municipal de Santa Cruz das Flores e as
de Santa Cruz das Flores (1890-1920) – Relações de embarque de passageiros do
Entre a estagnação e o progresso. Ponta Governo Civil da Horta depositado na
Delgada, Universidade dos Açores, Edição Biblioteca Pública e Arquivo Regional da
fac-similada, 2012, pp. 164-166. Para a Horta João José da Graça.
obtenção destes dados o autor consultou o 76
Costa, Susana Goulart, Açores: Nove Ilhas,
livro de registo Causas e fins da emigração uma história. Angra do Heroísmo, Direcção
1896-1913 existente Arquivo da Câmara Regional da Cultura, 2008, p. 199.
Hélio Nuno Santos Soares 193
Bibliografia
ANEXOS
Anexo I
Emissão de passaporte pelo Governo Civil da Horta
Passa- Estado
Nome Ano Profissão Idade Destino Navio
porte civil
Joaquim Lourenço Pimentel 1896 362 casado agricultor 34 Rio de Janeiro Açor
Roza de Jesus Coelho 1897 193 solteira doméstica 28 Chile Vega (Lisboa)
João Jacintho de Fraga 1899 100 casado negociante 48 Rio de Janeiro Açor (Lisboa
Francisca Jacinta de Fraga 1899 100 casada doméstica 31 Rio de Janeiro Açor (Lisboa)
Maria Jacintho de Fraga 1899 100 solteira 13 Rio de Janeiro Açor (Lisboa)
(?) Jacintho de Fraga 1899 100 solteira 7 Rio de Janeiro Açor (Lisboa)
João Jacintho de Fraga 1899 100 solteiro meses Rio de Janeiro Açor (Lisboa)
Maria Palmira dos Santos Jorge 1900 181 solteira doméstica 21 Rio de Janeiro Açor (Lisboa)
José Pedro Lourenço 1900 182 solteiro trabalhador 16 Rio de Janeiro Açor (Lisboa)
Joaquim José das Pedras 1900 183 casado trabalhador 28 Rio de Janeiro Açor (Lisboa)
Maria da Conceição (esposa) 1900 183 casada doméstica 22 Rio de Janeiro Açor (Lisboa)
Maria das Pedras 1900 183 solteira 1 Rio de Janeiro Açor (Lisboa)
Maria de Jesus Pimentel (irmã) 1900 183 casada 31 Rio de Janeiro Açor (Lisboa)
Passa- Estado
Nome Ano Profissão Idade Destino Navio
porte civil
Manuel Pedro Nunes 1911 456 solteiro 9 Brazil Funchal
Manuel Coelho Patrício 1911 458 casado trabalhador 65 E.U.A. Funchal
Maria da Conceição Lopes Patrício
1911 458 casada 54 E.U.A. Funchal
(esposa)
Maria Lopes Patrício 1911 458 solteira 28 E.U.A. Funchal
Aurora Lopes Patrício 1911 458 solteira 20 E.U.A. Funchal
Vitória Lopes Patrício 1911 458 solteira 16 E.U.A. Funchal
Alice Lopes Patrício 1911 458 solteira 13 E.U.A. Funchal
Joaquim Rodrigues Marecheiro (?) 1911 468 solteiro trabalhador 32 E.U.A. Funchal
Jacomo Valadão Baptista 1911 647 solteiro trabalhador 18 E.U.A. Germania
Mariana Jacinta das Pedras 1912 17 solteira doméstica 18 E.U.A. Funchal
Anna Júlia de Fraga 1912 170 solteira 25 E.U.A. Funchal
José Lourenço Nunes 1912 175 casado carpinteiro 23 E.U.A. Funchal
Manuel Jacintto de Fraga 1912 184 casado agricultor 33 E.U.A. Funchal
Manuel Augusto Bicho 1912 205 casado trabalhador 32 E.U.A. Roma
Rita Thomasia d’Avelar (esposa) 1912 205 casada 28 E.U.A. Roma
Conceição Brísida 1912 381 solteira doméstica 20 E.U.A. Funchal
Aurea Rita Esculástica 1912 448 solteira doméstica 21 E.U.A. Funchal
João Caetano Vieira 1912 620 solteiro trabalhador 21 E.U.A. S. Miguel
Maria Augusta Gomes 1913 206 casada doméstica 37 E.U.A. Funchal
Firmina Gomes (filha) 1913 206 solteira 5 E.U.A. Funchal
Victória Thomaz Eugenio 1914 230 casada doméstica 28 E.U.A. Funchal
Carolina do Espírito Santo Patrício 1914 288 casada doméstica 27 E.U.A. Germania
Anna Augusta Mendes 1915 251 solteira doméstica 30 E.U.A. Britania
Conceição Fraga Santos 1916 327 solteira doméstica 23 E.U.A. Roma
António Ângelo d’Avelar 1917 9 solteiro estudante 13 Chile Funchal
António Lourenço Nunes 1920 42 solteiro trabalhador 16 Brazil Funchal
Maria Helena Avelar 1920 894 solteira doméstica 20 E.U.A. San Miguel
Emília Roza 1920 901 solteira doméstica 43 E.U.A. Roma
Urbano Lourenço Valentim 1920 904 solteiro agricultor 19 E.U.A. Roma
António Vicente Rocha 1920 918 solteiro agricultor 20 E.U.A. Roma
José Valadão Pimentel 1920 937 solteiro agricultor 19 E.U.A. Roma
António Valadão Batista 1920 949 solteiro agricultor 23 E.U.A. Roma
Daniel Valadão Batista 1920 950 solteiro agricultor 20 E.U.A. Roma
Agostinho de Fraga 1920 951 solteiro agricultor 24 E.U.A. Roma
José de Fraga Alferes 1920 952 solteiro agricultor 21 E.U.A. Roma
Camilo da Costa 1920 1000 solteiro agricultor 19 E.U.A. Roma
Manuel Joaquim de Avelar Junior 1920 1012 casado agricultor 52 E.U.A. Roma
Ana Rita da Silveira 1920 1114 viúva doméstica 66 E.U.A. Roma
António Coelho Mendes 1920 1156 solteiro trabalhador E.U.A. Roma
José Jacinto do Amaral 1920 1304 solteiro estudante 17 E.U.A. Britania
Média de idades 17
Anexo II 198
Pedidos de desnaturalização dirigidos à Câmara Municipal do Corvo (1898-1915)
Idade dos
Requerente Filiação Beneficiário(s) Sessão de Câmara Data de nascimento
beneficiários
Luiz José d’Avelar Manoel 28/8/1898 18 2/1/1880
João Jacinto de Fraga João 11/3/1899
João Lourenço Innocencio Manoel 13/5/1899 14
António Silva três filhos 11-08-1900
Manuel de Fraga Estácio Greves Manoel 12/7/1881
Manuel Baptista Lopes Senior António 09-03-1901 18
Manoel Rodrigues Marcelino José 15 de Junho de 1901 20
Manoel Thomé do Nascimento Thomé do Nascimento o próprio 10 de agosto de 1901 18
Thomaz Francisco Eugénio Manoel Thomaz Eugénio o próprio 19 de outubro de 1901 19
Manoel Hilário José Francisco Hilário o próprio 16 de novembro de 1901 19
Joaquim Pedro Nunes junior Joaquim Pedro Nunes o próprio 7 de dezembro de 1901 19
Francisco Ignácio de Fraga Francisco 21 de dezembro de 1901 19
João Valadão do Rozario Manoel 21 de dezembro de 1901 19
Francisco Jerónimo d’Avellar Camillo 24 de maio de 1902 16
Manoel Thomaz Eugénio Junior Manoel Thomaz Eugénio o próprio 6 de setembro de 1902 19
Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
João Lourenço Saramago José, Manoel, Ignacio, António e João, 15 de agosto de 1908 1899, 1900, 1905, 1906, 1908
Manoel Francisco Mendes Junior Manoel Francisco Mendes o próprio 15 de agosto de 1908 18
José Francisco d’Avellar António d’Angelo d’Avellar 5 de setembro de 1908 5 1903
Anna da Conceição de Fraga Francisco Ignácio de Fraga Junior
a própria 1 de julho de 1911
(casada) (marido)
João, António, José, Manoel, Agostinho
José Valladão do Rego 1 de julho de 1911 1892, 1894, 1898, 1902, 1903 e 1905
e Joaquim
Manoel d’ Aujola Francisco Coelho d’Aujola o próprio 3 de Maio de 1913
José d’Avellar António d’Aujola Avellar 19 de maio de 1913 10 1903
Maria Margarida da Encarnação (viúva) João Lourenço Brígida (marido) António, Pedro e Joaquim 12 de julho de 1913 1897, 1900 e 1903
Joaquim Valladão d’Anna Joaquim 1 de abril de 1914 13 1901
António Nunnes Canoca Manoel Nunnes Canoca Junior o próprio 2 de novembro de 1914
António Tomaz Eugénio Manoel Tomaz Eugénio o próprio 1 de abril de 1915
201
202 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
Anexo III
Transcrição de Representação à Câmara dos Senhores Deputados
da Nação Portuguesa sobre a emigração e o serviço militar
lares pátrios um único Açoreano, que não venha engalanado com as estrella
da União, e protegido pelas azas da Aguia de seus sellos. Para termos disso
a certeza é bastante contemplal-as no acto de desembarque, e ver que, em
quanto o braço esquerdo sustenta o classico grosso sobretudo, o direito ostenta
na mão altiva, a carta de naturalização, que para muitos é synonimo de não
poder ser perseguido por motivos de serviço militar, a que não satisfizeram,
e para todos é um meios de exentar desse serviço seus filhos, nascidos ou
nascituros, e fazel-os sair d’estas plagas (sic) sempre que o desejem e queiram;
e até de raim (sic) com eles, sem mesmo se ver forçados aos encommados
(sic) de passaporte. A emigração dos filhos dos Açores para os Estados Unidos
da América, e ali naturalizados Cidadãos dquelle paiz, torna pois inútil toda a
repressão de emigração, torna igualmente errisorio o vigor das leis militares,
despovoa estas ilhas, e prepara-nos num futuro talvez não muito remoto a
anexação do archipellago, á bandeira estrelada; facto que dificilmente se
poderá evitar: quando todos ou quazi todos os habitantes d’estas ilhas forem
súbditos dos Estados Unidos da América. E isto, Senhores! levará tanto menos
tempo, quanto não só os repatriados voltem cidadãos Americanos, mas até
muitos outros vão aos Estados Unidos, só co o fim de arranjar o tal pape-
linho, que mais tarde lhes permite mandar para ali seus filhos, sem que as
authoridades portuguezas quer administrativas, quer miliates, tenham nisso
quesulerin. Adhere pois esta Municipalidade á representação que a Mui Digna
Municipalidade de Velhensa faz subir ao seio da Representação Nacional e
d’acordo com ella e com quantos relativamente ao assumpto, se fizeram ouvir
perante os Dignos Representantes da Nação, vem rogar-lhes se sirvam modi-
ficar a legislação actual, relativa a este assumpto, de modo e por forma que
não seja coarctada a liberdade do cidadão portuguez. Que todo e qualquer
portuguez, ou pelo menos Açoreano, possa sair da pátria quando assim lhe
convier e voltar a ella quando assim lhe fizer conta, sem que tenham por isso
de ser por qualquer forma perseguidos. Alevie-se para esse fim o tributo de
sangue, já relativamente á forma porque deve ser satisfeito, já relativamente
ao tempo da sua duração já relativamente ao preço da remissão, que deve ser
baixada, e posta ao nível de todas as bolças.
Senhores! Parecenos incontestável que modificado neste sentido a legislação
actual, será muito e muita a emigração; porque o povo, eterna creança que
teima em fazer o que lhe prohibem, deixará de encontrar no obstando e esti-
mado a sahida dos lares pátrios. A felicidade de satisfazer ao tributo de sangue,
e a modicidade (sic) do preço da remissão do serviço militar, acabará com a
204 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
emigração clandestina, cujos riscos já não convirá correr, e até acabará por seu
turno com as naturalizações estrangeiras, pois não convirá perder os direitos
de cidadão portuguez, só por motivo de evadir-se a um pequeno sacrifício.
Muitos dos nossos irmãos que se conservam longe do torrão natal, não duvi-
darão voltar a elle porque já não correm risco de ser perseguidos; e os que de
futuro forem emigrando conservarão a esperança do regresso num futuro mais
ou menos próximo. Assim se evitará a despovoação destas ilhas: o decresci-
mento de suas industrias; o descultivo de suas oberrimos terrenos; cuja desva-
lorização já muito e muito se nota; o empobrecimento geral de quantos aqui
forem ficando; e mais que tudo a perda destas perdas Açoreanas que hoje
ornamentam o Deadema Portuguez, e que estão em risco de, num futuro não
muit remoto, ver hastear nos torreões das suas briosas fortalezas, em vez do
Glorioso Pendão das Quinas, estandarte estrella riscado dos Estados Unidos
d’América.
Senhores! Os recursos jurídicos de scientificos dos humildes agricultores que
compõe esta vereação, não lhes permitem explanar-se mais. Outras Munici-
palidades, mais á altura do assumpto, pela sua ilustração e conhecimentos
jurídicos, farão notar aos Dignos Deputados da nação Portugueza, o modo
e a forma porque a respectiva legislação deverá ser modificada. Esta corpo-
ração limita-se a reconhecer a justiça da Causa, e a chamar para ella a atenção
da Representação Nacional. Em prova de suas asserções aduzirá o facto de
n’este Concelho de apenas 760 almas, haver já na administração do Concelho
o registo de 122 cidadãos Americanos, e que de 10 mancebos que teriam ser
inscriptos no recenseamento militar do corrente anno, apenas se haveram
apurado dois, um dos quais exempto por motivo d’estudos superiores; e isto
porque todos os mais declararam em tempo perante esta Camara que seguiam
a nacionalidade de seus pães.
Já hoje se nota que neste Concelho, só é cidadão portuguez algum velho a
quem a morte tardia vae deixando arrastar e alquebrado corpo pela superfí-
cie da terra, e termos certeza de que, em breve não só para comporem todas
as corporações atuaes, mas nem memso para a Junta de Parochia, quando
todas as outras tenham sido suprimidas; se de prompto se não acudir com
remedio eficaz a essa torrente de desnaturalização portugueza. Profundamente
magrados pelos motivos que deixamos ponderados, não podem recusar-nos,
apesar da nossa humildade, a unir nossa débil vos ao concerto do Municipios
Açoreanos; e a reclamar dos Mui Dignos Representantes da Nação prompeto
e eficaz remedio aos males que nos opprimem.
Hélio Nuno Santos Soares 205
Anexo IV
Transcrição de Representação da Câmara do Corvo
ao Ministro da Guerra sobre o serviço militar
Sumário: Neste artigo, com base na informação colhida nos registos da Alfândega da Horta
para o período abrangendo os anos de 1800-1820, pretende-se evidenciar a importância das
exportações do vinho “verdelho” produzido na ilha do Pico e que através do porto da Horta
se exportava principalmente para os países do Norte da Europa e para os Estados Unidos da
América.
Summary: This article, based on the information gathered in the records of Horta Customs for
the period covering the years 1800-1820, is intended to highlight the importance of exports of
the “verdelho” wine produced on the island of Pico and exported by the port of Horta, mainly
to the countries of Northern Europe and to the United States.
Futuro, realizado na Madalena da Ilha do Pico entre 9 e 12 de Junho de 2011, mantido inédito
até à edição do presente boletim.
208 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
Nota Prévia
Em anexo à minha dissertação de lamento, mas apenas uma explicação
doutoramento, posteriormente edita- para esta minha revisita às fontes que
da, entendi transcrever na íntegra um deixei impressas, na tentativa de
apreciável conjunto de documentos redescobrir pistas de análise que pos-
relativos ao período sobre o qual sam revelar-se úteis.
aquele trabalho incidiu. Transcrevi O que nos propomos nesta comuni-
igualmente, embora com sistemati- cação é, para usar a linguagem dos
zação adequada aos propósitos do debates levados a cabo nos órgãos
estudo do comércio do arquipélago colegiais, passar da generalidade à
entre 1800 e 1820, o essencial do especialidade. Neste período os Aço-
conteúdo da totalidade dos despachos res mantinham activo comércio com
alfandegários das ilhas de S. Miguel, a Inglaterra, sendo bem conhecido o
Terceira e Faial, quer para a exporta- caso da comercialização da laranja de
ção, quer para a importação. Sendo S. Miguel já ampla e competentemen-
certo que estas fontes foram por mim te tratado nos trabalhos de Fátima
aproveitadas em ampla medida, a Sequeira Dias. Todavia, para o con-
verdade, porém, é que num acervo junto do arquipélago e no que toca
documental tão extenso, resta sempre ao século xix, para além de genera-
razoável margem para leituras alter- lidades para a formulação das quais
nativas ou para novas interpretações. eu próprio dei contributo, não se
A circunstância e a percepção de que conhece muito mais. Tentaremos, por
a pesquisa feita me teriam permitido isso, trazer ao tema algumas achegas
ir bem mais longe no detalhe das aprofundando um pouco a perspectiva
análises, não me impediu de deixar de que os Açores, em tempo não
aberta a possibilidade de outros apro- muito recuado, se situavam efectiva-
veitarem a informação divulgada para mente nesse mundo vastíssimo das
os fins que entendessem. Não obstante rotas oceânicas que ajudaram a tecer
a partilha, a verdade é que, seja por uma verdadeira «civilização atlân-
desinteresse seja porque o que se edita tica», conceito que muitos recusam
nos Açores raramente circula para mas que me parece apropriadamente
além do dia da apresentação pública expressivo. Nesta oportunidade, e
à qual amigos e familiares compare- perante o estímulo que esta iniciativa
cem, o certo é que, tanto quanto sei, a proporciona, aventuro-me de novo
informação então divulgada continua pelas “rotas do Verdelho”, com o
repousando ordeiramente à guarda objectivo de organizar e analisar
zelosa do editor e jamais terá sido alguma informação que julgo interes-
utilizada. O que fica dito não é um sante.
Ricardo Manuel Madruga da Costa 209
A par destas variações, a leitura dos ses, são passíveis de “meios direitos”3.
quadros oferece também aparentes A partir da leitura dos anexos, come-
discrepâncias quanto a valores dos cemos por verificar, em função de
direitos cobrados em função dos des- regiões nas quais se localizam os
tinos. Em resultado do Tratado de portos de destino das exportações, a
Amizade e Comércio celebrado com respectiva distribuição quantitativa.
a Inglaterra, este valor eleva-se a 15%. A designação das regiões obedece,
Deverá ainda notar-se que em obe- naturalmente, a um critério arbitrário
diência ao Decreto de 25 de Novem- e que visa uma maior comodidade na
bro de 1783, as exportações de vinho sistematização. Tendo em conta o seu
para a Inglaterra, Irlanda, Rússia e significado, separámos os portos da
Estados Unidos, em navios portugue- Rússia dos restantes portos do Báltico.
Quadro I
ainda ocupa uma posição com alguma quatidades exportados e para simpli-
expressão, e os restantes portos com ficação dos cálculos, reduzimos as
exportações, apresentam valores resi- barricas e os barris a pipas, tendo em
duais. Voltaremos a esta distribuição conta que uma barrica equivale a ½
com considerações de outra natureza. pipa e que um barril equivale a ¼ de
No quadro seguinte, para sublinhar de pipa. Igualmente para simplificação
forma mais clara a expressão destas consideraremos o total das expor-
exportações, determinamos os valo- tações do vinho comum e do vinho
res percentuais em termos agregados. passado, não obstante a disparidade
Para calcularmos a percentagem das dos seus valores.
Quadro II
Quadro III
Quadro IV
Quadro V
Valor dos direitos cobrados pela alfândega da Horta
sobre as exportações de vinho doPico entre 1800-1820
O quadro, ao nível das receitas arre- dados que o quadro mostra, o cálculo
cadadas pela Alfândega, evidencia efectuado vai ser-nos útil para deter-
um valor significativo. Se admitirmos minar de forma mais simples e, de
uma média anual da ordem dos 4 con- algum modo, mais exacta, a propor-
tos de réis quanto aos direitos cobra- ção do envolvimento de nacionais e
dos, significa que estamos a falar de estrangeiros na exportação. Para esse
valores médios anuais de exportação fim vamos utilizar os valores dos di-
da ordem dos 40 contos de réis, uma reitos entrados na Alfândega os quais,
cifra muito considerável para a época. expressos em percentagem, como se
Para além do interesse directo dos deduz do quadro, não coincidem exac-
tamente com as percentagens calcu-
tempo memorável”, in Boletim do Núcleo ladas em função do número de pipas
Cultural da Horta, Horta, 1993-95, Vol. XI, embarcadas. O facto deve-se à diver-
pp. 129-276. Id., “As invasões Francesas e sidade do tipo de pipas já referido,
a transferência da coroa portuguesa para o bem como à exportação de algumas
Brasil. Algumas repercussões nos Açores”,
in Arquipélago-História, 2.ª Série, Ponta
quantidades de vinho “passado” com
Delgada, Universidade dos Açores, III, 1999, maior valor comercial e, por conse-
pp. 275-324. quência, pagando direitos superiores.
218 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
Quadro VI
escreveu, criando-se a ideia de que a dois quadros que nos ajudarão a fun-
laranja micaelense teria feito a rique- damentar o que pretendemos. Um pri-
za da ilha e dos seus morgados, a que meiro quadro permite obter uma visão
se juntavam uns quantos negociantes global comparativa das receitas arre-
vindos da terra de Sua Majestade cadadas pelas alfândegas de S. Miguel,
Britânica. Direi, de passagem, que Terceira e Faial, a que se acrescenta
não me parece que este fenómeno o cálculo, também comparativo, do
de enriquecimento, por esta via, seja contributo em percentagem com que
assim tão evidente. cada uma dessas três ilhas concorre
Como base da análise reproduzimos para o conjunto dos direitos pagos.
Quadro VII
Comparação dos direitos de exportação cobrados em S. Miguel,
Terceira e Faial entre 1800-1820
Valores Percentagem do total
Anos
S. Miguel Terceira Faial Total S. Miguel Terceira Faial
1800 681$400 — 5:874$970 6:556$370 10,4 — 89,6
1801 836$928 — 6:885$970 7:722$898 10,8 — 89,2
1802 1:792$366 — 1:751$735 3:544$101 50,6 — 49,4
1803 604$180 690$020 2:569$608 3:863$808 15,6 17,9 66,5
1804 2:297$972 465$000 2:814$902 5:577$874 41,2 8,3 50,5
1805 746$960 420$680 3:160$775 4:328$415 17,3 9,7 73,0
1806 1:826$990 308$870 1:636$980 3:772$840 48,4 8,2 43,4
1807 1:186$260 194$100 2:182$550 3:562$910 33,3 5,4 61,3
1808 2:475$381 729$708 2:419$135 5:624$224 44,0 13,0 43,0
1809 564$150 1:843$647 6:176$775 8:584$572 6,6 21,5 71,9
1810 1:644$790 918$600 7:030$922 9:594$312 17,1 9,6 73,3
1811 — 587$882 4:832$383 5:420$265 — 10,8 89,2
1812 2:509$390 283$540 1:613$900 4:406$830 56,9 6,4 36,7
1813 3:097$846 140$210 1:435$282 4:673$338 66,3 3,0 30,7
1814 2:108$060 60$050 6:247$425 8:415$535 25,0 0,7 74,3
1815 3:555$592 242$630 2:611$999 6:410$221 55,5 3,8 40,7
1816 2:245$115 283$910 5:444$208 7:973$233 28,2 3,6 68,2
1817 1:510$530 396$400 7:787$581 9:694$511 15,6 4,1 80,3
1818 1:490$726 316$396 5:240$425 7:047$547 21,2 4,5 74,3
1819 2:101$858 354$510 2:946$641 5:403$009 38,9 6,6 54,5
1820 1:807$600 370$140 7:279$383 9:457$123 19,1 3,9 77,0
Totais 35:084$094 8:606$293 87:943$549 131:633$936 26,6 6,5 66,9
Fonte: Ricardo Manuel Madruga da Costa, Os Açores em finais do regime de Capitania-Geral. 1800-1820,
Horta, Núcleo Cultural da Horta; Câmara Municipal das Horta, 2005, p. 339.
222 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
Numa observação dos dados, po- seguinte estes dados ganham um sig-
demos verificar que ao longo deste nificado mais compreensível. Aqui
período a ilha do Faial ocupa, em limitamo-nos a um confronto a partir
geral, uma posição preponderante. do peso relativo que os direitos pagos
Para a totalidade do período, o valor em relação à exportação da laranja
dos direitos pagos no Faial mais do em S.Miguel e os que se pagam no
que duplica os que se pagam em S. Faial pela exportação do vinho do
Miguel, sendo que, no conjunto das Pico, contra a totalidade dos valores
três ilhas, a percentagem que cabe ao entrados nas duas alfândegas e que já
Faial ronda os 67 %. Com o quadro se tinham apurado no quadro anterior.
Quadro VIII
Conclusões
ANEXO I
4 Jul Thomas Parkin 1 pipa e meia de vinho 2$700 Terra Nova Ber.m ingl. Aventura
comum
16 Ago Diversos (portugueses) 19 pipas de vinho comum 34$200 Barbados Ber.m ingl. Towey
17 Ago Thomas Parkin 2 pipas de vinho comum 3$600 Barbados Ber.m ingl. Towey
17 Ago Francisco António 4 pipas de vinho comum 7$200 Barbados Ber.m ingl. Towey
20 Ago Guilherme Greaves 24 pipas de vinho comum 43$200 Quebec Ber.m ingl. Lilly
20 Ago Thomas Parkin 5 pipas de vinho comum 9$000 Quebec Ber.m ingl. Lilly
2:058$300
26 Jul Diversos (portugueses) 35 pipas e meia, 1 barril de 64$350 Barbados Chalupa amer. Polly
vinho comum
1 Out Diversos (portugueses) 27 pipas de vinho 48$600 Terra Nova Galera ingl. Antelope
comum
19 Out Scott Idle de Sobradello 441 pipas de maior regu- 920$000 Barbados Galera ingl. União
lação; 40 barricas de maior
regulação de vinho comum
26 Out Scott Idle de Sobradello 468 pipas de vinho comum 996$000 Barbados Galera ingl. Anna
de maior regulação; 60 bar-
ricas de vinho comum de
maior regulação
11 Dez Scott Idle de Sobradello 363 pipas de maior regu- 746$000 Dominica [?] Bridge
lação
2:844$250
Ricardo Manuel Madruga da Costa 231
1 Dez Scott Idle de Sobradello 209 pipas de vinho comum 430$000 Suriname Ber.m ingl. [?]
de maior regulação; 12 bar-
ricas de vinho comum de
maior regulação
2:075$000
4 Mai Scott Idle de Sobradello 472 pipas de vinho comum 973$600 Barbados Galera ingl. Vestal
de maior regulação; 20 bar-
ricas de vinho comum de
maior regulação; 496 pipas
de vinho comum de maior
regulação
26 Mai Scott Idle de Sobradello 496 pipas de vinho comum 997$400 Barbados Galera ingl. Clio
de maior regulação; 2 pipas
de regulação
26 Mai Scott Idle de Sobradello 310 pipas de vinho comum 648$700 Santa Luzia Ber.m ingl. Elizia
de maior regulação; 26 bar-
ricas de maior regulação;
3 barricas de regulação
12 Jun José Francisco Terra 19 pipas e meia de vinho 35$100 Gibraltar Escuna ingl. Marinheiro
comum
Ricardo Manuel Madruga da Costa 233
ANEXO II
ANEXO III
ANEXO IV
ANEXO V
ANEXO VI
Introduction
A Trip to the Azores or Western Islands (Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1867). For more informa-
1
tion on this book and its author, see “M. Borges de F. Henriques in the United States,” Boletim
Núcleo Cultural da Horta (2010), pp. 443-61.
266 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
2
See http://www.recordpub.com/opinion/2013/10/06/portage-pathways-globe-trotting-fannie-
b-ward-came-home-to-ravenna.
3
Ibid.
4
Ibid.
Fannie B. Ward 267
forced her to return home.”5 Still, in the Azores she had climbed the moun-
tains, including, of course, Pico, and in Madeira she had suffered through the
famously precipitous toboggan slide down the mountain. Judging from the
descriptions of her behavior in her reports, she was game for pretty much any
and all challenges.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
5
Ibid.
268 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
that of London, with only one-fifteenth as many people as inhabit that city, but
spread over 400 miles of the deepest part of the Atlantic they include an area
of land and water greater than all England. Being historically of great interest,
and scenically among the most picturesque spots on the earth’s surface, the
wonder is that they have been so long neglected by pleasure-seekers and
curiosity-hunters. Until of late few persons except those connected with them
commercially or absconding cashiers and other individuals seeking an out-of-
the-way haven of refuge have had any idea of their exact location, much less
of their characteristics and the peculiarities of life there. Barely mentioned in
the geographies and encyclopedias, even now the would-be student of them
finds scant literary information on the subject.
Prospective Popularity.
But all this will be changed in the near future, since three lines of vessels now
make regular trips between our ports and those of the Azores, where they
connect with the Portuguese and other lines, thus enabling [the] tourist to enter
Europe via the Spanish peninsula and the Mediterranean – a very welcome
change from the old routes of travel. The islands make a delightful half-way
station on the great ocean highway, and if one goes no farther he gets a bit of
foreign travel which cannot be duplicated anywhere in the world in the way
of novelty, fine scenery, and enjoyment for so small an expenditure of time,
strength, and money.
Nowadays too, the Azores have new interest for Americans, since Portugal has
at last grudgingly recognized our principles of local government in granting
autonomy to the islands, and the interesting little community are legislating
for themselves at Angra, the almost unknown capital of the group. The inde-
pendent blue flag that now waves above everything Azorian, with its white
hawk and nine stars, contains history in a nutshell. It tells of nine mid-ocean
provinces under one government, and the emblematic hawk reminds the world
that their name, Açor (Portuguese for hawk), was conferred because of the
great number of those birds found on the islands by navigators whom Portugal
sent to take possession of the group. It was a low morning in late August, after
a passage from Bermuda which we would fain forget as quickly as possible,
when some early prowler on deck raised the cry, “Land, ho!” at daybreak, and
the sleepy passengers tumbled out to see what looked like a low cloud-bank
on the horizon – the Isle of Flowers and its sister, Corvo, twenty miles away.
270 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
This is, the very scene of the conflict, on Aug. 10; 1591, made memorable
by the pen of Walter Raleigh, in which the English ship Revenge, with Sir
Richard Grenville, as captain, endured for twelve hours before she struck the
attack of eight great Spanish armadas. She sunk two of them, each three times
her own size; and after all her masts were gone, and she had been three times
boarded without success, defied to the last the whole fleet of fifty-one sail,
which lay around waiting for her to strike or sink. Raleigh tells us how, finally,
Sir Richard, shot through body and head, and wounded in many places, was
taken on board the Spanish Admiral’s ship to die, and gave up his gallant
ghost with these words: “Here died I, Richard Grenville, with a joyful and
quiet mind; for that I have ended my life as a true soldier ought – fighting
for his country, Queen, religion, and honor; my soul willingly departing from
this body, leaving behind the lasting fame of having behaved as every valiant
soldier is in his duty bound. That was a rather long and stilted speech for a
dying man, shot all to pieces, to make; and probably, in point of fact, he said
Fannie B. Ward 271
no such thing, though it reads so well in history. Sir Walter Raleigh romanced
too much in his account of El Dorado and the golden cities of South America
for us to have entire confidence in his famous “Report of the Truth of the Fight
About the Isles of the Azores.”
Flores in the Distance.
As the outline of the Flores grows more distinct you see jagged volcanic
peaks sloping on all sides to the sea, ending in black precipices against which
the surf beats ceaselessly. A nearer view reveals green fields and cultivated
uplands, cottages, and waving grain, and cloud shadows chasing each other on
the hill tops and down the deep ravines. While waiting for a boat to come off
with the health officer and pratique to go ashore – a business of some hours –
we amused ourselves by getting all the information we could about Corvo, the
nearby neighbor, of which we have a fine view.
It looks almost round, a picturesque mass of rock and forest, not five miles in
diameter – in short, what it is, merely a volcanic crater, which the natives call
O Caldurao, “the big pot,” whose outer sides arc cultivated. This smallest and
most northerly of the Azorean Archipelago exists only as a satellite of Flores,
and would not be mentioned at all were it not within sight of the latter. Vessels
never call there, because it has so harbor, the early means of communication
with the outside world being by means of a whaleboat from Flores once a
month – if winds and waves permit. But sometimes during bad weather even
this is forbidden, and for three or four consecutive months the tiny island is
totally isolated. At best the ten-mile row is not a pleasure excursion, owing
to the boisterous waves and adverse currents, so it is not likely we shall ever
set foot on Corvo. The great drawback of all these islands is their lack of
natural harbors, business mainly being carried on through two of them,
where artificial harbors have been constructed. Corvo got its name (which is
Portuguese for crow) from the number of those birds found upon it when
discovered. The captain’s chart says that it is six miles long by three wide,
rising abruptly from the ocean, with a rough, inhospitable-looking coast of
dark, serrated rocks, which run in reefs from the shore, here, lifting them-
selves high above the water, there merely blackening the surface, and again
sinking to such a depth that their dangerous presence can be told only by the
eddy swirling about them.
272 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
on their own little island everything required in the way of food and clothing.
But then, their requirements are simplicity itself. They have swarthy skins, go
always barefooted, and generally bareheaded, and are strong, healthy, happy,
and industrious; at least, the women are industrious, for they do all the field
work, and are said to excel their somewhat lazy lords in all matters requiring
skill and endurance.
They are noted besides for their slovenliness and red petticoats. The men wear
suits of coarse brown home-spun, with coats reaching almost to the ankles,
and a skull cap of the same material for dress occasions.
Shrewd in Trade.
In trade they evince the remarkable shrewdness proverbial among the
Azoreans; but so friendly and unsuspecting are they that their doors and
windows are never fastened at night, and they sleep in happy ignorance of the
murders and robberies committed in more enlightened quarters of the globe.
They are like one large family, all living in the only village on the island.
Their cottages are alike as so many peas in a pod, all built of stone, roofed
with thatch or tile, with mother earth for flooring, and neither chimneys nor
glass windows. They are placed in tiers, one above the other up the side of the
hill, with lanes between them, too narrow, steep, and stony to be called streets.
The health officer’s boat was speedily followed by three or four others to take
us ashore at Flores. These island boats are queer enough to merit description.
They were evidently constructed for rough weather and are so big and heavy
that they look like the dismantled hulls of schooners. All are painted black or
dingy red, and no two of their four oars ever touch the water together. The oars
are from fifteen to twenty feet long, and it requires two or three men to pull
them. The handles are constructed of the crooked limbs of trees, in several
places fastened together with a marline, and turning on the gunwale by a broad
plank, through which the thole pin passes. As they crawl clumsily along in the
distance, they look like huge water beetles struggling in the billows.
We reached the port of Santa Cruz in safety – and such a port! Riding in on top
of a huge roller, between a Scylla and a Charybdis of black lava rocks, hardly
thirty feet apart and surrounded by roaring foam, we dashed into a little bay,
perhaps an acre and a half in extent, with perpendicular cliffs on either side,
on whose edges the houses are perched. The boatmen picked us up in their
arms and landed us high and dry, amid an eager throng of’ men, women, and
children, who had come down to welcome the arrivals, and who received us
274 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
tance your knuckles or stick or umbrella handle come into vigorous play,
unless you aspire to be strictly in style from the Azorean standpoint, in which
case you clap your hands as loudly as possible. There are no sidewalks and
everybody perambulates in the middle of the street, where the pavement
is usually the natural rock, the edges of which have been planed off by the
passage of human feet. At nearly every corner is a public fountain where
dark-eyed, olive-skinned, Rebeccas are always filling their antique jars; and
near by other women are scrubbing clothes by the wayside, on flat stones,
over which water splashes from a bamboo spout set in the solid rock.
Of the local and social life of Santa Cruz there is little to be said. People
wander about the streets in a listless sort of way, as if so overcome with the
Lethean air of the place that they are past ever wishing for anything to do.
The few shops are scantily furnished with English cotton and woolen stuff,
hardware, and ready-made clothing, United States fish, oil, groceries, and
notions, Brazilian rum, coffee, and sugar, West India tobacco, molasses and
liquor, Portuguese salt, tea, and such spiritual necessities as crucifixes, sacred
images, relics, indulgences, and dispensations. The shops are so dimly lighted
that purchasers must take the goods out into the street for inspection, and
paying customers appear to be as rare as angels’ visits.
The liveliest place in town (if anything can be called lively in Santa Cruz), is
the landing, when a ship heaves in sight, whose cargo is to be discharged in
boats. This is the acme of Flores activity; but for every man who is engaged in
carrying bales, boxes, and barrels on his shoulder from the boats to the neigh-
boring warehouses, a dozen others are seen leaning idly against the sunny side
of a building, or lying under the lea of their empty boats drawn up in the shade.
Another popular resort is the public square, which is also the market place.
Here the country women, sitting contentedly on the rough pavement, or the
stone steps of some building, with wicker baskets of fruit or vegetables before
them, drive sharp bargains, the sharper because the few purchasers are also
actuated by the proverbial Azorean spirit of shrewdness in trade.
Time of No Value.
Time is of no value to anybody in Flores, so the traders can afford to haggle
over the value of half a penny from the rising of the sun to the going down
thereof. On this square is the hotel – or what passes for one in these parts –
of which conscience, though somewhat travel-hardened, will not permit a
favorable word. Directly opposite is the combination prison and courthouse
Fannie B. Ward 277
Above everything else in Santa Cruz towers the great cathedral, on its elevated
knoll near the center of the city, one of the largest churches in all the Azores,
capable of accommodating at least half the population of the island, ann a
conspicuous landmark far out at sea.
The Moorish Cathedral.
Il is built entirely of black lava rock, in the Moorish style of architecture, with
two tall towers and Saracenic domes and windows, and would be imposing,
though dingy white in color, except that here and there great patches of white-
wash have dropped off, leaving the original color of the stone in unsightly
blotches. The façade is somewhat fantastically ornamented, after the Portu-
guese fashion, but the interior is plain, almost to nakedness.
Seven rows of massive square stone pillars, running the whole length of the
building, support the broad arches of the roof, but the walls are damp and
slimy with moisture, and weeds grow up in the deserted corners of the aisles.
At some recent period the chancel and altar have been newly carved, and
their freshness contrasts strangely with the moldy walls. Niches and altars are
filled with rudely carved images of the saints, adorned with paper flowers, and
surrounded with green boughs, but there is none of that profuse gilding, tinsel,
and “ginger-bread work” commonly seen in Portuguese churches. Adjoining
the main building is the sacristy, where the church treasures are kept, and for
a small consideration the custodian will show you all the vestments, gold and
silver utensils, banners, and accession day images.
Not far from this church, going through narrow lanes of squalid huts, thronged
with lean pigs, cats, dogs, and naked children, you come to the most inter-
esting structure on the island – the old convent of the Franciscan brotherhood,
which, like the cathedral, was built a little more than three centuries ago.
Powerless Brotherhood.
Dom Pedro I, father of the last Emperor of Brazil, abolished convents through-
out the Azores in the year 1834; but this old pile is still not without its useful-
ness. In former days strangers visiting these islands were accommodated in
the convent, where rooms were set apart for them, and as long as they chose
to remain they were treated as guests of the friars.
Now the dormitories are let to tenants, mainly a low class of natives, and cells
and cloisters which once resounded to monkish Ave Marias are filled with filth
and rubbish, while the history of its builders is rapidly becoming traditional.
Fannie B. Ward 279
Cheap Finery.
Having a taste for finery, many of them sport jackets of the brightest cotton
prints that Manchester can make. That is, they are bright and jaunty in their
first state, but hot suns and frequent washings soon fade them, and starch
seems to be an unknown commodity in Flores, or else the sea damp takes it
out of everything; at any rate, the calico coats speedily take on dejected airs,
and hang about the shoulders of the Azorean dandies as limply as half-wrung
dishrags. Most of the middle-aged men have been whalers, and can speak
a little English; and everybody you meet lifts his hat (if he wears one), or
bows politely, and expects you in return to compliment. Another very notice-
able thing in Flores is the ox carts, that creak noisily through the streets of
the capital, and waken the echoes in the hills as they roll off countryward.
They are of the same construction as those used in the interior of Portugal –
probably the very same as those of Cervantes’ time, when that author likened
some “terrible noise” he was describing in the story of Don Quixote’s adven-
tures to that caused by the ponderous wheels of a cart. I thought I had seen
queer vehicles in other parts of the world, but certainly these bear off the palm.
They consist of an oblong slab of wood, which ends in a pole, supported upon
two huge wheels, revolving with the axle in a wooden socket, like a child’s
toy; the whole concern surmounted by a wicker basket, shaped not unlike the
body of a Roman chariot. The wheels are solid chunks, chipped out in more
or less circular form, and the axle is of chestnut wood, especially selected for
its squeaking properties. The din they keep up is modulated between a shriek
of dire distress and a dying groan, but it is music in the peasants’ ears on the
lonely roads, and each cart man boasts of the particular tune creaked by his
own vehicle. It is warranted to keep off spooks and bogies (and no wonder!),
and, like the railway engineer’s whistle, it serves to notify wife and sweetheart
of his coming. The cattle also become accustomed to this doleful accompani-
ment, and will no more work without it than a tow-path mule missing the lurid
language to which he is accustomed.
Fannie B. Ward 281
to the ocean (the Ribeira Cruz), and long stretches of stunted cedar trees – a
species of timber so plentiful in Flores, that it not only furnishes the people
with fuel, but is shipped to the other islands for boat-building purposes. Flores
is semi-circular in form, almost entirely walled by high cliffs, indented with
numerous small bays, and nearly every bay has its hamlet along-shore. At
Largens there are many proofs of the inhospitable character of the coast in the
remains of wrecks strewn all about. Here piles of spars and heaps of beams
and bulwarks tells melancholy tales of disaster; there the smart, green panels
and black-arched roof of some unfortunate ship’s “companion” have been
joined to the dark walls and dingy thatch of a native house. Planks, seasoned
by long cruises in many seas, serve as cottage doors, and on them some letters
of the name of the ship from which they came may be traced.
Waifs and Strays.
Among them we made out the “Nancy Jane, Nantucket,” and “The Plymouth,
Baltimore.” Largens, entirely uninteresting in itself, is surrounded by fields,
divided checkerboard fashion by stone walls, in which women were working,
with their clumsy, short-handled hoes. Fajen Grande is also built near the
water’s edge, with high, dark cliffs behind it. The streets are bordered with
loose walls, of black lava stone, behind which are cottages of the same gloomy
color, thatched or tiled, with occasionally a more pretentious two-storied
mansion of weather-beaten white, standing close to the street, without wall
or yard in front. We found the stony lanes between these walls (too narrow to
be called streets), abounding in pigs, poultry, and half-naked children; while
groups of peasants in their calico jackets and scarlet petticoats gave color to
the scene, and a touch of picturesqueness was added by some field-laborers
dragging a huge wooden plow between them, and a wicker-top oxcart, with
solid chunks of wood for wheels, creaking slowly through the village.
Wherever the cliffs that environ Fajen Grande are not too nearly perpendicular
small ledges have been cut out and planted with corn, flax, potatoes, cabbages,
and onions. These rise in steps, to such a height that the upper ones look green
lines dividing the layers of lava that show through their edges. The lava strips
are bare, except where cushions of moss and lichens have given them soft tints
of gray, or ferns and long grasses lean over.
A Natural Curiosity.
A little way back in the valley stands one of the natural curiosities of the island
– a huge, isolated cone-shaped mass of black lava, several hundred feet high,
Fannie B. Ward 283
rising like a nude cairn or pillar. There is no more accounting for how it came
there than for the flies in amber. It is too large to have been carried down by a
flood, and much too heavy for any force to have blown it through the air and
planted it “right end up with care.”
Perhaps some sportive volcano shot it up from the depths of the earth like a
rocket, and down it came into this green hollow of the hills with force enough
to plant it forever. The sides of this valley, like all of them in Flores, are dark
with cedars, and lower down are corn fields and orange groves; and, by the
way, the oranges of this island, though small, are among the very best in the
world.
The next village rejoices under the odd name of Fajemsinho, and all the way
between it and Fajen Grande are precipitous mountains, covered with heath
and masses of columnar rock, interspersed with cultivated fields in every
canyon or hollow.
Fajemsinho would not be worthy of notice as a village, were it not connected
with some of the finest scenery of the Azores. It occupies the level floor of a
magnificent amphitheater of cliffs, facing the open air, surrounded on three
sides by vineyards, orange groves, and fields of wheat and corn.
The Weary Way.
To get to these fields, you have to cross the cliffs by a steep, zigzag path cut
in the face of them, more fit for goats to traverse than for human beings.
Yet the only road to Ponta Delgada, a considerable inland village, lies that
way, and by it the inhabitants of Fajemsinho must go every day to and from
their field labors.
We climbed a little way up, and were well rewarded by the backward view.
The afternoon shone up the mouth of the gorge with a soft, yellow light, illu-
minating one side and throwing the other into shadow. It glittered on a silvery
waterfall which tumbled over the edge of a nearby precipice to the surf far
below and turned to burnished gold the whole broad expanse of sea in front.
Clouds of vapor above the cascade wavered to and fro in the breeze like
incense from a swinging censer, and over all towered the hazy cliffs in their
three fold semi-circle, diversified in color to every shade of brown, green,
and gray, bright red in places, with bands of shining ebony wherever the lava
ledges, protruding through the soil, were wet by streams of waterfalls.
While toiling up this stony way, which seemed more like the ruined stairs of
an ancient abbey than a path, grasping the heather on the inner side for greater
284 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
safety and ramming our improvised alpenstocks down hard between the rocks,
to prevent a slip, which would have dropped us into the surf roaring at the
foot of the precipice, we were astonished to see both men and women come
tripping down it, carrying heavy burdens on their heads, as lightly and as
securely as we run up and down stairs at home.
Of course, their careless confidence comes from having been always used to
it, and we noticed that their bare feet seemed to grasp every stone they stood
upon, much as a bird’s claw grasps a bough.
We met a Fajemsinho girl with a great bundle of wood on her head. Poising
herself for one moment on a single stone to let us pass, she acknowledged our
salutation with a smiling “Boa tarde” (good afternoon). Then, gathering up her
red petticoat in one hand and steadying the fagots with the other, she bounded
down the mountain side with steps as fearless and graceful as ours were the
reverse.
Speaking of Azorean agriculture – though these volcanic islands, all rugged,
lofty, and precipitous, present such an unpromising appearance from the sea –
a closer inspection reveals luxuriant vegetation, rich pastures, and beautiful
woods. The climate, though humid, is delightful, and, combined with the natu-
ral fertility of the soil, brings every sort of vegetable product to the utmost
perfection.
Sugar cane, coffee, and tobacco grow luxuriantly on some of the islands,
besides the vineyards and groves of orange and lemon trees. There is no doubt
that fruits and plants of all kinds, from all countries, could be cultivated here
with greater success than in most other parts of the world, but, unfortunately,
the natives have neither the energy nor intelligence to turn the natural advan-
tages of their position to the best account.
Crude Methods of Farming.
Their implements are of the rudest kind. In sowing they throw the seed about
at random, calculating on the bounty of nature for a rich return, and they are
never disappointed.
Altogether, the islands produce annually upward of 17,000 pipes of wine
and about 160,000 boxes of oranges and lemons – which are mostly sent to
England, the United States, Hamburg, and Brazil.
They also export considerable salted pork and beef to Madeira and Portugal,
and a great deal of coarse linen made from home-grown flax. One of their
most valuable productions is lupine, which here grows to extraordinary size,
and is raised in great quantities.
Fannie B. Ward 285
The farinaceous seeds of it, after being soaked in sea water to get rid of their
bitter taste, are a favorite article of food among the poorer classes; the green
leaves are excellent fodder for the cattle; the dry stalks are used for firewood,
and the rest is plowed under for fertilizer.
They say that the most dry and sandy soil, if “greenmanured” with lupine,
is rendered fit for any crop. This is the very same “corn-field weed,” you
know, which has been cultivated from time immemorial in Southern Europe
and parts of Asia; the same which was the favorite “pulse” of the ancient
Greeks and Romans; which the Athenians used to counteract the effect of
drink, and Horace mentions as being used [as] money on the stage. Cato,
Virgil, and Pliny refer to it, and 400 years ago Gerard wrote: “There be divers
sorts of flat beans called lupine, some of the garden, and others wilde.” It is yet
extensively cultivated in many parts of the world, especially in Egypt and the
Mediterranean countries, for food, forage, and a fertilizer.
Lupine of Many Varieties.
There are over eighty species of the shrubby tribe Getistene, of the order
Leguminosae – all with flowers of pea-like form, blue, white, purple, or
yellow, in long, terminal spikes, and with flat seeds bitter as gall until the
flavor has been somewhat taken out of them. One variety, that with the blue
flowers (lupine tremis, I believe), grows wild in our own country, in sandy
places, from Canada to Florida; and we sometimes cultivate another species
in our gardens, those with beautiful pink, white, or yellow flowers, though
unaware of their very ancient and honorable family.
The range of the thermometer in the Azores is from 45 degrees Fahr., the
lowest known extreme, or 48 degrees, the ordinary extreme of January, to
86 degrees, the highest known extreme of July near the level of the sea. But
though the climate is so temperate and equable, the extremes of sensible heat
and cold are greatly increased by the dampness of the atmosphere, which is
so great that paper hangings will not adhere to the walls and the veneering of
furniture soon slips off.
The island of Fayal comes next in due course, sailing southwest from
Flores 114 miles. It is, perhaps, the most frequented of all the Azores, after
St. Michael, as it has one of the best harbors in the archipelago and lies directly
in the path of vessels crossing the Atlantic.
286 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
Place of Sanctuary.
At any rate it has long been famous to America, and doubtless in Europe
also, as the old-time paradise of absconding bank cashiers and swindlers of
all sorts and conditions, who found it advisable to retire for a time from the
public gaze.
The island got its singular name from a green shrub, the faya, which carpets
all its valleys and clothes its mountains from top to bottom. Seen from afar, it
is one immense conical mountain, rising to the clouds and bearing every trace
of comparatively recent volcanic formation.
Its chief town, Villa da Horta, lies at the southwestern extremity, on a broad,
deep, semi-circular bay, which is protected by two bold promontories, that
form the horns of the crescent. Besides its own headlands, Monte da Quia and
Espalamaca, facing each other like watchful sentinels, the harbor of Horta is
somewhat sheltered by the long island of Sao Jorge to the northward, while
only four miles away the magnificent volcano of Pico lifts its broad shoulders
as an efficient breakwater to the southeastern gales.
Just north of Monte da Guia, the southwest headland, stands Monte Quemada,
or Burnt Mountain, with its curiously colored red and brown cliffs and base of
blackened slag, and cultivated terraces, like ancient battlements. It juts sharply
into the sea, and on the reef extending from it is an uncompleted breakwater.
A Dream of Beauty.
Among the patches of grain and corn and vineland, separated by tall hedges of
cane, which crown the heights and terrace their sides, you see the remains of
ancient fortifications and two or three old castles, all fallen to decay. The first
view of the harbor and city flashes upon the traveler like a dream of beauty.
Villa da Horta occupies the entire shore of the bay, and clings to the steep sides
of the hill that rises abruptly from the water’s edge – the quaint monotony
of its one story, whitewashed buildings, with dingy red roofs, all apparently
precisely alike, rising one above another, relieved by the bright green of orange
groves and gardens, over which scores of windmills swing their lusty arms as
if challenging any number of Azorean Don Quixotes to mortal combat. The
principal street of the city follows the curve of the bay, all the way from Monte
Quemada to Espalanaca, the two horns of the crescent, and is protected from
the encroachments of the sea by a high, thick, parapeted wall of masonry.
In front of this the ocean waves lapse gently upon a beach of glittering black
Fannie B. Ward 287
sand. In the suburbs villas peer out from embowering foliage, and behind all,
the smooth topped hills trend gradually toward the center of the island, until
they are lost amid the clouds that encircle their summits.
A Gala Day.
We arrived in the harbor of Horta on a Sunday morning, the gala day of the
week in these good Catholic countries, and this is what we saw:
The few vessels riding at anchor in the roadstead tricked out in festive bunting
flying from gaff and masthead; all manner of smaller sailing crafts known
to Mediterranean waters darting about the bay and across the Pico channel;
boatmen rushing frantically up and down the beach after the manner of their
kind, assisting the launching of their wherries by a world of clamor and
gesticulation; the long, straggling city following the semi-circular sweep of
the bay from headland to headland and climbing-on terraces up the hillside, its
quaint, one-story houses, painted glaringly white with red tiled roofs, resem-
bling the Swiss toy villages of our childhood; above, tier upon tier of ridges
with misty hollows in them, gradually narrowing and fading into the softened
outlines of the central mountains, the sky, that of Italy, the sea with azure tints
that hint of bloom. About midway in the half-moon shaped beach a small
wharf built upon the solid rock juts forth from under the frowning ramparts of
a fort where sentinels pace to and fro under the blue and white flag of Portugal.
As we went up the slippery steps of the wave-washed granite quay the
reveille, sounding from the fort, was answered by the blare of trumpets from
the garrison on the hilltop and the resonant clangor of the cathedral bell. The
high, substantial stone wall, built along the whole city front, just above the
beach of glittering black sand, is a much needed bulwark, for there is only
one narrow street between it and the first line of houses.
Quaint, Strong, Old-Fashioned.
Day and night the surf thunders against this protecting sea wall with a vio-
lence that makes the earth tremble. At high tide the billows roll nearly to the
top of the wall, and in severe storms they often break across it, plunging in
immense volumes into the fort and over the roofs of the adjoining buildings
that quiver and shake before them like reeds in the wind. Both walls and
buildings have been many times crushed like an egg shell by the force of the
waves, in winter gales, when the harbor becomes a broken waste of foam and
the granite quay is completely buried from sight. Then all the smaller craft in
the bay are swamped, vessels drag their anchors and drift upon the rocks or the
beach, and it is impossible to pass through the main street of the city without
being thoroughly drenched.
Fannie B. Ward 289
On the wharf was a chattering multitude, all in their “Sunday best,” though the
majority, both men and women, were barefooted or wore wooden shoes. There
were voluble officials, trimly uniformed soldiers, peasants with produce to
sell, beggars in variegated rags, and bevies of giggling senhoritas; the latter in
every case convoyed by vigilant duennas who kept a sharp eye for flirtatious
sons of Mars.
Most of the men wore gay woolen caps, like those of the Neapolitan fishermen,
the pointed top tasseled and hanging over the side; their shirts and trousers of
white linen, and a short jacket of dark woolen stuff carelessly thrown over one
shoulder.
Costumes of the Women.
All the women were bonnetless, with red, blue, or yellow cotton handker-
chiefs tied over their heads. They wore white “short-gowns” and very full
skirts of dark blue or red calico, and some peered out from the placket holes
of coarse linen petticoats thrown over the head and shoulders. Others were
entirely enveloped in capotes, or hooded cloaks, of dark blue cloth – that
strange garment which Azorean ladies wear on all occasions – both winter and
summer. The cloak part is simply an enormous circle, extending to the ankles,
and the hood, of astonishing dimensions, is so stiffened with whalebone and
buckram that it looks like a chaise-top. A capote costs from $30 to $60 and
is the chief article in the trousseau of a well-to-do Fayalese bride. Like the
Mexican rebosa and the old-fashioned waterproofs we used to wear it hides a
multitude of shortcomings in other details of the toilet.
All that can be seen of a woman inside of one is her hands and a pair of black
eyes, glistening as if it were in the depths of a coal hod. The wearer holds
the two sides of the hood together in such a way as to hide her own face,
while she gives herself ample opportunity to peer out upon everything in
range, and especially to study the (to her) outlandish costumes of las Ameri-
canas. As you may imagine, nothing can be funnier than the side view of two
capotes gossiping together on the street.
Streets Genial and Straggling.
The Rua de São Francisco, Horta’s principal thoroughfare, extends the whole
length of the city in a straggling, genial sort of way, inviting fellowship from
all manner of lazy waterside folk and scenes alongshore, and from the far pret-
tier and more interesting thoroughfares that come down from the mountains
290 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
colored tiles having a beautiful Oriental effect. These glazed tiles, by the way,
are an interesting relic of the Moslem occupation of the Iberian peninsula.
Irving’s Alhambra Recalled.
Irving, writing about the Alhambra, says of them: “Some are still to be seen
among the Moorish ruins, which have been there upward of eight centuries.”
When the Spaniard invaded the Netherlands the tiles went with them – white
porcelain, with geometric figures of blue, brown, green, or yellow – and their
cleanliness made them acceptable to the Dutch. In colonial days our forefa-
thers brought them to New England, where we know them as Dutch tiles,
but they are still Moslem, and Dutch only by adoption. These of the Azores
are mostly made in Oporto, and there are many other manufactories in Spain
and Portugal. It was the late Mrs. Harrison’s dream to have the White House
kitchens floored and ceiled with neat “Dutch tiles,” but her ambition was not
realized.
To return to our Fayal sagão. A long flight of wooden stairs leads up to the
dwelling part of the casa, and usually a bell rope hangs beside the door on
the landing. Nobody pays any attention, to the bell, however, which seems to
have been put there mainly for ornament – the proper way, from the Azorean
standpoint, being to announce your arrival by clapping your hands, as they did
in the “Arabian Nights,” you remember. The great double doors of the sagão
are painted green, blue, or yellow, and have clumsy iron hinges, latches, locks,
and knockers that would delight an antiquary, and the lintels and casements
of hewn stone are painted in colors to match the doors, while the walls are
dead white. There are two good inns, in both of which the English language is
spoken – the Hotel Central and the Hotel Fayal.
Azorean Hotels.
The fixed price in all the Azorean hotels is 1.150 reis a day – a large sum,
you think at first sight of the figures, but it is only $1.19 American money
for fare fully equal to that for which our hotels charge $3 per day. The floors
are bare, but frequently washed, the beds a trifle hard, but always clean, and
the attendance good enough – after you get used to going out on the balcony
and clapping your hands while shouting “Ho Jose!” exactly as Don Quixote
summoned Sancho Panza. The Hotel Fayal has the advantage of being nearest
the landing and of having a very large garden surrounded by high walls, its
broad avenues lined with trees under which are rustic seats, orange groves,
292 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
and banana walks and smaller fruits in abundance, such as guavas, nespras,
figs, pomegranates, etc. Here are flowers, too, in wild profusion the whole
year round, exhaling delightful perfume, while the little olive-colored canaries
fill the air with song.
There are long hedges of camellias and bowers covered with passion flowers,
acacias rosy with bloom, stephanotis, ipomoeas – and such roses! They
grow on trees many feet high, and one single Cherokee or Banksia rose bush
entirely covers one of the walls for the length of thirty feet. Like all the other
gardens of the island this is inclosed by walls of lava stone sixteen feet high
and three feet thick. Tall mimosa trees guard the entrance, flanked by palms
and immense ferns. Ivies and flowering creepers fairly run riot, and the broad
avenues are shaded by incense trees, the leaves of which are aromatic and the
nuts are burned as incense in the churches.
Charming Invalid’s Retreat.
In this charming place an invalid or a wearied traveler may swing her ham-
mock and indulge in all-day siestas, and every night be lulled to sleep by the
music of old ocean’s grandest symphonies.
Directly opposite Hotel Fayal stands the old Fort San Juan, where the famous
cannon “Long Tom” is mounted. It is the forty-two-pounder pivot gun which
belonged to the privateer, General Armstrong, in the war of 1812. Right here
the Armstrong was blown up and for many years her wreck lay on the beach
before the castle of San Juan. The defense of this vessel on Sept. 26, 1814,
is one of the most gallant exploits in the history of American naval warfare.
Captain Reid and his officers were at a ball on shore when it was reported
that a British fleet was off the port. He hurried on board and moved his ship
under protection of Port San Juan. Though he had only seven guns and ninety
men he repulsed three attacks of flotillas sent in by the British squadron,
destroying many boats and inflicting on the enemy a loss of 300 men.
Finding that he must eventually be overpowered Captain Reid caused the
muzzle of “Long Tom” to be pointed into the hold and fired, thus scuttling the
ship, when he escaped with his crew to shore. Long afterward the “Long Tom”
was fished up and mounted in the fort, where patriotism impels at least every
American comer to make it a visit. There is nothing else very warlike about
the old castle. It contains a few rusty guns and pyramids of cannon balls and
a squad of soldiers, whose principal occupation seems to be the peaceful one
of playing cards.
Fannie B. Ward 293
huge volcano beyond, which has many times shaken up the island, Da Praya
de Norte, the crater of which is said to be 1,800 feet deep.
The town on the side toward Porto Pim is walled by an ancient Spanish forti-
fication, erected, centuries ago, as a defense against the descents of corsairs,
and is entered by a medieval gateway. Beyond the gateway windmills swing
their mighty arms, tents are pitched along the shore for bathers, and naked
children frolic among the bleaching timbers of stranded wrecks, upon which
nets have been spread to dry. Fishermen saunter up from their boats, carrying
queerly woven baskets of fish, that show all the colors of the rainbow, red
predominating, and women plod townward, with huge bundles of cane stalks
on their heads, or casks full of water, on the surface of which sprigs of green
are floating, to prevent spilling.
One never tires of the street scenes of Horta – ever changing, always
picturesque.
The streets themselves, like those of the other islands, are very narrow, and are
paved with oblong blocks of stone. Some of them have sidewalks, generally
not wide enough for two persons to walk abreast, and others have only one
row of wider stones down the middle of the road, for pedestrians.
In the nomenclature of these streets (or “ruas,” in local parlance) honors are
about evenly divided between the saints and human heroes, as, for example,
Jesus Christ street, Rua de Cônsul Dabney, Rua de San Pedro, Rua de Conde
de Santa Anna, Conception street, Compassion street, Crucifixion street, etc.,
all lettered in blue and white tiles on the corner houses. Only the Alameda
de Gloria – a short, wide street, which would anywhere else be called a “place”
– is bordered with trees, the rest being too narrow; and the glare of the sun on
the unshaded white walls is so trying to the eyes that men, as well as women,
carry sun umbrellas.
Pictures of the Peasants.
The market place, a square, paved inclosure with a well in the center, has
a few trees around the edges, and is always crowded with brown, pleasant-
faced people – elderly, sun-burned women with white or red handkerchiefs on
their heads, and on top of the handkerchief a round straw hat; capot-hidden
women a few pegs higher in the social scale, city servants with their endless
castanet-like clinking of wooden shoes; grim men from the farthest upland
wilds of Pico – tall, lank, grave, and austere, their sack-like garments hanging
limp to the primmest of knee breeches, which lead to stockings of wonderful
296 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
colors and feet covered with rawhide sandals to which the hair still clings,
fastened across the toes with rawhide thongs, precisely like the pampootas,
the earliest foot-covering known to man; wasp-waisted military attaches in
green-trimmed brown, buff, and blue uniforms and little caps set jauntily on
the back of their heads; solemn, bay-windowed padres; beggars with smiling
faces, as cheerful over rebuff as reward – all so tinged with the Oriental that
you can hardly believe yourself only 2,000 miles away from America, while
at least two centuries behind the progress of the country.
Here comes a Fayal gardener with his basket of cucumbers covered with fresh
green ferns, carried on the back of his neck supported by a pole over the right
shoulder. Behind him trots a woman with a flaring black basket on her head,
piled high with red and yellow apricots.
Another has a gigantic wooden platter full of fluffy white ducks, their broad
yellow bills resting on the rim.
Immense melon-shaped squashes are carefully poised on the heads of others,
and on top of the squash is, perhaps, a cabbage leaf containing a pat of butter,
a few fresh eggs, or some other marketable commodity.
Most of these women are bodiced, and all are short-skirted, with bare feet and
legs. Thick, goiter-like necks are universal among this class – due, no doubt,
to the constant habit of carrying heavy weights on the head.
Oriental and Ancient.
The round hats that top the handkerchiefs when there is no burden to be
carried are fastened under the wearer’s chin by knotted cords; and when the
hats do not stay on securely by reasons of sportive breezes, the woman picks
up a stone of suitable size, places it upon the crown of the hat and pursues her
way in serene content.
Here comes the milkman, bearing a crooked pole across his shoulders, from
which depend wooden buckets and pottery measures.
The poulterer also has a pole on his shoulders, from which live fowls are
suspended by the legs.
Meek-eyed donkeys file by, singly or in twos or fours, carrying between them
a huge box or hogshead swinging from great beams whose ends rest upon
their backs, their slim legs twisting and turning beneath them as they trot
along. Other donkeys are so completely hidden under towering loads of furze,
bushwood, straw, or cornstalks that only the tips of their noses and the ends of
their tails are visible.
Fannie B. Ward 297
“Ande!” “Ande!” (go along) shout their drivers, prodding the patient little
creatures continually with long, iron-pointed spikes.
There goes a haciendado from the rural districts with his creaking cart drawn
by an ox and a cow yoked together; or maybe it is an ox and a mule, or a cow
and a pony.
But always the cart is of the same Azorean pattern, made of one piece of
wood, with a wicker-basket body and wheels of solid wood, which revolve
slowly on the heavy axle with terrific groans and moans so dear to the heart
of the Fayalese peasant.
Observe a group of women at a public well. Their tall wooden casks, shaped
like old-fashioned churns, and holding six or seven gallons, stand on the stone
curb. One by one the women throw the bucket down into the fern-draped well,
dip it into the water, then haul it up hand over hand, full and dripping, and pour
it into their casks. When the vessels are all full, each rolls up a little pad and
places it on top of her head, and is assisted by her neighbor to hoist the heavy
cask upon it. We wonder how the last woman is going to manage her bucket.
A Delicate Operation.
The problem is soon solved; two companions already laden, stoop their bodies,
but with heads held stiffly erect, and without spilling a drop from their own
casks, dexterously lift the last one to its place, and away they all trot together,
bright and cheerful, chattering like magpies, without ever raising a hand to
steady their burden.
The public garden, in the northwest suburb, is small but prettily laid out, full
of flowers both winter and summer, with pathways winding around a green
monticule in the center, on the summit of which is an octagon-house for the
shelter of visitors. This is the site of the first church built on the island – that
of St. John’s, with a nunnery attached, which was destroyed by lightning many
years ago. Nothing now remains of the old pile except a square tower on the
west side, of the wall, which is apparently upheld and preserved by its mantle
of creepers.
The most conspicuous building in Horta is the old Jesuit Convent and College,
with a church in the center. The college and convent are now used for offices
by the civil government, and are simply lofty buildings forming the wings of
a church.
All the convents are now used for benevolent or useful purposes, for the nuns
and monks were expelled and religious communities suppressed by Dom
298 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
Pedro IV, about sixty years ago. At that time there were forty-five convents
of nuns and monks in the archipelago, with upward of 11,000 inmates. The
majority of these remained recipients of government pensions during their
lives – a heavy tax on a small community with limited resources, but never-
theless a just one. They were finally reduced to an abbess and one sister, who
lingered to great age, supported on the former nunnery of St. Anthony, and
both died about two years ago.
Religious and Educational.
The churches are all Moorish in architecture, with pretentious facades, three or
four stories high, flanked by square towers, surmounted by Saracenic domes.
The interiors are bare and lofty, with two rows of massive pillars supporting
the roof, and many altars tawdry with gilding and artificial flowers.
Some of the shrines are decorated with great bows and rosettes made of cheap
American neckties; others are decked with cotton laces, poor tapestry, and
tinsel and gewgaws. The floor of one of the churches on a Sunday morning
looks like a gay flower garden, with its crowds of kneeling women, with
bright-hued handkerchiefs on the heads.
Rockets sent up from the church steps form part of the regular service, and
bells are rung on week days almost as continuously as on Sundays.
The Carmelite church and convent, which stands upon a prominent hill, is
now used as barracks for the soldiers of the garrison.
The old Franciscan convent, connected with another spacious and profusely
ornamented church, has been turned into a hospital.
The small convent of the order of St. Anthony has become an asylum for
destitute girls between the ages of 8 and 16 years, where they are taught a little
reading, writing, and embroidery, and a good deal about sewing, cooking,
and domestic economy. When their education is considered complete, they
are taken into service by respectable families, who are placed under judicial
obligations to treat them kindly. The government furnishes the building only
for the worthy institution, and private charities support it.
Fannie B. Ward 299
It takes only half an hour to cross from Horta to the little village of Area Larga,
or to Magdalena, the chief town of Pico, where many of Fayal’s citizens have
summer residences.
The native boats, despite their rude appearance, make almost yachting time,
their immense lateen sails swelling and straining in the breeze as they careen
over the billows, now and then tossing spray into your face.
The groups of chattering, gaily dressed peasants, lounging on deck among the
bales and boxes and queer commodities, are charmingly picturesque; sea and
sky are “deeply, darkly, desperately blue,” and straight before you towers the
stupendous cone, black, solitary and sublime.
The Island Described.
Nothing can be more interesting than a study of Pico’s base from an open boat.
The island is about forty-eight miles long by fifteen miles in the widest part,
gradually narrowing to the southeast, where it terminates in an acute angle.
Its population is estimated at 30,000, scattered among half a dozen little cities
and perhaps a score of hamlets.
The single tremendous peak from which the island derives its name and which
furnishes the highest altitude to be seen by mariners in Atlantic waters stands
near the western end of it – that nearest to Fayal. A few hundred feet above
the shore immense layers of black lava show edges as plain and clean cut as a
carefully laid wall. Each of these bears evidence to a separate overflow of lava
from the volcano above. In places they come squarely to the edge of the sea,
like huge breakwaters of masonry, and anon they are crumpled or blended as
if by torrents of molten lava.
Interspersed between these are ragged crags jutting through the surf, showing
where melted masses seethed and cooled; and, again, are long reaches where
the mighty Atlantic has been pounding unhindered for ages of precipitous
strata worn into arches and pillars and buttresses, some of them hundreds of
feet high – most curious and fanciful representations of vast ruins of temples
and cathedral aisles.
The soil is everywhere almost too stony to produce much grain, so that most
of the food supplies are imported from the neighboring islands. Years ago,
before a blight fell upon the vines and nearly destroyed the leading industry,
a great deal of wine was made – the very best in the Azores.
302 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
pillars and arched cathedral aisles, you ride up to the little cove in front of
the town.
A huge roller that threatens to swamp the boat runs it up on the beach, and
though the landing stairs are completely submerged you are set ashore
dry shod.
The beach is at all times lively with naked boys, scampering about with shrill
laughter and outcry, dragging up armfuls of sea moss, snatched from the crest
of the wave. Great piles of this moss, alternate red and white, are drying on
the shingle to be sold for a fertilizer, and filling the air with “a very ancient
and fishy smell.”
Magdalena is the quaintest little burg imaginable, the glare of its white walled
cottages subdivided by the fringy foliage of the tamarisk, the only kind of tree
that flourishes on the island. It has showy spikes of long pink flowers and is
very delicate and graceful. Its wood is said to equal mahogany and is in great
request in Lisbon, where it is manufactured into fine furniture.
Of course you go at once to the Consul’s house, which is doubly interesting as
having been a former priory.
Handsome Island Women.
The refectory of the monks and their narrow cells are now the family sitting
and sleeping rooms, and from the veranda you may look upward into stony
vineyards, or outward upon long swells of the Atlantic, where within half a
mile of the doorstep the sea is unfathomable.
You may easily walk to the nearby village of Criação Velha (Old Creation),
which is even quainter than Magdalena, and more intensely Portuguese than
any spot in Portugal. It has no water, and troops of barefooted women are con-
stantly jogging over the stony road carrying heavy buckets on their heads to
and from the seaside well, two miles away – in each full bucket some sprigs of
fresh ferns to keep the water cool and prevent spilling. You are struck by their
tall, erect figures, well-developed chests, and graceful carriage, and especially
by their full, liquid “ox eyes,” such as Homer gave to his goddesses, fringed
with long black lashes.
The women of Pico are said to be the handsomest in the Azores, and some
enthusiastic travelers have pronounced them the most beautiful in the world.
Certainly they are superb pictures of health and contentment, and if worldly
lore is lacking, “where ignorance is bliss ’twere folly to be wise.” Their round,
304 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
delicately featured faces have a peculiarly kind expression, and to the stranger
they are courtesy personified.
The Pico costume is very pretty – a dark blue petticoat of heavy woolen stuff
known as “picot,” bordered with rows of scarlet; a hussar jacket of the same
reaching just to the belt line, with many seams in the back all heavily corded
with scarlet; the hair, combed smoothly back from the forehead, confined in a
classic knot behind and covered with a red cotton handkerchief knotted under
the chin; on top of the handkerchief a low-crowned sailor hat, such as the men
wear, made of flat braid of the island, trimmed with a scarlet worsted band.
I believe that but one person ever lived who could preserve his dignity on
donkey-back – he whose entry into Jerusalem is commemorated on Palm
Sunday – and I doubt if even he could have done it in the Azores. Not only are
the island donkeys so diminutive that a rider of average height and size finds
his feet almost touching the ground on either side when mounted, and feels
that he might much better be carrying the poor little beast than allowing it to
carry him, but the whole outfit is absurdity personified.
Your Faithful Quadruped.
First the donkey is covered from head to tail with a clumsy packsaddle.
Above this is piled the andilhas, a wooden frame that looks like a short-legged
sawhorse. The rider, if a woman, sits between the X shaped ends of the
andilhas on the right side of the animal, without even holding the bridle,
which is a mere ornamental appendage. As safely penned as in a baby jumper,
she has no responsibility whatever in the business, except to keep her hat on
if she can and accommodate her muscles to the ambling gait of the creature,
which sways the andilhas like a violently rocked cradle, causing her to keep
up a succession of jerky little bows, like those of an over-polite marionette.
The donkey is always attended by a driver, barefooted boy who runs along-
side with incessant shouts of “Ande!” “Passe caya!” He carries a long, sharp
goad, with which he constantly urges the beast to the top of its speed, up hill
and down; and when a steep downhill is reached, where caution is required,
he inflicts a few extra jabs of the goad and then applies the brake by seizing
the donkey’s tail and holding back with might and main. It is useless to protest
against these procedures. The driver merely looks his mild astonishment that
any human being should know so little about the management of donkeys and
pursues his own course; and you soon learn to trust the novel brake in the most
dangerous paths.
The sun had not yet appeared when we found ourselves fairly on the way
to Pico’s summit. It was a glorious September morning, with a fresh breeze
scattering the clouds that veiled the upper heights. At first the road, stony, but
not excessively steep, wound between gardens, orange groves, and vineyards,
all fenced by loose walls of lava, and hedged by oleanders and arbutus. There
are no large trees in Pico. Dwarf cedars, fayas, box, moss and ferns form about
all the indigenous vegetation. Streams and cascades are also “conspicuous
by their absence,” for scarcity of water is a pronounced characteristic of the
island. Vellas, the first village en route, like most of the others, has no water at
306 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
all, and you meet troops of chattering women, each with a huge water cask on
her head, trudging to Magdalena, two miles away, whence all the household
supplies must be obtained by making two or three journeys each day. Think
of it, grumbling housewives at home, who have only to turn a faucet for the
water you want; what if you had to walk four miles for every drop of water
required! Laborers, early afield, are busy with their short-handled hoes in the
yam patches. Robins, canaries, and blackbirds sing in the hedge rows; rabbits
scamper across the pathway, and quails and partridges are flushed at the first
sound of approach.
The Scenery Higher Up.
Higher up, broad, undulating slabs of lava cover the ground, as if the whole
country were paved with asphalt, interspersed with scanty bits of pasturage,
like oases in the desert. You notice that all the cattle are small and red; the
goats are black, with branching horns, and the sheep have remarkably long,
white wool. The cattle-sheds, like every bit of rock in sight, are so heavily
coated with lichens that at a little distance they look as if painted a mottled
green. Scores of smoke columns rising in solitary places denote the fires of
charcoal burners, and myriads of açores (hawks, whose presence in such num-
bers give the archipelago its name) circle aimlessly overhead. The truncated
outline of the distant cone, toward which you are toiling, is wreathed with
light, rosy clouds, and its summit glows like a living coal in the rising sun,
while the lower half of the mountain is yet in mist and shadow.
Before noon you come to the point where all attempt at cultivation ceases,
and the mountain becomes nothing but a vast heap of loose slag and cin-
ders, seamed by gulches in every direction. Here many people bound for the
summit pass the first night, sleeping in a herder’s hut, among the lambs and
calves; but since the weather was so favorable, and our start sufficiently early,
we preferred to press on to the top, and spend the second night at this place,
on the return.
Not far above the donkeys must be abandoned, and the remainder of the ascent
performed on foot, with the aid of alpenstocks. All who undertake this jour-
ney should have the good sense to bring along stout boots that reach nearly to
the knee. But about nine out of ten do not. Most of the women wear ordinary
walking shoes, with more or less thinness of sole and exaggeration of heel,
and sometimes even the abominable toothpick pointed toes. The consequence
is that very few of them ever get to the top. After climbing awhile in torture,
they are forced to sit down disconsolate, and wait for the others to go on to
Fannie B. Ward 307
victory, or spend days afterward picking cinders out of their lacerated feet.
A lady shod in spiked-sole cowhide brogans may not be able to frisk about
gracefully like an opera bouffe shepherdess, but at least she can accomplish
what she came for, and sing a song of triumph on the mountain top. There are
2,000 feet of hard scrambling over loose rocks, that slip away beneath the feet
at every step, not particularly dangerous, but toilsome to the last degree. It is
like climbing up over a dome, and as you ascend the apex, the wind, unhin-
dered is its sweep across the broad Atlantic, increases to a gale that threatens
to whisk you off into space.
Climax of the Ascent.
The supreme effort comes with scaling the rocky wall that rims the outside
crater – for here is a crater within a crater. The outer one is perhaps 300 yards
across, with perpendicular sides averaging seventy feet in height, except at
one point, where a break has been made. Looking down into it is like gazing
upon a ruined fortress from the battlements thereof, the masses of scoriae
and blackened lava that lie strewn all around answering for the fragments of
shattered towers. Descending easily enough through the break in the wall,
you stand upon an almost level floor, in the midst of which, on a platform of
lava, which is again supported by long buttresses, rugged and twisted, like the
writhing limbs of tremendous dragons suddenly stiffened into stone, rises the
cone, 200 feet high.
The heat in the amphitheater is intense, and being overpowered with thirst, you
search at once for “Vulcan’s well,” which previous visitors have described.
It is a bowl-shaped hollow, hidden deep within a cleft in the wall, filled with
ice-cold water, notwithstanding the atmosphere of hades, being inclosed like
the bulb of air in a spirit level. Scrambling to the top of this spirelike cone,
constantly loosening stones, that roll downward, threatening the heads of
those who follow, after many bruises and backslidings you finally reach the
top, and find a slightly depressed second crater, not more than twenty-five feet
in diameter, out of which a thin, hot vapor issues. This is the very chimney
from which rise the clouds of steam and tongues of flame visible so far out
at sea. The stones all around are so hot that you cannot long bear your hands
upon them, and perched upon the edge of the lofty pinnacle you feel as if
seated at the top of a smokestack, as if you had only to lean outward and drop
down the sheer descent – 8,000 feet – into the ocean below. Giddiness seizes
you, and a certain awesome solemnity, as if you were the last living creature
308 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
taking chances on steep grades that an American coachman could not be hired
to, even “in his cups,” and if an accident occurs, as is more than likely to be
the case, the jehu’s only resource is to smoke, swear and scream, and further
abuse to the poor beasts.
A favorite excursion is to the village of Capello, fourteen miles southwest
from Horta, over the fine new road which is to extend around the entire island,
now about two-thirds completed. Much of it is built on solid masonry, always
where ravines are to be crossed, and the rest of the way the earth is packed
down with the hardness of concrete. Beautiful blue hydrangeas of great size
border the road, but no grass is to be seen, for none – properly so-called –
grows in the island; instead, the bright little hop-clover and the wild carrot
flourish everywhere.
Madeira vines, climbing in wild luxuriance, fill the air with fragrance; golden
oxalis, purple-tasseled ice-plant, and corydalis fill all the crevices of the walls,
and above them tall fuchsias droop their flowers and oleanders bloom, and
fig-trees show their loads of fruit.
Historic White Castle.
All these in gardens set close together; and further on, in the more thinly
settled country, patches of towering canes wave their bannerets far above, and
serpent-like cacti in spots where the outer coating has crumbled away.
The largest hamlet is called Castillo Brando (white castle), so named from
an enormous rock lying off the shore. It is nearly 500 feet high, and from the
sea appears like an enormous fortress, entirely disconnected from the island.
In reality, it is a bold promontory, sloping sharply backward, and ending in a
narrow isthmus, which joins at the mainland. On its summit are the ruins of a
monastery, about which many traditions cling. In former years it served as a
refuge for the nuns of the neighboring convents whenever jolly corsairs made
their descents upon the island. Imbedded in the walls you may still find the
remains of antique Dutch tiles, china plaques, and marine shells, with which
they were profusely decorated; and from some old wells in the vicinity bits of
rare Indian ceramics were exhumed a few years ago which were curious and
beautiful enough to set an art collector wild with admiration.
The Land of the Volcano.
Between the villages sloping to the sea are fields of yams and sweet potatoes,
corn, and wheat, besides beans, melons, squashes, and other “garden sass,”
growing as thriftly here as in Illinois or Ohio. But somehow there is an
Fannie B. Ward 311
unexplainable difference, not only in the look of them, but in the taste, though
cooked by the self-same process.
The corn, too, is different. It is not planted in hills, nor yet for fodder as at
home, but each stalk, growing remarkably tall, stands by itself at a consider-
able distance from its neighbor, and the ground around it is not hoed, nor cared
for in any way between planting and harvest.
Beans and melon vines usually grow between; or if not, purple ageratum
mignonette, and other wild flowers spring up unhindered.
These fields extend from far up the hillsides down to the very ocean, where
they end in high cliffs of black volcanic rock, which is worn underneath by the
restless waves into caverns and fantastic arches.
Approaching Capello you see black conical peaks towering ahead, each with
its extinct crater, and all but some with grain fields on their slopes. That soli-
tary exception, bare of verdure and glowing angry red in the sunshine, emitted
the latest lava stream that wrought havoc in the island. It occurred some two
centuries ago, and the path of the torrent is still plainly to be seen, a mile wide
and many miles long, strewn with lava stone to the depth of several feet.
Nature has been doing her very best ever since to efface the scars and repair
the ravages; but beyond soft gray lichens covering the boulders, and faya
bushes, and tree-heather now just beginning to take root, there is no vegeta-
tion from the top of the mountain to the sea – nor will there be until long after
the present generation and several to come have turned to dust.
Caverns Deep and Darksome.
The superstitious natives have appropriately named this peak “El Mysterio,”
and still regard it with awe and reverence.
Its last recorded eruption occurred in April, when its downpour of molten
lava laid waste all the farms and villages in its course; and as soon as their
terror subsided the people of Capello went en masse to Horta, and registered
a solemn vow in the presence of the mayor and aldermen and all the priests of
the city, to give alms to the poor on every Whitsunday, thenceforth and forever
– a promise which is still religiously kept. Consequently there are very few
really poor people to be seen in Capello – though the richest among its citizens
lack many things which to us seem the commonest necessaries of life.
There is no hotel, but luckily our Consul has a cottage there, as in several other
beautiful parts of the island, to which he occasionally flits for a few days’ rest,
and he kindly gives his countrymen and country-women permission to take
312 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
possession of it, with their hampers and other impedimenta, when making a
visit to the village. The principal point of interest is a grewsome cavern in the
near-by lava bed, from which some fine specimens may be obtained. The way
thereto winds up a steep path among the hills.
It is necessary to have a guide familiar with the place, and to pick your way
carefully among the lava beds; for although the small blocks of lava, piled
one above the other, look firm enough under their soft carpet of gray-green
lichens, there are half-hidden crevices here and there, showing black, awful
caverns yawning beneath – of unknown extent and probably flavored by the
ocean which is here some 16,000 feet deep – into which at any moment the
slipping away of a single stone might plunge the unwary.
Mysteries and Diversions.
Only one of these caverns has yet been explored, and that is a very small one,
only about twenty feet deep by as many wide, but with possibilities of increase
blood-curdling to imagine. When accidentally discovered by the Consul’s son,
it was only a chink in the floor of the lava bed, half hidden by a tuft of ferns
that grew beside it. Pulling up the fern-root disclosed a hole, perhaps a yard
wide. Next time it was seen, stones had slipped away here and there, or had
settled into unknown depths below, and the cavity was three times as big as
when first looked into, and it has continued to increase, almost imperceptible,
stone by stone, to its present proportions.
You may easily scramble down into it, and with a small hammer carefully
break off pieces of red, gray, green, and mottled lava, brittle and beautiful as
coral; but the whole place trembles under foot and echoes hollow at every
blow.
The theory is that the glowing torrent here suddenly cooled, and its fiery
bubbles, protected by the dense surface of a more sluggish current, following
immediately after, have preserved their shape and color to this day. But when
the bright-hued lava, so different in texture, structure, and color, from the
surface of the bed to which it belongs, is exposed to the air, it soon fades to
duller red.
One gets some diverting glimpses of peasant life in these rides around Fayal.
For instance, to the picturesque Meranti ravine, not far from Horta, with its
rattling watermills and swirling stream devoted to prosaic laundry purposes.
On the way thereto you meet troops of bare-legged women, with their gay
petticoats tucked up and great bundles of clothes on their heads picking
Fannie B. Ward 313
their way carefully down the ledges, or like Nausicaa when met by Ulysses,
washing the linen and spreading it, white as snow, upon the rocks to dry.
That unpoetical employment is carried on here in a way that certainly cleanses
the garments, but proves destructive to their texture.
Very Ancient Agriculture.
They are washed in sea water, among the slimy rocks, and never boiled. Tubs
are unknown, a convenient stone serving as a rubbing board. Then they are
spread on rocks or rubbish heaped by the roadside, with stones placed on the
corner of each garment to hold it flat, and sprinkled two or three times a day
for several days. The sun does the rest.
Half way up the steep hillside, overlooking this Miranti ravine, the ruins of
a once pretentious villa hang like a deserted bird’s nest. It belonged to an
old-time Spanish Consul, a hidalgo of high degree in his “ain countree,” and
must have been a most fantastic structure, its walls plastered with shells,
Dutch tiles, and old china.
The Monte da Guia must also be visited – the tall promontory at the northern
horn of Horta’s crescent-shaped harbor. Having clambered up the almost
perpendicular shoreward side of the hill, over slippery stones and through
fields of lupine between cane hedges, you are rewarded by a magnificent view
of the “Western Ocean.” There is a signal station on top for telegraphing the
arrival of vessels; and near it is a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Guia, at
whose annual festival the good people of Horta turn out as one man and climb
the rocks, on their knees as far as possible, to worship at this lonely shrine.
What farming was in the day of David and the prophets, of Homer, and of
Virgil, it is today in the Azores. The yoke, the cart, the plow, the harrow,
the thrashing floor, and the winnowing, are all precisely as described in the
Old Testament, the Odyssey and the Georgics. The grain is cut with a sickle,
and the sheaths bound by men, women, and children, as in the days of Ruth
and Boaz.
Every well-to-do Azorean peasant has near his hut an eira (Latin, area) or
thrashing floor – a circular space of hard trodden pumice, fifteen to twenty
feet in diameter, surrounded by a low wall of weather-beaten stone. The
unbound sheaths are thrown upon the eira floor, and over them cattle are
driven, attached to a wooden drag, whose lower surface is studded with iron
spikes or sharp bits of lava – the team guided by a long rope, tied to the right
horn of the off ox and held in the driver’s hand.
314 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
Primitive Practices.
You frequently see children attending to the thrashing, while the elders are
doing the heavier work in the fields. Any boy or girl can drive a pair of cattle
Azorean fashion, and they seem to enjoy the fun.
After scampering pell-mell over the eira a few times, with shouts and
laughter, the straw must be turned over with wooden pitchforks, made of a
single piece of wood cleft into three prongs at one end, much as Neptune’s
trident is pictured. Then it is thrashed and dragged again; and afterward the
straw is drawn out with cumbrous wooden rakes, the grain swept up into a
windrow, and a flag raised to ascertain the direction of the wind. Then men
with wooden shovels toss the wheat into the air, against the wind, which win-
nows it by blowing away the chaff.
Close by the eira is usually an arched stone building, not unlike a rather
large Dutch oven, plastered and whitewashed like the houses. Within this is a
cistern. Spouts lead from the tiled roofs into the eira, and others from the
eira into the cisterns, and thus the rainwater used for household purposes is
collected in this streamless country. Often close by the cisterns are “stationary
washtubs,” hewn out of the rocks, shallow at the front and sloping deep at the
back, that the stone side may serve the purpose of a washing board.
The corn mill of Fayal is almost a facsimile of the old asinaria of the Romans.
The lower story of some of the houses is used as a mill. A cow is harnessed
to a crank as the horse does duty in a New England cider-mill. Her eyes are
covered with tunnel-shaped tin blinders, and she travels in a circle, turning
one stone upon another, thus grinding about a bushel of corn in an hour. There
are a few windmills of rude construction in Fayal, but the cow mill and the
scriptural hand mills are much more common for corn grinding.
the mountains toward the middle of the island, only about ten miles from
Horta. The enormous pot is an object of ceaseless interest, being the largest
extinct crater in the world – nearly 2,000 feet deep and six miles around its
circular rim, and may be easily visited in a day’s journey, either on donkey-
back or in a hammock. The latter mode of transit is much affected by lady
tourists – the hammock swung at either end of a long pole, which is carried
on the shoulders of two men. But if you choose this method of transportation,
take my advice and have an extra mule in tow, for you will surely need him
before the journey ends. The hammock bearers trot briskly, up hill and down,
as though your weight were no more than a feather; and for the first two
or three miles you think it the most luxurious mode of traveling that can be
imagined. Half reclining, with nothing to do but hold a sun-shade and enjoy
the prospect, the old Methodist hymn recurs to mind – something about being
“carried to the skies on flow’ry beds of ease.” But after a while your feet “go
to sleep,” as the children say; then the strange numbness extends to the limbs,
and finally to every part of the body. Nervous pains follow, culminating in
intense nausea, until you are glad to walk any number of miles rather than
ride another minute in that palanquin fashion. However, you have a great deal
to enjoy before all this occurs, and by varying the programme with the extra
donkey, may get along delightfully.
In a Hammock.
Leaving the city behind to the east, for the first six miles the road is smooth
and gently ascending, between orange groves, cultivated fields, and country
houses. The hammock carriers reverse ends, and you “ride backward,” as
otherwise you heels would be higher than your head going up hill. Probably
this hastens the inevitable nausea, but in the matter of scenery it gives you
the advantage of those on donkey-back, who can only see straight ahead in
the narrow lanes. You get lovely views of the smiling valleys, high hills, and
rugged ravines, the red-roofed casas of Horta spread out below, the harbor
dotted with vessels, and omnipresent, cloud-wrapped Pico only four miles
away.
The greenest of those pastoral vales is the celebrated Valle dos Flamengos,
which, tradition says, was originally settled by the Flemish. Its dingy, moss-
grown village, founded in the fifteenth century, is not only the oldest town in
the Azores, but the dullest and sleepiest – and that is saying a great deal for
it in the way of dullness. Antiquity weighs heavily indeed upon Flamengos.
316 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
Grass and weeds grow thickly between the stones that pave the streets, and an
oppressive silence reigns. Half the houses are without the least indication of
being inhabited, and all the walls and buildings, once whitewashed, are now
weather stained and lichen covered, and parasitic plants fatten upon them.
The people appear as if they looked upon levity or action as an insult to the
traditions of the place. Even at midday the thoroughfares and public square
are empty.
The shopkeepers lounge in their doorways, expecting no customers. Now and
then an unkempt citizen shuffles aimlessly into view, with an air of having
nowhere to go and no reason for going anywhere, and the women washing in
the little stream that trickles through the rocky gorge in front of the village are
not chattering laughing like their voluble sisters in other places.
Fenced in Flowers.
For miles the way is hedged with blue hydrangeas (Hortensia?), a plant not
indigenous to Fayal, but thoroughly naturalized. It is used for fencing the small
fields and planted in rows, grows to great height, each tree bearing hundreds
of trusses of light blue blossoms that from a distance look like a soft blue mist
on the slopes of the hills. The pastures are pink with genuine Scotch heather,
alternated with patches of blue periwinkles, and box is everywhere, similar
to that cultivated for English borders, only grown tall and cone-shaped, like
Lombardy poplars. Presently you come upon a successions of heathery ridges,
crowned with stunted shrubs, whose interminable dreariness is relieved only
by occasional herds of undersized cattle or men, women, or children plodding
downward to their valley homes, each completely buried beneath the bundle
of brushwood which he or she has been to the mountain to gather. The path
grows rougher and wilder, and finally disappears altogether. The donkeys and
hammock-bearers pick their way carefully over rolling stones and slippery
boulders, along the bottom of deep ravines that will be watercourses by and
by when the rainy season sets in, or follow sheep trails along the narrow edge
of crumbling ridges, the wise little donkeys putting their feet close together
and gently tobogganing down into the gullies. In all the gorges that furrow
the hills in every direction ferns grow with wonderful luxuriance, the Wood-
wardia radicans, with graceful fronds six and eight feet long, mingled with
masses of ivy similar to the “English” variety, among which scarlet orchids
and other bright flowers bloom.
Fannie B. Ward 317
A few miles of such traveling, steadily up and up, and suddenly a particularly
lonely ridge comes to an end upon the very brink of the tremendous crater,
O Caldeira, whose yawning mouth measures more than two miles straight
across. The vast, round pot has a circumference of six miles at the top,
gradually decreasing to a third of that area at the bottom, and the sides of it,
lined with heath and faya brushes, are so nearly perpendicular that it looks like
an enormous funnel, sunk two thousand feet into the earth. If it happens to be
free from clouds, the spectacle is indeed awe-inspiring.
In the Pit.
The only entrance to the pit is down the rocky and tortuous bed of a stream
– a passage as dangerous as it is difficult, often apparently ending in
abrupt projections from which you must either leap or fall. The guide says
“O Caminho não está bom” – the road is good for nothing – and tells you of
a young American who lost his life in making the descent a few years ago,
but when you see dozens of men and women toiling up barefooted, all with
great sheaves on their heads, you determine to venture it. Down the steep trail
you go, assisted by the protesting but always trustworthy guide – scrambling,
sliding, jumping, tumbling, often turning angles so sharp that you cannot trace
the way a yard ahead, and in making the two thousand feet to the bottom are
obliged to traverse at least three times that distance in dizzy zigzags. It takes
the best mountaineers more than an hour to do it, and again and again, meeting
peasants staggering under heavy loads, you are lost in wonder at the patient
industry or depth of poverty which impels them to such effort for so small a
return. Their sheaves are of rushes, gathered at the bottom of the crater, which
they will “season” at home and then braid into matting or cattle ropes. You
may buy these rope coils in the market, each three yards long, for a patank
– 5 cents. But think of the hardship and toil that have gone to make one of
them. The miles of weary walking barefooted through rocky ravines to the
summit of the Caldeira, the fatiguing descent into the pit, the hours of hard
labor in the broiling sun, the long climbs up again under the burden – all for
5 cents. When the rushes are gathered they are first tied into small packages
and then these are bound together into an immense bundle, so disposed that
a round place is left in the middle, through which the bearer thrusts his head.
Arrived at the bottom, you find the floor of the crater undulating, slightly boggy
in places, and covered with spongy moss, into which the feet sink ankle deep
at every step, with occasional dryer patches, where mint and tansy flourish.
318 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
A dark tarn occupies the center – not of turbid water, as at first glance you
fancy, but clear as crystal beneath its thick covering of interwoven leaves and
stems of some acuatic plant. Line and plummet have never sounded the depth
of this tartaean lake, but tradition gives it direct communication with the ocean.
A few cattle graze near its borders (how in the world did they get there?) gulls
flit screaming over, and gold and silver fish dart among the lily roots. Some-
body must have stocked the pond with the latter – maybe the thrifty Flemings
of a former century – because there are no native fish in the island, nor snakes,
nor reptiles of any kind. Close by is the real crater of the spot – a miniature
volcano several hundred feet high, with a cavity also in its center, the whole
covered with a dense growth of evergreens.
The Nest of the Clouds.
The Fayalese peasants, who are by no means so unimaginative as they appear,
speak poetically of the Caldeira as “The Nest of the Clouds.” And truly it is
an apt simile. In the morning the great basin is completely filled with clouds,
which seem to be shaking and pluming themselves after a night’s rest. The
great cauldron seethes with them. Higher and higher they rise, until at last they
roll over the brim and pour down upon the surrounding hills. Detachments of
them remain on guard all day, circling around the edge of the abyss, now lifted
high in the air, and again falling solidly to the bottom, continually weaving
themselves into a thousand fantastic shapes.
No words can describe the awful sensation it give you, when standing at the
bottom of the crater, to gaze upward and see an ocean of clouds pouring over
the edge like a second Niagara, and roiling above you in billows like those of
the Atlantic. The terrible walls seem to close in around you, making escape
impossible. In vain you strain your eyes to get even a glimpse of the sky from
the depths of this mighty well, this weird and grewsome place in which the
Fayalese peasantry locate every evil witch and warlock which rally forth to
harass the sons of men.
It is a good deal easier to get into a hole than to get out again, as the Bard of
Mantua sagely remarked, though in somewhat different language. Fatiguing
and difficult as is the descent, it is child’s play compared to the weary climb
to the upper regions. It will require at least three hours, of the hardest work
you ever did in your life, and the chances are that you will sit down more than
once on some projecting rock and declare that you cannot go another single
step. The guides help all they can, the path being often so narrow that two
Fannie B. Ward 319
persons cannot walk abreast, and each foothold must be selected with care,
now hauling you up by one hand, now pushing from the rear, and occasionally
a stalwart guide will hoist you to his shoulder, and, holding your knees stiffly
against his chest, while you sit as erect as possible, will make a few springs up
the dizzy path. Toward the last the hammock men come after you, and, when
the top is gained at last, you are fain to lie flat on the blessed level ground for
a while and gain breath and mental equilibrium.
Wayside Shrines.
In Fayal, as in other countries, the farther you get into the rural district, the
more distinctively novel are the scenes. You come across wayside shrines,
with flowers piled before them, or a tiny lamp flickering in a box, in memory
of somebody who died years ago on the spot. You see cows tethered in the
fields, each with a heart-shaped amulet of red flannel bound around her fore-
head to protect her from the “evil eye.” Stone huts have high-pitched thatched
roofs, with a square hole in the peak which serves as a window, out of which
a head is always shyly peering when strangers pass. The little houseyards,
fragrant with saffron and bergamot, are walled and shaded, and women sit
in the doorways with their spinning. The spinner holds a distaff between the
left arm and side. The thread is wound off the spinole on a kind of “swifts,”
such as our great-grandmothers used to have, twisted with the left hand.
A great deal of flax is grown in the Azores, and takes the place that cotton does
with us. The men of the better class dress in suits of snowy-white linen, and
peasants in the coarser, unbleached sorts. Woolen cloths are also woven, dyed
black, brown, blue, and gray, resembling coarse felting. The country house
interior is easily described, because there is so little in it. It has but one room,
the rafters in bold relief above, sometimes “a woven work of willow boughs”
partitioning off one end for a bedroom; a loft above it reached by a ladder;
each bed a pile of furze or straw on the earth of the first floor, and on the
poles laid close together of the loft. There is neither stove nor chimney. The
fireplace is merely an adobe shelf built against the side wall, and on it furze
and faggots are burned, the smoke escaping as best it can through the roof and
open door. For cooking utensils there are pots and jars of crude red pottery
and occasionally an iron kettle. Meat is a rare article of food with the Azorean
peasant. Unleavened corn bread, baked over the coals – coarse, hard, sour,
and smoky – is the chief of his diet, with a bit of fish or cheese, a red pepper,
and a cup of water. No wonder he is such a queer creature – sensitive, jealous,
320 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
superstitious, and cowardly. But there is also much to be said in his favor. He
is temperate and industrious, kind and helpful to strangers, and so polite that
even the barefooted, half-clothed donkey boys address one another as senhor.
All your stable bills and other accounts made out by the natives, though they
amount to but a few cents, are addressed to “O Illustrissima Excellentissima
Senhora” – The Most Illustrious, Most Excellent Lady – and the naked young-
sters in the street kiss their hands to you. And now we are off for Terceira and
the capital of the island.
Angra, Terceira Island. Oct. 11. – When the Portuguese mariner who first
sighted this archipelago came upon the third island in the order of discovery
he named it Terceira, Castilian for “third.” Although by no means the largest
island of the group it ranks first in the political history of the Azores, as well
as in the estimation of the mother country and the hearts of the islanders.
Settled in the sixteenth century, it was made the capital of the group, partly on
count of its central position and also because it has the safest roadstead of all
the islands excepting Fayal, which lies too far westward for equal legislation.
Terceira is about twenty-one miles long by twelve broad, and its population is
now estimated at 60,000. Environed by rocky promontories it looks from the
sea very much like Fayal, but closer observation discloses radical differences.
Instead of the cones, craters, and bifurcated peaks which distinguish the other
islands and exhibit such strong evidence of comparatively recent volcanic
eruptions its 170 miles of rugged coast line inclose many beautiful plateaus
from 2,000 to 4,000 feet above the sea, all its mountain tops being flattened
out into broad plains. Doubtless Terceira, like the rest of them, has had its
volcanic eruptions, but at a period so remote that their vortexes have filled up
by the gradual operations of time. The level craters and entirely decomposed
lava show that the volcanoes were spouting away many centuries before those
Fannie B. Ward 321
of Fayal and Pico were tossed up from the ocean. Terceira has no boiling or
mineral springs, such as have made its neighbors famous, but it abounds in
grain fields, orange and lemon groves, rich pasturage, and fine cattle.
The port of Angra is situated much like that of Horta, the great headland which
protects it, called Monte do Brazil, being the counterpart of Fayal’s Monte
Monte de Guia – both resenting precipitous fronts in the sea, sloping sharply
backward and connected with the mainland by a strongly fortified isthmus.
The Monte do Brazil is the pride and boast of the Angreuses, having been
more than once the refuge of runaway Portuguese kings during peninsular
revolutions. It is perhaps three miles in circumference, forming the Bay of
Angra on the east and Fanel Bay on the west. Its 600 foot high summit bears
the inevitable signal station of these ports – this one a tall wooden cross with a
basket attached, which is pulled up and down to announce a vessel’s approach.
The isthmus is entirely occupied by the castle of St. John the Baptist, the prin-
cipal fortress of the island, in itself a considerable village, housing upward of
2,000 souls, including the garrison. It mounts 100 pieces of cannon, many of
which are forty-eight pounders. The unhappy Don Alfonso VI. spent five years
of his life inside of those old castle walls when deposed by the Cortes and his
brother Dom Pedro II., and his imperial coat-of-arms may still be seen above
the doorway of his sleeping apartment. St. Sebastian, the second fortification
which defends the port of Angra, so called in honor of its founder, the ill-fated
monarch of that name, is situated on the east side of the bay, where its artillery
crosses with that of San Antonio. There is also a subterranean passage to a
battery upon a rock, against which the sea breaks with fury, whose guns cover
the port, and the whole coast as far as Feteira; and taken altogether Terceira’s
fortifications, though musty and out of date like everything Portuguese, would
render the approach of a hostile fleet rather hazardous, to say the least.
Loyalty to the Portuguese Crown.
Evidences of the martial spirit of the islanders and their loyalty to the fortunes
of the Portuguese crown abound on every hand. The name of the place, Angra
do Heroismo (“Bay of Heroism”), was bestowed by a grateful sovereign for
value received, as was also the city’s proud title, Siempre Leal, meaning
“always loyal.” After the popular acclamation of Dom Antonio, prior of Crato,
the Portuguese throne, to which there had already been nine “pretenders,” was
usurped by Philip II. of Spain. Terceira resisted his power bravely for several
years, but at last, in 1582, she succumbed to the Spanish fleet, of ninety
322 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
sail, under the famous Marques de Bazan. After more than half a century of
submission to the hated Spanish rule Dom Joao VI. was proclaimed king, as
he had been in Portugal, and the Spaniards expelled from the island. The third
important struggle, which earned the city the epithet “do Heroismo,” occurred
in the present century, when the citizens declared themselves supporters of the
rights of Dona Maria da Gloria, against her uncle, Dom Miguel, the despotic
regent, who was finally overthrown and expelled from the kingdom. It took
six years of hard fighting in Portugal to down this sturdy usurper, but in
Terceira the central struggle lasted less than four months. Dona Maria resided
at Angra about three years, beginning in 1830. A few miles east of this port is
a coast village which has received the high-sounding title of Praia da Victoria,
“Beach of Victory,” where several victories were gained over foreign would-
be usurpers. The plaza adjoining the pier is named Largo do Março 5, “Square
of March 5th.” In commemoration of the day of Alfonso’s arrival; and the visit
of Dom Pedro VI. is kept in affectionate remembrance by a tall monument
with pyramidal shaft, set upon a hill in the outskirts of the city.
There are other peculiarities which render Terceira superior to its neighbors.
Angra is in many respects the finest looking city in the Azores. One striking
superiority is in its sidewalks, which in some places are actually wide enough
for two people to walk abreast. Its streets are broader and more modern, and
the buildings that line them handsomer. Its whitewash looks whiter, its paint
bluer, pinker, yellower than elsewhere. Its cathedral is the largest, its churches
the best and most numerous, and to crown all and cap the climax of Azorean
glory it is the only city in the archipelago which can boast a genuine bull ring,
where regular fiestas de tauros take place. The cathedral occupies an eminence
in the center of the city, its foundations laid in a flagged yard, with a parapet
and flight of stone steps leading up from the street. There are three arched
doorways in its whitewashed façade, with a high tower on either side of a
pediment, wherein is a clock which from time out of mind has refused to tell
the hours. The interior would be imposing were it not for the tawdry gilding
which defaces all these Portuguese sanctuaries. Arches of beautiful construc-
tion and two rows of lofty pillars running the whole length of the building sup-
port the roof. On each side are four altars, and the chapel of the high altar at the
farther end is arched in hewn stone, its dome supported by six gilded columns.
Close by the high altar is the tomb of Ponto da Gama, who visited this island in
1497, in company with his illustrious brother, Vasco da Gama, on their return
from a voyage to the Indies, and Ponto got no further, and least in the flesh.
Fannie B. Ward 323
the middle of shoes several sizes too small; the more comfortable and gen-
erally better looking barefooted sisterhood who have no “style” to maintain
– every shade and stratum of Azorean life. Everybody “of the male persua-
sion,” as Mrs. Partington would say; big and little, afoot or on horseback,
puffs diligently and without ceasing at the worst smelling cigarettes that the
West Indies can produce. The Portuguese man or boy is never seen during
his walking hours without this supposed luxury in his mouth, and his powers
of expectoration are unsurpassed, even by cuspidor champions in the United
States “Sunny South.” In meeting the ladies kiss one another, first on the left
cheek and then on the right, bobbing their heads from side to side in graceful
unison, and woe betide the foreigner not accustomed to the salutation, who
bobs her head the wrong way and gets bumped for her awkwardness! The
men also throw their arms around each other’s shoulders and kiss squarely
upon the mustache with resounding smacks like the popping of champagne
corks. While Azoreans generally are of Portuguese origin, those of Terceira
pride themselves particularly on sangre azul. The inhabitants of some of the
other islands have more or less mixture of Flemish or Moorish blood. English,
Scotch, and Irish immigrants are also present in considerable numbers,
especially in Fayal and San Miguel, and are said to be responsible for the
blue eyes and freckles that disfigure some of the younger Portuguese counte-
nances. There are also some ‘negroes’ among the reputable citizens; but a little
extra shade in the complexion and kink in the hair does not count for much
among these swarthy people. Taken all in all they are a queer lot. Among
the aristocracy the manners of Lisbon prevail and regular court etiquette is
observed at assemblies and parties. Education is at a rather low ebb in all the
islands, but less so at Terceira than elsewhere.
Natives’ Bull-Fighting Proclivities.
Among other institutions of learning at Angra is a college for the education of
priests, which has at present over 100 students. The people appear to derive
little benefit from the blessings which Providence has conferred upon them.
For example, though the finest fish in the world abound almost at their doors,
they prefer cod and dog fish and other salted (and often putrid) varieties
brought from Newfoundland and the Mediterranean. Instead of their own beef
and pork, which can hardly be excelled, they buy dry “jerk” and abominable
bacon imported from Portugal and South America; and in lieu of their own
unadulterated wine drink a vile spirit from Brazil and the West Indies, while
Fannie B. Ward 325
the so-called better class substitute gaudy cotton prints and sleazy “mixed”
goods from England for the admirable native linen.
Along with the other pernicious fashions from Lisbon the sports of the bull
ring were imported. But the Portuguese fiesta de tauros is not wildly exciting,
as reproduced at Angra, the island bulls being very small and tame and their
horns well padded to prevent them from hurting anybody. The amphitheater
where the contests take place, out in the suburb called Franca de San João,
looks like a small circus ring. It is situated on the backward slope of a hill, to
prevent the small boys and children of larger growth from getting surreptitious
unpaid-for peeps; the high whitewashed walls toward the street supplied with
shuttered windows and wooden doors, above which appear such inscriptions
as “camarotes” (boxes) and “bilhetes de sombra” (seats for the shade). You
pay the equivalent for an American quarter for a seat in a box in the shade
and half that amount for the gallery where the sun’s rays pour in unhindered.
In Terceira, as in Portugal, Spain, and Mexico, the corrida de tauros always
takes place on Sunday, the general holiday. All the world and his wife, from
the Governor General down through the nobility, the priesthood, tradesmen,
and barefooted laborers, go first to mass and throng the amphitheater later
in the day. The military band furnishes music, yellow hand bills assure the
populace that “a gay time” is bound to be had, and the audience enjoys itself
after a fashion, probably because amusements are few. Once an enthusiastic
devotee of the bull fight imported a large animal from England to add zest
in some special fiesta. Upon his debut in Azorean society the fierce bull
killed his assailant at the first dash, then proceeded to demolish the rickety
fence that incloses the arena and plunged in among the spectators, injuring
several before his course could be checked. This was too much “sport” even
for Terceirians, and since then the fighters have confined themselves to native
stock.
Much more exciting are the impromptu fights occasionally held in rural vil-
lages, to celebrate some special fiesta, patriotic or religious. They drive a wild
bull up from the fields to some long, wide street and then close the thorough-
fare at both ends. Up and down the beast rages, charging everything in sight,
frequently compelling his tormentors to vault through some window left con-
veniently open. Sometimes the maddened brute storms a door and dashes into
a house, while its inmates shin up among the rafters. The young Terceirian’s
favorite method of convincing his sweetheart of his invincible courage is to
sit on a chair in the middle of the street and let the bull charge, full tilt, down
326 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
upon him; then, just at the right instant, for the slightest miscalculation means
death, to leap up with the agility of a cat, seize the beast by the horns, and leap
lightly over his back to safety, while he vents his baffled rage upon the chair,
by reducing it to fine kindling wood.
Velhas, São Jorge Island, Oct. 20. – Special Correspondences. – Sailing from
Fayal to Terceira, a distance only sixty miles, we passed in the darkness of
night between the two small islands, São Jorge and Graciosa, without getting
a glimpse of either; and therefore felt constrained to retrace our steps over the
ocean highway in order to pay them a flying visit. As everybody know, this
widely scattered archipelago is divided into three distinct groups, the extreme
eastern and western islands lying some 300 miles apart, with Fayal, Pico,
São Jorge, Graciosa, and Terceira, and is yet in a measure dependent upon it,
as Pico is upon Fayal and Corvo upon Flores.
The six hours’ run between the two is generally accomplished in the small
hours after midnight. You go to sleep in your berth at one port and wake to
yourself in the other Graciosa (‘gracious paradise’) has, as its name indicates,
a rich beauty peculiarly its own, pervaded by a sort of mellow effulgence due
to certain atmospheric conditions, such as I have rarely seen elsewhere. It is
barely twenty miles in circumference, with a population of less than 20,000
and only one settlement large enough to be called a village – Santa Cruz, its
port and capital. Seen from a distance, it looks like two tiny islets, because
of tall mountains at either end, the land between them being on a level with
the sea. A more verdant peaceful looking spot could hardly be found, and
so fertile is it that the people manage to export an incredible amount of fruit
and vegetable, barley, wheat, and corn. Before the blight created such havoc
in the vineyards of all these islands, wine used to be the staple production
of Graciosa, or, rather, wine distilled into a fiery brandy, called agua ardent
Fannie B. Ward 327
(“burning water”). Nowadays, since grapes are scarcer the Azoreans content
themselves with milder tipple, made from sweet potatoes, a cheap intoxicant,
to be bought in all the so-called “dry goods” shops for two cents per glass, and
three glasses are warranted to produce the desired state of semi-oblivion and a
fine “head” for the morrow. There is no hotel or other public accommodation
for strangers in Santa Cruz, but a couple of hours will give you ample time
to see everything of interest on the islands, unless you care for a rough tramp
over the hills, to peep into the inevitable crater of the interior, one which has
had no eruption within the memory of man.
There was a fiesta in progress the day we were at Santa Cruz; the church bells
were jingling merrily and the streets were full of people in holiday attire.
The houses are well built, the thoroughfares clean, and everybody looks
prosperous and contented. We strolled two or three miles beyond the town,
into the green and pleasant country, and were much interested in the glimpses
of peasant life afforded. The tiny farms are cultivated to the utmost, and the
raising of sheep, cattle, and donkeys appears to be a prevailing industry.
Small Isles, Small Beasts.
By the way, an odd circumstance, which cannot fail to strike the observant
traveler in the Azores, is the fact that all four-footed creatures seem to increase
or diminish in their proportions, according to the size of the island upon which
they are found. Thus, in San Miguel, the largest island of the archipelago,
the cattle and horses are of ordinary size, as seen in other parts of the world,
while in Fayal and in Terceira they are “middling,” in Pico and Graciosa very
small, indeed, and on tiny Corvo and on St. Mary’s so infinitesimal that they
look like toy animals escaped from some miniature “Noah’s ark.” There is
a noticeable difference in the produce, fruits and grain degenerating in the
smaller islands, as a rule, and exotic plants losing much in bloom and perfume.
The people of Graciosa seem to match their island homes to perfection, being
small in stature, gentle, mild-mannered, ignorant, and happy. Mormonism is
said to prevail among them to a considerable extent – but there may be worse
things in the world, even, than that. There is not such a thing as a jail, an
almshouse, and orphanage, or a foundling asylum on the island, nor need of
any. There is one manufactory, for the burning of bricks, and a number of the
islanders build boats, from models of their own, which are famous in these
waters for exceptional seaworthiness – though the timber for them, as well
as wood for household purposes, must be brought from Terceira. They also
328 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
make the material for their own wearing apparel – excellent white linen and
well-dyed woolen cloth. The homes of the peasantry are so nearly alike that a
description of one answers for all the rest.
The whitewashed stone cottage has generally two rooms, with roof of thatch
and mother earth for floor. An opening near the apex of the roof serves for
both window and chimney or else a square aperture is left in the side wall,
without glass, but provided with a rude barn doorlike shutter. The furnishings
are scant, indeed. A pile of stones in one corner serves for a stove upon which
the cooking is done, the smoke escaping as best it can. In another corner is
the bed, so high that it almost needs a ladder to climb into it, covered with a
gay patchwork spread, such as our grandmothers used to make in the days of
“crazy quilts.” There is also a hand loom, a deal table, with some scriptural
prints on the wall, a bench, and, perhaps, a chair or two, with seats of woven
rushes. But the latter seem to be merely ornamental, or reserved for company,
the ladies of the household invariably squatting upon the floor when busy with
their sewing or spinning, carding flax or wool, weaving baskets and braiding
hats, doing their beautiful knitting and embroidering, and making exquisite
laces out of the split fiber of the aloe. For illuminating purposes there is the
same modification of the old Roman lamp that our Puritan ancestors used in
New England, viz., a small triangular pan to hold grease, with a floating wick
of twisted rag in it.
One thing which perplexes a stranger in the Azores is the multiplicity of
names in the same family, making it difficult to identify its members. When
a girl marries she sometimes takes her husband’s name, but oftener she does
not. The eldest son, when arrived at years of discretion, appropriates one of
two of his father’s ancestral names, choosing those that please his fancy, and
the second son selects some of his mother’s in the same manner, but neither
ever assumes the father’s family name. That is considered of no consequence
whatever, the baptismal name being the one to which importance is attached.
Thus Marias and Filomenas, Jorges and Jesus abound in distracting numbers,
and in the postoffice letters are assorted accordingly, no attention being paid
to the surname, but the Antonios put in one pile, the Batas in another, and so
on through the alphabet.
São Jorge is about the same size as its next neighbor, Graciosa, but a greater
contrast can hardly be imagined than that between the appearance of the two
islands. Topographically considered, São Jorge is by far the most interesting
island of the archipelago – except, perhaps, Pico, which surpasses it only in
Fannie B. Ward 329
the height of its single volcanic cone. Thirty miles long, but barely three and
a half wide, with tall mountains ranging from end to end, it presents one of
the most impressive sea walls eyes ever beheld. Skirting it in a yacht, on a
tranquil summer’s day, is a never-to-be-forgotten experience, as full of danger
as of sublimity. No wonder that sailors dread the approach to this small speck
in mid-Atlantic even more than rounding the storm-beset Cape Horn! The
mighty mass of headlands, rising sheer and abrupt out of the Azorean Sea
from 800 to 1,500 feet, with scarcely a break in their grim sides save where
gulches corrugate the upper heights are guarded by projecting reefs of high
black rocks against which the surf beats with ceaseless fury. Strong currents
set in shoreward, while blasts blowing down the gulches with destructive
force soon dash to pieces the unfortunate vessels driven under the lee of this
Titantic wall, where not a solitary crag projects to which a drowning mariner
may cling.
São Jorge’s one town, or rather hamlet called Ponta de Las Velhas, set close to
the shore on the shelving edge of one of these heights, looks just ready to slide
off into the water. Taken all in all, it is the most lugubrious, woe-begone, and
desolate-looking place to be found in many a long journey. You climb up to
it over a slippery, wave-washed heap of rocks, called by courtesy a quay, and
enter the village through a picturesque medieval gateway. Ruins of ancient
fortifications surround the little harbor, as if nature had not sufficiently forti-
fied the undesirable possession; but the rusty guns, long since slanted in the
earth, mouth downward, serve the peaceful purpose of tying-posts for boats.
Grass and weeds spring up unhindered in its irregular streets, and there are a
few poor shops, a market place with a covered shed, a great church, and a hos-
pital. The latter building was once a populous convent. The narrow cells of the
monks, turned into sick wards, have a cheerful outlook into the cemetery on
one side and into the patio on the other, where the official coffins are stored.
These black-painted boxes have been many times used, being only loaned to
the dead for the short journey to the grave, into which the corpse is dumped
uncoffined, the box being returned to the patio to serve the same purpose again
and again. The most attractive place in Velhas is the central plaza, standing in
which, looking up and around, you feel as if at the bottom of a mighty well,
so close on all sides are the precipitous mountains. The broad plateau which
forms the backbone of this rocky inlet is extremely fertile, and every available
patch of soil is cultivated to the utmost. Even the almost perpendicular sides
of the loftiest cliffs are terraced and tilled, to the edge of precipices which
330 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
drop down hundreds of feet to the ever-raging surf below, on slopes so steep
that it would seem as if both wings and claws were needed to cling to them,
and in gorges accessible only by boat from the sea, where the peasants’ sole
companions are mountain goats and buzzards. Men and women working on
those terraced heights look like flies clinging to the wall of a room. In pleasant
weather the scene is attractive, green, and peaceful; but imagination fails to
depict the terror and devastation which follow in the wake of the fierce gales
which so frequently buffet these stern coasts. Even more destructive, though
happily less frequent, are the earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that occa-
sionally overwhelm the island. Several times since its settlement – notably in
the years 1580, 1757, and 1808 – its towns have been literally wiped out and
the green fields buried in deep-blackened lava and scoriae. Velhas is situated
in just the right spot to be demolished by volcanic streams seeking a pathway
to the sea; but as often as destroyed it has been rebuilt on the same site, for
the simple reason that there is no other opening in the rock-bound coast on
this side of the island; and after each disaster nature has made extraordinary
haste in gilding the ravages under additional bloom and beauty. It is hard to
believe, but is nevertheless true, that the industrious population of 19,000,
not only manage to wrest a comfortable living from these rugged hills, but
actually export considerable butter, cheese, fruits, and cattle to Portugal and
the neighboring islands. Their cheese is said to be of especial excellence and
the shipping records show that in a single year one house alone in Lisbon
received $20,000 worth of butter from Velhas.
The peasantry of São Jorge are more picturesque in dress and manner than
any we have yet met in the Azores. Their ways of living and methods of labor
are as primitive as were those of the Moors, when they invaded Spain and
Portugal, from whom these people are said to have sprung, and to whom they
certainly bear a strong facial resemblance. The women wear dresses of dark
blue woolen cloth, with enormous balloon-like skirts thrown up over their
heads from the waist, and scant petticoats of the same material, bordered with
scarlet. Of the men’s outfit the most noticeable part is the funny little cap, of
dark-colored cloth edged with red, with triangular visor turned up in front, so
that the long sharp point looks like a finger pointing skyward.
How the Sisters Diverted the Lava.
It is related that during the last great volcanic eruption clouds of smoke were
so thick that the darkness of midnight settled over the island at noonday,
Fannie B. Ward 331
rendering the ignited matter more bright and terrific by contrast. Every fresh
explosion resembled the report of cannon; the earth opened in many places,
casting up red-hot stone and ashes, and lava flowed in streams of liquid fire
down the mountain sides. The populace abandoned all hope and flocked to the
churches and convents to pray, or rushed into the sea, preferring drowning to
death by fire. The largest stream of fire set straight toward the convent of the
sacred sisters known as Ursulines; and at the supreme moment, when the fiery
column had approached so near that the windows were broken and the shaken
walls had cracked, an extraordinary spectacle took place. The Mother Abbess,
having assembled all her nuns, put a crucifix in the hands of each, threw wide
the convent gates, and advanced to meet the stream of fire, weeping aloud and
beseeching the Virgin and their patron saint, to avert the threatened destruc-
tion. In an instant the liquid fire changed its course to an opposite direction, no
longer menacing the convent, but spreading desolation in another track to the
sea. The nuns prostrated themselves on the ground in adoration and then sang
hymns of praise, in which the astonished people joined. The miracle was duly
reported to the Governor General of the Azores and the powers that be in Por-
tugal, who hastened to assure the Ursulines that they should ever be esteemed
as saints while living, and their bones canonized when dead. Modern heretics,
of course, see other reasons for the turning aside of the flood. They say that
the valley is intersected by a deep ravine, caused by a former earthquake, com-
municating with the ocean, and that when the stream reached that point it went
into it, as naturally as the water falls over the cliffs at Niagara. But heaven
forbid that we should take anything from the glory of the sacred sisters!
Ponta del Gada, San Miguel, Oct. 29 – Special Correspondence. – After the
picturesque beauty of Flores and Fayal, and the impressive grandeur of Pico
and Terceira, the traveler naturally looks forward with high expectations to
332 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
this the largest and richest island of the archipelago. But he is likely to be
disappointed with the first view of it. San Miguel possesses the same general
features of rockbound coasts and basaltic cliffs, interior mountains wreathed
in clouds, and hills and valleys green with vineyards, orchards, and gardens;
but perhaps the scene loses in impressiveness from being so widely spread
out, for this big island is sixty miles long by from nine to twelve miles wide.
It seems to be scalloped in regular pattern around the edges by reason of the
innumerable little conical hills set close to the shore, all so monotonously
alike that they resemble the teeth of a colossal saw. Back of these rise other
peaks, tier above tier, till lost in the low-hanging clouds. As the steamer rounds
the southwest corner of the island, Ponta del Gada is suddenly disclosed, the
largest city of the Azores and third in importance in the kingdom of Portugal.
It stretches two miles or more along shore and up a gentle slope, between the
crescent-shaped bay and the sharply serrated peaks that outline it.
The breakwater which renders this harbor comparatively safe deserves more
than passing mention, for it has been nearly forty years in process of construc-
tion, and has already cost more than £1,000,000 and ruined many contractors,
but it is not yet completed. Probably it never will be finished, or remain so
for any length of time, because it lies in the line of the severest Atlantic gales,
and no work of man can long withstand the shock of the water surges. The
breakwater, a massive wall of masonry thirty-three feet high, is built on the
outer line of a sunken crater in ten fathoms of water; but the sea, apparently in
mischievous sports, frequently destroys in a few hours the labor of months, or
even of years. The work has gone bravely on, however, and the breaches have
been repaired as often as opened. Inside of it 100 vessels of all draughts and
dimensions can ride at once and bid defiance to the gales that rage outside.
The city is faced by a sea-wall and the landing is within a handsome jetty.
To the left is a line of ancient fortifications, fast falling to decay. Numerous
church towers, tall factory chimneys, casas, faced with Oporto tiles, rows
above rows of stone houses, great and small, all white-washed or colored
rose-pink, sky-blue, heliotrope, or canary-yellow, beautiful gardens, outlying
vineyards, and orange groves, combine to impart an air of prosperity unex-
ampled in other parts of the archipelago.
Hardly is anchor cast before the steamer is surrounded by a flotilla of clumsy
boats, each having a cannon ball sunk in its inner extremity to balance the
oars, propelled by boatmen whose confusion of tongues puts Babel in the
shade. Jumping into the nearest boat, you quickly glide behind the wall and
Fannie B. Ward 333
the shipping records – amounting to 360,000 boxes, twenty to the ton. The
activity of the orange season continues from the middle of October to April.
Every day long processions of mules and donkeys wind down the mountains
to the city, laden with the golden fruit for shipment to foreign lands. Besides
the schooners and barques that arrive from abroad to take on these cargoes
many ships put in here for repairs. There is regular mail communication twice
a month by the Lisbon line of steamers, also by fruit steamers to England;
and the United States sends two lines of vessels, from Boston and New York,
at intervals. Owing to this easy and comparatively new communication with
the United States, our trade is rapidly pushing its way among these people.
A few years ago England largely monopolized the Azorean market in the way
of imports, sending thither woolens, cottons, hardware, iron, lumber, glass,
tea, and groceries to an annual value of a million dollars; but now American
goods have come to be an active demand, especially flour and domestics. The
fact is the Azoreans need almost everything our markets can supply, being to
a great extent devoid of the means of living or doing business except as they
are supplied by foreign trade. For instance, though surrounded by the ocean
and with whale spouting in their harbors, they buy all their fish and oil from
other countries; and raising such an enormous quantity of organs every year,
they cannot make boxes for the fruit as cheaply as the same can be imported
in shooks from America.
The population of Ponta del Gada is estimate at 25,000 and that of the whole
island about 115,000. The city architecture is noticeably similar to that of
Havana – the same two-story stone houses with much of the Doric in pillars,
entablature, and roof, and the same endless whitewash, variegated with bril-
liant colors. There is a fine old city gate, and you come upon rare archways
in unexpected place. Traces of the Byzantine order are found in the public
edifices and in the many churches and their towers full of tongueless bells that
have been worn thin by the long-handled hammers of generations of sextons
beating a perpetual tattoo upon them. There is more wealth here than at Horta,
and some very fine residences, surrounded by superb gardens of world-wide
fame. The streets, regularly laid out and well paved, are underdrained and
neatly kept. A few of them are tolerably wide, but the majority, as in the cities
of Spain, Portugal, and Italy are very narrow and darkened by overhanging
balconies.
Fannie B. Ward 335
warmer than either Rome or Nice and five degrees warmer than Lisbon. As for
society the Portuguese are proverbially hospitable and entertaining. Wealthy
residents abound, who have their elegant equipages and liveried servants and
whose mansions are surrounded by extensive gardens beautifully adorned and
filled with rare trees, shrubs, and flowers gathered from the four corners of the
earth. Titles are common in San Miguel, including several barons, viscounts,
and marquises of its own raising. There is also a pleasant colony of British
subjects and two or three “American Princes,” with their families. The city has
a good theater, where generally some strolling opera company from Lisbon or
Madrid are delighting the people. There is also a public library and museum,
and no end of diversion in simply watching the passing show from a window.
chal construction, with three mules harnessed abreast and the jehu as stupid as
only a Portuguese cochero can be, the outfit being completed by two or three
donkeys, each with its vociferous driver, trailing along behind with the
luggage. Probably you hesitate about trusting life and limb to the tender
mercies of a vehicle in such an amazing state of dilapidation, wheels rattling,
springs broken, belts loose, harness patched with bits of rope; but I assure
you that, barring extraordinary accidents, the journey will be accomplished in
safety and comfort; and with so much of unalloyed delight in it that you will
be fain to repeat it again and again.
A fine, wide macadamized road, built and maintained by the government, runs
to the very top of the mountain, to a point which is generally veiled by clouds
from the city below. Stone water courses follow it all the way on either side,
stone bridges cross very mountain torrent, and falls of masonry are built along
the edges of the precipices. There is no use trying to describe the scenes en
route, for words fail utterly and the cold black and white of ink and paper can
convey no impression of the beautiful coloring of the rural pictures with the
blue sky and bluer sea for a background, the mild effulgence of the atmo-
sphere, the shifting clouds and tender mists that veil the hills and valleys.
From the very suburbs of Ponta del Gada you begin to go up and up, to the
tops of steep little hills, anon dashing down at full speed so close to the sea
that you are sprinkled with its spray; then up again over the next peak, mount-
ing always higher and higher. The road for the first few miles is bordered
with handsome residences and beautiful gardens, cultivated fields and orange
groves, the fruits of your own country and all others growing luxuriantly,
shrubs, ferns, and flowers everywhere. Many of the farmers are harvesting.
Great heaps of corn lie in the eiras and whole families are squatted alongside,
braiding bunches of ears together by the husks. These the men put to dry on
four high poles, put together wigwam fashion, mounting to the top by ladders.
At frequent intervals along the wayside stone fountains are set, with moun-
tain streams bubbling through them, where girls fill their red water jars at the
spouts, while others, having dammed up the overflow, are washing clothes in
the puddles.
On the Way to the Crater.
Soon you are winding up the steeper sides of the central mountains, some-
times along the edges of cliffs so lofty that the roar of ocean billows breaking
on bowlders at their base comes to you in a scarcely audible murmur; some-
338 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
times down into deep gorges and over bridges spanning torrents or rocky
gullies; then up again 2,000 feet or more. Several villages are passed, all
poor and picturesque, where the streets swarm with pigs, dogs, ducks, and
geese, and women sit on the floors of their squalid huts among the chickens
and naked babies, and an army of unkempt children run after your carriage
clamoring for alms. The higher hilltops are covered with pine trees, the
ground beneath them with staves sawed ready to be made into orange boxes.
By the way, the oranges of San Miguel are said to be the finest in the world.
Among other varieties which grow here to especial perfection is that called the
Tangierina (a native of Morocco, I believe) – small, flat, thin-skinned, and
strong-flavored. I do not know its habits in other orange-producing regions,
but here it has one noticeable peculiarity, viz., that the oranges which do not
ripen fully during a season, dry up on the trees and remain there safe and snug
through all the winds and rains of winter, until next year’s sun brings them to
full size and maturity, when they mature some months ahead of the rest of the
crop and prove to be the very best of the picking.
After six or seven hours’ steady traveling the highest point of the island is
reached, where the only vegetation is moss, lichens, and the bright little moun-
tain heather. At the foot of the steepest acclivities a pair of oxen will be found
waiting to be hitched in front of the mules and help haul the carriage up, and
in some particularly steep places you may prefer to get out and walk up rather
than to run the risk of standing upon your head in that crazy vehicle. Goats
clamber up the narrow paths and look curiously at you, hawks fly screaming
overhead, the wind blows strong and chilly, and perhaps occasionally showers
belt you sharply. At last you run out on a narrow tongue of tableland, round
the corner of a projecting cliff, and in an instant a sight of the far-famed valley
flashes upon –one of the most surprising and delightful panoramic views
which this great round world can show. The road winds close to the edge of
the precipice and a thousand feet below yawns the valley of Furnas, smoking
like the bottomless pit.
In the midst of the inferno of steam and sulphur fumes of the white-walled
villages gleams fair as any Swiss hamlet, surrounded by gardens and corn-
fields, and through all wanders the Ribeira Quente (hot river), its heavily
charged iron and sulphur waters glinting gold in the sunlight, now flooding
the fields, now lost to sight under old mills and bridges, and again trailing its
thin veil of vapor among the trees and plantations. When the fir intoxication
of the senses has subsided and you are able to separate individual objects from
Fannie B. Ward 339
the glorious whole, you see that the principal caldeiras, or boiling springs, are
grouped together at the left, where they send up volumes of water many feet
into the air and clouds of steam vapor much higher. To the right stretches a
ridge of gloomy hills, a ravine in which discloses a darker and gloomier lake
beyond. In front and beyond the village lie other ranges of hills. Black lava
cliffs and madder-tinted bowlders, piled in wild confusion on every side, give
evidence of nature’s last grand cataclysm, that of 1630, when this terrible
crater sent forth volumes of ashes, which enveloped the whole island in
Egyptian darkness. And encircling all is the mighty amphitheater of moun-
tains, with silver streams trickling down their rugged sides – Cafahorte, Vara,
and other towering peaks on the other side of the chasm, directly opposite
your point of vantage and only eight miles away.
Down Hill with Mules at Top Speed.
The driver hitches an iron contrivance shaped like a shoe to the hand wheel
of the carriage to serve as a brake, and then, lashing his wearied mules to the
top of their speed, whirls you down the fearful declivities at a pace that fairly
makes your hair stand on end. Like the young Lochinvar who stopped not
for stick and who stayed not for stone, he dashes around the sharpest curves
and over the biggest bowlders as if the furies were after him, the wheels often
sliding so near to the verge of the mountain’s over-hanging brow that you
get sickening glimpses of depths below. But nothing happens, and in and
indescribably short time you are down in the green valley, among the white
houses that cluster around the big hotel. There is certainly novelty in the idea
of dwelling in the depths of a volcano, especially one which is by no means
so “extinct,” but that it perpetually mutters sullen threats of future outbursts!
Yet people are living all over this crater; corn fields wave on all the hill slopes,
the yams, sweet potatoes, bananas, layouts.
Hot springs abound in most of the Azorean islands, an particularly in San
Miguel, where nearly every crack in the ground emits heated vapor; but
nowhere in the world, I believe, are there any to compare with these of
Das Furnas. The ground in the vicinity of these vast volumes of boiling water
is hot beneath the feet and covered with native sulphur like hoar frost, streaked
red, green, blue, and yellow, with occasional patches white as snow, while in
other places the soil, of the consistency of clay, is broken into a thousand gro-
tesque shapes, resembling heathen idols painted in glaring colors. The fumes
of sulphur are stifling; for several yards around each caldeira vapors issue
340 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
from the earth, and if you thrust your staff in anywhere, a miniature caldeira
steams up like the spout of a tea kettle.
The principal spring, called the Great Caldeira, excites as much terror as admi-
ration at the first view of it. Boiling water, cast skyward from several hundred
valves at once, rises and falls as regularly as if ejected by a force pump, and
looking at the wonderful column opposite the sun you see it adorned with
prismatic tints like a rainbow or the colors that glow in a fiery furnace, while
the clouds of vapor that hang continually above it devolve into a thousand
ever-changing eccentric figures. As in other places where nature presents a
stewpan conveniently ready for use, travelers amuse themselves by cooking
things in the small springs, and in every case there is an ice-cold spring close
by the boiling caldron, as if expressly provided for the relief of scalded fin-
gers. Eggs may be cooked in Das Furnas in two minutes and corn and pota-
toes in proportionate time, but the vegetables come out so impregnated with
sulphuric acid as to be unfit for food. Separated from the Great Caldron only
by a narrow bank of volcanic substance is the greatest mystery of all, known
as the “Muddy Crater,” a horrible vortex of boiling mud, fifty feet in diameter,
noisily threatening death to the unlucky mortal whose foot may chance to slip
on the brink. Strange to say, though in a state of perpetual and most violent
ebullition, accompanied by a sound resembling that of a tempestuous ocean,
it never rises above the level of the plain. The superstitious peasants call it
Boca do Inferno, the mouth of hell, and never fail to cross themselves piously
whenever they come within sound of its seething. Nothing will induce one
of them to approach it, and they give it a wider berth than ever since a young
woman lost her footing upon the treacherous bank one day and almost before
the first agonized screams had left her lips was sucked down and swallowed in
the vortex. A few days later a heap of charred bones were found on the brink
of the mysterious gulf, as if tossed forth for a warning to others of the children
of men. If you have the courage to hold a stick in this strange caldron it is soon
burned black, then begins to smoke in your hands, and is pulled downward
with such force that you are in danger of being drawn bodily into the abyss,
unless you let go, when the stick instantly disappears.
Good Places for Visitors.
There is ample accommodation in the Furnas Valley for pleasure seekers and
curiosity hunters, as well as for the hundreds of invalids who annually resort
here to be relieved of their rheumatism, scrofula, and kindred ills. Besides the
Fannie B. Ward 341
fashionable Portuguese hotel, which is said to be very good of its kind, and
numberless cottages where lodging may be obtained, there are many private
houses, both in the village and on the adjacent plantations, where strangers
with letters of introduction are handsomely entertained. It was our good
fortune to be invited to visit an estate whose English owners reside most of
the year in Ponta del Gada. It lies some three miles beyond the village, near
the shore of the lake on the other side of the first hill range. Donkeys were
waiting for us at the inn, for there is no carriage road to the place, and after a
brief look at the geysers, illuminated with unearthly splendor by the last rays
of the setting sun, we hurried away, lest darkness overtake us in this uncanny
spot. Nothing could be more weird than that twilight ride, winding in and
out among the barren hills, where mineral streams trickle down in their rusty
beds to the still, dark lake; the sky overcast, fumes of sulphur filling the air,
the silence unbroken, except by the patter of the donkey’s feet and a mournful
wind sighing in the pine trees.
I will not say how ardently we wished ourselves in almost any other spot on the
earth’s surface and visions of far-away home tugged at our heart strings. But
after the warm welcome that awaited us and a night of “tired nature’s sweet
restorer,” we awakened to find the sun shining so gloriously upon views so
enchanting that we would not have exchanged situations with any king upon
his commonplace throne. Our temporary home is the only house in sight, set
upon a terrace a thousand feet above the sea, backed by cliffs a thousand feet
higher. On either side of it are two beautifully wooded highlands that slope
gently to the lake, upon whose placid surface the whole scene is reflected as
in a mirror. Other visitors have likened it to Tyro, the Interlaken, but no spot
in Switzerland can hold a candle to Das Furnas.
Ponta del Gada, San Miguel, Nov. 5. – Special Correspondence. – “In Les
Isles Fortunies,” the Fortunate Islands, as the Azores were originally called,
342 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
life never ceases to wear the charm of novelty. Ever since their first settle-
ment, in the fifteenth century, old Tempus seems to have been going steadily
backward. Nowhere else can you so fully enjoy the restful sensation of being
“in the world but not of it,” as if the whole procession had swept by and left
you 400 years out of the reckoning. Perhaps you are occasionally disturbed
by faint rumors that somewhere beyond these azure seas there are bustle and
activity, but the disagreeable impression soon fades under the Circean spell
of the place. Here, as elsewhere, poverty is more picturesque than riches, and
the most characteristic street scenes add their charm and color to the lowly.
In Ponta del Gada the most animated days are Friday and Sunday, when the
public market is open and people, in holiday attire, come from all parts of the
island to buy, sell, or exchange their wares. The market-place is a large, square
enclosure, surrounded by high walls, and well shaded by incense trees. Stout
from gates guard the entrance, water ripples iron a stone fountain in the center,
and several corseted sons of Mars are constantly in attendance to hear com-
plaints and enforce honesty. The booths of the larger dealers are backed up
against the walls – those who sell meats and jewelry, earthenware and cheap
finery, straw hats, and pats of butter wrapped up in yam leaves, prayer-books,
rosaries and strings of garlic. In front of these are the low fruit stands, piled
with golden oranges, luscious grapes, white and purple, velvety peaches, figs,
guavas, apples, bananas, all the fruits you ever heard of, and many that are
entirely unfamiliar. In the open space between these and the great fountain,
scattered about under the trees, are the “hill-peasants,” as those from the inte-
rior are called, with their heaps of yams, melons and sweet potatoes of mam-
moth size, poultry and other country products.
The men lounge idly about, taking no part in the vehement haggling “in God’s
name” between buyers and sellers; while the women, squatted Turkish fashion
on the ground, knit and gossip in the intervals of traffic. You soon discover
that the most stupid-looking Azorean peasant possesses appositive genius for
barter, and you must either submit to the most barefaced extortion or practice
patience to an exhausted degree. Slow sales and large profits as the principle
of trade with every one of them. If you are only a passing stranger, spending a
few hours in port, it matters little if you pay ten times as much for one or two
articles as the next more sophisticated comer; but if you intend to remain here
some time, and have shown yourself gullible in the first instance, you will find
that thereafter the price of everything in the market mounts up 100 per cent
the minute you appear in sight. But things are cheap enough, goodness knows!
Fannie B. Ward 343
Meat and poultry sell for less than half the average New York price, and the
fish market is an infinite wonder in variety, cheapness, and excellent quality.
Blessings of a Tropical Country.
Fruit is almost given away, the finest of grapes for 1 cent per pound, twenty
large, ripe luscious figs for 2 cents, 6 cents for a melon bigger than you can
carry; 6 cents for a basket full of “marketing” of various sorts sufficient to
make a good dinner for half a dozen persons. Add “the people, oh, the people!”
Well-dressed buyers and barefooted servants, men and women, carrying all
sorts of burdens on their heads, priests and soldiers in their somber and gaudy
costumes adding lights and shadows everywhere to the picture. The men, of
the dark, swarthy type, are almost invariably handsome, muscular, and well-
formed, and most of the children are exceedingly beautiful, but the women,
after youth is passed, are simply hideous. The young girls, however, with their
lustrous eyes, white teeth, supple forms, developed by much burden-bearing
to stately grace that Juno might envy, short skirts and low bodices, showing
the dainty plumpness of the maidens of Tuscany, full of song, laughter, and
innocent coquetry, are singularly attractive. Probably the women would be
less grotesquely ugly were it not for the capote e capello, or combination of
hood and cloak which envelops them from head to heels, its enormous hood,
stretched on whalebone, like a storm-bent umbrella, bulging over the face
three feet or more.
Though the climate of San Miguel warrants the lightest clothing, no woman
of the so-called better class ever sets out from home without this extraor-
dinary garment of heavy broadcloth, whose nearest known similitude is the
hooded braideen of the peasant wives of Connemara. The most striking article
of the male peasant’s attire, beyond his wonderfully adorned waistcoat, is his
carapuça, or broadcloth cap, with its havelock-like cape dangling down behind
over his short jacket, and mammoth visor turned up in front. The latter extends
horizontally across the forehead at least a foot, and is sometimes curled up
at the ends, so that from a little distance it looks like two upturned horns. He
carries a huge staff, like and alpenstock, even when walking on level ground,
and preserves at all times a grave and dignified demeanor, unconsciously
falling into attitudes and posings that would delight a sculptor as he loiters by
the wayside or shoulders some mighty load.
Outside the market place the street presents kaleidoscopic scenes of never-ceas-
ing interest. Numerous little cook shops are thronged with hungry customers,
344 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
devouring heaps of tiny fishes fried in oil and linguiças (sausages made redhot
with pepper), while fantastic, smoke-begrimed figures in the background
hover about altar-like fireplaces, whose flames make Rembrandtish pictures,
and whose incense of grease and garlic permeates the atmosphere a square
in every direction. Wine shops and tobacco stores do a brisk business on
every hand, but one sees no drunkenness in the Azores, except among foreign
seafarers ashore from ships in the harbor. The common wine, a thin, acidu-
lated potation resembling French vin ordinaire, is sold at the rate of 2 cents a
“schooner,” and I am told that it takes about half a dozen of the big glasses to
put a man into that happy condition which sailors describe as “half seas over.”
The white fish market close by the new boat landing is always densely crowded
in the early morning and resounds as much tumultuous wrangling as its larger
London compeer. Among the most picturesque people in the island are the
pescadores (fisher-folk), and their wordy contests over a cent’s worth of
sardines cast billingsgate in the shade. Shouting boys belabor their poor,
patient, little donkeys along the streets. Cocheros (coachmen), in their short,
baggy trousers, abbreviated jackets, and broad-brimmed hats, with tremendous
ships or goads, fill the air with lurid profanity, but are in reality as harmless
as Quixote himself and honest beyond belief.
The City’s Fountains.
The city’s water supply comes through underground pipes from lakes high
up in the mountains, flowing into the numerous street fountains, which are
constantly surrounded by men and women, filling red earthen jars, or long
narrow wooden casks, to be borne home on heads and shoulders. Sometimes
barrels are filled and strapped upon the backs of waiting donkeys; and every
passing beast stops to slake its thirst in the trough underneath the water spouts.
Most of the fountains are set into the solid stone wall and were once painted
in gay colors, red, green, blue, and while; now all faded, rusty, and covered
with lichens. Day and night cold, sparkling water flashes through them,
and all day long an artist might find a constant succession of models, more
picturesque than any the Riviera can furnish in the gossiping, chattering
multitude that surround them. The common patois is medieval, and the
songs and romance belong to the fifteenth century. Many Moorish words are
retained entire in the language, and it is plainly to be seen that the infusion of
Moorish blood has tinged the character and customs of the people, as well as
their features and architecture. Even the commonest salutation of every day
Fannie B. Ward 345
life has a traditional significance. Every brown-faced peasant greets you with
a pleasant “Viva, Senhor” (literally translated, “Live, Sir”), but is probably
quite as unconscious of the origin and full meaning of his courteous expres-
sion as the Mexican peon who commends you to God (a Dios) on all occa-
sions. In the rural districts of Portugal, when comes the much-used “Viva,” its
use is more restricted. Whenever a person sneezes, everybody who hears him
instantly says, “Viva!”
Which in that case is equivalent to the “God bless you” of the Swiss under
similar circumstances. A legend of the Talmud explains this custom.
In the beginning of the world men were so loosely put together that when they
sneezed they were shaken apart and thus destroyed; but as years went by their
joints knit more firmly together, so that there was less danger of instant disso-
lution when air was suddenly ejected from the nose. When people found that
the usual dire results did not follow their sneezing, they exclaimed in surprise
and congratulation, “Viva!” “God bless you!” or words which expressed the
same sentiment.
Next to the drinking shops, the most patronized place of public resort are the
drug stores, though why the vicinity of pills and plasters should attract the
idle multitude I am unable to say. There are two or three billiard saloons in
Ponta del Gada where the “gilded youth” do congregate, but play is never very
brisk, being too much exertion for the Azorean temperament. The theater on
the Rua Esperanza (Hope street), is a rather ornate edifice, with an extensive,
graded lawn in front. Its large, airy vestibule has a mosaic inlaid floor, elabo-
rately carved ceilings, and elegant chandeliers. The body of the house seats
perhaps 500, and the circles are occupied by five tiers of boxes. The parquette
is exclusively for the use of gentlemen, who stroll about between the acts with
their hats on, talking and laughing loudly. As in other Latin countries, staring
at a lady through an opera-glass is considered a delicate attention, the more
prolonged and noticeable it maybe the greater the compliment. The seats are
not reserved, and if you go out to promenade in the corridor between acts, or
to the adjoining saloon “to see a friend,” you tie a handkerchief on the back
of your chair, which retains it until you return. There is no gay night side to
Azorean life, as in southern continental cities. By 9 o’clock all the lowly are
asleep in their closed houses, and by 10 the shops are shut, the streets dark and
deserted, and no sound breaks the stillness but the sentinella’s cry, or the notes
of some love-lorn Romeo, as he twangs his guitar and sings a ditty beneath his
346 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
Juliet’s balcony. The night policemen have so little to do, that each one while
patrolling his beat is guarded by two soldiers with muskets – presumably to
keep him awake.
Crossroad Postoffice.
One of San Miguel’s most remarkable institutions is the postoffice, that is,
in its management. It stands near the old custom-house, and is distinguished
from the adjacent places of business only by the Portuguese coat-of-arms over
the doorway. The one large room is divided midway by a common counter;
behind the counter tables, chairs, desks, and a case of pigeon holes; in front of
it, nothing. When a ship bringing mail arrives in the harbor news of its arrival
quickly travels all over the island, and presently people congregate in the
vicinity of the postoffice. It takes nearly all day to distribute the mail, however
small the budget may be; meanwhile the doors are locked and the crowd waits
good-naturedly for their opening with that indifference to the passage of time
that marks all things Azorean. The postoffice officials go about their business
very leisurely, smoking cigarettes the while, and actually sitting down in the
midst of it to read their own letters and newspapers. The postmaster publishes
one of the local journals, and his fellow citizens assert (not at all to his dis-
credit), that he takes advantage of his position to cull the latest foreign news
and issue a special edition therefrom, hours before he allows any mail to be
delivered to his rivals in the newspaper arena. It is generally lat in the after-
noon before the doors of the postoffice are thrown open and the patient throng
admitted. First the mail for the custom-house, the civil governor, the military
commandant, the captain of the port, and other important public functionaries
is handed out, done up in neat packages, to the waiting messengers. Then the
fun begins. All the rest of the mail has been sorted out into separate piles,
arranged in alphabetical order, and so on down through the list, not, however,
by the family name, but the baptismal name. The clerk begins with the As and
reads in a slow, monotonous voice, twice over, the superscription on every
letter in that pile, such as Antonio Ignace Roderiguez da Silva, Affonso
Leopoldina Villasenor, and so.
The “As” generally have the largest list, Antonios and Affonsos being as
common hereabouts as Johnsons and Charleys are at home. The Fs perhaps
come next, on account of Francisco, and “J” is among the most popular, begin-
ning Jesus and Jose. If your name happens to be way down near the tail end
of the alphabet, like Pleban Ward, for example, you are more than likely to
Fannie B. Ward 347
lose your temper and rail internally at Portuguese methods before your turn
comes especially if your time on shore is limited and you know there are home
letters somewhere behind the counter. But there is nothing to do for it but to
wait the slow course of events, amid the smoking, sweltering, jostling crowd,
with what outward resemblance of patience you can command. The citizens
become marvelously proficient in calculating just when their letters will be
called. Thus, when the office is first opened, if you should call “Antonio”
nearly every man present would answer; presently these begin to fall out, and
some other name is in the majority. When a person hears his name called he
answers “Fas favor” (“If you please”), and the coveted letter or paper is passed
to him over the heads of the crowd, anybody who cares to stopping it midway
to examine the superscription. Not much chance for clandestine correspon-
dence here, but then in nine cases out of ten the recipient must go to the public
letter writer or employ some better educated person than himself to read the
missive and pen an answer. After the alphabet has been once completed the
whole list is read over again from A to Z, for the benefit of any belated comers.
Whatever remains after this is tossed upon one of the tables and subsequently
if you call for mail you are at full liberty to look over the pile and carry away
whatever you may desire.
next to Ponta del Gada in population, and Villa Franca in commercial impor-
tance. The latter town is of special interest to antiquarians, being situated on a
small island of the same name, which was born by volcanic action less than a
hundred years ago. Time was when Villa Franca was larger than all the cities
of the Azores put together, the capital of the island and a “free city” enjoying
many immunities.
But founded upon lava, the evidence of earlier conflagrations, she was many
times partially destroyed by successive earthquakes, and finally swept off
the main land altogether by the dreadful catastrophe of the Pico de Fogo
(Mountain of Fire), the great volcano close by, which sprang up without
warning one day in the level plain, swallowing 2,000 of her citizens and anni-
hilating her houses and shipping under torrents of metallic fire. At low water
the ruins of the ancient harbor and some of its fortifications are still visible,
and from immense chasms rent on every side it is believed that the sea did not
gain upon the original town, but that the town itself, with a large tract of adja-
cent land, was broken off and forced forward into the sea by the tremendous
convulsion of nature. This new-born island has a crater on its summit ninety
feet in diameter now filled with a fresh-water lake, perhaps twenty feet deep.
Another astonishing thing is the present harbor, less than a mile from the old
one. It is called Porto do Illhes, and occupies the very spot where once stood
an island which disappeared in the depths of the sea as suddenly and mysteri-
ously as its neighbor was thrown up. Its basin is probably the vortex of the
volcano, and on its edge towers a huge pyramid of rock, whose foundations
are unfathomed in the great abyss, although barely forty yards from the island
from which it was originally torn.
A Volcanic Freak.
In another part of St. Michael’s is a high mountain, the ancient crater of which
is a lake, at a great elevation, and the lake is full of goldfish. In the year 1811,
when the awful explosion occurred under the sea in the midst of these islands,
and smoke and flames burst forth in tremendous volumes, countless fish were
thrown up in all stages of boiling and broiling, and huge stones followed, with
incredible quantities of black sand. Soon there was another island formed,
which, before the eruption ceased, was nearly 400 feet high. But after a few
months it disappeared, and only a dangerous reef remains to mark the spot.
Speaking of volcanic island, let me tell you of the queerest one on record,
whose freaks are amply tested in Azorean history. About two miles off the
Fannie B. Ward 349
coast of San Miguel there is a very dangerous reef upon which many vessels
have been wrecked, where three times within the memory of man a consider-
able island has been formed, or thrown up, and twice completely disappeared.
Of its first appearance, in the year 1612, little is known beyond the fact that
it was found standing in the track of vessels where smooth water had been
before, and that a few months later no trace of it could be discovered.
Its second appearance, in 1720, was attended by huge columns of smoke and
an enormous discharge of ashes and pumice stone. The historians of the day
describe it as having precipitous sides and that no bottom could be found
within twenty fathoms of its shores. For some years it remained unchanged,
as if come to stay forever, and then, one fine morning, the early risers of
San Miguel, looking seaward for the accustomed landmark, rubbed their eyes
in astonishment, for not the smallest trace of it could be seen. About a century
later, in 1812, it is recorded that an immense body of smoke was observed
revolving about the fateful spot, almost horizontally over the water, in varied
involutions, shooting upward at intervals in spire-like columns of blackest
cinders, rising to windward at an angle of twenty degrees from the perpen-
dicular. Each fresh outburst was succeeded by another of greater height and
velocity, until the columns of ashes and cinders looked like branches of colos-
sal pine trees towering to the sky, and as they fell, mixing with the festoons of
white, feathery smoke, they assumed at one time the appearance of enormous
plumes of black and white ostrich feathers; at another, of the waving branches
of the weeping willow. These bursts were accompanied by flashes of the most
vivid lightning, and a noise like the continual firing of cannon and musketry
intermingled; and as the clouds of smoke rolled off to leeward they drew up
water spouts which fell in sheets of rain. It happened that the British sloop of
war Sabrina was cruising about in these waters, and her officers first mistook
the smoke and noise to be that arising from a naval engagement. Approaching
as near as safety permitted, they saw the mouth of the crater, just showing
itself above the surface of the sea, raging with unexampled violence, vomiting
huge stones, cinders, and ashes, accompanied by severe concussion. Next day
the crater was fifty feet above the water, and a furlong in length. Twenty-four
hours later it was 100 feet high, a mile long, and still raging like the infernal
abyss, drawing up water-spouts which deluged the Sabrina four miles away,
accompanied by quantities of fine black sand which covered her deck. With
the customary promptitude of Englishmen in seizing upon all land in sight, the
ship’s officers lost no time in effecting a landing as soon as the fires abated and
350 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
taking possession of the newly created island in his British majesty’s name.
They had great difficulty in scaling the island, which by that time was 200 feet
high, with sides as perpendicular as those of a smokestack (which in reality it
was), the ground, or rather the sulphurous matter, dross of iron and ashes, so
hot that the boots were nearly burned off their feet.
John Bull Gets There.
However, he accomplished it, and planted the English union jack in triumph
on its summit. At that time the island was nearly round in form, with a circum-
ference of less than two miles. In the top was a large basin of boiling water,
whence a stream six yards wide flowed into the sea, and it is asserted that fifty
yards from the island the water, though thirty fathoms deep, was still too hot
to hold the hand in. Subsequently the island crumbled away by slow degrees,
and finally sank into the sea, union jack and all.
For a long time afterward smoke, or steam, issued from the place where it
stood; but now nothing is left but the dangerous reef aforesaid, on either side
of which the water is sixty fathoms deep, twice as deep as before the last
eruption. It gives one strange feelings to be cruising about in these waters,
uncertain how soon another island may pop up alongside, or the bottom drop
out of all things below.
Perhaps the most fascinating mountain scenery of San Miguel is that of Sete
Cidades, at the western end of the island, about ten miles from Ponta del Gada.
It is only from tradition that the fearful story is told how, nearly 500 years
ago, the now deep valley was the highest point of the island, and an immense
mountain, surrounded by seven lesser heights, on each of which stood a
flourishing city, all destroyed by terrible earthquakes of volcanic eruptions.
Other authorities have it that when the island was first discovered there was
a broad and verdant plain here, which the discoverer determined to colonize,
returning later with seven companies of emigrants, with whom he designed
to establish seven cities, he found the plain elevated a thousand feet into a
smoking mountain. At any rate, the name Sete Cidades means “seven cities”;
but there was no city at all in the vicinity – only one insignificant village. It is
the largest crater in the island – three and a half miles long by two miles wide,
and 1,800 feet deep, occupied by two large lakes, which are named Lagoa
Azul and Lagoa Verde, because of their difference in color, one being as bright
green as the other is deep, cerulean blue. You may easily visit the Sete Cidades
by a day’s ride on donkey-back. Following a winding road on the south side
Fannie B. Ward 351
of the island, you are sometimes close to the black sands of the beautifully
curved beach, again, trotting along the edges of dizzy precipices hundreds
of feet above baby villages along shore; beyond, “the ocean wild and wide,”
its near-by greenish blue fading into a gray waste stretching to the horizon.
At the Village of Feteiros you turn inland and take to the mountains. The trail
leads along a sharp, high ridge – one of innumerable parallel ridges that look
from a distance as narrow on top was the Moslem’s bridge, “fine as a hair and
sharp as a sword,” which, according to the Koran, spans the eternal abyss to
keep the wicked out of heaven. All the ridges are clothed with verdant mosses,
trees, bushes, and luxuriant ferns, in rank abundance, and on either side of them
are deep green valleys, divided into orange groves and bamboo fields, and the
air is filled with the warbling of canaries. The number of birds is remarkable
to all the Azores, and particularly in San Miguel, where a reward is offered
for the destruction of blackbirds, bullfinches, redbreasts, chaffinches, and the
dear little brown canaries – the sum paid annually representing a death list of
420,000. The game birds include woodcock, snipe, quail, and red partridges.
Wilder and rougher grow the hills as you mount to the summit of the range, and
narrower the knife-blade ridges, with gulches a thousand feet deep between
them, plowed out in former years by streams of lava flowing seaward. Late
in the afternoon you catch a first glimpse of the valley and village of Sete
Cidades – a vast mountain hollow, nearly 20,000 feet deep, with its churches
and cottages and lovely twin lakes, united by a narrow neck, and occupying
two-thirds of the valley. High above these lakes, to the north and east, rise the
precipitous walls of the crater, 2,700 feet, being the highest summit of Pico
de Ledo, which overlooks three parts of the island. Carefully you pick your
way down the steep declivities in the early twilight, amid cornfields and fir
plantations and pastures musical with the tinkling of bells of sheep and goats.
As may be imagined, accommodations for tourists are not sumptuous in the
mountain-imprisoned hamlet of this sleepy hollow, where Rip Van Winkle
might have slept twice twenty years undisturbed.
There is a dirty little inn whose faded sign-board is labeled Hotel Travossos
(Traveler’s Hotel). However, weariness is the best sauce, and a long day
of mountain-climbing on donkey-back makes any sort of “bed and board”
acceptable at the end of it. You sup well on boiled eggs, bread, ripe figs, and
tea, and sleep the sleep of the just in a room pre-empted by piles of corn, yams,
and potatoes, whose door opens backward, and whose only fastening is on
the outside. Breakfast is the exact counterpart of supper, with the addition of
352 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
roast chicken and the substitution of coffee for tea; and dinner the duplication
of breakfast, except that the chicken is a duck; and however long you remain
there will be no variation in the menu. The people, shut in by tall mountains
from sight and sound of all outer regions – indeed, with no realization that a
great world exists outside beyond their ocean-environed island – are content
to live in the same sylvan simplicity as did their fathers and grandfathers,
who borrowed their ways from remoter ancestors. For them there is absolutely
nothing beyond their few miles of valley, the walls of which are so high that the
sun is not fairly risen before noon, and begins to set about 3 o’clock. During
the few hours of daylight a moderate sleepy activity prevails in Sete Cidades;
but between sunset and sunrise silence reigns supreme. The village homes are
mostly smoke-begrimed huts, each attached to a huge wide chimney nearly as
big as the house itself, and spreading out at the bottom into a broad, spacious
oven with a rounding top. The parlor door is approached through the piggery,
in which several lean, black porkers loudly protest against their scarcity of
rations, and the streets are mere dirty lanes, abounding in curs and begging
children. Out in the yamfields stands a quaint little church, surmounted by a
Moorish dome. There is rudely carved altar inside, but no seats, the worship-
pers kneeling upon the pine boughs with which the floor is strewn. The two
deep lakes, which leave scant room for the village between their shores
and the base of the mountain walls, are the charm of the place. Though set
so far above the level of the sea, they have a regular ebb and flow like the
waters of the ocean; and both lakes retain their distinctive hues, of deep green
and beautifully sky blue though they flow into each other through a narrow
connecting channel. Even at bright noonday the stars are reflected in their
tranquil bosoms, so well-like is the deep valley in which they are hidden.
Gales of wind, which tear up great trees by the roots on the surrounding hills,
do not ruffle their surface. Gold and silver fish disport themselves in the deeper
waters, and in the shallows women are eternally washing, standing knee deep
with their clothes tucked up in huge bundles around their hips. A large portion
of the valley is occupied by the private estate of a wealthy citizen of Ponta del
Gada. It comprises an empty house, and orange orchard, and fir plantation for
the making of boxes in which to ship the fruit, some artificial ponds, extensive
walks amid ornamental shrubbery, and a breakwater on the margin of the lake.
Fannie B. Ward 353
home-made flaxen lace. Where the family is too numerous to be stowed away
in the two beds, lower ones are pushed underneath them, to be trundled out at
night. A loft is also made in the peak of the roof for the larger boys, by placing
a few boards half way across the room above the beds and furnishing them
with “shakedowns” of moss or rushes. Passing at midday, we often see the
men of the family taking their siesta in these lofts, with legs dangling down
like a fringe over the heads of their wives and daughters spinning below. From
the rafters hang long strings of garlic and peppers, bunches of Indian corn tied
together by the husks, dried fish and cane poles, while the floor is encumbered
with heaps of shelled corn and sacks of wheat and beans. There is a pine
table, a rude bench or two, and perhaps an Eastlake chair that would fill the
heart of a collector with envy. A stone seat is placed under the high window;
the bamboo occupies a niche in the opposite wall, and the collection of saints
and saintesses, in wood, charcoal, or lithograph, is more or less numerous
and profusely adorned with paper flowers, according to the piety or worldly
circumstances of the family.
The Island’s Domestic Pictures.
Rambling around the hamlet, you find some of the citizens drying corn in
ovens which we are accustomed to designate as of the “Dutch” variety. Others
are building wattle fences of wild cane stalks or “weaving the pliant basket of
bramble twigs,” or bringing bundles of flax on their heads from distant field,
which the women bruise, hackle, spin, and wind.
Flax is extensively cultivated and used in the Azores, yet such a thing as a
loom or spinning wheel, as we know those implements, is almost unknown.
A simple distaff and spindle, like that used by Helen of Troy, and by Penelope
and her hand maidens, is altogether in vogue. Occasionally in passing along
some country lane you hear through the open door of a cottage the rattle of
a rude, home-made loom on which the flax is woven into cloth; and mingled
with this racket is the constant thwack, thwack of the flax being combed out
by the women. Any day you may see illustrated the scriptural occupation of
“two women grinding corn at the mill,” and of oxen treading out the wheat
on a circular thrashing floor; nor do “they muzzle the oxen that treadeth out
the corn.”
The Azorean plow is the old Latin implement, reproduced of wood, the share
alone being shod with iron. The plowman rides to the field on his donkey
and then has a pair of oxen to do the work, while the donkey is turned loose
Fannie B. Ward 355
in the hedge to wait. So it was in the days of Job, who tells us that “the oxen
were plowing and the asses feeding beside them.” In returning from work the
shaft of the plow is caught on the yoke between the oxen, while the pole trails
along the ground, precisely as Horace and the older Latin poets describe it.
The Azorean practice of fertilizing by sowing and plowing the lupine is also
borrowed from the same period. You remember that Virgil in the first book
of the Georgics impresses upon the Italians the necessity of rotation of crops
to preserve the soil from exhaustion, and especially urges the alternation of a
light, leguminous crop with the heavier grains. Horace Greeley’s celebrated
advice in “What I Know About Farming” was not more practical, though a
deal less sentimental than Virgil’s. Says the earlier authority “Changing the
season you will sow the golden corn on that soil from which you shall have
first gathered the merry pulse with rattling pod, or the tiny seed of the vetch,
and the brittle stalk and rustling forest of the bitter lupine.” So well was the
excellent counsel followed by the Romans that they carried the lupine with
them into their conquered provinces; and to this day the “leguminous crop”
alternates with grain in these remote colonial offshoots.
When about three feet high, the lupine is cut with a short, two-edged sword,
and the stubble is plowed under. The narrow streets of many of the villages
are so hard trodden that the peasants use them for thrashing floors. Riding
through them, your donkey picks his way carefully through heaps of lupine,
which men are thrashing with flails before their doors. So bitter are the beans
that the “boneset” tea we used to imbibe for the ague is sweet in comparison.
The peasants carry them down to the sea in bags; and after they have been
pickled a few days in salt water, the effect is much the same as that of brine
on an olive, and they are sold at the street corners as one of the delicacies of
the Lenten season.
One may learn some useful lessons from the contented lives of these poor
peasants. Oppressed by both church and state, the Azorean bourgeoisie is
content to work from sunrise to sunset for a shilling, and to fare, every day
alike, on unleavened bread and spring water, with at rare intervals such
luxuries as dried fish and a few butter beans. Skilled labor seldom commands
more than 40 cents a day, and a man with a cart and donkey considers himself
in wonderful luck if he can earn 50 cents by fourteen hours of constant toil.
On such meager sums they not only support themselves and their families, but
actually contrive to lay up some money for rainy days. The laborer who is so
356 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
fortunate as to have a steady job at $1.50 per week is sure to put by 50 cents of
the weekly stipend until he owns his home, and maybe a bit of land. Of course,
this could not be were his wants more numerous or less easily supplied.
Corn as a Staple.
The government has wisely restricted by law the exportation of corn, his
staff of life, which he prepares for food by grinding, mixing into cakes with
water, and baking on a flat hearth stone. “If too poor to own the smallest bit of
land, he rents enough, generally paid for in labor, to raise corn for the family
consumption. In the harvest season the whole landscape is aglow with the
golden hue of the grain, which, stripped of the husk, is strung on poles, or on
the branches of trees, or piled up in enormous stacks, while wagons heavily
loaded with it come creaking down the hillside. Fish of all kinds is abundant in
the neighboring seas and absurdly cheap. Sardines appear to be most common,
and are brought in by the fishermen every morning, in boat loads, and sold
at the rate of 2 cents per hundred. People come down to the shore and buy
them in large quantities, which they carry away in panniers upon the backs of
donkeys, to salt and dry for winter use.
The Azorean peasant utilizes everything that grows. He feeds his porca (pig)
on wild lettuce, ferns, and yam leaves. He braids the reed into ropes, plaits it
into matting, and uses it and the palm leaves to shingle his roof and carpet his
floor. Of the palm pith he makes artificial flowers, with which to adorn the
saints, or to sell to strangers. Of the bramble and the willow he makes baskets,
panniers, the bodies of carts and wheel-barrows, and the wings of his fanning
mill.
The bamboo supplies his house with rafters and partitions, walls his hennery
and pig stye, and forms the staff he always carries. Both himself and his house
are topped with straw, in thatch and hat; his clothing is of flax, dyed with
mountain weeds. The volcano furnishes lava stone for his building material,
the brook clay for his pottery, the faya and the heater his fuel. In short, nature
has done the best she can for him, and he utilizes her benefits to the utmost.
As a rule he has no use for a barn or a storehouse, for his small stock of grain
can be easily stowed away under the beds and in the corners of the one-room
casa. Neither is there any need for a hennery to tempt the neighbors, for the
chicks and pigeons prefer to roost among the thatch; nor of a piggery, for the
socially inclined porca, tethered by a string to the doorpost, is more at home
inside than out. No people are more faithfully in love with fatherland than the
Fannie B. Ward 357
Azorean with his islands; but as the peasant can never hope to greatly better
his position at home many of the more enlightened among them seek to escape
their burden of poverty by emigrating to Brazil or elsewhere. Doubtless more
of them would follow the example of the star of empire which “westward
takes its way” were not the anti-emigration laws so very strict. No native can
openly leave the island without a passport, and a passport will not be granted
unless he gives bond in $300 to return and serve in the army when conscripted.
It might as well be $3,000,000, so far as the peasant is able to raise it. But a
good many get away every year nevertheless, by shipping clandestinely on
the whalers and traders that occasionally put in at the smaller ports. “Stealing
Portuguese,” as the traffic is called in seaman’s parlance, used to be an exten-
sive and profitable business, and is yet considerably engaged in. When you
see a bonfire at midnight on some lonely hilltop you may know that a boatload
of refugees is waiting to come out under cover of the darkness. It is said that
sacks of wheat and bails and boxes of vegetables, taken on even at Ponta del
Gada, sometimes develop into lively, two-legged freight as soon as the craft
is outside the harbor.
The Donkey with a Worried Look.
However hard the peasant’s lot at home, though he owns neither house nor
land nor car nor goat nor pig, there is none so poor that cannot possess at
least, one little donkey, which, after convenient habit of its kind, supports
itself somehow on brambles, tin cans, and other refuse. If you want to go
anywhere in San Miguel Island and require the services of a donkey, all you
have to do is to step over to the Matriz Church, where hundreds of the sturdy
little beasts are congregated all day long, accompanied by barefooted drivers,
who carry iron-pointed goads as large as the handles and twice as long as that
useful instrument is made in the Azores. Each donkey has a rope of braided
rushes around its shaggy neck in lieu of a halter or bridle, and on its back a
huge wooden saddle, with upturned wooden yokes at the front and back. Even
men rarely sit astride when they ride these animals, but mount the cumbrous
saddle, something as you would the wild Irish jaunting car, with both legs
dangling over the donkey’s right side, and in moments of peril clutching
violently with both hands the horns of the front yoke, which may well be
called a “dilemma.” It is no use to undertake the upright and dignified posi-
tion. Far better to double up in the true Azorean attitude when on donkey-
back, in the form of an inverted interrogation point.
358 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
From padre to peasant everybody owns a donkey, and brings it into requisition
for the most trifling journey. The padre will not walk a block, if his own or
any other person’s donkey is within call. The goatherd on the mountain has his
for an inseparable companion, and if the feeding ground is shifted but a few
rods, he makes as much preparation as for a long journey, riding in state to his
new station among the rocks. So, too, the peasant laborer rides to his shilling-
a-day job on an adjoining farm, and the country woman, wishing a bit of
gossip with the good wife in the next cabin, sets out in the saddle and arrives
with as much éclat as from a lengthy pilgrimage. Wherever you look, down
any street or lane or country road, there is a constant procession of donkeys.
Here comes a group ridden by peasant women on their way to town, each
woman cloaked and cowled in the hideous capote capillo, with all manner of
country produce swaying from their wooden saddles. A lone donkey laden
with water casks plods along without companion or driver, sent from some-
where over an oft-traveled way, with a look of worried responsibility upon
his gray old face. Behind comes a bevy of donkeys, under piles of cornstalks
heaped so high that it looks as if the stacks were traveling into the city on
invisible legs; but beneath the fodder bells jingle in a muffled way, a lad,
following after, prods the mysterious bundle viciously. Again it is a troop of
donkeys mincing down a narrow path, laden with wheat and corn, in casks and
panniers, or two are met sustaining a heavy beam across their backs to which
is lashed the trunk of a tree being conveyed to the city for building purposes,
so evenly balanced that while one end bangs the donkey’s head and shoulders,
the other, bounding lightly along the way, is a menace to all passers. Perhaps
the oddest burden of all is a patient being carried to Da Misercordia, the
splendid hospital of Ponta del Gada. Two timbers are fastened lengthwise
along the donkey’s back and from the ends of these other timbers extend across
the donkey’s back, securely fastened with thongs. From this rude framework
a hammock depends, made of pine staves, such as are used for orange boxes,
covered with stout, home-made linen. Sufferers are thus comfortably carried,
even with broken bones, from their homes in the most distant part of the island
to the city for treatment.
Fannie B. Ward 359
and the patio was filled with market people, male and female, bringing every
conceivable thing to sell in the way of meats, fish, fruits, and vegetables.
All the women were swathed in bright shawls, or muffled from head to heels
in the voluminous capote e capello; all the children, bright, happy, and beauti-
ful, but nearly naked, all the men diligently smoking odd-looking cigarettes,
rolled in cornhusks, which are always deposited with great precision behind
the ear whenever the heat of argument over a cent’s worth of something
requires both hands in vehement gesticulation. The patio is a charming and
quaintly medieval “interior,” if the unroofed central space around which the
house is built can be so called.
A Courtyard Scene.
It is paved with small stones, like the streets outside, and admits donkey as
well as human being through the wide front door. Scattered all about in every-
body’s way are saddles, grain bags, baskets of provender, and queer kitchen
utensils; while one corner, partially sheltered by a square bit of projecting
thatch, supported on two posts, serves as a cookroom. Its stove is a heap of
stones, raised as high as the Senhoras’ knees, and on it fagots of pine furze are
burned in several tiny piles. Over each little fire is something boiling, broiling
or stewing, on a triangular piece of iron poised above the blaze, or in a rude jar
of native pottery, or in an iron kettle, upheld by a long stick beneath its bait.
Every now and then the senhora comes along and blows the fires, puffing her
cheeks like a human bellows, and scolding the maids the while; and then the
latter take their turn at blowing, each with hands on hips and faces distorted
like those of the gargoyles under the eaves of the cathedral. A narrow gallery
runs around the entire second story, thus forming a covered portico around the
courtyard, into which all the rooms on the ground floor open. The chambers
also have no windows, but each has a big barnlike door, opening into the
gallery, or alcoba, in the vernacular; and in the upper part of the door are
one or more small panels, on hinges, which may be separately set ajar when
light and air are desired without altogether sacrificing one’s privacy to the
public gaze by opening the whole door. The house roof, of half-round red
tiles, extends some distance over the balcony, leaving a generous opening to
the sky; and all along it bird cages are hung, and benches set between the vine
and flowering plants that grow in tubs and boxes.
After coffee, we followed the crowd to matins, and visited several sanctuaries
in the course of the morning. In all of these islands the churches are many and
Fannie B. Ward 361
very much alike, their leading characteristics being white-washed outer walls,
open belfries, oblong, red-tiled naves, horseshoe arches, innumerable window
cases of black lava, apparently set in at random, and generally a minaret of
Moorish dome, and always a steeple full of noisy bells, which are perpetually
pounded upon by long-handled hammers. All are approached through ponder-
ous iron gates and entered through triple arched, flamboyant porches, above
which is set a life-size figure of the patron saint. One sees everywhere traces of
the fingers of master architects which antedate the Spanish occupation of the
island and hint of their earlier golden age. The auditorium is always spacious
and lofty, huge columns, from eight to ten feet square, supporting the groined
and vaulted ceiling; but, unfortunately, the fine effect is generally spoiled by
gaudy gilding, tinsel decorations, and bouquets and festoons of most unnatural
paper flowers. Such churches, as the Matriz and the Conceicao, at Terceira,
the Matriz, at Fayal, the San Francisco and the Matriz, at Ponta del Gada
are, among many others, resplendent with handsome frescoes, richly gilded
altars, real gold and silver candlesticks. Dutch tiles, and blue panel pictures, in
porcelain, illustrating scriptural scenes. Above the side chapel are often nailed
the coat of arms of wealthy families, who have paid for the privilege, and
before scores of altars silver lamps are kept constantly burning, the votive
offerings of absent natives, who have each deposited a sum of money for the
purpose. There are organs in a few of the cathedrals, but, as a rule, the sounds
extracted from them are conducive to feeling the reverse of pious. One organ,
in Ponta del Gada, boasts of a trumpet attachment and it tinpanny tones are
simply excruciating.
Most Rare Wood and Carving.
In many of the edifices it is the wonderful carving that commands the most
admiration. Perhaps the best example of this work is seen in the Jesuit church
of San Miguel’s capital. Nothing on the continent of Europe is superior to
the delicate carving of its ceiling and altars. Age has deepened the rich, ark
hues of the wood, and the delicate tracery is as perfect today in every line and
supple as when it came from the obscure graver’s hands, centuries ago, but
even the name of the artist has been long since forgotten.
Beside these carvings are often rich pictures, the productions of the old
Spanish masters, admirable today, in spite of the obscuring dinginess wrought
by three or four centuries of smoking incense. But, as a rule, the images of
the saints in these old-time sanctuaries speak of the degenerate present, being
362 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
rudely hacked out of wood, dressed in soiled cotton, bedizened with faded
ribbons and gaudy paper flowers, their heads surrounded by stiff metallic rays
of glory. The patron saint of Ponta del Gada’s Matriz Church looks like a
North American Indian, with headdress of feathers, war club in hand, and two
arrows sticking into his side. Of course, there was originally some tradition
concerning him, but it seems to have been entirely forgotten by the present
generation; at least I am unable, after many inquiries, to learn anything about
it. Every church has from one to a dozen caricatures of the Savior, any one
of which would ruin the religious sentiment of a more esthetic people than
the Azoreans. In the Church of Livramento is a wax figure of Christ, bearing
the cross, so bloody and repulsive that children cry and women turn pale
at the sight of it; and in the San Francisco Church the sacristan will haul a
coffin out from under one of the altars and show you a ghastly naked effigy of
Jesus, laid out for burial. The cathedral of Ponta del Gada is one of the most
imposing edifices in the archipelago, and its belfry is hung with a remarkably
sweet chime. A quaint effect is added to the exterior by a series of lion-bodied
gargoyles with human faces grinning from under the eaves at passers-by.
In the walls I noticed a printed papal dispensation to the effect that forty days’
indulgence would be granted to anybody who should contribute, in however
small degree, to repairs on the roof. Tawdry red curtains are looped away from
the front of the altars, and a wilderness of ropes dangles before them – the
stage carpenter’s arrangement for the semi-theatrical fiestas that so frequently
take place. The theatrical aspect of the house is heightened by the many little
boxes opening from the galleries, which are occupied on special occasions
by parties of the elite. There are no seats on the damp stone floor, but a small
space in the center of the auditorium is floored with wood and surrounded
with a low railing.
Here the women kneel during the services, their gay shawls, white turbans, and
blue capotes making a spot like a brilliant flower bed in the dim old church,
while the men and boys congregate in the rear and on all sides, and we notice
that, as in other Catholic countries, the male population pays comparatively
little attention to its prayers, no doubt expecting to get into heaven on those
of the female portion of their families. Within the altar spaces of this cathe-
dral are some magnificent carved wooden settees, black with age, and carved
lecterns supporting enormous antique tomes, printed in medieval Latin, with
curious black and red letters, bound in leather and brass. There is a nunnery
connected with the Church of the San Francisco, that of Nossa Senhora Espe-
Fannie B. Ward 363
ranza (Our Lady of Hope), one of the few that, since the disestablishment in
1834, have been allowed to expire by limitation. Its windows are guarded
by massive iron gratings, as if criminals of deepest dye were caged inside,
instead of a few innocent and happy old women, who are sometimes seen in
black costumes and white head dresses. The sojourner in the hotel near by
is sometimes inclined to wish that the house of Our Lady of Hope had gone
with the rest, when disturbed by the grewsome sound of its midnight and early
morning bells, calling he aged devotees to prayers. The chapel connected with
the convent has some beautiful antique floral frescoing, as bright and fresh as
if painted yesterday.
Treasures of an Image.
And here, behind a framework of golden bars, is the celebrated Santo Christo,
an image of Christ which is regarded by the Azoreans with the utmost
reverence and has been richly endowed with real estate and personal property.
Around its waist is a rope of gold and silver, pearls and diamonds, and on its
diadem, breastplate, bracelets, and other adornments are jewels estimated to
value several million dollars; while the wealthy continue to bring their richer
offerings, and devotees who have emigrated to Brazil or elsewhere send over
jewels, rich stuffs, cargoes of coffee, sugar, and every conceivable commodity,
the poor pile its shrine every day with bread, wine, and fruit from their own
scanty stores.
Returning from our tour of the churches to 10 o’clock breakfast at the inn, we
were served upon a table bare of covering, but beautifully polished by count-
less scrubbings, with plates of brown earthenware, such as Northern house-
wives use for baking pies, and a very large glass flagon with pewter goblets,
suggesting the lost glories of Azorean vineyards. As for the menu, there were
the inevitable eggs and chicken, yam stew and unleavened bread, with a lump
of Conger eel, big as your head, served steaming hot toward the close of the
repast (as in all Spanish and Portuguese countries fish comes last), and coffee
and fruit enough to generously ration a regiment. One ceremony must never
be neglected. The host comes in, fills a pewter mug for each person with the
passado, native sweet wine of the country, lifts another to his own lips, and
gravely gives the blessing. “May the praise of God rest upon this house for
you, stranger and friend.”
In the afternoon we followed the fashionable world of Ponta del Gada in
a long drive along the old Caminho Grande (great road), which leads to
364 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
Povoação, one of the oldest towns in the Azores, in the southeast part of the
island. The road is forty feet wide, some of the way cut in the rocky side of
the mountain, at an elevation of 3,000 feet, to which it gradually ascends with
occasional level stretches, along which cool springs from the upper heights
empty into marble basins. Farther on you pass extensive forests, and look
down into the deep ravines and chasms, with white cottages and cultivated
lands in the valley below, and finally you reach the top of the mountain ridge,
when a sense of grandeur electrifies you with wonder and admiration. A vast
view of the ocean breaks upon the vision, while beneath your feet, far, far
below, lies a tiny by, guarded on either side by high cliffs, off which the sails
of fisher boats look like aphrodites of the sea. Away to the south the indented
mountains on St. Mary’s Island are wrapped in silvery mist, to the north the
slopes of the hills are green with corn; to the west the great mountain, Pico da
Vara, looms skyward 5,000 feet; and, turning to the east, you gaze down long
slopes into the exquisite valley, which holds the town of Povoação, with its
pretty villas and churches extending to the seashore.
Ponta del Gada, San Miguel. Dec. 16. – Special Correspondence. – We have
been improving our last hours in the Azores by a flying visit to Santa Maria,
the smallest island of the group and the one that lies nearest to Europe. Though
only forty-four miles southeast from the big island of San Miguel, the latter,
strange to say, remained undiscovered for twelve years after Gonzalo Cabral
had found the first tiny speck in midocean (in 1432) and named it in honor
of the Blessed Virgin. St. May’s is not often visited by tourists, because there
is no harbor in the dangerous reefs that surround it, and therefore most ocean
Fannie B. Ward 365
steamers give it a wide berth. Its trade is conducted through the medium of
San Miguel, as that of Pico is through Fayal and Corvo through Flores, and
many small native boats ply constantly between in favorable weather. It hap-
pened that the Portuguese royal mail was sailing that way on our monthly trip,
and we determined to risk it, trusting to providence to get us back somehow
across the channel in time for the steamer, expected four days later, upon
which we had taken passage for another journey.
“The royal mail” sounds well, but fair Juliet was right when she remarked,
“What’s in a name?” The Portuguese steamer is a low-lying affair, broad,
squatty, and inconceivably dirty, emitting from her funnels the blackest smoke
that ever sullied the atmosphere. As she was to sail at daybreak we went aboard
betimes, but not too early to miss many a boa viagem (good voyage) shouted
after us as we hurried down the narrow street by the kindly folk among whom
we have made many friends. Not so early, either, but that the harbor was all
astir, with fishing boats setting out for the day’s catch, ships bound seaward,
with all sails set; English barques waiting for their charter, and several from
our own country, flying the flag so doubly dear to her exiles when seen in
foreign parts. Among the latter was a Boston packet of the Adams line, which
has been doing good business with these islands for many years, and sends a
vessel about once a month to make the round of Azorean ports.
There was also a New Bedford whaler – one of those storm – defying craft that
zone the watery globe in search of bone and blubber, generally getting back
to the home port after two or three years’ absence, and another rakish-looking
New England craft, suspected of being one of those accommodating vessels
that still cruise discretely around the Azores, watching for signal fires by
night, which indicate cargoes of runaway Portuguese, who prefer to become
New Bedford and Gloucester fishermen until 26 years of age to the doubtful
glory of island military service. A queer, schooner-rigged ship, all deck and
poop followed us closely out to sea, her crew a hairy lot, all armed with savage
ox goads, like the pikes of Spanish picadors in the bullring. Were they pirates,
going to step on board presently, and invite us to walk the plank? Oh, no; only
harmless carniceiros (butchers) from Ponta del Gada, going over to St. Mary’s
for another load of fine, sleek cattle , for which that island is famous.
Odd Craft in Azorean Waters.
The oddest craft of all was met midway, a cross between a Havanese lighter
and a New York North River scow, with high, three-story cabins overhanging
366 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
stern and prow, above double tillers – something like the ancient galleons of
the dim old prints. It was rigged with a single sail, partly of patched canvas
and partly of rush matting, which flapped idly above another brown-faced,
hairy-breasted crew, lying about in the picturesque attitudes of the operatic
stage, on a cargo composed entirely of pottery from St. Mary’s. This native
pottery is a coarse kind, fit only for common domestic purposes; but it is
shaped in quaintly artistic designs, and painted before baking in bright red-
dish ocher, which give the jars the gay appearance so becoming to the island
Rebeccas who carry them on their heads to the springs and wells. It is made
only in St. Mary’s, and is exported in large quantities, not only to San Miguel
and the other islands, but even to Spain, Brittany, and the West indies; and is
always taken in boat loads, just as we saw it in the craft, unpacked, but without
danger of breakage, so well is it made.
Santa Maria is only thirteen miles long by less than nine miles wide, with
volcanic rocks strewn all about, alternated with beds of limestone, the whole
honeycombed beneath with innumerable stalactite caverns, in whose laby-
rinthine passages it is said a boatman may lose himself and never find the
light of day. Its industrious people, some eight thousand strong, manage to
raise everything for their own consumption and to export considerable wheat,
besides the cattle and pottery before mentioned. I am not going to weary
you with a description of its principal town (also called Santa Maria), for all
Azorean villages possess the same general features of narrow streets, cobble
paved and full of sunshine, lined with rows of tile-roofed cottages, of white-
washed volcanic stone, with women spinning in the doorways and dogs and
naked children swarming in the plazas. The idyllic inn furnished us comfort-
able entertainment – a windowless room, large enough for a town hall, its
high-posted bed corded with strips of rawhide and piled with such a wealth of
husk mattress that it needed a ladder to scale it, and chairs, or rather stools, of
rawhide strips woven over a hollow framework. Water for lavatory purposes
was placed in a pottery vessel, about the size of a half barrel, which stood
in one corner, with a saucer-shaped utensil alongside that answered for both
bowl and dipper.
The most interesting sight that came in our way at Santa Maria was a rather
lugubrious one – a funeral. A motley company came down the street, four
men marching gaily ahead, carrying a coffin on their shoulders, closely fol-
lowed by a priest in cassock and shovel hat, and a red-frocked boy bearing
a crucifix, the rear brought up by a crowd of stragglers, augmented at every
Fannie B. Ward 367
street corner by fresh recruits of the idle and curious. There were no women in
the procession and no “mourners,” for the last services over the dead and the
last farewell of the relatives are said in the house. The coffin is left quite open
on its way to the grave, so that the body within is plainly seen by passers-by
and people looking down from their balconies and house tops. According to
Azorean custom, the funeral must take place within forty-eight hours after the
death. The first night the corpse lies in state, with candles at the feet and head,
a glass vessel of holy water at one side and an image of the Blessed Virgin at
the other. The body of a young unmarried woman is always dressed in white,
a matron in black, and a man in the clothes he wore while living.
White paper flowers, with a profusion of the most unnatural green leaves,
adorn the corpse, and the relatives and friends pass the night around it,
weeping and praying and frequently sprinkling the body by shaking over it
the small branch of an aromatic herb, dipped in the holy water. The following
forenoon the church authorities come, place the corpse in its coffin, and bear it
to the cemetery; while the house of mourning is closed, its doors and blinds all
shut, and none may enter or leave it for a week. At the expiration of that time
the daily routine of life begins again and goes on as before.
Carrying the Sacrament.
Among the wealthier class of the cities, and always when a government
official dies, the body lies in state in the church and the mournful sound of
the death bell is kept up incessantly. The visitor in many of these islands
often sees the (to him) strange spectacle of the sacrament being carried to the
bedside of some dying person. Four priests bear aloft a red canopy stretched
upon four poles, beneath which walks the vicar in his robe of office, preceded
by the sexton ringing a dinner bell, and followed by other priests bringing the
cup, wafer, wine, and other sacramental vessels, the cross and censer, while
the bare-headed rabble run after; women kneel in their doorways, and the
cathedral bell clatters all the time.
Las Americanas.
“From grave to gay, from lively to severe” is the rule in remote St. Mary’s,
as in other parts of this tragic world. A dead priest was lying in state in the
cathedral, and we learned that a ball was in progress at a private house on
another street. Through the innkeeper’s wife we begged an invitation to the
ball, which was promptly and cordially given; and on the way thereto we
368 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
followed the throng into the cathedral, where the prelate was holding his last
reception, guarded by soldiers and surrounded by lighted candles. The lady
of the two-room casa in which the dance was given greeted us with gentle
but dignified courtesy; and, though we doubt we were as much “curiosities”
to most of her guests as they and their ways were to us, there was no vulgar
staring, nor anything to indicate that the appearance of las Americanas was
unusual. Indeed, one may learn many lessons in politeness from these simple-
hearted Azoreans. The house was decorated with ferns and masses of bright
blue hydrangeas, and as we entered somebody was accompanying his voice
on a viola and singing the song which is as common in the Azores as “After
the Ball” in the United States, beginning:
country dances are performed not alone to the melody of the guitars, but to the
rhythm of song as well, and the Chamarita will set both voices and feet and
snapping fingers in motion with its merry, voluptuous strains, whether played
in the public square, at the rural husking, or at the Sunday fandango in some
flower garden.”
Revista de Livros
Book reviews
(2014) Carlos Manuel Gomes Lobão, Uma Cidade Portuária
– A Horta entre 1880-1926.
Sociedade e Cultura com a Política em Fundo.
2 Volumes, Horta, Ed. do Autor.
Num estilo sóbrio e seguro, que ca- Mas a realidade faialense acaba por
tiva o leitor pela empatia nutrida em ser também explorada de forma ex-
relação ao seu objeto de estudo, o tensa, graças ao volume imenso de
trabalho de Carlos Lobão tem uma informação recolhido. E ao aprofun-
estrutura clara, que vai sobrepondo dar o conhecimento da Horta e do
diferentes enfoques sobre uma mes- Faial num dos períodos mais cruciais
ma realidade espacial e época – a da contemporaneidade, o autor deixa
Horta, cidade capital portuária, da uma valiosa achega para a própria
Monarquia à República – adequada- história regional dos Açores, cujas
mente delimitados em quatro grandes relações com a história nacional nem
capítulos, um sobre a vida urbana, sempre são, como acima se referiu,
infraestrutural e socioeconómica, devidamente salientadas – quer no
outro sobre a política, outro sobre que a evolução histórica continental
a educação e o ensino, e um último deve aos Açores, quer no balanço das
sobre a vida sociocultural. Ao grosso diferenças e semelhanças históricas
primeiro volume de texto soma-se um registadas entre as ilhas e as restantes
segundo volume, com cerca de uma partes do país.
centena de páginas, onde se coligem A investigação original que sustenta
os anexos – um enorme conjunto de o livro é a muitos títulos notável, exi-
dados documentais, fotográficos, esta- bindo rara exaustividade arquivística
tísticos, prosopográficos ou socioló- e um olhar sempre atento e sensível
gicos, cuja recolha e sistematização à importância de outras fontes histó-
só podem elogiar-se, tanto pelo seu ricas, como a imprensa, a literatura
carácter time-consuming como pela e a fotografia. A leitura revela como
sua utilidade, coligindo o que poderá o autor se interessou por tudo aquilo
doravante servir para outros estudio- que o pudesse informar e esclarecer
sos e outros trabalhos. No total, são sobre o pulsar diverso da Horta ao
cerca de 750 páginas, dimensão já longo de quase meio século. O resul-
hoje pouco usual em teses académicas tado é um olhar que “humaniza” a
e livros de história, que seguramente Horta – essa “maior pequena cidade
passarão a ser um contributo incon- do mundo”, na célebre expressão de
tornável para a história local – e não Pedro da Silveira, ou essa “cidade-
só. É certo que Carlos Lobão foca so- zinha faialense” com “certo sopro
bretudo a Horta, as suas dinâmicas, o europeu e yankee”, como a qualifica
seu porto e o seu hinterland, não tendo Carlos Lobão.
redigido, portanto, uma história da Não é possível, no espaço limitado de
ilha do Faial entre os séculos xix e xx. uma recensão, resumir todas as pro-
376 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
maca quanto no facto de o anfiteatro Lima (de 1940). Mas enquanto estes,
hortense ter defronte de si o pano- ainda e sempre úteis, são sobretudo
rama arrebatador da vizinha ilha do crónicas lineares de factos e pessoas,
Pico, com a sua elevação vulcânica. o estudo de Carlos Lobão é uma des-
A admiração não deve obscurecer o crição problematizadora, estrutural,
rigor, da mesma maneira que a igno- conjuntural, diacrónica e humanista,
rância tem de dar lugar ao conheci- motivada, nas suas próprias palavras,
mento. Carlos Lobão lembra ao seu pela ideia de que “valeu a pena passar
leitor que a história da Horta esteve alguns anos a procurar pontas para
demasiado tempo presa quer da ajudar a construir algo de novo”, a
“amnésia do excesso”, ou seja, de um saber, “indagar as origens”, “procurar
culto bairrista de glória passada que a identidade”, “fundamentar a dife-
nunca existiu, quer da “amnésia da rença” e “conservar o património
ausência”, dos que não conhecem o cultural”. Por esta via, e produzindo
Faial e dos que dele julgam saber já o a tese-livro aqui resumida, o autor
suficiente. O objetivo e o mérito deste enriqueceu a historiografia local e
livro foi, e é, o de desconstruir a pri- regional com um largo fresco que
meira e ajudar a superar a segunda. densifica o conhecimento do passado,
O autor segue assim o caminho tri- ao mesmo tempo que pode ajudar
lhado por clássicos como a História a fazer refletir sobre o presente e o
das Quatro Ilhas que formam o Dis- futuro da política, da sociedade, da
trito da Horta, de António Lourenço economia e da mentalidade faialenses
da Silveira Macedo (de 1871), e sobre- e açorianas.
tudo pelos Anais do Município da
Horta. Ilha do Faial, de Marcelino José Miguel Sardica
(2014) Envelhecer e Conviver (coord. Teresa Medeiros,
Carlos Ribeiro, Berta Pimentel Miúdo e Adolfo Fialho).
Ponta Delgada, Letras Lavadas Edições *
eléctricos que lhes são reservados, que esta exista e ao Estado interessa--
por exemplo. (…) Bairros inteiros, ‑lhe sobremaneira que uma qualquer
porque lá apareceram um dia as [às] religião exista, pois ela representa
janelas de algum prédio inquilinos de em termos de força moral, quer dizer
cor duvidosa, despovoam-se apressa- controlo social, o que o Estado difi-
damente, e passam a ser da exclusiva cilmente consegue realizar. Para de-
habitação dos pretos. Assim eles têm fesa da eficácia do poder, a religião
realizado a conquista pacífica dos é bem-vinda. Para Carl Schmitt, aca-
seus bairros, a que vão anexando as démico e filósofo alemão, católico,
suas escolas, as suas igrejas, os seus conservador, e mais tarde admirador
clubes” (Mesquita, 2014: 396). De confesso do nazismo, a conclusão é
segregação, e da aceitação dela por idêntica para o catolicismo. A união
parte dos segregados, nos fala, por- entre Estado e Igreja realiza-se justa-
tanto, o autor, querendo afirmar que a mente por os dois serem Estado, isto
segregação não seria um mal, mas um é, poder e poder em acção.
bem pois teria permitido aos negros, O livro coloca-nos perante a com-
afinal, terem ocupado um espaço paração permanente com a obra Da
social. Democracia na América, do político
O capítulo sobre a relação do Estado e pensador francês, aristocrata, libe-
com a religião espelha a mesma ral e católico Alexis de Tocqueville,
admiração anterior: “A neutralidade surgida em 1835, depois de um ano
da América consiste não em desin- de visita aos EUA para estudar o sis-
teressar-se da religião, bem menos tema penitencial. Aliás, Onésimo de
ainda em combatê-la, mas em teste- Almeida dá o mote no prefácio, subti-
munhar pelas diferentes crenças uma tulando Mesquita como um “Tocque-
benevolência imparcial” (Mesquita, ville português”. E o autor também
2014: 405). Noutra passagem, “a reli- revela ter tido conhecimento da obra
gião não é ensinada nas escolas, nem do pensador francês.
poderia sê-lo (…). A neutralidade é Tocqueville é hoje considerado como
perfeitamente observada e sincera. um dos precursores do pensamento
(…) O que ao Estado importa é que social moderno e, desde Raymond
a escola tenha por primeiro cuidado Aron, como um dos fundadores da
inspirar e cultivar no aluno o patrio- Sociologia, que fez ciência socioló-
tismo e que a lição de civismo vá de gica sem a querer fazer, merecendo
par com a lição de moral” (Mesquita, essa atenção e o prémio de ter sido
2014: 410). Por outras palavras, pouco um dos mais importantes pensadores
importa a religião professada desde políticos da modernidade e um dos
394 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
nasce em 1999 por iniciativa do Insti- tos, pelo que os seus atores souberam
tuto Açoriano de Cultura, na altura até aqui conservar, de uma forma que
presidido pelo Dr. Jorge Paulus Bruno, é, infelizmente, rara em Portugal, um
o qual estabelece um protocolo com a sentido de continuidade da missão a
DRC com vista a cumprir um requi- que se haviam proposto, a todos os
sito que viria a ser consagrado na Lei títulos louvável. Sentido de historici-
107/2001, de 8 de Setembro, trans- dade e de responsabilidade para com
posto para a região pelo Dec. Legis- os predecessores que me faz recordar
lativo regional n.º 29/2004/A de 16 o conhecido aforismo de Henrique
de Agosto, nomeadamente no seu de Gand segundo o qual, nós os con-
art. 12.º que declara a incumbência do temporâneos não somos mais do que
departamento da administração regio- anões às costas de gigantes. Pode
nal autónoma competente em matéria parecer exagero invoca-lo a este pro-
de cultura assegurar e coordenar o pósito mas o facto é que no tempo de
funcionamento de um inventário geral imediatismos, de modas efémeras e
do património cultural existente nos de cumprimento de agendas pessoais
Açores. a que assistimos diariamente, um em-
Certamente que na visão antecipa- preendimento como este que já leva
dora do Dr. Jorge Bruno estava a “no lombo” – perdoem-me o ple-
consciência de que habitamos ilhas beísmo – década e meia, só pode ser
vulcânicas com atividade sísmica visto como uma vetusta herança que
periódica e por vezes devastadora, deve ser honrada e cumprida, mau-
como havia pouco tempo se verifi- grado todas as falhas que possa ter e
cara em Angra, e que por isso a exis- tem-nas seguramente (digo-o sem me
tência de inventários generalizados e eximir da minha quota parte de res-
rigorosos do património (pelo menos ponsabilidade uma vez que participei
do imóvel) se tornava uma tarefa na elaboração, não deste livro mas do
urgente e necessária. inventário que lhe deu origem). Por
Estamos, pois, perante uma gigan- isso todos merecem aplauso, os inicia-
tesca empresa que soube acompanhar dores e os continuadores, os respon-
as dinâmicas normais do tempo e das sáveis e os colaboradores.
circunstancias, adaptar-se às dificul- Apresentar, pois, este livro é para
dades inerentes e aos diferentes enten- mim uma honra; tê-lo à disposição da
dimentos dos seus protagonistas, comunidade é certamente um orgu-
conservando uma notável fidelidade lho para os angrenses mas é também
à conceção original do projeto e uma uma riqueza partilhada por todos os
assinalável coerência de procedimen- habitantes das nossas ilhas e um valor
Revista de Livros 399
todos em geral, pois ninguém escapa Duas palavras impõem-se ainda sobre
a uma tomada de posição nesta cir- a estrutura e conteúdo desta obra.
culação global de informação e de Depois dos textos de apresentação
partilha em que vivemos hoje. oficial assinados pelo Diretor Regio-
O Inventario do Património Imóvel nal da Cultura, Presidente da Câmara
não diz, assim, respeito apenas aos de Angra do Heroísmo e Presidente
especialistas. Sem a mobilização dos do Instituto Açoriano de Cultura, se-
vários setores da sociedade em prole guem-se os textos de enquadramento
de uma ética e de uma estética patri- da autoria de José Guilherme Reis
moniais, sem a consciencialização Leite, José Manuel Fernandes e João
operante ao serviço do desenvolvi- Vieira Caldas. Finaliza a primeira
mento cultural e ambiental das cida- parte da obra o texto do coordenador
des e das paisagens, será em vão todo do projeto Jorge Paulus Bruno, onde
o esforço a favor da manutenção dos se explica a natureza do projeto, o
seus valores inerentes. Devemos saber seu enquadramento institucional, os
potenciar o sentido de comunidade objetivos e a metodologia seguida,
que existe ainda bem vivo nas nossas
explicando-se ainda as fontes de
ilhas e extrair daí o fermento para
inspiração e a justificação para os cri-
uma acção partilhada, criativa e ajus-
térios adotados, à semelhança do que
tada ao princípio da realidade. É ur-
tem vindo a ser feito nos anteriores
gente aproximar a ordem do discurso
cadernos.
da ordem do real, sem descurar os
valores e os princípios contidos nas A segunda parte do livro é preenchida
noções de autenticidade, integridade pelos mapas que assinalam cartogra-
e exemplaridade que regem todo o ficamente as espécies que integram as
património autentico, material e ima- diversas tipologias: unidades paisa-
terial – em perfeita comunhão, por- gísticas construídas; conjuntos edifi-
que um não existe sem o outro! Essa cados: aqui identificados com o siste-
é a chave para uma efetiva política de ma urbano do centro de Angra, em si
conservação e valorização do patri- mesmo dividido entre a zona urbana
mónio de Angra. classificada e o núcleo central da cida-
Exige-se pois uma pedagogia, algo de, correspondente à malha da reti-
que o Instituto Açoriano de Cultura cula angrense; conjunto de edifícios e
não pode ser acusado de não fazer. outras construções; edifícios isolados
E a prova inequívoca está em mais (arquitectura religiosa, doméstica,
este livro, o 16.º na ordem das publi- pública e civil e militar); constru-
cações do Inventario do Património ções utilitárias (agrárias, piscatórias,
Imóvel dos Açores. industriais); elementos isolados ou
Revista de Livros 403
Além das obras recenseadas nesta secção do boletim, foram editadas ao longo
do ano de 2014 obras da mais variada natureza com interesse para o arqui-
pélago. A seguir, tanto quanto chegou ao conhecimento da redação, faz-se o
registo de livros de autores açorianos ou envolvendo, no todo ou em parte,
temas sobre as ilhas dos Açores, editados naquele ano:
(2014) Lobão, Carlos Manuel Gomes, Uma cidade portuária – a Horta entre
1880-1926. Sociedade e Cultura com a política em fundo, 2 Vols., Horta,
Ed. do Autor.
(2014) Lourenço, Carlos, Memórias desportivas de um emigrante, 2 Vols.,
Horta, Ed. do Autor.
(2014) Lúcio, Álvaro Laborinho, O Chamador, Lisboa, Quetzal.
(2014) Maldonado, Fátima, Lava de Espera, Lajes do Pico, Ed. Companhia
das Ilhas.
(2014) Mello, João de, Lugar caído no crepúsculo, Lisboa, D. Quixote.
(2014) Mello, José de, Os Cabral de Mello e New Bedford. 1893-1931 (Álbum
fotográfico), Nordeste, Câmara Municipal do Nordeste.
(2014) Mestre João Silveira Tavares. O Bote Baleeiro Açoriano. Uma viagem
e um olhar (Catálogo da exposição no Museu do Pico), Lajes do Pico,
Ed. Secretaria Regional da Educação e Cultura.
(2014) Mimoso, Anabela, Rebelo de Bettencourt: raízes de basalto, Ed. Seixo
Publishers.
(2014) Monteiro, Sandra Maria Gonçalves, Gentes e memórias do Concelho
da Lagoa. 1910-1933, Lagoa, Ed. Câmara Municipal da Lagoa.
(2014) Neves, Maria do Céu Patrão, No trilho do Projecto Europeu – Uma
experiência no Parlamento em prol dos Açores, Ponta Delgada, Ed. de Autor.
(2014) Oliveira, Álamo, Marta de Jesus. A verdadeira, Ponta Delgada, Letras
Lavadas Edições.
(2014) Oliveira, Álamo, Batista S. Vieira – Construtor de sonhos e realidades,
s.l., Ed. Bridge Books.
(2014) Oliveira, Manuel Carvalho, O militar, a guerra e a História, memórias
de um sargento, [Nordeste], Câmara Municipal do Nordeste.
(2014) Oliver, Lawrence (Trad. e Dir. Francisco Costa Fagundes), Para
trás anda a lagosta. A autobiografia de um luso-americano, Ponta Delgada,
VerAçor editores.
(2014) OM, Ser. Estado Integral, Lisboa, Chiado Editora.
422 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
(2014) Soares, Ana Rocha e Silva, O Santo Nome de Deus em Vão, Lisboa,
Chiado Editora.
(2014) Soares, Maria Luísa, Gostar de ti e esperar-te, Lisboa, Chiado Editora.
(2014) Teixeira, Ricardo et al., A descoberta de padrões na natureza. Caderno
de actividades para o pré-escolar e 1.º Ciclo, Ponta Delgada, Letras Lavadas
Edições.
(2014) Transeatlântico (revista dir. Nuno Costa Santos), Ponta Delgada, Ed.
Companhia das Ilhas; Instituto Cultural de Ponta Delgada.
(2014) Viveiros, Américo Natalino, Amigo salva… Amigo, Ponta Delgada,
Gráfica Açoriana.
BOLETIM
DO NÚCLEO
CULTURAL
DA HORTA
Na crista da onda. Afonso Chaves (1857-1926)
e as ciências do mar nos Açores
1
Conceição Tavares
13
Otto Pettersson, com formação em química 14
Helen M. Rozwadowski, The Sea knows
e física-química, leccionou na Universidade no boundaries. A century of marine science
de Uppsala e na Escola Politécnica de Esto- under ICES, USA: International Council for
colmo, a par de uma dinâmica actividade de the Exploration of the Sea, 2002, pp. 18-20.
investigação oceanográfica. O seu contri- 15
A Comissão Hidrográfica da Suécia, criada
buto para as ciências do mar teve grande em 1896 pela Academia Real da Suécia,
repercussão internacional, levando à criação estava originalmente vocacionada para a
do International Council for the Exploration investigação dos aspectos físicos e quí-
of the Sea (ICES), a cujo Bureau pertenceu micos das águas suecas, mas rapidamente
até ao final da vida. Foi Presidente do ICES passou a integrar pesquisas de oceanografia
de 1915 a 1920, conseguindo salvar o orga- biológica e de biologia das pescas, adap-
nismo das divisões da 1.ª Guerra Mundial. tando-se à agenda científica que se tornou
Pettersson foi o secretário do Comité Nobel dominante na Escandinávia, na viragem
para a Química, de 1900 a 1912. para o século xx.
Conceição Tavares 435
16
P. T. Cleve, G. Ekman, O. Pettersson, Les chegada a Estocolmo, em condições esta-
variations annuelles de l’eau de surface bilizadas, das caixas com amostras de água
de l’océan Atlantique, Göteborg: Bonners e de plâncton. Cf. P. T. Cleve, G. Ekman,
Tryckeri Aktiebolag, 1901, p. i. O. Pettersson, op. cit., p. ii.
17
Esta gigantesca operação contou ainda com 18
BPARPD (Biblioteca Pública e Arquivo
o suporte da rede consular da Suécia que, Regional de Ponta Delgada) – Espólio do
a partir do Hâvre, Amesterdão, Marselha, coronel Afonso Chaves. Carta de O. Petters-
Liverpool e Lisboa, foi responsável pela son de 23 de Nov. 1898.
436 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
Early History, 1870-1960, [2.ª ed.], Toronto: P. T. Cleve, G. Ekman, O. Pettersson, op.
22
Estas colaborações dos Açores, que balhos desse ano tinham sido feitos
se traduziram num paulatino processo especialmente para apoiar os estudos
de ganhos cognitivos, metodológicos sobre a transparência da água do mar
e de instrumentação, constituíram de Julien Thoulet (1843-1936) e os de
um inegável estímulo para manter Otto Pettersson, relativos à influência
na agenda local os trabalhos oceano- do degelo na circulação oceânica.
gráficos. O já referido Relatório do O início dos levantamentos hidrográ-
Serviço Meteorológico dos Açores ficos foi dirigido pelo chefe da repar-
referente a 1905 dá conta da nova e tição hidrográfica da Direcção Geral
prometedora fase em que nesse ano da Marinha, o capitão-de-mar-e-guerra
tinham entrado os estudos oceano- Julio Schultz Xavier, que se deslocou
gráficos. aos Açores e na ocasião instalou na
… foi determinado que a canhoneira Açor
Açor um prumo Lucas. Se, por um
… cooperasse nos trabalhos oceanográ- lado, é manifesto o empenhamento
ficos que o Serviço Meteorológico dos dos oficiais de marinha nesta nova
Açores empreendesse, quando lhe requi- frente de trabalho, por outro, o rela-
sitasse o seu concurso, bem como proce- tório não deixa de registar a calorosa
desse a sondagens e ao levantamento de
articulação desta componente nacio-
cartas batimétricas de regiões dos mares
dos Açores, que lhe fossem indicadas pela
nal da rede de cumplicidades maríti-
Direcção Geral da Marinha e por mim.26 mas com a sua interface internacional
26
F. A. Chaves, op. cit., 1909, p. 254. 27
F. A. Chaves, op. cit., 1909, p. 254.
Conceição Tavares 439
28
Diário dos Açores de 9 de Maio de 1905. 29
quina de sondagem que tomou o seu nome
29
Charles D. Sigsbee (1845-1923) – No pe- e se tornou um instrumento standard nos
ríodo 1874-1877 foi comandante do navio 50 anos subsequentes de explorações mari-
Blake, que protagonizou várias missões nhas. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/history
oceanográficas. Sigsbee inventou uma má- /timeline/timeline.html (28 Mar. 2015).
440 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
Princesse Alice) 40 milhas a S.W. da ilha grafo Hugo de Lacerda31, fez o reco-
do Faial, de que me enviou uma carta, nhecimento do banco e dirigiu as
da qual fiz uma cópia, que o Príncipe me
sondagens. Concluídos os trabalhos,
autorizou a enviar-vos, da sua parte para o
vosso Hydrographic Office.30 o Almirantado publicava a 10 de
Agosto de 1897 um Aviso aos Nave-
Em menos de dois meses, já o Hydro- gantes:
graphic Office divulgava a notícia no
A mínima profundidade encontrada foi
Notice to Mariners e publicava o pri- de 24 braças [pouco mais de 53 metros],
meiro esboço cartográfico do banco sendo nessas proximidades muito aciden-
Princesa Alice. A divulgação neste tado o fundo, que é de areia preta e encar-
periódico de grande audiência dava a nada, pedra e algumas conchas. A pescaria
conhecer, por um lado, a localização naquela localidade é abundantíssima.
Em todos os outros pontos sondados
do banco, como também dava legiti-
(para Norte e parte média do banco) … os
midade institucional e técnica à des- fundos, variando regularmente, não estão
coberta, alertando para a segurança em desacordo com os encontrados por Sua
da navegação nas referidas coorde- Alteza o Príncipe de Monaco.32
nadas.31
Feito o primeiro levantamento pela Ainda estavam longe os trabalhos
equipa do Príncipe, Afonso Chaves oceanográficos que se viriam a reali-
não descansou enquanto não conse- zar nos Açores a partir de 1905, mas
guiu que a marinha nacional cunhasse este foi um primeiro momento da
a sua chancela num levantamento bati- história que ligaria, daí para o futuro,
métrico mais rigoroso e detalhado. Afonso Chaves a esta embarcação,
No ano seguinte, a canhoneira Açor, como também a este oficial da arma-
sob o comando do 1.º tenente hidró- da. Os caminhos de ambos cruzar-se-
30
BPARPD – Espólio do coronel Afonso promovido aí a criação do observatório as-
Chaves. Carta de A. Chaves a C. D. Sigsbee tronómico e meteorológico Campos Rodri-
de 18 Agosto de 1896. gues. Foi depois responsável pelos portos
31
Hugo de Lacerda Castelo Branco (1860- de Macau e consultor das obras do Arsenal
‑1944) – Arquivo Histórico da Marinha – do Alfeite. Primeiro lente de hidrografia
Livro Mestre D/109. Sendo comandante da da Escola Naval, destacou-se em matérias
canhoneira Açor, foi louvado pelo bom ser- como geologia, hidrografia, geodesia e
viço prestado nos trabalhos de explorações topografia.
hidrográficas empreendidas no mar dos 32
Arquivo Histórico da Marinha – Avisos aos
Açores (Ordem da Armada 22B/97). Foi ca- Navegantes, Cx. 64-2 (1866-1910) – Con-
pitão do porto de Lourenço Marques, cujo selho do Almirantado, Aviso aos Navegan-
levantamento hidrográfico dirigiu, tendo tes n.º 7 de 10 de Agosto de 1897.
Conceição Tavares 441
Esta é uma história que faz pensar nas científicas, transformado agora em
voltas que a vida dá. Afonso Chaves, navio hidrográfico, Afonso Chaves
que tivera com D. Carlos as afini- deu arranque aos trabalhos oceano-
dades electivas do mar e da ciência, gráficos da Missão Hidrográfica da
tornou-se, por via da solicitação de Costa de Portugal, dando orientações
Hugo de Lacerda e de Botelho de e transmitindo conhecimentos que a
Sousa, um transmissor de testemunho sua experiência acumulara, ao longo
– um mediador simbólico – da tradi- de 15 anos de trabalhos. Sempre na
ção oceanográfica nacional. Naquele crista da onda.
que fora o iate real das campanhas
Equipa Editorial
Editorial Team
EDITOR
Doutor em História pela Universidade dos Açores. Bolseiro de pós-doutoramento da Fundação para a
Ciência e a Tecnologia (2006-2012). Investigador Integrado do Centro de História d’Aquém e d’Além-Mar
da Universidade Nova de Lisboa/Universidade dos Açores e do Centro de Estudos Gaspar Frutuoso da
Universidade dos Açores. Sócio efectivo do Instituto Histórico da Ilha Terceira. Autor de diversos artigos
científicos publicados em revistas da especialidade e dos livros Açores. Western Islands. Um contributo
para o estudo do Turismo nos Açores (1989), Os Açores em finais do Regime de Capitania-Geral. 1800‑1820
(2005), De New Bedford aos Mares do Sul. Uma viagem da barca «Sea Ranger» com escala pelo Fayal
em 1869 (2008) e A ilha do Faial na logística da frota baleeira Americana no «Século Dabney» (2012).
Presidente do Conselho Geral da Universidade dos Açores entre 2009 e 2014.
EDITORA-ADJUNTA
CONSELHO EDITORIAL
Licenciado em História e Ciências Sociais pela Universidade dos Açores. Professor do Quadro de
Nomeação Definitiva da Escola Secundária Manuel de Arriaga. Membro da direção do Núcleo Cultural
da Horta, integrando a Comissão Editorial do boletim desta instituição. Autor de vários artigos científicos
publicados em revistas e do livro Peter-Café Sport. Membro da Comissão Organizadora dos Colóquios
“O Faial e a Periferia Açoriana nos Séculos XV a XX”.
448 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
Professor Auxiliar da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa. Foi docente da Universidade dos
Açores (1988-2013), onde obteve o doutoramento em História (2001). Investigador associado do Centro
de História de Além-Mar (CHAM), foi o Coordenador das linhas de investigação “As Elites e o império
português” e “Grupos e representações sociais na expansão portuguesa”, Coordenador do Núcleo da
Universidade dos Açores do CHAM e Sub-Director da mesma unidade de investigação. Participou e parti-
cipa em diversos projectos nacionais e estrangeiros (Espanha, França, Brasil); foi membro do Editorial
Board da colecção “European Expansion and Indigenous Response”, publicada pela Brill, e da Comissão
Científica de diversas revistas; e tem artigos e livros publicados e editados em Portugal, Espanha, França e
Brasil. De entre as suas publicações, destacam-se: São Miguel no século XVIII: casa, elites e poder, Ponta
Delgada, Instituto Cultural de Ponta Delgada, 2003, 2 vols.; De Re Publica Hispaniae: Una vindicación de
la cultura política en los reinos ibéricos en la primera modernidad, Madrid, Sílex, 2008 (co-editor, com
Francisco José Aranda Pérez); Histórias Atlânticas. Os Açores na primeira modernidade, Ponta Delgada,
CHAM, 2012; e O Atlântico Revolucionário: circulação de ideias e de elites no final do Antigo Regime,
Ponta Delgada, CHAM, 2012 (coordenador).
É Doutor em Biologia e Ecologia Animal, Investigador Principal na Universidade dos Açores, Membro
Correspondente da Academia das Ciências de Lisboa [Classe de Ciências, Secção de Ciências Biológicas]
e Membro Efetivo da Academia de Marinha [Classe de Artes, Ciências e Letras]. Tem-se dedicado ao
estudo da ecologia comportamental e biodiversidade de animais marinhos e conservação de ecossistemas
oceânicos. Tem mais de 200 publicações científicas em revistas e livros internacionais. Em 2002 foi-lhe
atribuído pela WWF o galardão “Gift to the Earth”; em 2007 RSS foi nomeado “Embaixador Marítimo”
pela Comissão Europeia; em 2008 recebeu o Prémio Rotary 2007-2008 no domínio do Ensino e em 2009
foi-lhe atribuído, pelo “Ciência Hoje”, o prémio “Seeds of Science” na categoria de “Ciências da Terra, do
Mar e da Atmosfera”, em 2012 foi condecorado pelo GRA e ALR com a “Insígnia Autonómica de Reconhe-
cimento”. Entre outros cargos que exerceu contam-se Pró-Reitor da UAç, Presidente do IMAR – Instituto
do Mar, Vice-Presidente do European Marine Board. Actualmente é Presidente do EurOcean, membro do
Conselho Científico do Instituto Oceanográfico de Paris/Fundação Alberto I do Mónaco e Comissário para
a Sargasso Sea Alliance. Desde 1 de Julho de 2014 que é Deputado do Parlamento Europeu onde actual-
mente é membro Efectiva da Comissão das Pescas e suplente da Agricultura e Desenvolvimento Rural.
É Vice-Presidente dos Intergrupos “Mudanças Globais, Biodiversidade e Desenevolvimento Sustentável”
e “Mares, Rios, Ilhas e Zonas Costeiros”. Pertence ainda às delegações Interparlamentares com o Canadá,
os Estados Unidos da América e os Países Andinos.
Doutorada em História pela Universidade dos Açores. Professora Auxiliar do Departamento de História,
Filosofia e Ciências Sociais da Universidade dos Açores. Investigadora integrada do Centro de História de
Além-Mar (CHAM) da Universidade Nova de Lisboa e do Centro de Estudos Gaspar Frutuoso da Univer-
sidade dos Açores. Autora de vários artigos científicos da área da História da Igreja e da História Religiosa.
Equipa Editorial 449
No presente, desenvolve estudos na área do Património Cultural e da Museologia. Entre as obras editadas
destacam-se Pico. Séculos XV-XVIII (1997), Viver e morrer religiosamente. Ilha de S. Miguel. Século XVIII
(2007) e Açores. Nove Ilhas, Uma história/Azores. Nine Islands, One History (2008).
Urbano Bettencourt
Doutorado em Estudos Portugueses pela Universidade dos Açores, tem leccionado as disciplinas de Lite-
ratura Portuguesa, Literaturas Africanas de Expressão Portuguesa e Literatura Açoriana, entre outras.
Têm‑lhe merecido particular atenção as literaturas insulares, sobre as quais já proferiu conferências em
Cabo Verde, Madeira, Canárias e Açores. Entre as obras editadas, destacam-se na área da poesia e da narra-
tiva, Raiz de Mágoa (1972); Ilhas (de parceria com Santos Barros, 1976), Marinheiro com residência fixa
(1980); Naufrágios Inscrições (1987); Algumas das Cidades (1995); Lugares, sombras e afectos (2005);
Santo Amaro Sobre o Mar (2005); Antero (2006); Que paisagem apagarás (2010); África frente e verso
(2012), Outros nomes outras guerras–antologia poética (2013) e no ensaio O Gosto das Palavras, 3 vols.
(1983, 1995, 1999); Emigração e Literatura (1989); De Cabo Verde aos Açores – à luz da «Claridade
(1998); Ilhas conforme as circunstâncias (2003).
Vamberto Freitas
Leitor de Língua Inglesa na Universidade dos Açores desde 1991, tendo publicado inúmeros estudos
críticos e ensaios sobre as literaturas norte-americana e açoriana. Autor de vários livros, entre os quais
Jornal de Emigração (4 volumes), O Imaginário dos Escritores Açorianos e A Ilha em Frente: Textos
do Cerco e da Fuga. Tem publicado algumas traduções, principalmente da poesia de Frank X. Gaspar, e
continua a colaborar em vários periódicos com textos de crítica literária e cultural. Como conferencista
e como docente convidado, colaborou em 2008 nos programas do Departamento de Estudos Portu-
gueses e Brasileiros da Brown University. Tem em preparação uma colectânea de ensaios sobre literatura
luso‑americana.
Lista de Autores
Index of Authors
Acílio da Silva Estanqueiro Rocha
Álvaro Borralho
Doutor em Ciências Sociais, especialidade de Sociologia, pela Universidade dos Açores (2010). Defendeu
Provas de Aptidão Pedagógica e Capacidade Científica em Sociologia, na UAç (2002). Concluiu a parte
lectiva do Mestrado em Ciências Sociais (pós-graduação) no Instituto de Ciências Sociais da Universidade
de Lisboa (1996). Licenciado em Sociologia, pelo Instituto Superior de Ciências do Trabalho e da Empresa
(ISCTE-IUL).
Autor do livro A Sagrada Aliança. Campo religioso e campo político nos Açores (1974-1996), publicado
em 2013 pela editora Mundos Sociais; co-autor do livro A situação das mulheres nos Açores (1999),
com Gilberta Rocha, Octávio Medeiros, Licínio Tomás e Artur Madeira, editado pela Assembleia Legisla-
tiva Regional dos Açores. Foi co-coordenador do estudo Emigrantes deportados nos Açores (2012), com
Gilberta Pavão Nunes Rocha.
É docente da Universidade dos Açores e Investigador do CES, desde 1997. Lecciona Teorias Sociológicas
Clássicas, Temas da Sociedade Contemporânea e Sociologia da Política, em cursos de licenciatura e Polí-
ticas Públicas e Desenvolvimento em cursos de Mestrado (Ciências Sociais e de Sociologia).
Fundador e co-coordenador do Núcleo Regional dos Açores da Associação Portuguesa de Sociologia
(desde 2011).
Anita Budziszewska
Member of the Institute of International Relations – University of Warsaw. Graduated also from the
European Academy of Diplomacy; Postgraduate Studies in International Law at the Faculty of Law and
Administration, University of Warsaw; Postgraduate Studies in Strategic Research and Analysis, Warsaw
School of Economics. Internship at the University of Nottingham. Member of the organisational committee
of the 8th Pan-European Conference on International Relations, Warsaw 2013. Co-coordinator of the EU
grant Leonardo da Vinci, Increase of EU’s economic potential in relations with China. Mobility coordinator
at IIR. anita.budziszewska@uw.edu.pl
454 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
Armando Leandro
Juiz Conselheiro do Supremo Tribunal de Justiça Jubilado. Funções atuais: Presidente da Comissão
Nacional de Proteção de Crianças e Jovens em Risco; Presidente da Comissão de Proteção de Testemunhas
em Processo Penal; Presidente da Direção das Associação Portuguesa para o Direito dos menores e da
Família – CrescerSer; Presidente da Assembleia-Geral da Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Cascais; Presi-
dente do Conselho de Curadores da Fundação Portuguesa Contra a Sida; Presidente da Assembleia-Geral
da Associação «Recomeçar» – reinserção de toxicodependentes.
É membro dos seguintes organismos: Conselho Consultivo da Escola de Criminologia da Faculdade de
Direito da Universidade do Porto; Conselho Consultivo do Instituto da Educação da Universidade do
Minho; Conselho Geral da Faculdade de Psicologia de Ciências da Educação da Universidade do Porto.
Tem vários artigos publicados nos domínios da promoção e proteção dos direitos da criança, do jovem e da
família, da formação de Magistrados do Ministério Público e de Juízes, e da prevenção primária, secundária
e terciária da droga e toxicodependência.
Professor Catedrático e Reitor da Universidade dos Açores (2003-2011). Doutorado em História Moderna e
Contemporânea. Investigador do Centro de História de Além-Mar das Universidades dos Açores e Nova de
Lisboa de que é Presidente da Assembleia Geral. Secreta´rio regional da Educação e Cultura do Governo
Regional dos Açores.
Além de variada colaboração científica publicada em revistas especializadas e em edições de atas de con-
gressos e colóquios, é autor de diversas obras, destacando-se: Os Açores e o Domínio Filipino (1580-1590)
e Os Açores nas encruzilhadas de Setecentos (1740-1770), editadas, respetivamente, em 1987 e 1993.
Colaborou com a elaboração de alguns capítulos na Nova História da Expansão Portuguesa dedicada à
colonização Atlântica tendo coordenado o volume da Nova História de Portugal sob o título Da Paz da
Restauração ao Ouro do Brasil, edição de 2001. Integrou a direcção científica da História dos Açores.
Do descobrimento ao Século XX, edição de 2009 de que é igualmente autor de diversos capítulos. No ano
de 2011 em edição da Publiçor publicou Antigamente, era assim! Ensaios de história dos Açores e no
ano seguinte, em edição de Letras Lavadas Edições, Coisas de agora. O historiador e a actualidade.
Professora Auxiliar do Departamento de História, Filosofia e Ciências Sociais da Universidade dos Açores,
com Doutoramento em Filosofia, especialidade Filosofia Contemporânea. Tem desenvolvido investigação
Lista de Autores 455
Professor Associado, com Agregação, do Departamento de História, Filosofia e Ciências Socias da Univer-
sidade dos Açores e Diretor do respetivo curso de licenciatura em Estudos Europeus e Política Interna-
cional. Detentor da Cátedra Jean Monnet da Universidade dos Açores, atribuída pela Comissão Europeia.
É membro do Centro de Estudos Interdisciplinares do Século XX da Universidade de Coimbra – CEIS20.
Licenciada em Direito tem um mestrado em Ciência Política. É coleccionadora de livros ilustrados, com
bonecos, riscos, fotos, impressões digitais; muitos são eles mesmos bonecos. Acompanha a cena portuguesa
dos livros de artista, fanzines, livros auto-editados e pequenas editoras, formas artísticas que evoluem e se
transformam com as tecnologias directa e indirectamente ligadas ao livro. Coleccionar livros e conhecer os
artistas que os criam conduziram-na a uma reflexão sobre esta forma de arte recente e sua recepção crítica
em Portugal. Reune documentação e bibliografia que lhe permitam analisar a sua evolução em Portugal e a
sua integração nos movimentos internacionais em torno da palavra e do livro, que se desenvolveram a partir
dos anos 1960. Com Isabel Baraona, organizou o número 32 do Journal of Artists’ Books (Outono de 2012),
dedicado ao livro de artista em Portugal. Com Isabel Baraona, é editora de Tipo.pt, uma base de dados sobre
livros de artista e edições gráficas de autor. Vive e trabalha em Lisboa.
Clarisse Canha
Nascida em 1947, na Madeira, Funchal, vive nos Açores, ilha de São Miguel, desde 1980. Possui o 9.º ano
de escolaridade e formação em diferentes áreas, adquirida ao longo da vida e da ação prática. Desenvolve
trabalho profissional desde os 16 anos. É atualmente reformada, da função pública. Ativista em diferentes
campos sociais. Feminista empenhada em movimentos sociais particularmente dos direitos das mulheres
e LGBT. Fundadora da UMAR e UMAR-Açores, de cuja direção faz parte e na qual desenvolve ativismo
e voluntariado.
Conceição Tavares
com a dissertação Viagens e diálogos epistolares na construção científica do mundo atlântico. Albert I
do Mónaco (1848-1922), Afonso Chaves (1857-1926) e a Meteorologia nos Açores. Tem este e outros
trabalhos publicados. Em 2010 foi comissária da Exposição Ilhas & História Natural, uma iniciativa da
Biblioteca Pública e Arquivo Regional de Ponta Delgada e do Museu Carlos Machado, patrocinada pela
DRaC do Governo Regional dos Açores. Em 2014 integrou a equipa do Museu de História Natural e da
Ciência da Universidade de Lisboa, que inventariou, estudou e tornou acessível o espólio do naturalista
açoriano Francisco de Arruda Furtado.
Doutor Honoris Causa pela Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, Professor da Faculdade de
Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, regente da cátedra “Medicina Humanitária”, e Académico Corres-
pondente da Academia Internacional de Cultura Portuguesa.
Foi administrador dos Médicos Sem Fronteiras - Bélgica e fundou, em Portugal, a AMI – Assistência Médica
Internacional, à qual ainda preside. Participou como cirurgião em mais de duzentas e cinquenta missões de
estudo, coordenação e assistência médica humanitária em mais de setenta países de todos os continentes.
Foi membro do Conselho Geral da Universidade de Lisboa e do Conselho Geral da Universidade da Beira
Interior. Foi Professor Convidado dos cursos de Mestrado e Pós-Graduação na Universidade Autónoma
de Lisboa e no Instituto Superior de Ciências Policiais e Segurança Interna e conferencista no Instituto de
Estudos Superiores Militares.
George Monteiro
Hélio Soares
Nasceu na Vila das Velas, ilha de S. Jorge, a 14 de Junho de 1984. Estudou na escola primária da locali-
dade de Santo António, freguesia de Norte Grande, e na Escola Básica e Secundária de Velas. Ingressou
no Seminário Episcopal de Angra em Setembro de 2003. Foi ordenado diácono na Sé Catedral de Angra a
25 de Janeiro de 2009. Sendo ordenado presbítero a 25 de julho de 2009, na Paróquia de S. Mateus da
Urzelina, em S. Jorge. De setembro de 2009 a agosto de 2013 foi Pároco da ilha do Corvo.
A 24 de agosto de 2013 tomou posse como Pároco da Vila das Capelas e da freguesia de S. Vicente Ferreira
na ilha de S Miguel.
É licenciado em História pela Universidade dos Açores. Sendo a partir desta academia científica que tem
desenvolvido diversos estudos históricos, alguns dos quais já publicados em revistas científicas da área.
Lista de Autores 457
Nasceu em Ponta Delgada, a 1 de Junho de 1965. É atualmente Professora Auxiliar da Universidade dos
Açores, docente nos cursos de Arquitectura, Turismo e Património Cultural da Universidade dos Açores, e
no mestrado de Património, Museologia e Desenvolvimento da mesma Universidade. É membro integrada
do CHAM (Centro de História de Além Mar – FCSH/Universidade dos Açores), além de colaboradora do
ICIST (IST-UTL) e do CITAR (Universidade Católica do Porto). É ainda membro não votante do ICOMOS
(UNESCO) para o painel Paisagens Culturais.
Licenciada em História-variante de História da Arte pela Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas da
Universidade Nova de Lisboa (1988), mestre em História da Arte pela mesma Universidade (1996), tendo
defendido dissertação com o tema: Quintas, Jardins e Parques da Ilha de São Miguel: 1785-1885 e dou-
torada em Arquitectura (IST-UTL, 2012), tendo defendido a dissertação intitulada «A Casa Nobre na ilha
de São Miguel: do período filipino ao final do Antigo Regime».
Desde 1988 tem dedicado especial atenção às questões do património paisagístico e arquitectónico tendo
nesse âmbito diversa obra publicada.
Entre as obras editadas destacam-se Quintas, Jardins e Parques da Ilha de São Miguel: 1785-1885. Lisboa:
Quetzal Editores, 2000; Jardins e Espaços Verdes dos Açores. Ponta Delgada: ATA, 2012; Açores em Vista
Aérea/ Azores in Aereal View (em co-autoria com o Arq. Rui Monteiro). Lisboa: Argumentum, 2008, além
da participação em obras coletivas, artigos em publicações de divulgação científica e em atas de congressos
científicos nacionais e internacionais.
Museólogo. Técnico Superior do Museu Carlos Machado, Conservador da Coleção de História Natural.
Licenciado em Biologia, ramo científico, pela Universidade do Porto e pós-graduado em Museologia pela
Universidade Lusófona. Formador na área da Biologia e da Museologia. Vice-presidente da Direção do
Instituto Cultural de Ponta Delgada. Membro da Direção Sociedade Afonso Chaves – Associação de Estudos
Açorianos. Diretor Executivo do Expolab – Centro de Ciência Viva. Membro da Comissão Diocesana
dos Bens Culturais da Igreja (Diocese de Angra). Foi docente convidado da Universidade dos Açores, na
licenciatura de Património Cultural. Foi coordenador do Projeto de Documentação Museológica da Rede
de Museus da Direção Regional da Cultura. Fez parte da comissão científica do Museu Vivo do Francisca-
nismo (Ribeira Grande).
Licenciado e mestre em História pela Universidade Nova de Lisboa, tendo ingressado na Faculdade de
Ciências Humanas da Universidade Católica Portuguesa em 1994. Completou o Doutoramento em História
na UCP em 2003, sendo, presentemente, Professor Associado com Agregação e, desde 2012, Diretor da
Faculdade de Ciências Humanas.
As suas áreas de investigação e docência são a história portuguesa e internacional dos séculos XIX e XX,
nos campos político, institucional, cultural, social, intelectual e de comunicação/jornalismo. É autor de
cerca de 70 capítulos de livros e artigos em obras coletivas, revistas académicas e volumes de Atas, nacio-
nais e internacionais. Escreveu 11 livros sobre diferentes temas e épocas da história portuguesa contem-
porânea, e co-editou outros 6 livros.
458 Boletim do Núcleo Cultural da Horta
Doutor em História pela Universidade dos Açores. Bolseiro de pós-doutoramento da Fundação para a
Ciência e a Tecnologia (2006-2012). Investigador Integrado do Centro de História d’Aquém e d’Além-Mar
da Universidade Nova de Lisboa/Universidade dos Açores e do Centro de Estudos Gaspar Frutuoso da
Universidade dos Açores. Sócio efectivo do Instituto Histórico da Ilha Terceira. Autor de diversos artigos
científicos publicados em revistas da especialidade e dos livros Açores. Western Islands. Um contri-
buto para o estudo do Turismo nos Açores (1989), Os Açores em finais do Regime de Capitania-Geral.
1800‑1820 (2005), De New Bedford aos Mares do Sul. Uma viagem da barca «Sea Ranger» com escala
pelo Fayal em 1869 (2008) e A ilha do Faial na logística da frota baleeira Americana no «Século Dabney»,
(2012). Presidente do Conselho Geral da Universidade dos Açores entre 2009 e 2014.
Sandra Furtado
Natural de São Miguel – Ajuda da Bretanha. Licenciada em Sociologia pela Universidade de Coimbra. Foi
formadora em escolas profissionais em Centros de Formação de Professores. Socióloga no Centro de Apoio
Lista de Autores 459
à Mulher de Ponta Delgada. Técnica de orientação ocupacional na área da saúde mental – Consultório
Infinito. Foi membro fundador e/ou dirigente das associações Centro de Apoio à Mulher de Ponta Delgada,
Norte Crescente - ADL e ANCORAR – Associação para a Promoção da Saúde Mental.
Viriato Soromenho-Marques
Vladimir Safatle
Professor de filosofia da Universidade de São Paulo. Doutor em Filosofia pela Universidade de Paris VIII,
Professor Convidado das Universidades de Louvain, Toulouse e Paris VII. Autor de O circuito dos afetos
(Cosac e Naif, 2015), Grande Hotel Abismo: Para uma reconstrução da teoria do reconhecimento (Martins
Fontes, 2012), A esquerda que não teme dizer seu nome (Três Estrelas, 2012), Fetichismo: colonizar o
Outro (Civilização Brasileira, 2010), Cinismo e falência da crítica (Boitempo, 2008), entre outros.
Urbano Bettencourt
Doutorado em Estudos Portugueses pela Universidade dos Açores, onde leccionou as disciplinas de
Literatura Portuguesa, Literaturas Africanas de Expressão Portuguesa e Literatura Açoriana até ao final do
ano lectivo de 2013-2014. Têm-lhe merecido particular atenção as literaturas insulares, sobre as quais já
proferiu conferências em Cabo Verde, Madeira, Canárias e Açores. Entre as obras editadas, destacam‑se
na área da poesia e da narrativa, Raiz de Mágoa (1972); Ilhas (de parceria com Santos Barros, 1976),
Marinheiro com residência fixa (1980); Naufrágios Inscrições (1987); Algumas das Cidades (1995);
Lugares, sombras e afectos (2005); Santo Amaro Sobre o Mar (2005); Antero (2006); Que paisagem
apagarás (2010); África frente e verso (2012), Outros nomes outras guerras – antologia poética (2013)
e no ensaio: O Gosto das Palavras, 3 vols. (1983, 1995, 1999); Emigração e Literatura (1989); De Cabo
Verde aos Açores – à luz da «Claridade (1998); Ilhas conforme as circunstâncias 2003).
É actualmente investigador do Cierl-UMa, Centro de Investigação em Estudos Regionais e Locais-Univer-
sidade da Madeira, Funchal. Lecciona na Escola Secundária Antero de Quental, Ponta Delgada.
Notas editoriais Editorial notes
A indicação de mais de três autores faz-se author surname followed by et al. (Silva et
pela indicação do apelido do primeiro, acres- al. (2007) or (Silva ed al., 2007).
centando et al. como se indica: Silva et al.
(2001) ou (Silva et al., 2001).
A natureza não lucrativa do Núcleo Cultural Each author will receive a free copy of the
da Horta e o indispensável recurso ao apoio issue in which their item is published together
prestado por entidades oficiais e privadas with thirty off prints.
para o financiamento das suas actividades,
têm merecido a compreensão dos autores no
sentido da sua disponibilidade para uma cola-
boração graciosa. Assim, o reconhecimento
da instituição para com os seus colabora-
dores, traduzir-se-á na oferta de 30 separatas
por cada artigo publicado.