The Azores

May 14^th

We are now half way to Naples, having been six days at sea and having come over 2000 miles. The sea continues perfectly calm. Our run was 356 miles. One of the officers told me they burn 1800 – 1900 tons of coal on a trip. I hear that another stocker died and was buried last night. They say heart disease is the cause, brought on by the extreme and unusual heat. I think it is awful and the work ought to be so arranged that the men can stand it. We saw a number of dolphins today. We sighted the Azores about 11 a.m. We have been steaming past them for 5 or 6 hours. They are clearly of volcanic origin. We saw two rocky peaks rising above from the water, whose tops were concave and which at sometime had evidently been craters. The islands are high and with rocky and craggy shores at the foot of which the ocean surf thunders. There is but little level ground. The slopes are nearly all farmed. The land is divided by hedgerows into innumerable plots of various sizes and shapes, of which some are green, others brown and other newly plowed or spaded so it made an immense mosaic. Were the slope is over 45 degrees they have terraced the ground. The houses are nearly all low white structures. Churches and convents are in almost every village. Immense windmills stand here and there. They use the Dutch pattern and are probably used for pumping water. The chief town we saw was called Ponta de la Garda and had about the only harbor and boat landing we saw there. Two rocky peaks practically enclosed a bay in which a breakwater of stone had been built making a small but safe harbor. In stormy weather I would consider the Azores dangerous neighbors to shipping. They belong to Portugal and are over a thousand miles from Gibraltar. We are evidently going to have a change of weather. It is cloudy and the wind is rising. The tops of the hills and mountain were concealed this afternoon by clouds and fogs, which at times reached halfway down to the sea. We passed another city about 6:30 and the last of the Azores were three bare rocks a mile or two from the island, rearing their black heads above the breakers.