The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

32 V\'EST AFRICA.
longer seen in the archipelago at all comparable to the sturdy peasantrj^ of North
Portugal. Epidemics occasionally break out, and the old chroniclers speak of
" pestilence," which in combination with the Moorish corsairs laid waste the rising
settlements. At present gastric and tj-phoid fevers are endemic, although their
viridonce is much diminished by the topographic distribution of the towns and
\illagcs. Trade has given rise to few large centres of population, the houses
mostly following in long straggling lines around the island, and thus enjopng
the invigorating influence of the sea breezes. The diet also is at once simple and
streno-thcuing, large quantities of maize bread being consumed with all the other
aliments, such as vegetables, fruits, and fish. " To be well fed, take all with
bread," says the local proverb.
Although very fertile, and in aU the Lslauds well tilled to a height of over
1,000 feet, the land no longer suffices for the support of the ever-growing popula-
tion. This result must be mainly attributed to the distribution of the landed
estates. At the time of Hunt's visit in 1840 the number of proprietors repre-
sented only a thirty-sixth of the adidt inhabitants, and although primogeniture
has been abolished, the old feudal di^-ision has been largely maintained. San-
Miguel still belongs almost entirely to about a dozen large landowners, as at the
time of the first settlement. Several domains comprise a broad belt stretching
from the rock-bound coast to the cones of the volcanoes. No doubt tenants have
the traditional right of remaining on the cultivated land and receiving compensa-
tion for improvements ; but the rack rents exacted by the landlords represent a
large share, sometimes fully one-half, of the whole produce. Small proprietors
are far from numerous, and at a change of hands the real value of their holdings
is greatly reduced by the fees for sale and the other legal dues by which these
small estates are encumbered. Thus the owner too often becomes dispossessed in
favour of the rapacious lawyer, or of some wealthier emigrant returning from
Brazil, who is willing to pay a fictitious value for the property. Hence the
jimior members in all families swarm abroad, the number of yearly emigrants
varjang from two thousand to three thousand, while the annual amoimt remitted
to their relatives is estimated at forty thousand pounds. Shipping companies
have been formed to take advantage of this movement, which is directed towards
Brazil, the United States, the Portuguese African possessions, and recently also
to the Sandwich Islands. In 1882 alone, over two thousand from the single
district of Ponta-Delgada migrated to Hawaii, where in 1884 there were reckoned
9,377 of Portuguese race, mostly Azorians. Young men escape from the archipelago
espcciallj' to avoid military ser\-ice and the wearisome life in some Portuguese
fortress. A recent law obliging them to deposit a sufficient sum to provide a
substitute is frequently evaded.
Agricidture is the great industry of the Azorians, whose implements are still
of a very primitive type, the harrows tipped with fragments of lava dating, in
fact, from the stone age. But so fertile is the land, that even so it yields twenty-
fold the corn committed to the earth. Unlike other great feudatories, the
proprietors are seldom absentees, residing constantly on their estates, and