legitimate criterion by which to determine respecting the general
fertility of the island, I should be almost tempted to believe
that the whole industry of its people has been expended upon this
spot, simply because it was the only one capable of rewarding it.
I was assured, however, by the natives, that such is not the case;
and that, in the interior, and towards the opposite coast, the
rugged magnificence of mountain scenery gives place to a more
profitable though less picturesque champaign.

The principal streets of Ponto del Gada are paved, and kept once
cool and clean by a. constant sprinkling of water, which is the
business of two or three men stationed at pumps within obtain
distance of one another, to scatter over them. Of the by-streets
little can be said in praise, they being, like those of other
Portuguese towns, composed of mean cottages, unpaved, and
extremely dirty. There is, however, an air of elegance given to
the town, particularly when looked at from a distance, by the
intermixture of orange-groves among the houses; the largest of
these, wherever they happen to stand, being, in general,
surrounded by extensive gardens, all of which are abundantly
stocked with that graceful and odoriferous plant. Add to this
the number of towers and spires with which its numerous churches
and convents are supplied, and the first aspect of the whole may
be conceived to be extremely striking and imposing.

As soon as we had taken a hurried survey of the streets, the next
object of attention was the religious houses. In these there was
but little to admire, the architecture being of the plainest
kind, and even the chapels as much wanting in ornament as can be
imagined. There were, indeed, in most of them some trifling