Last night we passed the first two of the Azores. These islands were
discovered by Portuguese navigators about the middle of the fifteenth
century, and still belong to Portugal. They number nine in all, and
have a population of some 260,000. About noon we sight Pico, the
third of the group, and steam by it for hours, at a distance of six
or seven miles off. Though we have sunshine at sea, it is raining
and misting ashore, and we fail to get a good view. However, I have
counted as many as seven little villages where the snow-white
cottages form into clusters on the sloping shore. These islands are
of volcanic origin, and the conical peak of an extinct volcano seems
to have given its name to the island we are passing by. It is
visible for a moment or two, and we catch just a glimpse of it as it
peeps out of a cloud. But it is a coy peak and hastes to hide itself
beneath its veil of mist.
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