OCR Text |
Show AZORES : MAY BE AERIAL HALF-WAY HOUSE Tho Azores Islands, In years to come, may bo an established mld-At-Inntlc rest station for airplane flights across tho ocean. Farthest from a continent of any Atlantic Island group, tho Islands lie 830 miles west of Capo da Iloca, Portugal, Portu-gal, and more than n thousand miles southeast of Newfoundland, nearest North American land. Volcnnlc eruptions nnd earthquakes, whllo tho former were active, made tho Azores objects of scientific Interest Inter-est akin to that evinced In tho now famous Mount Kntmnl region In Alaska. Alas-ka. Suboccanlc eruptions, sometimes piling up Ulnnds which soon disappeared, disappear-ed, were characteristic phenomena. Ono early description of mich nn event tells how tho enrth and, wntcrs were rocked for eight days by earthquakes, followed by n vast caldron of fire that seemed to Sweep tho sea's surface nnd consumo tho clouds, spewing enormous masses of enrth and rock. Then there nppenred n group of rocks, over growing grow-ing higher and wider until nn nren of wvernl square miles was contained In this "no man's land." Later It was shattered, and subsided, as tho result of more earthquakes. Tho Azores comprlso thrcd groups of Islands. Their total nren Is less thnn thnt of llhodo Island; their population popu-lation about equal to that of Kansan City, Mo. Most of tho Inhabitants ore Portuguese. Tho rest aro Flemish and Moorish, with a few Immigrants from thQ United Kingdom. Fruits nnd fish constltuto tho principal prin-cipal exports. Oranges are supplanting supplant-ing pineapples, but tho other products lemon, citron, Jnpnneso medlar, and bnnnnns maintain their popularity. Tho prlnclpnl flsh are tho mullet, tunny, tun-ny, nnd bonlto. Saint Mlchncltt, largest Island of tho group, hns lnva beds, raves which may he traversed for miles, nnd n mammoth mam-moth crater with two Jeweled lakes ono azure, the ntier emerald at Its bottom. On Snntn Maria Is the church where Columbus knelt. Off Tercerln a submarine sub-marine volcnno tnado Its nppenrnnco no recently ns half a century ago. On Corvo hnvo been unearthed coins which suggest Cnrthnglnlnn vIsIIb, and nn Arabian geographer of tho twelfth century described Manila of the "Western "West-ern Ocean" thought to have been tho Azores'. About the ndddle of tho fifteenth century tho Portuguese sent expeditions expedi-tions to settle upon them. Ono Island, Fnynl. was presented by Alphonso V of Portugnl, to his mint, Isnbellu, duchess of Burgundy. It wus upon her mnrrlngo to Philip tho Good, duko of Burgundy, thnt ho founded tho famous fa-mous knightly order of the Golden Fleece. In 1620 supporters of Maria da Gloria against Miguel, In the irtrugglo for the Portuguese crown, established themselves on the Islands, nnd for the three years following Queen Mnrla lived at Angra. ono of tho seaports of Importance, Others nro Ponta Delgada and Horta. |