the chief attraction of the landscape, next to the picturesque outline,
was its exquisitely varied tinting and colouring, and the ever-changeful
shadows which were cast over it by the passing clouds. White and bright
are the houses in the town, with their red tiles; and green and shining
are the quintas in the suburbs, with orange groves and coffee
plantations, extending far and wide up the hills to the height of 1500
feet or more. One of the most conspicuous objects, standing high above
the town, is the Church of Nossa Senhora do Monte--the Lady of the
Mount--a well-known landmark to heretics as well as Catholics. The
latter, however, offer up their vows while they look towards it as they
start on their voyage, and pay their tribute to it, if they have escaped
the perils to which they may have been exposed, on their return.

Dr Cuff, who had been there frequently before, told me that some of
the native residents had assured him that Nossa Senhora worked all sorts
of miracles. On one occasion a famine threatened the island. A
pilgrimage was accordingly made to the mount with great ceremony, to
entreat the beneficent lady to supply them with food. The very next
morning a vessel laden with corn arrived from Portugal. There could be
no doubt that the saint had had a hand in the matter. So said the
priests of the Church; and on examining her clothes, they were found to
be perfectly wet with salt water. The sailors, too--so it was said--
confirmed this statement by asserting that, while their vessel lay
becalmed, a white figure had risen suddenly out of the ocean, and towed
them into the roads. Of course, the truth of the miracle being thus
satisfactorily established, the Church gained immensely by it; and no
one thought of asking the sailors whether they really had seen the
figure towing them into harbour or not.

"The way any new miracle is managed is this," continued the doctor: "The
priests boldly assert that the saint has done some wonderful thing or
other, and then they tell another story, without any foundation in
truth, as a proof of the first. The credulous people go about and say
there can be no doubt as to such a miracle having been worked, because
so and so happened, whereas so and so never did happen. That reminds me
of the old story of the wicked baker having been seen by the crews of
several merchantmen anchored off Stromboli, in the Mediterranean, being
driven down the crater by a number of black