The island of St. Michael's is long and narrow, stretching from east to west. The capital, Ponta Delgada, lies on the south side, and opposite it on the north is the town of Ribeira Grande. Other places alluded to in the stories are Villa Franca and Rasto de Caő or Rosto do Caő, which are both on the south side. The last-named place is said to be called either Dog's Face (Rosto de Caő), from the shape of a rock, or Rasto do Caő (the Dog's track). It is said that St. Roch's dog was tracked to this spot, where a church was built in memory of the event.
The folklore of the Azores has not been altogether neglected by Portuguese writers. Dr. Theophilo Braga, the great Portuguese writer on these subjects, is himself a native of St. Michael's, and was assisted in his collections by Dr. Ernesto do Canto and Dr. Teixeira Soares. Dr. Ernesto do Canto's collections consisted mainly of stories told by children. As these collections have not hitherto appeared in English, I have made a somewhat abridged translation of those relating to the Azores, from Dr. Theophilo Braga's Contos tradicionaes do Povo Porttiguez, which will I hope appear in a future number of Folk-Lore. I also give here a shortened form of the rather diffuse version of the legend of the Sete Cidades given by the Visconde de Ervedal da Beira in his Narrativas Insulanas, to which Mr. W. F. Walker has kindly drawn my attention.[1]
Mrs. Seemann's collections will I think be found a valuable addition to what we already know of Azorean Folklore. She is an English lady who has passed a great part of her life in St. Michael's, and is thoroughly acquainted
- ↑ For an excellent study of the population of St. Michael's, I may refer to Arruda Furtado's Estudo Anthropologico dos Povos Açorianos (Estudo Anthropologico dos Povos Açorianos, por Arruda Furtados, Ponta Delgada, 1884). A large amount of interesting information on the people, their ideas, and customs, will be found in Bullar's book of sixty years ago, A Winter in the Azores, by J. and H. Bullar, 2 vols., Van Voorst, London 1841), and in Mr. W. F. Walker's excellent work on the Azores (The Azores, by W. F. Walker, I vol., Trübner, London, 1885), both of which contain excellent illustrations of costumes, festivals, &c.
