as beef, vegetables,
and fruit; and hogs, sheep, and poultry for sea stock, all at a pretty
reasonable price; but I do not know that any sea-provisions are to be
had, except wine. The bullocks and hogs are very good, but the sheep are
small and wretchedly poor.

The principal produce of Fayal is wheat and Indian corn, with which they
supply Pico and some of the other isles. The chief town is called Villa
de Horta. It is situated in the bottom of the bay, close to the edge of
the sea, and is defended by two castles, one at each end of the town,
and a wall of stone-work, extending along the sea-shore from the one to
the other. But these works are suffered to go to decay, and serve more
for shew than strength. They heighten the prospect of the city, which
makes a fine appearance from the road; but, if we except the Jesuits'
college, the monasteries and churches, there is not another building
that has any thing to recommend it, either outside or in. There is not a
glass window in the place, except what are in the churches, and in a
country-house which lately belonged to the English consul; all the
others being latticed, which, to an Englishman, makes them look like
prisons.

This little city, like all others belonging to the Portuguese, is
crowded with religious buildings, there being no less than three
convents of men and two of women, and eight churches, including those
belonging to the convents, and the one in the Jesuits' college. This
college is a fine structure, and is situated on an elevation in the
pleasantest part of the city. Since the expulsion of that order, it has
been suffered to go to decay, and will probably, in a few years, be no
better than a heap of ruins.

Fayal, although the most noted for wines, does not raise sufficient for
its own consumption. This article is raised on Pico, where there is no
road for shipping; but being brought to De Horta, and from thence
shipped abroad, chiefly to America, it has acquired the name of Fayal
Wine.

The bay, or road of Fayal, is situated at the east end of the isle,
before the Villa de Horta, and facing the west end of Pico. It is two
miles broad, and three quarters of a mile deep, and hath a semi-circular
form. The depth of water is from twenty to ten and even six fathoms, a
sandy bottom, except near the shore, and particularly near the S.W.
head, off which the bottom is rocky, also without the line which joins
the two points of the bay, so that it is not safe