Hi Lillian,
I'm sorry I wrote that Ashe "never visited the islands." That was a knee-jerk reaction and probably wrong. I should have said that Ashe is a very unreliable source. He was a fairly prolific writer, and some of his books are easily available now through google books and the internet archive. I've downloaded a few and skimmed them a bit. They look like fairly typical examples of what was a popular new literary genre in the late 17th and early 18th centuries: travel writing. >From a modern perspective, interpreting the accuracy of these early travel accounts has its own set of issues, but add on top of that, that Ashe was a noted scoundrel. In his lifetime, he was notorious for penning scandalous "memoirs" of living people and then blackmailing the subjects to keep the books from being published. He was also accused of theft, of plagiarizing much of his account of America, and of fabricating parts of his own autobiography. His book on the Azores has to be considered in that light. Taking into account Ashe's reputation and behaviour, the information contained in Ashe's book might or might not be correct. He might have seen something he describes with his own eyes, he might have copied the description from another book, or he might have made it up entirely. I have a copy of an article published in 1814 in *The Quarterly Review* (author not credited). It summarizes the state of knowlege about the Azores at the time and then proceeds to review the book by "T.A." * History of the Azores, or Western Islands*. The reviewer conjectured that the book was partly compiled in a library, was partly made up, and was so badly written in places that it might have been partialy written by a foreigner--though, I'm not sure if this was meant to be a 19th century English insult or if the reviewer was serious. The reviewer states that he knows the places described by T.A., and he points out several instances where the reality of the locations do not correspond to the descriptions in the book. T.A. describes a monastery in the valley of Furnas, it's gardens, and it's dozen or thirteen priests. According to the reviewer, these "have no substantial existence". In another instance, T.A. spends four pages in an "scurrilous invective" of a religious institution at "Porto Fermosa." The reviewer states that " At the little village of Formosa there neither is, nor ever was a convent, a chapel, or a church." Further, "...[T.A.] goes to Santa Cruz in St. George's where no such place exists; finds that wine is the staple produce of Fayal, which never exported a single pipe [barrel] of its own growth; and swells the population of the islands to half a million, which is about three times the actual number...", and finally, "The manners and customs of the inhabitants of St. Michael's [as described by T.A.] are so unlike the [actual] manners and customs of the Portugueze [sic], that we shall not notice them. Given Ashe's reputation, I can easily imagine that the review could have been intended as a personal rebuke of the man himself. I haven't fact checked either Ashe's book, or the statements in the review, so I can't weigh the truth of either, but I'm inclined to believe the review to be the more accurate piece. YMMV. Have you read the Bullars' description of the Azores? It was written a bit later, in about 1840, and is in my opinion a very good book. I think it's mostly objective and always interesting, and I believe it provides an accurate picture of life in the islands in the mid 19th century. If you google "bullar azores" you should find links to the free downloads available from google books and the internet archive.org. best wishes, Linda p.s. please forgive the spelling errors-- spell check isn't working, and though I can't see them, I'm sure they're there. On Monday, September 14, 2015 at 12:30:40 PM UTC-7, Lillian Palko wrote: > I googled Thomas Ashe and he was a scroundal of sorts, but for the life of > me I believe he must have been on San Miguel based upon the detail of his > writing.....especially describing the ports, plant life, volcanic activity > etc. Is anyone else sort of a half believer for part of his work? > > On Saturday, September 12, 2015 at 10:27:41 AM UTC-7, Cheri Mello wrote: >> >> Lillian P found this old book about the Azores online: >> http://purl.pt/17103/1/index.html#/6/html >> >> I didn't read the whole thing. Lillian said that the writer was >> describing the islands for Britain for possible purchase or something. >> >> Beginning on image 292, is a chapter on Sao Miguel and some manners and >> customs. This is written in the language of the early 1800s, so it's kinda >> different. I don't understand what "veil" the writer is talking about. He >> makes it sound as if all the women there are dressed like widows. In one >> part, I wonder if he is describing the capote?? And what's all this stuff >> about the woman only stay home or go to Mass? How in the world did they >> ever get married? >> >> Can someone else shed more light on this? It does say that the writer >> (British) is observing a woman (Spanish) who lives on Sao Miguel. So I'm >> thinking his perception may not be that of the typical Azorean peasant. >> >> Cheri Mello >> Listowner, Azores-Gen >> Researching: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das >> Tainhas, Achada >> > -- For options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. 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