Chapter 6 Summary

The following information is provided by Twain as a courtesy to readers, when he finds that most of his travel companions know nothing of the Azores islands: Azores is a group of Portuguese islands clustered in the Atlantic. They have a king-appointed civil governor, a military governor and a non-American approach to daily chores. In Twain's opinion, the 200,000 people who live in the Azores are laid back and lazy, even though he admits that they do not use modern technologies such as wheelbarrows to ease their workloads. Donkeys and one's own head are used to transport heavy objects, to plow or perform any other manual labor. Donkeys and animals and people are tolerated equally both indoors and out. Most of the people are poor, except for a small few families, priests and soldiers. Twain calls the people of Fayal dirty, dishonest and ignorant...