Monday, June 5th, 1882

Monday. June 5th Off Terceira. Barque Sarah.
A warm, lovely day – I lounged on deck all the morning, reading an interesting novel, Matrimony by Norris, talking with Mr Adams and watching the lights and shadows on Terceira. It is a beautiful island, the most beautiful of all. At 3 P.M. we started off for Angra to see a bull-run which takes place there every Monday after Trinity. The entire business portion of the  town was deserted and we went to the back part of the town on a hill where there were crowds, women and children in bright colors seated on the walls, in the gardens and windows and doorways. The streets were full of men and boys, hundreds of them, carrying long poles with round heads, steel tops

It was a gay scene – a great variety of peasant costume and everybody in excitement, - such a scene as could only be found among pleasure loving people, in a Southern Country. Mr Sanisberry, Mr. Eifert and Mr De Castro, the Consul joined us and the latter found a look out for Mrs Robertson and me in a friends house opposite a square. Soon after we seated ourselves amid old dames who tried in vain to talk to us and young ones with gay bandannas, little children not more than five years old addressing each other every minute with “Senorita, Si, Senorita”, and the head of the house who roared like a bull with excitement, the Confuru[?] Fornesca surrounded by a crowd of men in the square and everybody passing – there was a great rushing and down the hillside came the bull who had a long rope attached to him which was carried by a half dozen men – Everybody who did not tear to a shelter rushed at the bull and goaded him with sticks, or beat him or yelled or tried to blind him by throwing white and red cloths in his face. In this way with shouts from the spectators the bull tore through the street for a mile or two, occasionally losing a man, ,coming over a stone wall unexpectedly in to a clump of men who would struggle to get away. Sometimes the brute would stop and look first one way and then another uncertain where to make his plunge and then everybody’s excitement was redoubled. Mrs Robertson was wild for fear her husband would be hurt. There were four runs, different bulls each time and there were long intervals between the runs. It is an aimless sort of sport. The fun is in seeing the people. The bulls were rather dull. This is the only island where bull fights are held and the opening one of the season begins on Thursday. We saw the proprietor of the arena – He had short, tight blue jacket & knee [?}, the former had long loops in the button holes, a round hat with pompoms on the side and a stick with gold mounting on one end and strap on the other. Some of the men had wide red sashes and some had colored handkerchiefs tied over their little caps to keep them on and under their chins. We came back to ship, tired and sleepy, but we stayed up until 10 o’c, talking and singing and imbibing. The steerage passengers were all on deck playing their violas and singing the Portuguese dances.