In the Azores mendicity is limited to the aged and infirm poor, and to the crippled and blind, for whom there is no legal provision; they are therefore dependent on the charity of the wealthy, to whom they make a weekly application and receive alms. There are no houses for their reception, or asylum of any description, but they obtain a distribution of victuals from the convents, of whatever surplus food remains after the friars and nuns have dined.
Vagrants are not allowed; such people are liable to be imprisoned, and on conviction may be shipped off to India, Angola, &c., or employed on public works, by decrees of the 16th May, 1641, 19th May, 1684, 4th March, 1688, 7th March, 1691, and 4th November, 1755. Those decrees, though severe, have had a good effect in exterminating vagrancy in the Azores. No relief is given to persons seeking work.
Destitute Able-bodied.
There are no laws for granting relief to the poor of any description, excepting the sick. Able-bodied men in want of work can always find employment on seeking it.
Public schools for teaching reading and writing are established in each municipal district, where the children of the poor are taught gratis. A small tribute on the wine produce of the country is levied for payment of these schools, called the Literary Subsidy, and public professors are paid out of it also, who teach Latin, grammar, rhetoric and philosophy to all who choose to attend.
The laws of Portugal oblige the proprietors of entailed property to give alimentary allowances to their children and brothers and sisters, in proportion to their own means and the wants of the applicants. Children coming into possession of property are obliged to assist their parents and brothers, if in necessity. The poor, however, are left to themselves, and to the stimulus of natural affection; and cases are very rare in which appeals are made in vain; but lawsuits are very common to oblige the rich heir of entailed property to give aliments to a brother or sister, as the elder brother takes the whole estate, and the younger branches are entirely dependent on him, if the father has not left money or unentailed property to distribute amongst his other children.
Sick.
In every municipal district there is a public hospital called the Misericordia, i.e. house of mercy, for the reception of the sick poor, supported by endowments of land and bequests of money from pious people long since deceased, and voluntary contributions of living persons, where the sick are well treated, and when cured are sent to their families, and if in great distress a small sum of money is given to assist them. These hospitals contain generally from 200 to 300 sick, and are, generally speaking, well conducted by the governors, stewards, medical attendants, and nurses. Foreign seamen are also admitted on the respective consuls paying 1s. 6d. per diem for diet and attendance.
In cases where the hospitals are full, and cannot accommodate any more patients, medicines are given to applicants, and surgical and medical advice gratis from the hospital practitioners.