early conviction, while Lacerda Machado noted the greater influence of immigrant populations from Alto-Alentejo subregion in the rest of the island. Frutuoso continued to identify a small community of 82 homes (in a region that extended from Nossa Senhora dos Remédios, in the northeast, to Mosteiros, in the northwest) and whose residents cultivated wheat and collected woad for export. Frutuoso, in particular, identified local resident Braz Alvres, a descendant of one of the earlier settlers, who gave his name to one of the peaks in the area (Pico de João Alvres), and who continued to tend his lands in the grotto of João Bom. Similarly, Pico da Mafra (which is located between Bretanha and Mosteiros), was named for a settler who came from the area of Mafra on the continent. It was Baron Fernandes, another resident of the grotto of João Bom, who discovered an interesting agricultural technique in order to perpetuate consistent crop yields in this region. In 1550, he came upon the idea of planting pulse (Lupinus albus) around the edges of his wheat crops, which had the effect of fortifying the wheat. He did the same for his beans, and discovered the same effects. The practice of using the pulse soon disseminated throughout the island and archipelago. Then, when another settler, Lopo Pessoa, arrived on the island he went one step further; he began to alternate his crops annually, between pulse and wheat, to increase his yields. The locality of Pilar, by 1716, had already its own parish clergy, but administratively only had its own parochial registry after 1891. By 1906, Bretanha (and in particular Pilar) was considered one of the most distant points from the island capital. The trip, approximately five hours in length, required a resident of the parish to journey the whole day from twilight to dusk, and cost 375 réis (departing at four in the morning and returning by sunset). The appearance of commercial automobiles allowed residents to reduce this cost to 75 réis, allowing greater mobility. The old parish of Bretanha that extended along the northern coast of Ponta Delgada, included the localities of Remédios, Ajuda and Pilar until 13 December 1960 (Regional decree 43/392), when Remédios da Bretanha (later just Remédios), broke away from the other administrative territories (leaving behind the agglomerations of Ajuda, that included Amoreiras, and Pilar, that included João Bom. Owing to the growth in the remaining populations,