Omaha daily bee., 1892-01-17
WHERE A TRAMP IS UNKNOWN
Portugal a Summer Land Of Servants and
Patient Donkeys.
THROUGH wAKEMAN's ENTHUSIASTIC EYES
Pictures NJ Medieval ouaihtness Thrown
Upon the Screen-A Peep Mt the Homo
Life of the Flooding Por-
tuguese.
lcnnmtnhted 1892 bu he Anahor.l

found the most striking Roman remains In
Portugal, by rail. But l can never forget
The look OF anguish and commiseration which
came over the face of Dobrado, my good
Gallegan guide and servant as | announced
that hencoforth oar journey was TO be pur-
sued on foot. The honest fellow finally went
20 copiously that a compromise was ahected
upon donkeys as far as Beia, when should he
not wish to accompany me on foot he was TO
return to Lisbon.
The genuine grief of Dobrado drew my
attention to two facts of somo importance to
travellers in Portugal. One Is that such firm
suspicion of the character Of anyone grovel-
ing enough to travel on foot Is so fixed and
prefixed in the Portuguese mind, that the
sentimental tramp labors under the greatest
possible disadvantage. The humblest
farmer is attended by his still humber SER
want; and there is not a peasant in the en-
tire kingdom so desperately impoverished as
to be without this patient beast of burden.
The Unspeakable Donkey.
The other stubborn fact Is the Portuguese
donkey itself, and the variety of uses to
which the little animal is put. Thousands OF
them can be found in all the larger cities
doing all manner of labor and service. Every
human being in the country districts seems
to possess from one to a score. In front OF
every church, In every praca or square, and
huddled in every crumbling archway. are
dozens and scores, the most Of them accom-
panied py a barefooted driver with an iron
pointed goad as long as a hoe handle, capari-
soned with a rope around its shaggy neck, In
lieu Of halter or bride, and a huge wooden
saddle with upturned wooden yokes ut the
front and bnck.
w.. 800 IL -.t~,Io thn,a IfttIA haocfa
You ride them something as you do the wild
and vaulting Irish j~auntipg car, sitting side
ways with your legs dangling over the don
keys right side, and, IN moments of peril,
with your two hands violently clutching the
front yoke. You will make sad bust
ness of it If you undertake a rigid
ana stately posture; b5t observing
his donkey into the form of a printers re-
versed mark of Interrogation, and faithfully
copying his riding, which is chiefly upon the
under sides of the knee joints, you may al
ways do almost as well as to--walk.
They are brought into reouisition for the
most trifing journeys. The padre Will not
walk a rood If his own or any other PERSONS
donkey is within call. The goatherd on the
mountains has him for an inseparable CON-
panion. The bull herders who care for the
black bulls which are bred and furnished for
bull lighting at Lisbon and Oporto, which, by
the way. is not at all like the repnlsive Span
ish butchery, but is veritably skill and sport
combined, are always found with more
donkeys than bulls. If q sheep herder's
ground Is shifted but half a mile, all the
preparations for a long journey are made and
the shepherd rides in state to his new station
among the rocks. So IL q peasant laborer Is
engaged for a days service on an adjoining
farm, Ii he has occasion to go from one field
to another, or If women in the country want
a bit Of gossip at the next cabin or cross
road, each sets out with boundless prepara-
tim arrives nS from q ten davis DilprimaPe.
and giving the donkey a kick or a whack in
admonition OF self support, never recalls so
trifing q matter as the beast uutil it is want
ed for the return trip. Then all any one has
to do to got his donkey is to express d wish
for 1t. A horde of lads, whooping and
bowling. hunt him, capture him, and rush
him to his owner In a perfect hurricane OF
dust, goads and Portuguese maledictlons
when his duties are demurely and faithfully
resumed.
A Novel Cavalcade.
Other extraordinary WAYS il which the
donkey is here employed were illustrated on
our way from Evora to Beta. The roads
seemed constantly filled with them. Here is
a procession ridden by peasant women on
their way to Evora with all manner OF coun-
try produce swaying from the wooden sad
die Jokes. A lone donkey laden with water
casks plods along without companion or
driver, sent from somewhere to somewhere
bilty in his gray old face. Here
comes a beyy completely hidden by piles of
corn leaves heaped SO nigh that the stacks
Evora on invisible legs. Bells jangle in a
mufled way beneath the fodder, and bare
footed lads prod the bobbing mysteries
viciously. Again a score comes tripping and
mincing along a slender pathway beneath a
huge wall Of rock, laden with rye and corn in
casks and paniers. Two are met sustaining
a long beam across their backs and to this
beam a tree trunk. ready for manufacture
into lumber in the city. Is attached for con-
yeyance in this ourlandish way.
But this oldest burden Of all was overta-
ken as we were nearing B~eia-having wend-
cd our way past fountains where donkeys,
peasants and water-carriers all loitered to
bray, babble and gossip, over hills, down
valleys. past roadside shr!nes and through a
half dozen struggling sleepy villages. 1t was
O patient having met with some accident
with which village skill was unable to cope,
being transported to ida Misericordia" at
Beja, where a surgical operation must be per-
formed. Two timbers were fastened length
wise along the donkeys' backs. From the
ends OF these other timbers extended across
from back to back, securely fastened with
thongs, and from the latter ropes depended,
sustaining a rude hemlock of pine slaves.
which were covered with stout linen woven
by the peasantry. The sufferer, smoking a
cigar with great relish and consciousness of
his temporary Importance. was thus being
quite comfortably born 10 the hospital, &C
companied by a large delegation of ~neighbors
and relatives, all upon donkeys and all
prompted by their sympathetic natures to
continually give expression to g~rieyous
meanings and lamentations. |
A solemn Procession.
On the way many interesting experiences
and incidents illustrative of the customs of
the country and the characteristics of the
people were enjoyed. Near one lutte hamlet
named, / think, Wanna, we met the process
sion of "Nosso Senhor," as the Host or last
to the dying is called. We dis
mounted from our donkeys and kuelt with
the peasants about us as the solemn process
sion went by. 1t was preceded by villagers
who scattered aromatic leaves In the road
before it. A white-frocked acolyte was in
advance tolling a strangely toned bell In
measured strokes. The priest, clad In a gor-
geous chasuble, walking under a red silk
held IN It's place by four supporting
youths. followed. He bore in his hand n
silver vessel containing the sacred emblem
of consolation. At his side marched white
surpliced choristers and acolytes carry
ing c%ensers; while following those
were member of some irmandade in scarlet
stoles, each carrying q long wax candle. All
were chanting at intervals a dirge-like hymn,
The entire procession was out of sound and
sight before we who knelt In the roadway
arose; and Dobrado told me that a Portu-
guese superstition rendered this kneeling
until tha hnlafnl Shronn had naasal f,a.