The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1892-01-23

give home to a folk possessing all the
winsome sunniness of the lowly of towns
without 1.-THE of their apathy and slug
gardness. You may read all the pastoral
poems ever written and gain no more
colorful picture of pastoral lives in end
less content and peacefulness than your
eyes may behold in an hours ride or
walk anywhere in the interior of Portu
gal. Rest is in the sun and sky. the earth
and air. the home and field, in all men
and in all nature.
/ do not mean that no labor is per-
formed. But all labor done has in it the
seeming of mere daIliance with toll. The
senses are not surfeited with odor, luxuri-
ance and the almost intoxicating profit
gacy OF nature as in the tropics. Every
active exertlon of every human does not
betray, as there, superlative Incidence
painfully ef1ortful in the bare process of
existence. But a restfulneSs pervades
these soft and kindly landscapes which
reveals citation instead of soddenness;
JoyousneSS instead of consciousness;
peace rather than passion and pain. In
and through it all there is, like the first
thrill of wine, an uplifting and eXulta-
ton blending the physical and mental
sense perfectly and gloriously. l do not
say these Portuguese peasantry know
this as you and are conscious Oft. But
to the beholder's eyes these humble,
happy-hearted people so touch and color
the scene upon which he looks that their
presence is an inseparable element in its
essential harmony.
The peasent tenant farmers Of Portugal,
the land caseros OF the country, retain
their holding under life leases, and pay
rentals TO the morgados, the owners of
the estates, or the gentlemen farmers"
as they are here called, lin kind" 1t is
a sort of 1.-THE system always amicably adj
Justed between owner and peasant. A
grade below these caseiros is a class CORE
spending to the English, Scotch ard Irish
cottiers. These choupanas live in the
cabins of the morgados and caseiros at
the viii of the latter.
Aside from these are the sheep and cat
tie herders and the goatheards that are
found in more picturesque mountain To-
calities; the tiax-bleachers along the edge
of some brawling mountain stream or
against the sheltering rocks by the sea-
shore; the interior muleteerS, who, for
the most trivial wages or portion of
grain. convey products and merchandise
to and from the towns of the coast; the
woodchoppers of the mountains and the
carboneiros, who are found in the highest
mountain forests laZily employed in
burning the charcoal used in cooking by
the aristocracy of the cities.
With these divisions of the Portuguese
peaSantry may be counted the rush
gatherers of the mountain tarns; the
osier-cutters, who supply the basket
makers of the towns; the furZe-gatherers,
who dot the dreariest mountain nights;
the fern and rush cutters, who supply the
churches and homes with fragrant
branches4rfor strewing on holy and feast
days; and the wood-gleanerS, who gather
dead limbs at will in forests of the es-
tates and among the mountain wilds,
both for the use Of the peasantry and the
humber classes of the towns.
l.,
single implement or utensil invented
within the past thousand years; an ordi-
nary American Farmland would accom-
pliSh, under our methods, in one day
more than score of any of these and
the wizard brush Of the painter OF, Bar
bacon never fastened upon canvas more
startling ancient ways, wares, postures
and ploddings among the clods of Brittany
than remain universal and changeiess
among the bright-eyed but changeless
folk of these enhancing mountain wales.
There is careless, halt-joyous abandon
upon the surface OF all peasant toll which
adds greatly to its picturesqueness. Join
with this quaintness in dress. primitive
ness of implements, that grace which un-
varyingly accompanies innocent ignor-
ance, and the universal loneliness of
scenery, and your pastoral pictures are
most idyllic and complete. Ground is
titled with oxen, tandem, in rush traces,
drawing ploW of the sort first known to
mantle tree-crook or snarpened root.
Now and then you will find one rudely
pointed with iron. One short furrow is
scratched amid tremendous shoutings
Then the half-dozen who have chung to
the handless rode upon the beam, or goad-
ed the oxen, rest by the fiower-laden
hedge or division wall to enjoy siesta or
the delights of countryside gossip with
passing goatherds or muleteers. Where
I, 1e,1S &c tor cfAA fA, l.. - l.
process, long-handled hoes with cum
brous blades do lazy duty; for the spade
is rejected as a contrivance of the evil
one.
All American cereals grow here in
luxriance for mere pricking OF the soil.
The small grains are gathered, handful
at time, cut by the olden sickle, and
cleaners follow as in the Bible days.
Corn is cut or pulled, the leaves preserved
for fodder, the stalks munched by goats
or donkeys, or is used for fires, the ears
strung together or hung on pyramidal
lattice work for curing, and finally, after
husking-when the genuine old-fashioned
American 'husking bee," here of weeks
duration, the peasant securing every
hundredth ear for his labor, and a
kiss from his inamorita for every red
ear found, is everywhere progressing
the kernels are removed from the cobS
by the choupanaS and children, who re-
ceiye the cob, for burning, in payment.
A score of merry stragglers are required
to house the product of one acre of
ground, and every one of these work, or
make pretense of work, in that care-tree,
Woodworking way that marks all toll and
effort here. Wheat, barley and rye are
threshed precisely as they were thousand
years ago.
At every roadside and beside the gran
cry of every villeggiatura, round, high
piles of pumiced stone, beaten and rain
soaked until hard as granite, may be
seen. These, called eiras, are the Portu-
guese threshing floors. The grain is
piled upon them and cows and oxen,
blind-folded, are driven in opposite di-
rections, until the treading has released
the kernels. There is no other method OF
threshing grain in this country, and the
fanning-mill is unknown. The straw is
lifted off the eiras with wooden forks and
preserved for the food of donkeys and
goats. Then flag is hoisted to find the
direction of the wind. This done, men
and women, but more often women and
girls, standing at the side from whence
comes the wind, throw the grain and
chatf into the air, and the chaff is borne
away.
The home life of the Portuguese peasant
if not always radiant one, never lacks
cheerinesS, affection and simple content.
He knows no other life better than his
own, and is satisfied with what he has
| and gets to the end of his days. The cot
| tage or cabin or hut is simply a square
structure built of rock. matched with
| furze or tiles. The windows and doors
] are never closed, for there are neither