The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1899-11-23
In SPAIN AND PORTUGAL
RambIes Around Oporto on the
Heels of the Plague.
1000 REFS FOR A SINGLE RIDE
A WheelbarrOw is Needed to Carry Ten
Dollars in Portuguese COin-MOder-
ate Laundry Bills in Six
Figures.

OPoRTo, Portugal, Oct. 29.-The
traveller who has visited Rio de Jane
iro finds many things in Oporto to re-
mind him of that Portuguese city on
the other side of the world. Brazil,
the former colony of Portugal and
peopled by the same race-though
just now playing at being a republic
remains as like the mother country
in language, architecture and habits
of life as in the days of King Jao and
the latest Dom Pedro. And then the
money-the same milreis, so infini.
tesimal in value that if going shop
ping you need a servant with a
wheelbarrow rather than a pocket
book.
On landing at Oporto, about the
first thing you do is to seek some
money changers establishment there
are several along the quay, and get
your American greenbacks converted
into Portuguese coin, with which to
pay porter's fees, carriage hire and
other incidentals. You hand out ten
dollars as a starter and are amazed at
the amount of metal-copper, iron,
brass and nickei-which is piled upon
the counter in return. 1t looks like
old junk-stove lids, pewter plates
and the brass tags which landlords
attach to their door keys to prevent
them from being carried off in the
pockets of their patrons. If $40 is
such an embarrassment of riches,''
it would surely require cart to get
away with a hundred Bookkeepers
and bank cashiers must have hard
time of it in this country, with the
long rows of figures that represent
the ordinary transactions of banking
and mercantile firms. In the fnan-
cial enumeration of Portugal, one
thousand reis represents what we
call "a quarter The word "reisn is
the plural of real; and the latter unit
OF the monetary system equals one
twentieth of the American penny,
and is written .0001. Fortunately,
there is no such coin, the smallest
being ten reis. The pieces in great
est circulation are a nickel of two
hundred reis, which answers for our
tive-cent piece; another nickel of
one hundred reis, and a copper coin
of forty reis. Whenever you buy
anything in Portugal, certaiu I'M
gainly copper coin is sure to be re-
turned in change; and not knowing
what to do with it, you say keep
the change" with the air of John
Jacob Astor. The truth is, it is worth
less than half a cent, and being too
large to put into the pocket, is only
fit for paperweight, or to drive nails
with.
The paper money is lighter, of
course, but equally absurd in values,
and there is more danger in handling
it, in this plague-smitten city. The
dirty scrip, which nothing should in
duce you to touch, runs from two
milreis to maximum of five hun
dred. Fancy a full-proportioned
bank note worth five cents! 1t takes
twenty bills, each worth one hundred
milreis to pay for the carriage in
which you ride from the landing or
railway station to the hotel. 1t is a
long, uphill drive, and the Jehu may
turn few more honest reis by pick
ing up other customers en- route.
You observe that the breast of his
checkered linen blouse, which serves
the triple purpose of coat, vest and
shirt, bulges more and more as the
journey progresses, until at it's end
he looks like "bloated bondholder''
or a carelessly stuffed scarecrow, hav-
ing perhaps as much as two dollars
and half in his clothes! One OF
these deceptive Portuguese bills
closely resembles the dear old green
back of home, and has the satifying
figures $500 engraved upon it's back
and sides and four corners, together
with the high-sounding words ''quin-
hentos reis." The feeling of wealth
which the possession of a few of these
produces in the mind of stranger is
speedily dispelled, however, when he
finds how little they will buy. On
inquiring the price of living at a
hotel you are at first astounded to
learn that it is several hundred thou.
sand reis per diem, and are positively
frightened when the laundry bill is
presented in six figures-until you
come to reckon it over in Uncle Sans
money, and realize that the charge is
very moderate, after all.
You are delighted to note in Oporto,
as in Brazil, the entire absence of the