The times., 1899-11-19

seeing him come tottering home, faint
and melancholy, after his days work, that
they paid no attention when he returned
one night sicker than usual. Next morn
ing he was dead and at his funeral
which, according to Portuguese custom oc-
Cured the same day, one of the coffin
bearers was seized with a fit Of shiyering.
which presently ran into a raging fever,
and in a few hours he followed his friend
Gregorio Thus, within thirty-six hours,
nineteen others, who had all slept in one
crowded tenement went by the same
swift route TO the Campo Santo. BY this
time people began to be alarmed. Dr..
Ricardo Jorge tan English physician in
Oporto whose name is properly Richard
George, made meteorological analysis, and
discovered bacillus of kitusato-yersin in
the pus of suppuration. The Junta Con
sultiva de Saude, Of Lisbou-a unique in
stitution OF Portugal, whose business is to
look after the public health-sat in solemn
conclave, discussing quarantine regulations
with view to keeping the plague out OF
the capital; but nobody thought of fight
ing it IN Oporto with sulphur fumes and
carbolic acid. When il was given out that
quarantine was to be established, upward
CT twenty thousand people fled from Opor-
to, fearing not so much the plague as the
| scarcity Of food sure to follow; and some
of the refugees carried the deadly bacillus
! along with them to other parts Of the
| peninsula. Factories and commercial es-
1 adjustments were closed, and for three
awful months the only activity in the city
! was among grave diggers and dead-ca
! drivers. With the approach OF cold
weather, the plague seems TO have spent
/ itself in Oporto, except in the poorest
/ quarter, known as La Sc where every
! house is a cesspool and the dark noisome
! al tha tan mat ion 0f
| centuries, are yeritable breeding places Of
/ disease Strict quarantine is maintained
/ over this section, in consequence of which
| as many people are now dying Of starVa
tion as from any other cause. 1t is said
that rats and feas carry the plague about
/ and that If any small animal is pricked
with a needle, dipped in the blood of a
| plague patient, it is Immediately seized
with the deadly chill and dies in conYuI-
sions.
l need not add that your correspondent
| win give La Sc a wide berth. and that her
hospital investg cations in Portugal viii be
| confined to the outside from a respectful
! distance. Although a great deal OF bluster
is made about quarantine, ii is a we'll
known fact that few dollars, judiciousIy
expended, will enable the foreigner in ap-
parent health, TO break through its regu-
lations anywhere in Europe.
Beauties of oportO.
In spite Of its cankered heart where
death turks like the worm in the bud,
0porto is a beautiful city, its newer por-
tion-to which the traveller should conine
his eXploratiOns-bein built nearer to the
principles of modern science and, thanks
to the English residents, kept compare
lively clean. Public squares are as Iu-
merOus as in our National Capital a score
| OF them being adorned with statues anC
!; | fountains. The finest of these is the Praia
de Sac Ovidio, high up on the hillside, sur
rounded by handsome residences. 1t i.
shaded by magnificent oaks and faced by {
terrace, which affords wide seaward views
/ Next in popularity as a promenade is III,
great Botanical Garden, which, however
cannot compare in beauty with its name
sake IN Rio de Janeiro. the world famed
Jardin Botanico, with It's avenue of Ioya
palms In the better portion of Oportt
most of the houses have gardens attached
in which olives figs, grapes and pom
,granates are growing, amid carefull
tended flower beds. But there is no waite
:, works system, except the public fountains
to which the servants go for all the house
, | hold supplies. Happily, there are hun
dreds Of fountains, and each is a work o
= art its stone basin and facade carved il
| arabesque designs.
- The principal business thoroughfare
= named Rue Nova das Ingleses ('eNew Stree
of the English, , on account of the man
4 British mercantile firms established in il
| The greater part Of the foreign trade c
oporto is conducted by Englishmen. who's
warehouses line both banks of the Douro
The Rue Nova da Sac Ioao (-'New Stree
. Of st. John, being nearly on a level, run
ming parallel with the shore, is the fash
> ionable afternoon driveway. II is line
5 with handsome houses, all faced with gail
}, painted and gilded balconies. Many of tn
d front walls are covered with blue and vel
e low tiles inlaid in quaint devices, precisel
0 like those OF the beautiful Praia da Bota