The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-12-14

IlOSl oL tlle HOuSeS were cOIlplete cll- cles, every tenth building was square and of larger dimensions, all set SO close together that the dividing walls
 must have been not more than three
 inches apart. The inference is that In
 some prehistoric time this must have
 been a place of refuge in time of dan ger for the pastoral people of the valley. Not a single weapon of any kind has been discovered, or a flint or stone i'm plement but smiths forged clinkers and scraps of rusted iron speak unmis- takably of the iron age. Mill-stones scattered about tell that millers ground their corn on the hilltop; women's and children's ornaments, in blue and
 green glass, reveal Phoenician traffic;
 and fragments of oil and water-jars-
 smooth, unglazed, porous pottery-re-
 mind of the early Romans. But the ! forgotten people who lived here in the
 morning twilight of time were not Ro- l mans, as the character of their archi- | lecture shows, which is rather of the | type which Roman writers call Oppi- dunn and describe as belonging to the
 aboriginal tribes of western Europe.
 Not a single inscription appears, but | there is considerable carving, neither Runic nor Christian. An enormous
 granite slab, crowning the very summit of the hill, is covered with strange, pde- | Christian tracery and evidently figured | in some religious rite The Roman his- ] torian, Valerius Maxirnus, speaks of Citania which he says is on a moun- | tain-top in Lusitania, and praises the | bravery of it's people; and most Euro ! pean antiquarians are agreed that the | site of the long-lost city is this hill of | Sac Romao in northern Portugal.
 | From Braga to the Portuguese capi- J tal--two-thirds of the distance down
 this long and narrow kingdom is a rail- | way journey of about two hundred and | fifty miles; and very delightful one,
 though the service is primitive and the
 trains creep at an average rate of | twelve miles an hour Poor sleepy old
 Portugal is eminently the tourists par adise--not only in scenic beauty and
 numerous points of historic interest, but in novelty and extreme quaintness. While the beaten routes of European travel have become tediously familiar, this odd little country, which seems to
 have been standing motionless two thousand years, is replete with the
 charms of antiquity and almost un-
 known to the world at large. Because
 of it's contour-Portugal has been com
 pared to a ribbon stretched between
 the Spanish border and the Atlantic;-a
 green and crumpled ribbon, by reason
 of many mountain chains, all trending
 diagonally across the country, with
 fertile valleys between them. Starting
 at Braga, near the Spanish frontier of
 Minho province, the Royal railway runs
 almost due south to the royal city; for
 a long way in sight of the sea, thence
 farther inland at the feet of the noun
 tains, to the Junction at Entro-camino,
 where it joins company with the Ragus
 river. Oporto is only thirty miles
 southwest from Braga, but it takes
 three hours to accomplish the journey.
 Midway between is Guimaraens, the
 oldest city of purely Portuguese origin
 in the kingdom; and if not pressed for time, you will do well to stop there a day or two. It is a most delightful town, full of rarely picturesque bits for an artist-old Azimel windows, tell ing of Moorish influences; narrow al-
 leys with the caves of opposite houses nearly touching overhead; queerly carved dcorways; and street vistas ter minating in glorious views of the noun tain-side, white in patches with the bloom of orchards, green in places with rye and clover fields, gray in others with granite boulders, here and there rills and rivuets tumbling down in foaming cascades. High roads lead off in all directions through lovely scenery to interesting towns and villages. Tin of tI,a Jot tar xtpt1 Wi fpd bo no1p- brated Caldas das Taipas, or remains of ancient Roman baths, which are still much frequented by modern Portu- guese. Tn the eleventh century, you re- member the Leonese monarch sent his viceroy, Count Henry of Burgundy, to rule in Portugal; and it was at Guima- raens that he set up his viceregal court. l Here the counts son, Alfonso Henri quez, the true founder of the Portu guese monarchy, was born, and you may visit the chapel in which he was christened. Here his youth was spent; | in the wild country around Guimaraens he learned the art of war and in his | early "teens'' became trusted leader 1 of troops in the yearly forays against | Moor and Spaniard. Here the first | great Christian fortress was built, mo- ble monument of the earliest king. It | is very simple in structure-a thick wall, heavily battlemented, set at each angle with turrets, surrounding a level area, from whose center huge, square keep rises to giddy height, straight from the living granite rock on which Its foundations are set. So perfectly squared and fitted was each enormous block, that eight centuries have not thrown the ashler stones an inch be- yond the plum-line that the early ma sons dropped The huge, pointed gran ite blocks, each taller than man, which form the battlements, still stand erect and immovab ble. and every chissl- mark is as fresh as if made few months ago.
 At Oporto you cross the wide mouth of the Douro river, over a splendid bridge; and thence pro- ceed leisurely within sound of Atlantic pillows pounding the shore, to Avieso, he next city of consequence. Fifty miles or so farther down is Coimbra, under the shadows of the Serra da Els .rella, Mountains of the Star" The first sight of the mighty Tagus thrills ,ou with interest. The historic river, nearly six hundred miles long, two- hirds of which run through Spanish ;e,o Tol, yJ,., ;, Da,