The times., 1899-12-17

not pressed for time you will do well to
stop there a day or two. II is most de-
lightful town full of rare picturesque
bits" for an artist-old AZimel windows, /
telling of Moorish Influences narrow al
leys with the caves of opposite houses
nearly touching overhead; queerly carved
doorways. and street vistas terminating
in glorious views of the mountain side.
white in patches with the bloom OF or
chards, green in places with rye and c,o-
yer fields, grey in others with granite bowl
ders. here and there rills and rivulets
tumblng down in foaming cascades High
roads lead OFF in all directions through
lovely scenery, to interesting towns ana
villages In one Of the latter you will
find the celebrated Caldas das Taipas. or
remains of ancient Roman baths, which
are still much frequented by modern Por-
tuguese.
The Leonese Monarch.
In the eleventh century, you remember,
the Leonese monarch sent his viceroy,
Count Henry of Burgundy, to rule in Por-
tugaI: and it was at Guimaraens, that he
set up his viceregal court. Here the
Counts son. Alfonso Henriquez, the true
founder of the Portuguese 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 ne learned the art of war, and
in his early teens became trusted leader
Of troops in the yearly forays against
Moor and Spaniard. Here the first great
Christian fortress was built, noble mon
ument of the earliest king.
1t is very simple in strucJure-a thick
wall, heavily battlemented, sst at each
angle with turrets, surrounding a level
area, from whose centre huge square keep
rises to giddy height straight from the liv
ing granite rock on which its foundations
are set. So perfectly squared and fitted was
each enormous block that eight centuries
have not thrown the asher stones an inch
beyond the plumb-line that the early ma
sons dropped The huge pointed granite
rocks each taller than a man, which form
the battlemeEts still stand erect and i'm
movable. and every chsel mark is as fresh
rs if made a few months ago.
At OpoTto you cross the wide mouth Of
the Douro River over q splendid three
decked bridge, and thence proceed leisure
ly, within sound of Atlantic billows pound
ing the shore, to Ayieso. the next city Of
consequence. Fifty miles or so further
down is Coimbra, under the shadows OF
the Sierra da Estrella, Mountains Of the
Star"
The first sight Of the mighty Tagus
tQlllS you Win interest me uislUIiC
river, nearly six hundred miles long, two
thirds of which runs through Spanish ter
ritory, is called Tah-zho T. Portugal
Tah-jo in Spain. From its unknown source,
somewhere between the mountain chains OF
Albarracin and Sierra de Moliaa, or the
/ eastern border of New CASTLE and Aragon,
I it flows for many miles between rocky walls
+ four hundred feet hign. Far away on its
+ Spanish banks is the ancient city OF Toledo
/ Oyerhapging the river in Its deep gorge
/ I1is navigable only in Portuguese territory,
/ its whole course in Spain being broken by
( frequent rapids and shadows. AT Viilavel-
/ ha, twenty miles inside the border Of
Portugal, where the turbulent ZeZere flows
I in, navigation really begins. Below Saliva
/ terra the river divides into two parts only
one arm, called Tejo Novo, being practica-
BILE for ships AT Puntrele, 4 hundred
miles above the sea, the Tagus is 500 yards
| wide; twelve miles or so above its mouth,
I il suddenly broadCns out into a beautiful
bay. FIVE miles across. At Lisbon it is
barely two miles wide; and thence to the
sea it assumes the form of deep and mar
row channel with a formidable bar across
its mouth. No trace Is left of the gold for
which this greatest river of southern
Europe was celebrated in the early days.
FANNIE b. WARD.