The times., 1899-11-19

you are at first astounded to learn that It
is several hundred thousand reis per diem,
and are positively frightened when the
laundry bill is presented in six figures
until you come 10 reckon il over in Uncle
Samuels 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 female
hat and anything that remotely resembles
q flower -decbed or feather trimmed bonnet.
Neither are there any tailor made women
or bachelor girls, or old-maid men, or BIZ
cycles, or automobiles, or other I'm de steele
inventions in this happy kingdom. While
the peasants array themselves in the dali
blues and reds and puppies and yellows OF
nearby Africa, displayed in fantastic com
binatiOn black appears to be the favorite
color Of the upper classes, at least for
street wear. According to the universal
Latin fashion, whether met in Europe,
America, or the isles Of the sea, the gowns
| of the ladies Tip up in front TO the shoe
/ tops and sweep the dirty streets in the
| rear, while their wearers saunter grace
/ fully along the promenade; but the black
/ lace mantilla-last remnant OF the Moorish
veil of their ancestors-enhances dark-eyed
] beauty as no modern headgear could DO
/ / am told that not always was there such
4 a dearth Of bonnets in Oporto; it came
about with King Amadeo's reign in Spain,
/ whose extreme unpopularity banished
! everything even remotely French from the
| whole Iberian peninsula.
PortugaPs CIeanest city.
oporto is said to be the cleanest city in
| Portugal-and if that is true, heaven save
the dirtiest! The people, as a rule, seem
to have no idea Of that virtue which is
said TO be akin 10 godliness, and unnamable
oil
| where abound But it is a city Of marked
contradictions, OF lights and shadows, rich
es and poverty. sharply cCntrasted. The
/ streets rise in terraces, directly from and
! parallel with the quay, in some places ap-
pearing to overhang one another; crossed
! at right angles by other streets, climbing
the hills so steeply that few can be trav-
ersed by wheeled vehicles. Two or three
streets near the waters edge, and those on
the summit are wide, well built up, and
comparatively clean; but the heart OF the
old city is composed OF dark and crooked
alleys filthy beyond compare, some Of the
/ houses built on activities so nearly per
pendicular that they are reached by steps
cut into the rock. Buildings Of six or more
stories rising close above each other, shu
out the sky. and being set back 10 back
allow no ventilation.
In this pestiferous labyrinth the poores
classes are packed as closely as the sardine
that form their staple diet AS for santa
} 1 ton. as we knox IL. there is absolutel.
none In this noisome quarter. All vast
( matter. vegetable animal, and human, j
carried Off at all-Ouly when heay
rains fall. from the cssspool in the court
yard of each house, down the sloping street
in open cutters. No water is ever laid or
and the people have 70 carry the little the
use for household purposes from the publ
fountains No wonder that this locality !
the seat OF the bubonic plague which seem
, impossible TO stamp out! It's victims ye
average forty or fifty a day OF whom two
thirds die To the terrible conditions Of th
place is added poverty so abject that tn
people 90 hungry from birth TO death-an
s ! generally make a short trip OF It. Becaus
| Of physical weakness owing to insuficier
! nourishment. they fall an easy prey TO th
first disease that takes hold Of them. Som
say that the plague originated in the entiI
a FISH diet of the people; others that IT deye
. oped spontaneously. from the same cond
. tions of life that produced the great ep
U denies OF the Middle Ages Meanwhile
n auarautiued by q Gordon OF police, ii
d wretched denizens Of the infested quartz
s cut off from employment, are hourly grow
;. ing hungrier and rendering themselves be
= ter subjects for disease Doubtless the il
e regularity of the climate contributes somt
$ thing to the uuhealthfuluess OF Oport
;, There is often difference of twelve d.
O grees Centigrade between sun and sun
: sea fog comes up the Douro every night
y the turn OF the tide, and at its best the cl
mate is damp and chilly.
= Appearance of the Plague.
d The plague made its first apearaat
e early in June, in Fonte Taurine Stree
down near the river. The first victim WI
4 a Spanish porter, named Gregorio Blanc
r, He was fifty years old. unmarried, al
n very poor. He had long been in feeb
J, health, and his neighbors were so used