The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1930-08-29
prepared by the National Geographic

Y lSBON, capital of the Republic
OF Portugal, where a move to
L. restore the monarchy was re-
Gently nipped in the bud, has
strange appeal for the seeker for
quaint and individual places. This
port Of Portugal, which has very aptly
been called the kernel of the country,
saw the commercial pride of the PhOe
nicians and heard the fervent prayers
of Vasco da CANA before he set out on
his perilous voyage in search of India,
the land which had lured navigatorS
for centuries.
LiSbOn's ancient name was UlisipO,
which caused many Greek scholars to
try to connect it with the wanderingS
of Ulysses, but the name probably
originated from two Phoenician words
meaning Pleasant Bay, which is made
doubly plausible because the mouth of
the Tagus just beyond the city widens
into one of the best harbors in the
whole of Europe.
The Romans knew Lisbon as Felici-
tas Julia, and it grew to be the second
city in Lusitania, that famous district
Of Hispania in time of the Caesars.
Its temple and theater ruins attest its
occupation. Successfully it has been
seized by the Alans, the VisigOths, the
Moors and the Crusaders. The kind
Iy influence of the English Crusaders
who mingled with the Portuguese
masses left it's mark, and has shown
itself in the friendly relations that
have, practically ever since, existed
between the two nations.
Men Of letters have sought out the
city for its individuality and beauty,
which caused the ecstatic Byron upon
first beholding from the bay its ter
raced seven hills to exclaim:
"What beauties doth Lisboa first un-
fold!
Her image floating on that noble tide
Which poets vainly pave with sands
of gold"
What the City Is Like.
Commercially the city has natural
advantages in its harbor, which can
accommodate the largest vessels, and
an advantageous position on the At
lantic. At present its trade is con-
fined chiefly to exporting cork, wine,
olive oil and tropical fruits to and i'm
porting coal, wood, corn, rice and man.
ufactured articles from England, Bra
zil and it's own African colonies.
Along the Tagus vegetables, fruits
and flowers are piled in high heaps
to tempt the eager marketers, boats
of every description from the dingy
little fishing smack to the ladylike At
Iantic liner are loading and unloading
their cargoes, and the fish peddlers
who are to be seen everywhere in the
Lisbon streets are raucously bargain
ing for their stock in trade with the
fishermen along the wharves.
Then house above house in ever-as-
cending terraces the city proper rises
above the water front, its white build
ing cleaning in the sunlight. In the
hills near the city there is a limestone
as white and soft as chalk which be-
comes hard upon exposure, and this
has largely been used as building ma
terial. Many of the buildings are
faced with colored tiles, and others are
washed pink or blue, but there is a
softness in the general impression new
ertheless, which is very pleasing. The
old tiled roofs which are warped and
curving, with their grass-grown fur
rows are delightful.
Lisbon is interesting to visitors not
onlv because of it's setting and its
architecture, but also because Of the
conglomerate population within its
limits. Here may be seen represent
atiyes of all the various nationalities
which, fluxed into homogeneity, char
acterize the urban population Of Por-
tugal today.
Traces of Many Peoples.
The prolonged visits of the Phoeni-
clans. Visigoths, Romans, Moors, and
Spanish had little effect or influence
on the stock of the Celtic-Iberian folk
in the interior and mountainous dis
tricts of Portugal, while along the
coasts the cities absorbed all those
STRANGERS into it's urban life. The con-
ouerors fell victims to racial absorp-
ton.
Consequently in Lisbon, often invad-
ed and brought under alien rule, are
found types which distinctly betray
their origin from one or another Of
the shifting dominant races. Pure
Celts from the hills are met on the
streets, their pugnacious visages mark
edIy Bretonesque, their costumes like
all Celtic raiment, and their side whis-
kers Just as bristly. Traces Of import
ed negro slave blood are distinguish
ahla as also are Jewish types. de.