I Passed The Night With Great Comfort In A Clean Bed, Remote From
All Those Noises So Rife In A Portuguese Inn, And The Next Morning
At Six We Again Set Out On Our Journey, Which We Hoped To Terminate
Before Sunset, As Evora Is But Ten Leagues From Vendas Novas.
The
preceding morning had been cold, but the present one was far
colder, so much so, that just before sunrise I could no longer
support it on horseback, and therefore dismounting, ran and walked
until we reached a few houses at the termination of these desolate
moors.
It was in one of these houses that the commissioners of Don
Pedro and Miguel met, and it was there agreed that the latter
should resign the crown in favour of Donna Maria, for Evora was the
last stronghold of the usurper, and the moors of the Alemtejo the
last area of the combats which so long agitated unhappy Portugal.
I therefore gazed on the miserable huts with considerable interest,
and did not fail to scatter in the neighbourhood several of the
precious little tracts with which, together with a small quantity
of Testaments, my carpet bag was provided.
The country began to improve; the savage heaths were left behind,
and we saw hills and dales, cork trees, and azinheiras, on the last
of which trees grows that kind of sweet acorn called bolotas, which
is pleasant as a chestnut, and which supplies in winter the
principal food on which the numerous swine of the Alemtejo subsist.
Gallant swine they are, with short legs and portly bodies of a
black or dark red colour; and for the excellence of their flesh I
can vouch, having frequently luxuriated upon it in the course of my
wanderings in this province; the lombo, or loin, when broiled on
the live embers, is delicious, especially when eaten with olives.
We were now in sight of Monte Moro, which, as the name denotes, was
once a fortress of the Moors; it is a high steep hill, on the
summit and sides of which are ruined walls and towers; at its
western side is a deep ravine or valley, through which a small
stream rushes, traversed by a stone bridge; farther down there is a
ford, over which we passed and ascended to the town, which,
commencing near the northern base, passes over the lower ridge
towards the north-east. The town is exceedingly picturesque, and
many of the houses are very ancient, and built in the Moorish
fashion. I wished much to examine the relics of Moorish sway on
the upper part of the mountain, but time pressed, and the short
period of our stay at this place did not permit me to gratify my
inclination.
Monte Moro is the head of a range of hills which cross this part of
the Alemtejo, and from hence they fork east and south-east, towards
the former of which directions lies the direct road to Elvas,
Badajos, and Madrid; and towards the latter that to Evora. A
beautiful mountain, covered to the top with cork trees, is the
third of the chain which skirts the way in the direction of Elvas.
It is called Monte Almo; a brook brawls at its base, and as I
passed it the sun was shining gloriously on the green herbage on
which flocks of goats were feeding, with their bells ringing
merrily, so that the tout ensemble resembled a fairy scene; and
that nothing might be wanted to complete the picture, I here met a
man, a goatherd, beneath an azinheira, whose appearance recalled to
my mind the Brute Carle, mentioned in the Danish ballad of Swayne
Vonved:-
"A wild swine on his shoulders he kept,
And upon his bosom a black bear slept;
And about his fingers with hair o'erhung,
The squirrel sported and weasel clung."
Upon the shoulder of the goatherd was a beast, which he told me was
a lontra, or otter, which he had lately caught in the neighbouring
brook; it had a string round its neck which was attached to his
arm. At his left side was a bag, from the top of which peered the
heads of two or three singular-looking animals, and at his right
was squatted the sullen cub of a wolf, which he was endeavouring to
tame; his whole appearance was to the last degree savage and wild.
After a little conversation such as those who meet on the road
frequently hold, I asked him if he could read, but he made me no
answer. I then inquired if he knew anything of God or Jesus
Christ; he looked me fixedly in the face for a moment, and then
turned his countenance towards the sun, which was beginning to sink
in the west, nodded to it, and then again looked fixedly upon me.
I believe that I understood the mute reply; which probably was,
that it was God who made that glorious light which illumes and
gladdens all creation; and gratified with that belief, I left him
and hastened after my companions, who were by this time a
considerable way in advance.
I have always found in the disposition of the children of the
fields a more determined tendency to religion and piety than
amongst the inhabitants of towns and cities, and the reason is
obvious, they are less acquainted with the works of man's hands
than with those of God; their occupations, too, which are simple,
and requiring less of ingenuity and skill than those which engage
the attention of the other portion of their fellow-creatures, are
less favourable to the engendering of self-conceit and sufficiency
so utterly at variance with that lowliness of spirit which
constitutes the best foundation of piety. The sneerers and
scoffers at religion do not spring from amongst the simple children
of nature, but are the excrescences of overwrought refinement, and
though their baneful influence has indeed penetrated to the country
and corrupted man there, the source and fountainhead was amongst
crowded houses, where nature is scarcely known.
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