BOOK CXXXVIII. EUROPE. Europe continued.-Spanish Peninsula. Kingdom of Portugal and Algarva. BOOK General It may not perhaps be deemed according to rule, to commence the political account of the Peninsula, with that of CXXXVIII. a kingdom so insignificant as Portugal; but it should be recollected that the same method has been already follow- remarks. ed, and in a historical point of view, it merits the priority, for the kings of Portugal were freed from the Saracens, and in possession of their present limits, long before Spain had shaken off the Mahometan yoke. Henry of Burgundy was created count of Portocale, because he assisted the king of Castille in his expeditions against the Moors. About the commencement of the twelfth century, Alphonso Henriquez, the son of the same Henry received from his soldiers the title of king, after having killed with his own hand five Mussulman princes, whose heads occupy a prominent place in the armorial bearings of Portugal. It was about the M. Bory de St. Vincent. + Some authors derived the name of Portugal from Porto-Gallo (the French port,) a town in which Henry of Burgundy and his companions resided, and which is now called Oporto or Porta. Other writers affirm that there was an ancient burgh named Calé now Gaya at the mouth of the Duero; in course of time,a harbour was built opposite to Calé, it received the name of Portucale, (the port of Cale,) and became the town of Porto, of which Calé or Goya forras the suburbs. It is from the word Portucale that the name of Portucalia was first applied to the present provinces of Mino and Tra-os-Montes, and afterwards to the whole kingdom. The most ancient document in which the name of Portugal occurs, bears the date of the year 1069; it is carefully preserved in the monastery of Aroun. See the Historical Geography of Gaëtano de Lima, tom. i. p. 86. BOOK middle of the following century, that Alphonso the Third CXXXVIII. took Algarve from the Saracens. Free in a land which his courage had delivered from foreign oppression, it was during the same heroic age that the Portuguese emerged from the darkness of barbarism, and betook themselves to the sciences, to navigation, agriculture and trade; they led the way in the carcer of those memorable discoveries that extended the circle of European communication with Asia and Africa, afterwards with a vast continent, of which the genius of Columbus had prognosticated the existence. In the annals of the middle ages, no nation holds a greater rank than the one that during two centuries, conquered many islands, gave laws on the banks of the Ganges, founded numerous towns and factories in India, covered every sea with its ships, and shared with Spain vast territories, bounded according to the decrees or caprice of a Roman pontiff. If Portugal was invaded by Philip the Second, when the dynasty of Avis became extinct, if it remained sixty years subject to Spain; the colonies it lost during the same period, roused the spirit of the nation, and gave rise in 1640 to a conspiracy, by which the independence of the country was secured, and the crown conferred on a duke of Braganza, the founder of the reigning family. Although comparatively insignificant in point of population, it has shown more than once how much the strength of a country may be increased by the public spirit of the inhabitants. Recollecting its past glory, it may be expected that, under an enlightened government and a wise policy, it may again occupy no mean station among the kingdoms of Europe. Position, political limits. Natural limits. The kingdom of Portugal extends from north to south, between the forty-second and thirty-seventh parallel, and from east to west, between the ninth and eleventh degrees of longitude. Its political limits on the north are Gallicia and part of the province of Zamora; the boundaries on the east are the provinces of Salamanca, Estremadura and the kingdom of Seville. The natural limits of the same country are the course of the Mino, the mountains of Penagache and Segondera on the north; on the east, the Duero, the Turon, the Her BOOK jas, part of the Tagus, the Sever, a portion of the Guadiana, the Chandza, and the lower Guadiana from its junction CXXXVIII. with the Chandza to its embouchure; the ocean forms the southern and western confines of the kingdom. Its greatest length from north to south is equal to a hundred and twenty-five leagues, and its greatest breadth from east to west may be about fifty. The superficies amounts to four thousand nine hundred and twenty square leagues, and the population to three million, three hundred and forty thousand inhabitants. As Portugal is very narrow from north to south, it might Climate. be thought that the climate throughout the kingdom was almost uniform; but the inequalities in the soil, the direction of the valleys, and the greater or less proximity of the ocean, have a considerable influence on the temperature. It is sufficient to travel a few leagues to transport oneself from the excessive heat of Lisbon to the cold of Germany. Although the temperature diminishes gradually from the coast to the highest summits, still the laws of increase or diminution are modified by several local causes. Thus, in a high country, in the province of Tras-os-Montes, the beat is excessive during summer, and more so in the neighbourhood of Lamego than any where else, for the hills of slate near the town, incline to the south, and the Marao forms a barrier against the north wind. Besides, the distance from the sea is so great that the same wind passes with difficulty into the country; therefore, the confined situation of the valley, and arid slate hills exposed to the sun's rays, render it perhaps the warmest part of Portugal in the summer season.‡ and tem The lower districts in the same kingdom, possessing the Seasons advantages of a very short winter, may be said to have a double spring. The first begins in February, the succeed The league mentioned in this work, is equal to the twenty-fifth part of a degree. + Geographers differ as to the extent of surface; M. Bory de St. Vincent makes it equal to 3,437 1-4 square leagues-Cheling to 1,642 German square miles, or 4,566 square leagues.-Franzini to 28,350 miles of sixty to the degree." The last measurement has been adopted by Balbi, it seems to be the most correct. Essai Statisque sur le Royaume de Portugal et d'Algarve by Adrian Balbi. perature. CXXXVIII. BOOK ing months are sometimes cold and rainy, at other times dry and warm. The crops are reaped in June, and by the end of July the plains are scorched, the grass becomes yellow, the trees wither, and it requires much labour and care to preserve esculent vegetables. While the heat along the coast is often more excessive than in the torrid zone; the temperature of the higher regions is cool and mild.* The low country is adorned with a second vegetation about the end of September or beginning of October. The plants of spring succeed suddenly those of autumn, the meadows are covered with new grass, the trees seem to have resumed their foliage, and the orange groves, then in flower, give to the month of October, all the charms of the finest spring. Winter commences at the end of November, and continues until the month of February; it is the season of much rain and violent hurricanes; the torrents then make a passage for themselves to the rivers, the latter overflow their banks, and the ordinary communications between different parts of the kingdom are interrupted. But the cold is sufficiently keen in the mountains of Tras-os-Montes beyond the Duero, and also on the summits of the Sierras Estrella, Mames and Estremos; although the snow accumulates, the rivers are seldom frozen. The Portuguese affirm that snow lies during the greatest heat of summer on the summit of the Gaviarra in the province of Mino, on some cavities of the Marao, and on the tops of the Estrella. But snow does not remain more than a month on the other mountains, and it is altogether unknown in the kingdom of Algarve. The north wind prevails in winter in the provinces of Tras-osMontes and Entre Duero-and-Mino, and the west wind in those of Beira, Estremadura and Alentejo during the same season. The greatest cold is generally accompanied with the east wind, which passes over the snowy summits of Castille. In the other seasons, and particularly in summer, the north-west wind blows in the morning, and the southwest in the afternoon. According to a well informed observer,† the winter at * The difference of temperature between the coasts and the high country is about ten degrees of Fahrenheit, or four and a half of Reaumur. + Colonel Franzini, his work is cited by Balbi. CXXXVIII Climate of the pro vinces. Lisbon and on the basin near the mouth of the Tagus, con- BOOK tinues during December, January, February, and March ; April and May are the two months of spring; the summer lasts from June to the end of September, and autumn from Lisbon and October to the end of November. The basin of the Mondego in the neighbourhood of Coimbra, is more temperate than Lisbon, but it is also more humid and less salubrious. The climate of Oporto and Penafiel is equally humid, the winters are colder and more nebulous, and the summers on the contrary are very warm. The winters are always mild in the kingdom of Algarve; the meadows are always enamelled with flowers during the months of July, August and September. If October be a rainy month, it is not uncommon to see the fruit trees flourish anew in November. December and January are the wettest months, and abundant rains in April are the signs of a plentiful harvest. A remarkable fact in the history of atmospheric phenomena may be mentioned; in the month of May the wind follows generally the direction of the sun, in other words, it blows from the east at sunrise, from the south at mid-day, from the north-west in the evening, and from the north during the night. Although Portugal be a mountainous country, it is sel- Storms. dom exposed to violent storms, thunder is only heard during the autumn and winter. Having entered into sufficient details concerning the Salubrity of Portugal temperature, a few remarks may be offered on the salubrity of the climate. Portugal is justly celebrated on this account in England, and many examples of longevity prove that the opinion, unlike many of the same nature, is not founded on prejudice. Among the places noted for their salubrity are Braga, Ponte de Lima, and almost all the others in the province of Mino. Mirandella, Villa-Pouca, Montalegre, and several towns in Tras-os-Tontes are equally healthy. The same remark is applicable to the upper valley of the Mondego in the centre of the kingdom, or to the country between Guarda and the Ponte di Marcella. Ourem, Loures and Lisbon in Estremadura, Beja, Evora and Ourique in Alen-Tejo, Monchique, Faro and Tavira in Algarve, have been commended for the same rea |