BOOKS.

MURRAY'S HANDBOOK. OF PORTUGAL.• THE conclusion to be drawn from this very capital guide to Por- tugal is, Do not go to Portugal unless you are prepared to undergo penance in the cause of prospects. When the author of the vo- lume was in the country two years ago, the were only two dili- gences,—there are now three, but if there were more there are no roads for them to travel on. The saddle is the only way of journeying, save in the vicinity of a few cities. Except perhaps in Lisbon, there are no good hotels ; beyond a few great towns, there are no inns anywhere. Portugal has never produced a first- rate painter or a sculptor, and her collections of art are nothing. The sights or exhibitions which draw tourists to other places to see, or to say they have seen, exist not. Catholic and wealthy as the kingdom once was, the lover of ecclesiastical antiquities will find little to gratify him. "No European country has less inte- resting ecclesiology than Portugal: there are certainly not a hun- dred and fifty old churches in the kingdom ; the French invasion, the great earthquake, and the rage for rebuilding in the eighteenth century, having destroyed almost all." Palaces and public build- ings are heavy affairs, their effect arising less from themselves than from their site. But the scenery is transcendent ; the wild, the beautiful, the luxuriant, the unique, are to be found singly or in conjunction—that is to say, in some provinces. In Alemtejo, the first province on the Southern bank of the Tagus, the unique character of the scenery requires an equally unique cast of mind to admire it

"Sandy deserts, vast heaths covered with cistus, and barren mountains, compose the greater part of its extent : the traveller may pass league after league without seeing either village, house, tree, man, beast, or bird. lhough once so fertile as to be called by Cmsar the Sicily of Spain, and to be named in medimval times the granary of the peninsula, it is now as badly cultivated as it is thinly populated. It imports much, and exports nothing ; the olives ale mostly wild, and the oil is therefore execrable. There is scarcely any wood, except the chesnut forests near Portalegre ; and the rarity of trees may be judged by the fact that a single tree has in some instances a name as if it were a place,—thus, Azambujeiro, near the Serra de Caldeirio, is a lonely tree and nothing else."

In the adjoining province of Algarve there are some landscapes of a striking character; but the greater part is bare, rugged, and repelling. There are wild beasts in the mountains—" the in- habitants talk of serpents fifteen feet in length and five in thick- ness"; it is certain that there is a really dangerous reptile, a lizard called the gecho. There are places, however, where the Sybarite excursionist, disgusted with his food, disordered by his drink, tormented in what should be his couch of repose, and weary alike of his journey and his life, may meet his fate without the guilt of suicide.

"The traveller should be warned against the extreme unhealthiness of some parts of this province. In several places it is dangerous to sleep, even for a night : they will be mentioned in their due order. The proverb says,

• Quem ir so ceo queim Va-se pricueiro a Aljezur on S bands da Quarteira' ;

i. e. If you wish to go to heaven, sleep in the town of Aljezur, or on the bank of the Quarteira.' The country surrounding these places is never free from epidemic fever."

The customs of the people are as backward as the country, and the lover of hospitality displayed towards himself will say as bad. "Turkey contains no bells, and yet men dine." They also eat a mid-day meal in Portugal ; but as far as regards the stranger, dining at the cost of his friends is an unknown art.

"The tourist who may take letters of recommendation to any Portuguese iiy must never for a moment expect to be asked to dinner, such an invi- -17fl'on being exceedingly rare. The middle classes usually dine between twelve and two ; the dinner consisting of broth, boiled or stewed beef, and rice : potatoes are scarcely ever used excepting.by-servants, and fish is only eaten on fast-days. Wine is not kept in the house, but sent for as it is wanted from the nearest venda. The common yin ordinaire is drunk out of small tumblers ; and, as it has been truly observed, it would be almost as rare to find two dozen bottles of wine in a house as it would be to discover so many books."

Some people maintain that there is no such thing as cheapness in the world. Things may singly be low-priced, but you have to pro- cure so many of them, they have to be so frequently replaced, and there is so much you must go without, payinggn your person, that by the time you have done you are cheaper in a dear country —without mentioning the comfort. The hire of a mule per diem is cheap in Portugal, but it becomes dear with its concomitants and the short distance traversed in the day. These are the particulars, if you know how to bargain.

"With the exceptions above named, and that of the steamer which runs at uncertain intervals between Lisbon and Porto, the traveller must trust entirely to horses or mules. The price paid for there by the day varies in different parts of the kingdom, but nowhere ought the charge to be greater than 12 testoons (53. 6d.) each, and the traveller will scarcely procure them for less than 8 testoons-10 may be considered about the fair average. The method of hiring them is this. Each traveller will of course require one

• Handbook for Travellers in Portugal. With a Travelling Map. Published by Murray. •

beast (cavalgadura) ; a sumpter-mule will easily carry the luggage of two or three persons; and if the driver (arrieiro, so called from the word arre, the Arabic for gee-up) gives satisfaction, he will expect to be paid at the rate of half a beast, though less than that sum will be amply sufficient if be does not turn his hand to any service that may be required of him. The traveller will further have to pay for his food and wine, but not far that of the beasts : every attempt at the latter charge is to be resisted as downright im- position. In addition to this, back-fare will be expected, but this is an item which a little arrangement will almost entirely get rid of. For example, a party might hire their mules at Porto ; and, after taking them through the whole North and East of Portugal, a six weeks' tour, might dismiss them at Santarem, whence the back-fare would be only for three days. "The expenses of a tour for two persons may probably average per day as follows— The 3 horses at 10 testoons each £0 13 9

The arrieiro, and occasional expenses, at the same 0 4 7 Board and lodging for the whole party (say) 0 7 6 1 5 10

"On the whole, it is much better to keep the same man and beasts than to be constantly changing them in all the larger towns. It is true that by so doing it will frequently be necessary to take a guide, who will expect a pinto (24.2d.) a day ; but, on the other hand, the waste of time and strength consequent on having to hunt up man, beasts, and saddles at every change, is avoided. Your arrieiro learns to know what is your principal object, and will make inquiries accordingly ; and, especially in mountain-paths, it is no small advantage to be acquainted with your beast."

To the artist, the student of manners or the devotee of fine scenery, especially if accustomed to travel and in Food health, the little hardships of an equestrian journey are nothing. Fine wea- ther, fine scenery, novelty, and the open air, carry off muchgo- vided the fatigues of the day are repaired at .night. Thes re your prospects of bed and board. "Inns, except in the large towns, will seldom be named, for the billet' all reasons. The question is not which is the best inn, but whether there be an inn at all ? l'atnes d estalagem is a sufficient direction. In case no such thing should exist, it is almost always possible to get an empty room, which will afford shelter; with everything else a traveller must provide himself. N. B. An estalagem is the proper name for an inn in a town or village • a vendee is a mere pot-house by the roadside for the accommodation of muleteers. Both the one and the other are to be known by the bush, (whence the proverb, Good wine needs no bush,') generally the top of a young fir, suspended from them. In the wilder parts of the country the ar- rangement is usually as follows : a picturesque, tumble-down verandah gal- lery; a lower story, partly occupied by the stables, partly by wine-casks; en upper story, containing a kitchen without a chimney, the smoke finding its way through the window or door ; a kind of general sitting-room and a • general bedroom. It is the sitting-room which will form the traveller's quar- ters: fowls hiving been untied from the table-legs, children removed, and perhaps a pig or two kicked out, he may then order up his luggage, and he will probably have the advantage of being able to contemplate the sky be- tween the tiles, and to keep an eye on the mules through the crevices in the floor. The smell.of the latter can scarcely be called pleasant; nevertheless the same arrangement exists in the best Portuguese houses. The writer is acquainted with one instance in which an English house at Porto, well pro- vided with stables, was let to a Portuguese nobleman. When the family re- turned, they found that the stables bad not been used, the mules having been stalled in the lower rooms. The traveller will soon learn to examine pretty early whether there is a string of baggage-mules in his inn; if so, his chances of sleep are considerably diminished, as the bells of these animals are invariably left on at night for the purpose of driving away the Devil. It is almost needless to say that in such places not only do cockroaches and black beetles abound, but that various kinds of vermin, as pulgas, persovejos, and piolhos, are pretty numerous.

"The writer of the Handbook for Spain is eloquent on the necessity of attending to the commissariat. We can hardly speak too strongly on the seine subject so far as Portugal is concerned, where the question is frequent- ly not between good and bad food, but between eating and going without. Among other things, unless the traveller means to live on black bread, he must be careful,to take a good supply of white (pao trigo). However, in ordinary country estalagems, eggs may generally be procured in any num- ber for about 2cl. the dozen. As, of course, egg-cups or spoons are out of the question, it is best to have them boiled hard (ores epzidos). N. B. Soft-boiled eggs are ores quentes, poached eggs ovos eaeadoo. In some places the Portuguese have a very fair idea of eggs and bacon, ovos corn pre- sunto. In order to have the advantage of the proverb, • Apples, oranges, eggs, and nuts. Were never the worse for slovens or sluts,' it would be advisable to give particular directions that the shells should be

left on." -

To bear and forbor, to take things as they come, will not suffice for Portugal. 'The modern "Dr. Syntax in search of the Pic- turesque" should be a master of the lingo.

"It is almost useless for any one not acquainted in some degree with the language to think of travelling in Portugal. Except at Lisbon and Porto, neither English nor French will be of the slightest assistance, nor, except on the frontiers, 4411 Spanish ; nor is it easy to procure even a guide who understands any other langnage but his own." The author of the Handbook accordingly gives some hints on the tongue ; which, however useful to a person with the organ of language, will hardly supersede the necessity of a grammar and some viva voce instruction. There are refinements too that will require attention in conversation. To make your wants under- stood, the vocabulary of the volume would doubtless soffice, if the traveller had acquired the pronunciation. "It is not without some reason that Portuguese writers pride themselves on the exquisite delicacy with which they are enabled to discriminate mean- ing by the use of the auxiliary verbs ser, and estar' to be; oer, to be essen- tially; ester, that is, stare, to be accidentally. Sou ho mom, I am a man; estou em Londres, I am in London ; estou doente,I stain; sou doente,I am an inva- lid. They also, with some justice, point M words which they say are inex- pressible m any other language. Such are saudasee, the mingled regret imd love with which one thinks of an absent friend ; Fent°, something between tact for, and moral disposition to, a thing ; tnentnov the common fondling term for a child, for which the ordinary word is criassca ; mavioso, some- thing between plaintive and tender-hearted ; roue's*, the bright, dewy

freshness of a spring morning. Again their es have great force. . .

For example, cobra branca is a white goat : we in'.he expression

thus—cabrito is a kid ; eabritinho is a little ki "'Content with eabritinho braneo we may say eabritinho branquinho. "It is generally said that there is no such thing as pa Portuguese. This is not strictly true : for example, all along tiikt Nathan frontier a has the same hard sound that we give it in Englitil ; thus, tchaves, tehumbo. In Minho they seem incapable of distinguishigg between the b and the v, and will talk indifferently of virsho bons or bi"rtho corn. All along the Gali- cian border the pronunciation mom for map, pans for pito, corn for cdo, is al- most universal ; and here, as in the Eastern frontier, the Spanish Vita has supplanted the national Vossa Hera. "In several districts of Portugal it is considered highly improper, and a woful solecism in manners, to use some words to which elsewhere there would exist not the slightest objection. Thus elks, a dog, would pass cur- rent at Lisbon in any society, but in many provincial towns it would be con- sidered a vulgar expression, and its place is supplied by eachorro or eachor- rinho, a puppy."

If the Handbook may not tempt many to Portugal, there is ample in it to tempt purchasers. The Remarks introductory to the volume or its leading divisions contain the very quintessence of reading and travel so far as relates to the history and literature of Portugal, as well as to the characteristics of the people. The dif- ferent subdivisions, under the name of routes, give a topographical description of the most remarkable places, and the general features of the district, as well as a variety of local information ; an index rendering this portion of the volume a Portuguese gazetteer. It should also be added, that Portugal is an interesting country to travel in to another class besides the lovers of the picturesque,— and that is the military student. It was the scene of Wellington's earliest campaigns, and of long wars against the Spaniards in de- fence of national independence. The officer must of course study his profession on the ground itself. The striking features of a bat- tle, and the associations connected with it, are nearly as well

d at home ; and these in the book are very judiciously done, an ever overdone. The Portuguese battles are fresh, so little is kpown of the history of the country ; the Peninsular war is evIF interesting, and the connexion of the battle with the locality imparts some novelty of effect.