112 A SPRING TOUE IX PORTUGAL. 



please himself, and none would dare to ' make mock ' at 

 him. 



I had heard that the museum of natural history was of 

 superlative excellence; indeed Murphy* describes it as 

 * inferior to few in Europe ; ' so that my expectations were 

 raised to a high pitch ; but when I came to examine the 

 zoological department I was woefully disappointed. There 

 is doubtless a large collection of mammalia, birds, and 

 reptiles, but it is a collection ranging over the whole 

 world, and rich in no single class ; not even in the pro- 

 ductions of the Brazils and Azores, for which Portugal 

 has of course' had superior facilities. And then the speci- 

 mens generally were so miserably set up as to be mere 

 deformities and ghosts of the animals they represented. 

 Of birds there were very few deserving of notice, and for 

 the rarer European species, which one might expect in 

 this southern corner of the Continent, I looked in vain for 

 any examples ; indeed, Aquila Bonelli, and Porphyrio 

 veterum, were the only real Portuguese rarities which 

 the museum contained ; and there was not even a single 

 specimen of Otis tarda, Cyanopica Gooki, and Turnix 

 campestris; none of which are by any means rare in 

 this country. Passing on to other rooms, there is un- 

 doubtedly an excellent series of geological specimens, and 

 the museum is rich in mineralogy, and still more so 

 in conchology. Moreover, there is evidently an active 

 spirit of research, and a determination to increase the col- 

 lections, kindled amongst the directors, fostered probably 

 in no slight degree by emulation of the rapid strides in 

 advance which the museum of the capital is making every 

 day, under the active superintendence of Professor Barbosa 

 du Bocage. Then, the building furnished by the University 

 is all that collectors could desire, and ample space is pro- 

 vided for the several departments ; so that, in all likeli- 



* Travels i7i Portugal in 1789. 



