EVORA. 63 



a tree was visiblo, not a house, not a man, not a boast, 

 rarely even a bird; but the; smell of nromatic shrubs per- 

 vaded the atmosphere, and tlie 'silence of solitude* 

 reigned supreme in these deserted wastes. Then we 

 would come to more wooded districts, where the trees 

 were naturally clumped as in the Australian bush, or as 

 they are planted in some large park at home. First 

 umbrella-headed pines diversified the landscape; then 

 forests of cork trees, and lastly oroves of olives ; and so we 

 reached the station of Vendas Novas, a mere wooden shed, 

 though the principal place in this wild region ; and a 

 hamlet of a dozen houses was no unimportant village in 

 these unfrequented parts. Moreover, here is collected the 

 merchandise of the district for exportation to the capital. 

 Here, too, we met and passed the single ' up train ' to Lis- 

 bon, as we should say ; the ' Coinboyo descendente,'' as it is 

 more correctly styled here. And now we leave this tiny 

 centre of civilization, and steam forth again into the wild 

 uncultivated heath, stretching out in uncontrolled freedom 

 over hill and dale ; where the magnificent hil)iscus covers 

 whole leagues of land with its splendid white blossoms ; 

 and the ground is rent with many a deep and meandering 

 watercourse, true nullahs of the south, which the heavy 

 rains, so frequent, and so copious in these latitudes, eat 

 out for themselves in the sandy soil, but which are now 

 completely dry, save here and there beneath some over- 

 hanging bush, where the water stands in a dark pool, and 

 where beast and bird resort to quench their thirst. Then 

 we came to Casa Branca, a hamlet which, so far as we were 

 enabled to judge, consisted of two houses, but nevertheless, 

 a very respectable hamlet for this district ; moreover, it is a 

 junction, for our line bifurcates here, one branch running 

 southward to Beja, the other eastwards to Evora. Here 

 we changed carriages, and after another hour's journey 

 through a district not quite so wild and uncultivated as 



