50 A SPRING TOUR IN PORTUGAL. 



were deposited at the hotel of our compatriot, good Mrs, 

 Lawrence. 



We spent a week at Cintra, and during that time I wan- 

 dered, gun in hand, through forests and valleys, climbed 

 up all the higher mountains, and very thoroughly explored 

 the whole district, so that I flatter m3^self I am somewhat 

 better qualified to pronounce an opinion on its merits than 

 the great majority of my countrymen in Portugal, whose 

 habit generally appears to be, to drive over in the morning 

 from Lisbon, dine at Cintra, and back to the capital in the 

 evening ; or, if they should be very enthusiastic sight-seers, 

 they will devote two days to the excursion ; spending one 

 night in rural retirement, and returning the following day, 



I need scarcely say, that such a hurried glimpse conveys 

 no real notion of the place, for Cintra nestles amidst a 

 collection of hills, and extends over a considerable area. 

 Indeed, its great charm is, that it affords a cool retreat in 

 summer from the oppressive heat of Lisbon ; and its grate- 

 ful shades, deep forests, pleasant groves and gardens, as 

 well as pure air and abundant springs, must seem delight- 

 ful after the perpetual glare and dust of the capital in the 

 dog-days. And so the villas and private houses and coun- 

 try seats of the wealthy occupy every inviting nook for a 

 league or more on every side of the little town, each em- 

 bowered in its quinta, hidden amidst the dense foliage 

 which is so highly appreciated, and striving with all its 

 might to escape from the vertical rays of the sun. For 

 certainly no sun-worshippers are the Portuguese at Cintra : 

 the one aim and object of these veritable giaours seems to 

 be to shut out their fierce enemy; and with this end in view, 

 they build their houses in some odd corner, where an over- 

 hanging rock casts perpetual shade, and their gardens and 

 pleasure-grounds resemble intricate groves and well-kept 

 shrubberies, where the one requirement is shelter from the 

 sun. Amongst the innumerable villas which occupy every 



