42 A SPRING TOUR IN PORTUGAL. 



the centre of the square remind one of booths at a fair, but 

 scarcely, I think, as was suggested by a friend, of a mili- 

 tary encampment, so rough and ragged, and withal dis- 

 orderly, do they seem. However, they fulfil their purpose 

 in warding off the destructive rays of the sun from the 

 perishable goods beneath, and they certainly add vastly 

 to the southern aspect of the scene, and so are in perfect 

 harmony with the vegetable productions they shelter. 

 Along the sides of the square, at the houses provided with 

 projecting sheds, are exposed the fish and game and fowl 

 with which Lisbon is daily supplied : and of these I will 

 now say something, correcting the opinions I formed in my 

 daily visits to the markets with what I learned elsewhere, 

 and adding such information as I gained from subsequent 

 experience in the country, as well as from sundry sports- 

 men and naturalists whom I was so fortunate as to en- 

 counter. 



The fish market first claims our attention, and here the 

 traveller will naturally halt to examine the strange forms 

 which will immediately arrest his notice. Foremost of all he 

 will be struck with a long, thin, narrow fish, which, I believe, 

 is called the becuna, and which resembles nothing so much 

 as an elongated flexible strap : with sharp-pointed snout of 

 pike-like aspect, of silvery white and blue-green hue, not 

 unlike the mackarel in colour, this coarse species, w^hich is 

 very abimdant here, and eaten by the lower orders, mea- 

 sures from four to five feet in length, but for those who 

 value quality more than quantity it is by no means held in 

 esteem. Far more to the taste of gourmands are the red 

 mullets, which are very plentiful here, and of great size. 

 The same may be said of the John Dory, the epicure's fish, 

 and renowned as the species from whose mouth St. Peter 

 took the tribute money, whence its real name of janitore, 

 corrupted into 'John Dory,' after the manner of the thought- 

 less Briton: just as the underground artichoke, which is 



