LISBON. 31 



In the same hamlet or suburb of Belem, jutting out on 

 a promontory where the Tag-iis contracts, and staudin;^ out 

 in tlie river, so as to be a prominent object from, as well 

 as to command the approach to, Lisbon, the picturesque 

 tow^er which forms the fort claims attention. It has the 

 appearance of anything but strength ; but the projecting 

 window at each corner, the castellated look, and the quaint 

 device of knots of cable, carved in stone, which form 

 stringcourse, ornament, and finish throughout, combine to 

 render it a most striking object, w^hether seen from the 

 river on the approach to the capital, or from the land 

 after plodding through the deep beds of sand which inter- 

 vene between this isolated tower and the suburb. 



High above Belem, and to be reached by a broad but 

 very steep road, stands the enormous and most con- 

 spicuous palace of the Ajuda. It is a vast, rambling 

 edifice, not without a certain air of grandeur, and is 

 flanked by a lofty detached campanile, which serves also 

 as a clock tower ; but, as in so many other cases in Portu- 

 gal, the conception was grander than the power of accom- 

 plishment, and the result has been a vast, unfinished 

 building, which adds another to the long list of royal 

 palaces, which already seem out of all proportion to the 

 wants as well as finances of the sovereigns. 



But of all the works in the environs of Lisbon, that 

 which is the most conspicuous, as well as the most useful, 

 is the very well-constructed aqueduct, which, winding over 

 valleys on lofty arches, or creeping along the sides of hills, 

 or burrowing through their recesses, conveys a perpetual 

 stream of excellent water a total distance (as I was 

 repeatedly assured by the custode in charge) of seven 

 leagues, though the Handbook says two leagues ; and 

 who will verify the exact distance I do not know. In one 

 place, where a deep valley must be crossed, the aqueduct 

 is carried on arches at an immense height overhead ; and 



