24 A SraiNG TOUR IN PORTUGAL. 



was the heaving, cracking earth the only element which 

 fought against the devoted city. On a sudden a huge 

 wave rose from the trouhled river, mounting fifty feet 

 above the water level, and sweeping over tlic banks on 

 which a terror-stricken crowd was congregated for safety, 

 away from the falling houses, drew them all into its bed, 

 together with all the ships and boats in the harbour, and 

 so effectually engulfed them that no vestige of them was 

 ever seen again. Fires, too, breaking out in irinny parts 

 of the city, some say in a hundred places at once, raged 

 with great fury, and, unchecked by the inhabitants, con- 

 sumed tlie greater portion of what the earthquake had 

 left ; while a brisk breeze arose to fan the flames and join 

 in the work of destruction. Thus all the elements com- 

 bined against Lisbon, and the result, so far as can be as- 

 certained, was that no less than fifty thousand human 

 beings perished in that catastrophe, while the value of the 

 property destroyed has been estimated at two million 

 pounds. 



As we stood on the spot where all this occurred, and 

 called to mind that fearful day, the length of time which 

 had elapsed since the earthquake did not seem to diminish 

 the appalling nature of the catastrophe, but it made our 

 hearts shudder and our very bodies tremble, and the re- 

 collection would come upon us again and again. More- 

 over, there were ruins yet remaining here and there, which 

 had never been rebuilt or removed, such as the church 

 popularly known as the Carmo. tho-agh properly ' Nossa 

 Senhora do Yen cimento,' and others, which serve as me- 

 mentos to remind any who would forget, and which still 

 rear their broken roofless walls on high in attestation of 

 the injury they suffered. But as to the greater part of the 

 city, without doubt its present uniform handsoQie aspect 

 is in great measure due to the earthquake, which, as was 

 the case with the great fire of London, swept away com- 



