18 A SPRING TOUR IN PORTUGAL. 



rortugal, under the bead *Plaiistrum' in the 'Dictionary 

 of Greek and Koman Antiquities' ])y Dr. Smith. It is 

 8tran<^(i, indeed, that these most clumsy machines should 

 still continue, wlicn it is considered liow h^avy must be 

 the draught, and what a waste of power such construction 

 entails ; it is still more strange that the creaking, grinding, 

 groaning which accompanies every turn of the axle should 

 be tolerated, when not only that most horrible noise might 

 be immediately obviated, but with it the wear of material 

 and additional labour of the oxen be sensibly diminished 

 by the application of a little oil or grease, as in fact is 

 now made compulsory in Lisbon ; but I was told that the 

 drivers resent such interference with their privileges as 

 atrocious tyranny, and that they enjoy the music of their 

 carts, as more educated ears delight in the harmonies of 

 an orchestra, while they affirm, with the tendency to super- 

 Btition for which they are notorious, that such noise avails 

 to the driving away of evil spirits and hobgoblins, which 

 assuredly it may. if at least the fairies they dread be fairies 

 of good taste. 



Possibly it may be for a similar reason tliat the street 

 cries of Lisbon are so harsh, so discordant, and withal so 

 continuous. Never was a city so bescreamed : and as you 

 walk through it, morning, nocn, and evening, the same 

 continual chorus of cries in voices of various tones of 

 shrillness and harshness assails your ears. Every con- 

 ceivable article of sale is cried by the seller, as he or she 

 inarches through the middle of the streets with the basket 

 or bundle of wares poised on the top of the head, or held 

 beneath the arm. And such a jumble of articles ! meat 

 and muslin, water and wood, furniture and fish, milk and 

 millinery, all seem mixed up together in this strife of 

 tongues, and the shriller the voice in this contest for custom 

 the better the chance that the article thus shrieked will 

 find a purchaser. 



