10 A SPRING TOUR IN PORTUGAL. 



with cloth, and shaped like a horseshoe : this he places 

 round his neck, the open part in front; then, when they 

 liave collected the heavy goods they are about to carry, it 

 may bo a cask, or a large bale of merchandise, or four or 

 five largo boxes, these are rapidly tied together with cord, 

 and suspended from a pole, which pressing upon their 

 straw collars, is carried slowly along between two Grallegos; 

 and it is astonishing what heavy weights these sturdy 

 porters will convey up and down the streets of Lisbon, where 

 WMgirons and carts are still almost imknown, and where, 

 within a very short time, wheels were seldom seen. But 

 though all kinds of goods are thus conveyed on the 

 shoulders of the Gallego, his principal business is to carry 

 the water from the fountains throughout the <iity. Now, 

 there are many noble fountains scattered about the town, 

 but as yet there is no system of supplying the houses by 

 means of pipes and cisterns and taps, no water company 

 to ensure a constant supply of tho.t invaluable element. 

 Therc^fore, around all the fountains, and from early morn- 

 ing to night, the stranger will be interested to watch 

 crowds of these patient Gallegos sitting in rows on their 

 gaily-painted water casks, cliatting in merry mood, and 

 scrupulously waiting their turns to fJl their casks, and 

 then trotting off with their burden on their shoulder, upon 

 which, a white cloth lias been previously doubled, some of 

 them to supply private houses, and some to cry * aguci ' 

 through the streets, amidst this water-drinking people, not 

 unlike the SaJdui, who, with goat-skin on back and brass 

 cup in hand, sings *mom' in the streets of Cairo. 



Now, these Gallegos are in reality Gallicians from the 

 North of Spain ; but, like the Swiss of old, they expatriate 

 themselves with a view to collecting money, and have 

 vohintarily become the * Helots' or the 'Gibeonites' of 

 Lisbon, veritable liewers of wood and drawers of water ; 

 nay, so thoroughly have they assumed this position, that the 



