PREFACE. xiii 



sterling* good qualities of our fellow-countrymen, prefer, 

 when we are in a foreign land, to associate with the 

 natives, and to cultivate the society of John Bull exclu- 

 sively at home. 



On these grounds it becomes to many of us a serious 

 matter of perplexity, when intending to escape from the 

 March winds of England to a warmer climate, to decide 

 where we shall go. And as all the more accessible parts 

 of Europe are being rapidly overrun, and occupied by 

 Englishmen, this is a difficulty which increases every year. 

 It was therefore with no little satisfaction that, in poring 

 over the map of Southern Europe, we espied the hitherto 

 neglected and little-known kingdom of Portugal — so ac- 

 cessible both by sea and land, at so short a distance from 

 home, with a climate notoriously warm, and yet so seldom 

 visited bv tourists. When we had once bethouMit our- 

 selves of Portugal, everything seemed to impel us in that 

 direction. We had soon mastered the contents of Murray's 

 ' Handbook for Portugal,' which by the way, is nearly the 

 only book of modern date which we could discover to give 

 us any practical information regarding the country we 

 were about to visit, but which furnished us with ample 

 instruction to enable us to form our plans, and propose 

 our route. We found that the spring months of April and 

 May were those especially recommended to tourists in that 

 country, when the winter rain had passed away, and the 

 fierce heat of summer had not yet set in. We anticipated 

 great enjoyment in exploring the wild and very beautiful 

 heaths for which Portugal is famous, as well as the hills 

 and valleys of its northern provinces, in all of which our 

 anticipations were more than realised. In short, though 

 we started on this expedition with very high expectations 



