OPORTO. 1 r,.5 



whose purity the British epicure is inclined to be sceptical, 

 and on whose genuineness he is apt to look with too jealous 

 and suspicious an eye. 



Certain it is, that the quantity of wine shipped from 

 ()porto to England is enormous; moreover, almost the 

 whole produce of Traz-os-Montes finds its way into the 

 l^ritish market. I have already shown that the stock of 

 Messrs. Sandeman reached the vast total of 9,000 pipes ; 

 and I may add that 1,600 pipes had already been shipped 

 by that one firm during the first four months of the year, 

 previous to my visit; and there are many other large 

 houses in Oporto, doing business on a similar gigantic 

 .scale. So that, at all events, I may conclude, without fear 

 of contradiction, that a vast quantity of port wine is an- 

 nually exported from the Douro to England. 



I pass on now to speak of other vegetable productions 

 of northern Portugal, for the vine is by no means the only 

 plant which here attains a perfection seldom reached else- 

 where. I have already casually remarked on the magni- 

 ficent camellias in the English cemetery, which had attained 

 the size of large bushes, and even trees, and, covered with 

 blossoms, arrested our immediate attention and most pro- 

 found admiration. We had seen nothing like them in size 

 or luxuriance at Cintra, not even in the famous gardens 

 at Montserrat ; while at Lisbon the climate is too hot to 

 admit of their existence; but in Oporto we found them 

 growing in every garden and C[uinta, with a profusion whicli 

 spoke plainly how well soil and climate were adapted to 

 their growth. Indeed, they were quite common shrubs, 

 and appeared to flourish in every aspect, and to require 

 little care and attention ; and some fine specimens which 

 F. purchased, and sent home to England, w^ere selected 

 in a garden from an enormous stock of this graceful shrub 

 of all varieties and sizes, just as, in England, we might 

 choose amidst the innumerable species of the pine tribe, 



