140 A SPRING TOUR IX PORTUGAL. 



we were baffled at the outset by the most contradictory 

 and at the same time the most positive opinions from 

 those whose advice we sought, and we had no sooner 

 resolved on a route which was strongly recommended by 

 some enthusiastic adviser, than it was loudly declared 

 wholly impracticable by another: and even the question 

 of the existence of roads at all (beyond the beaten track 

 from city to city, to which we by no means wished to 

 adhere) was warmly disputed. 



Placed in this dilemma, and finding it impossible to 

 obtain reliable information, we abandoned our original 

 intention of hiring a carriage, whereby our free progress 

 would probably be considerably hampered, and determined 

 to begin the journey as far as Braga by public conveyance, 

 and be guided in our after-movements by intelligence we 

 received as we made our way from point to point. It was 

 well that we did so, for the road we subsequently travelled 

 came to an abrupt termination in the very heart of the 

 most charming scenery ; and had we been dependant on 

 wheels, we must have returned by the same route we had 

 pursued, a course in every case to be deprecated by the 

 traveller, but not to be thought of for a moment, when 

 wandering through the most lovely portions of Minho. 

 I should explain that the difficulty of obtaining informa- 

 tion on these points at Oporto arose, in great measure, 

 from the stationary habits of the Portuguese, who seldom 

 travel, and when they do leave home on business, either 

 pursue the time-honoured custom of their forefathers, of 

 journeying on horseback, or confine their wanderings be- 

 tween the large towns, where the formation of roads and 

 the establishment of so-called diligences have within the 

 last few years given them facilities to which, however, they 

 have not yet become accustomed. But besides this, so little 

 is the value of good roads understood, that some which 

 have been laid down at great expense and admirably 



