JOURNEY HOME BY LAND. 173 



even in the appearance, customs, lan^^na^e, and I may add 

 religious opinions of their respective inhabitants. Thus, 

 instead of the Cordilleras of Spain, those huge chains of 

 mountains, Avhich divide and sulxlivide that country into 

 broad belts, we have elevated ground indeed in Portugal, 

 but, with the exception of the Estrellas in the centre, and 

 the Gerez in the extreme north, the hills seldom rise so 

 high as to take the rank of mountains. Neither are there 

 in Portugal any sierras, or abrupt serrated, or hog-backed 

 ranges, for which Spain is so famous, and which frequently 

 rise to so great a height, and present vast ridges of per- 

 petual snow, unless again the Estrellas are excepted, which 

 perhaps may be termed the ' backbone ' of Portugal. So, 

 too, while Spain is essentially the land of drought, and is 

 sadly deficient in great rivers, Portugal stands conspicuous 

 for its many and excellent streams ; for, as the general 

 inclination of the Peninsula is from east to west, the brooks 

 which take their rise in Spain, and are fed from her snow- 

 capped mountains, when they have increased in volume 

 and become navigable rivers, with not many exceptions, 

 flow through Portugal, ere they enter the ocean — as, for 

 instance, the Tagus, the Douro, the Minho, the Guadiana; 

 and there is a vast number of other streams, of more or 

 less size, which fertilise the districts they water, and make 

 fruitful gardens of what would otherwise be barren wastes. 

 Then again, while Spain is notoriously treeless, and you 

 may travel day after day in that singularly naked land, 

 and the dusky olive will be the only species of tree which 

 meets your eye, Portugal abounds in forests, in several 

 parts extending over many leagues, covering whole chains 

 of hills, and occupying a considerable area of the kingdom ; 

 forests of fir more particularly, though the oak, the chest- 

 nut, and the olive are abundant, and the cork flourishes to 

 an extent I have never seen elsewhere. But above all, in 

 lieu of the vast elevated plateaux of Central Spain, so arid. 



