370 Notes on Sport and Travel iv 



is in a door) ; melon seeds, which represent our 

 periwinkle, being more for idleness than hunger ; 

 and divers beans and nuts of unknown origin. 

 These beans are accused of producing a horrible 

 disease common about Lisbon, a species of elephan- 

 tiasis which attacks the head and face with unsightly 

 bubuckles and whelks, and proves incurable. Those 

 who are interested in the matter will find a set of 

 wards at the Hospital of S. Jose particularly set 

 apart for such cases. One thing I saw at this 

 market which looked odd, — a row of nigger women 

 sitting basking in the sun, many with nigger babies 

 apparently made of India-rubber. 



The only game I saw were red-legged partridges, 

 teal, and widgeon. I suspect your Portuguese does 

 not often take the trouble of going after snipe, 

 and indeed the country is too bare to support much 

 game. 



From the ground rising abruptly in front and 

 on each side of the three principal streets, they, 

 and those that cross them, present very pretty 

 pictures. Sometimes a shattered church, a relic 

 of the great earthquake, shows its bare arches against 

 the blue sky ; sometimes terrace after terrace of 

 pretty tinted houses, with here and there a bit of 

 green showing over the garden walls. 



Certainly the back streets of Lisbon do smell 

 excessively, but generally the town is wonderfully 

 clean. I hear that the internal arrangements of 

 the houses, and even of the royal palace itself, are 



