ON VITICULTURE IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. 3B3 



sides rise a thousand feet sheer from the water, over- 

 grown with masses of broom, heath, gorse, and a variety 

 of evergreen shrubs wherever a ledge or cranny afford 

 hold for their roots. Gigantic aloes with broad spiked 

 " blades and towering stalks stud the rocky declivities, and 

 the cactus, wild fig, and other sub-tropical forms of plant- 

 life lend character to the scenery. Amidst these crags a 

 pair or two of the handsome black and white Neophrons 

 may generally be seen. 



Dangerous during times of flood are the snag- set rapids 

 of the Douro, as many a little cross or inscription, cut on 

 the impending rocks, bears witness. That rude mark 

 indicates the spot where some poor fellow has lost his 

 life, perhaps a whole boat's crew ; and our men, as we 

 pass each memoiial tablet, remove their hats and cross 

 themselves with simple piety. 



At intervals we pass picturesque cargo-boats, upward 

 bound, and laboriously making their wa}^ against the 

 current, motive power being supplied by a gang of water- 

 men hauling on a tow-rope ashore. Where the path 

 l)ecomes precipitous, one sees the string of bare-legged 

 men walking, as it were, down perpendicular rock faces 

 like flies on a wall, each hanging on by the sustaining 

 rope. As already mentioned, there is now-a-days a rail- 

 way to the Upper Douro, and much of the picturesque 

 river life of twenty years ago is a thing of the past. 



Spain. — The Vintage in Andalucia — (Continued). 



But we have wandered far from our original subject, and 

 must now leave Portugal, and return to the Andalucian 

 vintage. We are not going to enter into the technical 

 details of wine manufacture, which have been fully 

 described in special treatises ; suffice it here to say that 

 from the wine-press, the must (or juice) is run direct into 

 casks placed beneath, and in which, almost as soon as 

 made, the process of fermentation begins. In this state 



