

v -v-v.-j 



282 



ALCANTARA. 



in the form of the land, owing to the progress o4 

 the boat. The entrance into the harbour of 

 Alcantara, the town itself, and the size of the 

 vessel in which we were, reminded me much of 

 the models of these realities. The place, the 

 port, and our boat were all small, and of pro- 

 portionate dimensions, having much the appear- 

 ance of play-things. It was not like a small 

 vessel entering a large harbour ; for in our case, 

 as there was but little water upon the bar, as 

 much pilotage was necessary as with a large ship 

 in coming to anchor at St. Luiz. We were about 

 five hours in reaching the end of our voyage. 

 The boatmen obtained for us a small cottage, 

 near to the beach ; we intended to be inde- 

 pendent, and have our victuals cooked by our 

 own servants ; but soon after we were settled in 

 our new habitation, the gentleman introduced 

 himself to whom we were furnished with a letter. 

 He said that he had heard of our arrival, and he 

 insisted upon our removal to his house. 



The town is built upon a semi-circular hill, 

 and at first sight from the port is very pretty : 

 but it falls short of its promise on a nearer ex- 

 amination. The houses are many of them of one 

 story in height, and are built of stone ; but the 

 major part have only the ground floor. It ex- 

 tends back to some distance in a straggling man- 

 ner, with gardens, and large spaces between each 

 house ; and many of the habitations in that 



