510 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Drawn by A. H. Bumstead 



A MAP OE LISBON AND THE FRIENDLY BAY 



The enthusiasm of those who have approached the Portuguese capital from the sea has given 

 rise to the old saying that "he who has not seen Lisbon does not know what beauty is." 



the sodded hillside in all its enormous 

 bulk. 



Down the hillside, below the palace, at 

 the water's edge, is the unique old Tower 

 of Belem, a relic of Manueline stone- 

 work, while at the right of Estrella's 

 marble beacon looms the Castello de Sao 

 Jorge, old, but bold and commanding (see 

 illustration, page 513), and still farther to 

 the right sparkles the roadstead. 



TRAVERSING HISTORIC WATERS 



The "Friendly Bay," so named by the 

 Phoenicians, "Alisubbo" in their tongue, 

 is filled with shipping. A certain well- 

 known flag is much in evidence, for the 

 harbor is dominated by a squadron of 

 battleships of the United States Navy, 

 their decks crowded with blue-clad mid- 

 dies on their annual practice cruise. 

 Weirdly the gray-painted "basket-masts" 

 of the huge battleships are silhouetted in 

 line against the vine-draped slopes and 

 banks of Almada, a suburb of Lisbon. 



All this time the bay ahead is dotted 

 with leg-o'-mutton fishing craft, boats 

 just like the Phoenician boats of old, their 

 sails many-hued, their prows turned up 

 and carved and painted in fanciful style. 

 Away off to the south you see them clus- 

 tered over against Cape Espichel, and 

 others trailing off into the mists which 

 cover the broad reaches of Setubal Bav. 



As we neared Lisbon Bar, off Fort 

 Bugio, some one mentioned the fact that 

 ages of history had left romantic telltales 

 throughout this sunny land of Portugal, 

 and that the very bay about us had a 

 proud record in the annals of seafaring 

 nations. 



It's true. Your ship is traversing his- 

 toric waters when entering the Tagus. 

 Back and forth through these channels 

 passed Greek, Phoenician, and Roman 

 galleys and triremes ; Moorish and Span- 

 ish caravels and galleons ; the tree-banked 

 rowing ships of northern Crusaders : the 

 high-pooped, open-waisted sailing craft 

 of Henry the Navigator, half-English, 

 half- Portuguese landlubber prince that he 

 was, while a long list of gallant sea-rovers 

 and doughty, venturesome voyagers of 

 the golden age of maritime romance knew 

 the waters of the lower Tagus by heart. 



One need only cull from school-day 

 memory to find that history shows Lisbon 

 and the Tagus to have played the strong 

 "historical trump" in a number of epoch- 

 making events. For one fact, the day of 

 our arrival in the bay was the 424th an- 

 niversary of the departure of Vasco da 

 Gama from Lisbon for India by way of 

 the Cape of Good Hope on a voyage 

 which tested the skill, courage, and faith 

 of the great navigator and, by its success- 

 ful conclusion, made him the Portuguese 

 national hero of the age. 



