LISBON, THE CITY OF THE FRIENDLY BAY 



513 



ACROSS THE CIDADE BAIXA FROM THE HANGING GARDENS 



Photograph by Edgar K. Frank 

 OF PEDRO DO ALCANTARA 



From this point the Castello Sao Jorge looms high and commanding. Here the Moors began 

 their city, and here the great earthquake of 1755 spent its force, vainly, for the buildings are a 

 thousand years old. 



immense field of undulating colored mar- 

 ble set with jewels and precious stones. 



Few towers or pinnacles accentuate the 

 city's vivid sky-line. They are not needed. 

 The natural contour of the site on which 

 the city spreads its marble and tile loveli- 

 ness affords a sky-line in itself of singular 

 impressiveness. 



Lisbon is unique in this respect. Nature 

 has saved the Lisbonese the trouble and 

 expense of rearing lofty domes and mina- 

 rets. Eleven hills, set down like giant 

 chessmen beside the Tagus, covered with 

 gleaming buildings, immense gardens, and 

 rambling palaces and battlements, would 

 not gain much by the addition of incon- 

 gruous towers hostile to the prevailing 

 architectural style. 



A MIGHTY TIDE IN THE "FRIENDLY BAY" 



Passing through the narrows and swing- 

 ing to the right along the depths of the 

 main ship channel, we soon gained our 

 anchorage. 



No sooner had we moored ship than it 

 became evident that a mighty tide flows 



in and out of the "Friendly Bay." On 

 this occasion the tide was outward bound 

 and making a "good" ten knots. We 

 tailed straight down stream, although a 

 strong breeze was blowing in from the 

 sea. 



There is nothing particularly strange 

 about this when one considers that the 

 bay or estuary of the Tagus opposite the 

 city is but little more than a mile wide, 

 while immediately above it opens out to 

 a tidal lake from four to eight miles wide 

 and nearly twelve miles long. The water 

 in this lake is very deep ; consequently 

 there is a tremendous volume, requiring 

 an outlet and inlet through the estuary 

 with each rise and fall of the tide, while 

 behind it all is the onrush of the Tagus 

 itself, bearing the run-off from an enor- 

 mous area. 



The Tagus is one of the really great 

 rivers of the Iberian Peninsula. It rises 

 in eastern Spain, among the Sierra de 

 Albarracin, in the Province of Teruel, 

 hardly sixty miles from the Mediter- 

 ranean ; thus it flows nearly the whole 



