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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



"City of the Friendly Bay" — in the Moor- 

 ish tongue, "Al Aschbuna." From this 

 Moorish name was derived the later mon- 

 grel name "Lissabona," and upon the 

 complete subjugation of the region by the* 

 Portuguese this later name became the 

 present "Lisboa," with its Anglicized ver- 

 sion, "Lisbon." 



THE HEART OF LISBON 



As the sun's dip over the crest of the 

 western hills brought twilight shadows 

 across the city, I put ashore at the Praca 

 landing. Sardine fishing cutters and 

 smacks filled the basin along the seawall, 

 their sails like Joseph's coat of many 

 colors, while running boats from the 

 squadron in the harbor monopolized the 

 landing steps on either side of the square. 



Once ashore and striding across the 

 huge square, flanked as it is on three sides 

 by magnificently colonnaded buildings, a 

 triumphal arch of monumental propor- 

 tions on the side opposite the river bank 

 and a striking equestrian statue in the 

 center, one wonders why other large sea- 

 ports do not do these things, and why 

 beauty and practicability are not more 

 often wedded in municipal undertakings, 

 especially waterfront undertakings. 



The Praca do Commercio, once famous 

 as the Terreiro do Pago, or place of the 

 palace, known to sailors the world over 

 as "Black Horse Square" — this last be- 

 cause of the statue — is one of the re- 

 building projects of the Marquez de 

 Pombal, to whom Lisbon owes her rebirth 

 after the catastrophe of 1755. 



The bronze horseman and steed in the 

 Praca are effigies of King Jose and his 

 favorite charger. The great Government 

 buildings which flank the square on three 

 sides are the Chamber of Commerce, the 

 Palace of Justice, the Customhouse, the 

 House of India, the General Post Office, 

 the War Office, and other administrative 

 departments. These magnificent buildings 

 of the Pombaline style cover the former 

 site of the Government Palace, the Caza 

 da India, the Opera, and the grand Li- 

 brary of Old Lisbon, all shattered by the 

 earthquake. 



A MODEL OE CITY PLANNING AND OE 

 CLEANLINESS 



Passing under the triumphal arch, one 

 immediately finds himself in one of the 



cleanest and most interesting cities in 

 Latin Europe. It is clean in more re- 

 spects than the mere absence of rubbish 

 in the streets. To be sure, the streets are 

 clean, for Lisbon has one of the best 

 sewerage systems of any European city; 

 it also has a wonderful water-supply sys- 

 tem, thanks to Pombal. The buildings 

 are clean, the shops are clean; so are the 

 shopkeepers and their stocks. The street 

 urchins are clean ; yes, and so are the 

 ragged beggars. 



But, what counts most, Lisbon, as Latin 

 or southern European cities go, is morally 

 clean. It is not immaculate or sinless, but 

 no large city abroad has fewer homicides, 

 less thieving, or is troubled with social 

 problems of such insignificance in com- 

 parison. 



Lisbon is interesting as a study in 

 municipal planning. It is an index of the 

 versatile mind of its builder, Pombal, who 

 was in mental combination an engineer, 

 an architect, a financier, an administrator, 

 and man of vision. His civic schemes 

 were a century, and in some details two 

 centuries, in advance of contemporary 

 builders. The rest of Europe has hardly 

 caught up with his building methods. His 

 laws for the construction of buildings to 

 forestall damage by earthquake tremors 

 and shocks are still enforced, and they 

 have saved the city several times since 

 his day. 



THE PORTUGUESE LANGUAGE IS DERIVED 

 FROM MANY SOURCES 



Lisbon is further interesting to visitors 

 because of the conglomerate population 

 within its limits. Here may be seen repre- 

 sentatives of all the various nationalities 

 which, fluxed into homogeneity, charac- 

 terize the urban population of Portugal 

 to-day. 



The Portuguese language is like the 

 Portuguese race, polygenetic. Ancient 

 Greek, ancient and low Latin, Spanish, 

 Gallegan, French, Moorish, a strong 

 Celtic influence, and certain borrowings 

 from the Hebrew, East Indian, and ab- 

 original Brazilian, together with some ob- 

 scure items, such as two diphthongs from 

 the Chinese, go to make up the gram- 

 matical construction, etymology, and pro- 

 nunciation of modern Portuguese. 



All of the above variants are easily 

 identified in the language and show the 



