MR. 0. CORDEU’S PORTUGUESE NOTES. 
181 
writer says, at Enfras, a town in Abyssinia, he saw upwards of three 
hundred of the animals with some merchants. The Civet sleeps 
continually, and is roused with considerable difficulty, and they are 
animals of the greatest indolence. This lethargic state does not 
permit us to discover anything like intelligence in the Civet ; it is 
probable that they may be more lively in their wild state, but in 
captivity they do little but eat and sleep. When irritated the 
peculiar musky odour which they spread becomes stronger, and 
from time to time the secretion falls in small pieces from the 
pouch, which is about the size of a nut. It is about two and 
a half feet in length, and the toil is more than one foot : the 
height of the animal is about fifteen inches. 
The Government of Portugal are making very interesting 
experiments in the acclimatization of forest trees; they have a 
very line collection in the old monastery givunds at Busaco, where 
Conifers and many others arc to be seen in a state of luxuriance, of 
which wc in this colder climate of England can form but little 
idea. 
1 was particularly pleased with the Botanical Gardens at 
Coimbra, the university town of Portugal ; where with small 
means at his disposal the curator, ^1. Ilenriquez, has done much to 
produce a display of semi-tropical plants and shrubs, many of 
them the finest I have ever seen. In Portugal nature lu\s done 
much, consequently man seems to do but little, and as it 
has been said elsewhere, “ they tickle the earth with a hoe and 
it laughs.” 
