14 
CBUISE OF H.M.S. CH ALLEN GEll. 
ornaments, recording the skill and the refined taste 
of the old master masons. 
About mid-day we moored in the Tagus, off the 
capital, and all who desired started for a run on 
shore. Some went to Cintra ; while others spent 
the time in seeing what was most interesting in the 
city and its immediate neighbourhood, or in resting 
after the knocking about experienced in our passage 
from England. 
There are many buildings and places of interest to 
be seen ; perhaps the monastery and church of Belem, 
of Gothic-Moresque architecture, is worth mention- 
ing ; no one could pass it without gazing on the 
beautiful porch, which is rich beyond description in 
carvings. Up to the very roof of the church, every 
pinnacle and buttress, and even the flat portions of 
the wall, are encrusted with ornaments. 
On entering, the interior is of a most charming 
nature. There seems no excess of ornament, and 
the delicate shafts of pale grey marble support a 
wonderfully carved and fretted Gothic roof, with all 
the effective airiness of Moorish architecture. Service 
happened to be proceeding during my visit. The 
church was cool and dim, and the clear sweet voices 
of the choristers rose and fell along the aisle, and 
seemed to linger in the roof among the sculptured 
palm-leaves. 
The high altar, with its lighted candles and vases 
of flowers, and the rich robes of the officiating priests, 
