chap. IV. 
through Portugal and SPAIN. 
of going further that Way; fo I return’d to Torto the 
fame Road I came, but took another Way from Porto 
to Lisbon ; for, after having pafs’d Aveyro^ inftead of 
going to Coimhria^ I took the Road of Fygera^ a fmall 
Maritime Town, yet not without fome Trade in Salt 
and Oyl, Ships of about a hundred Tons being able to 
come up the River hither : They have a Caftle with 
fome Guns for their Defence. The Salt is made near 
this River, and the adjacent Country affords great Abun- 
dance of Olives. 
Betwixt Aveyro and Fygera is the Town of Mira, 
much celebrated for vaft Store of wild Ducks there- 
abouts, which they take in a peculiar Manner, without 
either Nets or Guns, by throwing Sticks at them 
as they rife and take Wing, which they do with fuch 
Dexterity, that they knock down feveral at a Time. 
I pafs’d the River near Fygera the 25th of July, which 
being on a Sunday, and Sc. James'^ Day, I had fcarce 
travel’d two Miles to Lavos, where meeting with an 
Irijh Prieft, he would fain have engaged me to go 
about four Leagues with him, to a Chapel dedicated to 
Sc. James, where (he told me) was a Family which had 
this Peculiar to itfelf, that on this Day, when the People 
of the adjacent Country came to pay®their Devotions 
to the faid Saint, and are regaled with a large hot Cake 
by the Town ; any of them can go to the Oven, though 
never fo hot, and turn the Cake without the leak Dan- 
ger ; but I thank’d him for his Care, and told him, 
that having no great Faith in fuch Matters, he mufl ex- 
cufe me, if I did not go fo far out of my Way, I 
came the fame Day to Lazia, the Seat of a Bifhop, 
whofe Palace is a noble Strudure : For the reft, the 
Town is but indifferently built ; it hath three Parifli- 
Churches, the Cathedral, St. Diago, and St. PetePs ; 
the firft appear’d to be a large handfome Fabrick, but 
I did not view the Infide of it : They have four Con- 
vents of Auffin Fryars, Dominicans, Francifcans, and 
Capuchins, and a Nunnery of Dominicans. Near it, 
upon a very high Hill, you fee a Caftle belonging to 
the Kingi which at a Diftance appear’d to be a noble 
Building. 
In my Way from Lazia to "Terena I pafs’d by Batalia, 
where is faid to be the beft-built Church in all Spain, 
perfeded by fome Englijh Workmen ; it contains the 
Sepulchres and Tombs of the Portuguefe Kings. The 
Steepnefs of the Rocks, over which I was forced to 
pafs, together with the Length of the Way, made this 
the worft Day’s Journey I ever had, which made me 
not get to Lerena till lace at Night ; and having four- 
teen Leagues to Lisbon, I fet out early in the Morning, 
and after I had rode two Leagues, em.bark’d on the 
River, (fending my Mule by Land) which brought me 
the fame Day to Lisbon. I obferved a great deal of 
Poverty in the Country through which I pafs’d, the 
poorer Sort living for the moft part upon Brow and 
Water. This Brow is a Kind of courfe yellowifti 
Bread, made of a certain Indian Corn called Millio ; 
certain it is, that many hundred Families live upon this, 
without ever tailing Meat in all their Life-time. The 
Country, through which I pafs’d, affords fcarce any 
Wood for Timber, the Oaks, which are but few, ap- 
pearing no bigger than Shrubs here ; Olive and Cork- 
trees they have in Abundance, and I faw fome pretty 
large Groves of Pines. 
Lhe Author* s Journey from Lisbon to Madrid. 
10. I fet out. Sept. I, 1694, from 'Lisbon for Madrid ; 
I went three Leagues by W ater on the other Side of 
the River to Allegalego, whence, continuing my Journey 
the next Day, I travel’d for eight Leagues through a 
barren Country to Venio Novo, and the next Day by 
the Way of Monte Major (a very good Village) to Ry- 
olio, a fmall ruined Town with an old Moorifh Caftle, 
which affords a fine Profpefl into the adjacent Country. 
The next Day I travel’d on to EJlremoze, a Place noted 
for Earthen Ware, then garrifon’d with eight Compa- 
nies of Foot, and three Troops of Horfe. Thence I 
went to Elvas, the laft Frontier Town of the Portu- 
guefe, bordering upon Spain on that Side, a Place of 
good Strength,, and famous for the fix Months Siege it 
fuflained againft the Spaniards, in their laft Wars. Near 
VoL. II. N^ 1 1 7. 
it is a moft noble Aquaduft, three Leagues and a half 
in Length, and of a vaft Height in fome Places where 
the Ground is low ; where, for a confiderable Way to- 
gether, there were no lefs than four Arches built upon 
one another with vaft Expence. Not above two Englijh 
Miles beyond Elvas you come to a fmall River, which 
being the common Boundary betwixt Spain and Portu- 
gal on that Side, you are no fooner pafs’d it, but you 
come to the Campo or Plain, where was fought that 
memorable Battle betwixt the Spaniards and Portuguefe 
in their laft War, with the Lofs of feven thoufand Spa- 
niards ; in which Adlion the Englifh had a confiderable 
Share, adling as Auxiliaries on the Portuguefe Side. 
The firft Town belonging to the Spaniards, on this 
Side, is Badajos, a ftrong Place, into which you enter 
over a Bridge of twenty-fix Arches. The next Day I 
travel’d to Merida, into which you muft pafs over a 
Bridge of above fixty Arches : This Place affords fome 
Entertainment for curious Travellers, as the Ruins of 
fome ancient Roman Buildings, a fpacious Caftle, now 
turn’d into a Prifon, a noble Arch of vaft Stones join- 
ed without Mortar, the Work of Julius Cafar, a cu- 
rious Pyramid by Augujius Cafar, the Remnants of fome 
ancient Roman AquaduSis, and another modern one, by 
which the Water is convey’d into the Town a great 
Way. From hence I travei’d to Frukillo, through a 
woody and m.ountainous Country : The Town itfelf is 
very well built, with feveral goodly Strutftures belong- 
ing to Perfons of Quality ; it has five Parifh-Churches, 
as many Convents of Fryars, and four Nunneries : The 
Villages upon the Road were moft of them very large, 
but the Dwellings only of Mudd ; however, I took 
Notice by the Way of one fpacious and noble Palace 
belonging to the Conde de Lopefo : I lodg’d at Lelaveyra 
de Royna, a very handfome Country Town, having eight 
or nine Parifh-Churches, thirteen Convents of Monks, 
and five Nunneries. 
From hence I travel’d five good Leagues out of my 
Way to take a View of the City of Toledo, a magnifi- 
cent Place, nobly built, and adorn’d with ftately 
Churches, very rich in Plate and Jewels. The Image 
of our Lady in the Cathedral has a Garment cover’d 
all over with Pearl and precious Stones of an inefti- 
mable Value : The Paintings are anfwerable to the 
reft. It is the Metropolis of all Spain, and the Arch- 
biflioprick is accounted the moft confiderable for its 
Revenues in Chrijiendom, though that of Braga dif- 
putes the Priority with it. The Cajlilian Language is 
fpoken here in its Purity, and feveral great Councils 
have been held there. The prefent Archbifhop is a 
Cardinal. The King’s Palace or Callle is a fpacious Pile 
of Building, and the Stables belonging to it are capable 
of containing at leaft five hundred Horfe. 
12. Madrid is only a Village, but may defervedly be 
called the largeft of that Kind in Europe ; the Soil 
round about it is not fo mountainous as in Portugal, 
but very fruitful, which agrees beft with the flothful 
Temper of the Spaniards. This Place, though the or- 
dinary Refidence of the Kings of Spain, is not feated 
in a very wholfome Air, occafioned, queftionlefs, by the 
adjacent River, which is often dry : This River is a 
Branch of the Tagus, rifing near Toledo, whence it con- 
tinues its Courfe as far as S. T ?rence, fourteen Leagues 
beyond Lisbon in Portugal. The Buildings here are 
generally very good, of Brick, and fome of the Streets 
regular, fpacious and noble, but very dirty, naufeous, 
and full of Filth. Their Churches are for the moft 
Part very fine. The Palace of the Almirante of Cajiile 
is highly remarkable for its excellent Pidures, in the 
Colledlion whereof the Spanijh Lords fpare no Coft ; 
among the reft I took Notice of one done by Titian, 
reprefenting Ixion embracing the Cloud ; it was pawn’d 
to this Lord for five hundred Dubloons, much lefs than 
it was worth. 
In the King’s Summer-houfe, a little Way out of the 
Town, called Buen Retiro, I took Notice of many cu- 
rious Pieces of Painting by Titian, Raphael Urbin, Bor-- 
donna, Annibal, and Vandyke, but has nothing elfe re- 
markable either within or without^ being built only of 
Brick, except that in the Garden you fee the Statue of 
8 S King 
