IO 
FROM PORTSMOUTH TO TENERIFFE. 
the better preserved Church and Monastery of Belem, commenced in the year 1500, and 
erected on the spot where Vasco de Gama embarked in 1497 on hi s v °y a g e of discovery 
to the Indies. The much-admired porch of this church contains a series of between twenty 
and thirty statues, each standing in its own elaborately-carved niche, and furnishes an 
example of the profuse ornamentation of the 16th century. The cloisters of the monastery 
present a curious but not unpleasing mixture of Gothic, Moorish, and Italian styles. As an 
illustration of the freedom with which the builders of old treated the materials at their 
command, I may point to the manner in which the lines of the lower arches are continued 
into and through the fenestrated ornament which connects the pillars with the niches above. 
The effect of this combination, which perhaps few 
modern architects would venture upon, is charming. 
The hard and opaque stone here seems a liquid and 
transparent substance, allowing the features of one 
design to be seen, as it were, through the lines of 
the other. 
The associations of the romantic pile of build¬ 
ings which crowns the granite rocks of Cintra, amidst 
surroundings which nature and art have joined to 
render one of the most picturesque spots in the 
universe, form a sort of epitome of the history of 
Portugal. From the high tower of the Castello da 
Penha, Don Miguel is said to have often watched 
for the return of Vasco de Gama. Portugal is 
apparently resuming her place in the van of scien¬ 
tific progress. The meteorological observatory of 
Lisbon, the botanic garden, the natural history 
museum, as well as the active share which her 
learned societies are about to take in African 
exploration, attest the steps she has made in this 
direction. 
A few days before the “ Challenger’s ” • depar¬ 
ture, his Majesty Dom Luis I. honoured the ship 
with a visit. The King, who was dressed in the uniform of an admiral, was received on 
board by Sir Charles Murray, the British Minister at Lisbon; Captain G. S. Nares and 
the officers of the ship ; the director, Professor C. Wyville Thomson, and the members of the 
civilian scientific staff; and, after the usual ceremonies of presentation, proceeded to examine 
with much interest the various instruments and appliances for sounding and dredging. It 
seemed a good omen when, at the termination of his visit, the successor to the throne of 
D. Henrique and D. Manoel expressed his good wishes for the success of the expedition. 
Our departure from Lisbon had been delayed by unfavourable reports as to the state 
THE CLOISTERS OF THE CONVENT OF BELEM. 
