‘ 
100 SWABEY DIARY. 
me what is termed a shake-down, viz., some blankets and hay, my ride 
gave them as much attraction as a bed of down, and yet I found means 
to lay awake and talk with Walcott for two hours after going to bed. 
The road from Salgueiro to Belmonte lies across the mountains, and 
the morning being very stormy, I for the first time had an opportunity 
of admiring the wonders of nature in a mountainous country, parts at 
times were covered by clouds, and others encircled by the rainbow, or 
occasionally reflecting for a moment a ray from the sun, producing the 
finest effect of light and shade that can be imagined. After passing 
the Sierra the road descends to a vale which passes here for a well cul- 
tivated one ; in this stand Caria and several smaller places which afford 
much forage. It then passes over the Moncul, a small river that hke 
many others is formed from the torrents that in the rainy season run 
from the mountains and accumulate till they become a river. The road 
afterwards ascends to Belmonte, a town defended by a castle and 
standing on a high hill, one side of which is a nearly perpendicular 
precipice. At the foot of this steep cliff a river runs through a vale, 
which is seen for a great extent. Nature is extremely bountiful there, 
and the pasturage is green and of an Huglish appearance. Belmonte 
is ruined more than any town I have yet seen, few houses have roofs or 
windows, on the road passing through there is a very antique ruin in 
the form of a square tower. I can scarcely trust my architecture, or 
should call it Moorish. The ascent and descent to Belmonte is so steep 
that there is a paved road cut in a zigzag form, but impassable for heavy 
artillery. ‘To do justice to the rest of the road to Guarda defies all the 
romantic terms that are dedicated to description. It passes between 
two nearly perpendicular mountains, which join at the bottom like a 
trough with a stream running at their feet; the stream rushed from 
stone to stone in a torrent in consequence of the heavy rain, and was 
frequently beautified by falls from the mountains which passed through 
trees and rocks sweeping everything before them. Mills are turned by 
many of these temporary cascades produced by the incessani rain, the 
most romantic bridges are thrown across in places. ‘I'he sides of the 
mountains are covered with cork and chestnut trees projecting from 
the ground in the wildest and most irregular manner; for when they 
grow to a certain size their roots cannot penetrate far enough to give 
them support, and they impend over the road in the most terrific man- 
ner. Between them rocky precipices vary the scene, some of the 
immense stones are so placed that the eye cannot account for their 
support. The road itself is the first thing that has given me occasion 
to relax in my opinion of Portuguese industry, great pains are taken to 
preserve it from the waters that rush from the mountains. ‘The mills 
are all overshot ones. It is remarkable that all landscape painters stick 
them in their pictures. What I have often imagined an extravagance 
of cloud and trees, I shall no longer question being copied from nature. 
Guarda stands on the highest mountain in the neighbourhood, and 
1 An overshot wheel is one the circumference of which is covered with cavities or buckets, and 
which is turned by water which shoots over, or flows upon the top of it, filling the buckets and 
acting by its weight only. The largest in the world is at Laxey in the Isle of Man, it is 72 fect, 
6 inches in diameter, and developes about 150 horse-power, it works a system of pumps in a lead 
mine, raising 250 gallons of water per minute to an elevation of 1200 fect.—F.4. IV, 
