Portugal: The Country and the People

Abstract

Mother of Navigators, land glorified by nature as have been few countries of the world, is one of the least known countries of Europe; yet it is country of many attractions both for the scientific traveler and the layman. For the archeologist, for instance, the buried Roman and Celt-Iberian cities, treasure houses of antiquity, are rich mines for conquest with pick and shovel, awaiting exploration. Nor are there less resources awaiting the too infrequent tourist seeking health or pleasure. If large number of English, French, and German works on the health resorts of Europe or of the world, published during the last fifty years, be consulted, it will be seen at once how, if Madeira be excluded, almost all of them make no mention of any resort in Portugal, says Dr. Dalgado in the preface to his useful work on the climate of Portugal.1 Portugal deepens one's love of nature, for she is vigorous here. Rose and lily, almond and camellia grow in lush profusion. Here, in land of almost eternal sunshine, amid gardens of laurel and acacia, gray castles and white challenge the passerby. Fountains throw white mists from terrace and grotto; ferns and palms bow to distant slopes whose yield inebriates the bibber in far-distant lands. Long-horned beasts plod with their casked burdens down gentle roadways and along the hilly ranges by the banks of the Douro, far-famed in story and song. Nor has justice been done to the country's people: we have been too apt to think of the Portuguese as a political schemer, with pistol in one pocket and bomb in another. When I embarked at Amsterdam en route to Lisbon, I had grave doubts as to my safety, personal as well as material, considering visit to this young republic as precarious adventure rather than an outing, and as not unmixed with possibilities of revolution, bandits, and uncomfortable hotel service; but to my surprise, I found all classes of people the most lovable and trustworthy of the Latin races. Revolutions were incubated in the sanctums of the foreign press correspondents, and bandits were unknown.