At the present day it is the Galicians who exercise most influence upon the population of Lusitania. They immigrate in large numbers to Lisbon and other towns, where they gain their living as bakers, porters, doorkeepers, and domestic servants. Being ridiculed on account of their uncouth language and rustic manners, they mix but little with the rest of the population. Their numbers, however, are ever increasing, and their thrift and industry soon place them in a position of ease.
The mixture of these diverse elements has not produced a handsome race. The Portuguese possess but rarely the noble mien of the Spaniard. Their features, as a rule, are irregular, the nose is turned up, and the lips are thick. Cripples are rare amongst them, but so are tall men. Squat and short, they are inclined to corpulency. The women cannot boast the fiery beauty of the Spaniards, but have brilliant eyes, an abundance of hair, animated features, and amiable manners.
Fig. 192.—PORTUGUESE TYPES: PEASANT OF OVAR; WOMAN OF LEÇA; PEASANT WOMAN OF AFFIFE.
Travellers speak highly of the manners, civility, and kindness of the peasantry not yet contaminated by commerce. The cruelties committed by Portuguese conquerors in the Indies and the New World have given the nation a bad reputation, though, as a rule, the Portuguese has compassion for all sorts of suffering. He is a gambler, but never quarrels; he is fond of bull-fights, but takes care to wrap up the bull’s horns in cork, in order that the animal may be saved for future contests; and he is exceedingly kind to domestic animals. In their intercourse the Portuguese are good-tempered, obliging, and polished. To tell a Lusitanian that he has been “brought up badly” is to offend him most seriously. Their oratory is elegant, though ceremonious. Even the peasants express themselves with a facility and command of words remarkable in a people so badly educated. Oaths {472} and indecent expressions scarcely ever pass their mouth, and, though great talkers, and even boasters, they are most guarded in their conversation. Portugal has {473} produced great orators, and one of her poets, Camões, is amongst the most illustrious the world has ever seen. On the other hand, Portugal has given birth to no great artist, for Gran Vasco is a mythical personage. Camões himself avows this when he says, “Our nation is the first because of its great qualities. Our men are more heroic than other men; our women better-looking than other women; and we excel in all the arts of peace and war, excepting in the art of painting.”
Portuguese is very much like Castilian as far as root-words and general construction are concerned, but is far less voluminous and sonorous. Nasal and hissing sounds, which a foreigner finds it difficult to pronounce, abound, but there are no gutturals. Arab words are less numerous in Portuguese than in Castilian, but the Lusitanians, as well as the Spaniards, still swear by the god of the Mohammedans—Oxala (Ojalà); that is, “If Allah wills it.”
The Portuguese cannot compare in numbers with the other nations of Europe, and their influence upon the destinies of the world is consequently small. At one time of their history, however, they surpassed all other nations by their maritime enterprise. The Spaniards certainly shared in the great discoveries of the fifteenth century, but it was the Portuguese who made them possible by first venturing to navigate the open ocean. It was a Portuguese, Magalhães, who undertook the first voyage round the world, terminated only after his death. A similar pre-eminence amongst nations will never be met with again, for the increased facilities of communication exercise a levelling influence upon all. Portugal, therefore, can never again hope to resume the national status which she held formerly, but her great natural resources and favourable geographical position at the extremity of the continent must always insure her an honourable place amongst them.
II.—NORTHERN PORTUGAL. THE VALLEYS OF THE MINHO, DOURO, AND MONDEGO.
The mountains of Lusitania are a portion of the great orographical system of the whole peninsula; but they are not mere spurs, gradually sinking down towards the sea, for they rise into independent ranges; and the individuality of Portugal is manifested in the relief of its soil quite as much as in the history of its inhabitants.
The mountains rising in the north-eastern corner of Portugal, to the south of the Minho, may be looked upon as the outer barrier of an ancient lake, which formerly covered the whole of the plains of Old Castile. From the Pyrenees to the Sierra de Gata this barrier was continuous, and the breaches now existing date only from a comparatively recent epoch, and are due to the erosive action of torrents. The most considerable of these breaches, that of the Douro, could have been effected only by overcoming most formidable obstacles.