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Fig. 201.—ZONES OF VEGETATION IN PORTUGAL.

Scale 1 : 6,000,000.

The city of Mafra occupies a sterile plateau not far from the seaside resort of Ericeira. Like Cintra, it boasts of an immense palace, the Escorial of the kings of the house of Bragança, now used as a military school. João V., who erected this structure, with its numerous churches, chapels, and cells, expended for that purpose all the coin he could command, and when he died there was not enough money left in the treasury to pay for a mass for the repose of his soul. Far more {489} curious than this immense barrack, with its 5,200 windows, is the forsaken monastery of Alcobaça, about sixty miles farther north, which was built in the twelfth century to commemorate the victories over the Moors. Near it stands the monastery of Batalha, which recalls the defeat of the Castilians in the plain of Aljubarrota in 1385. The portals, cloisters, chapel, and chapter-room abound in sculptures of marvellous finish, though of doubtful taste.

Fig. 202.—CASTLE DE LA PENHA DE CINTRA.

Leiria, the town nearest to Batalha, occupies a fine site at the confluence of the rivers Liz and Lena, and is commanded by a Moorish castle, the old residence of King Diniz the “Labourer,” who planted the pinhal of Leiria, the finest forest in Portugal. After a long period of decadence this portion of the country has entered upon a new epoch of activity. At Marinha Grande, near it, there are large glass-works, which communicate by rail with the circular harbour of Concha (shell) de São Martinho.

Thomar, formerly famous on account of its monastery, stands on the eastern {490} slope of the hills commanding the plains of Batalha and Alcobaça. It is the capital of the Knights of Christ, to whom was conceded the privilege of conquering the Indies and the New World. They performed great deeds, but in the end their rapacity led to the decadence of their native country. Thomar is a town of cotton-mills now, but commerce is more active in the places on the Tejo, and notably at Santarem, which, from its “marvellous” hill, looks down upon the verdant isles of the river and the plains of Alemtejo. Santarem and the neighbouring fortress of Abrantes supply Lisbon with vegetables and fruit, and the country around them is a veritable forest of olive-trees.

The sandy soil and shallow rivers bounded by marshes of the country to the south of the Tejo oppose serious obstacles to the establishment of important towns, and if it were not for the vicinity of Lisbon it would probably be uninhabited. Almada, opposite Lisbon, Seixal, Barreiro, Aldea Gallega, and Alcochete are mere suburbs of the capital, and share in its prosperity or adversity. Setúbal, or St. Ives, however, which lies farther to the south, on the estuary of the Sado, and which has an excellent harbour, suffers from too great a proximity to Lisbon, for Portugal is not rich enough to feed two ports so close to each other. Cezimbra, on the steep coast which terminates in Cape Espichel, to the west of Setúbal, is likewise a decayed place, and Troja, which preceded Setúbal as the emporium of the Sado, now lies buried beneath the dunes. Excavations recently made on its site have led to the discovery of Roman mosaics and of a street laid out, perhaps, by the Phœnicians; and Link, the botanist, who visited the spot at the end of last century, still found there the ruined courts of Moorish houses.