The hills of that portion of Alemtejo which lies to the east of the Guadiana belong to the system of the Sierra Morena of Spain. The river, which separates them from the hills and plateaux of the west, is confined in a deep and narrow gorge. At the Pulo do Lobo (“wolf’s leap”) it still descends in cataracts, and becomes navigable only at Mertola, thirty-seven miles above its mouth.

The hills of Southern Alemtejo and Algarve, to the west of the Guadiana, are at first mere swellings of the ground known as cumeadas, or “heights of land,” but in the Serra do Malhão (1,886 feet) and the Serra da Mezquita they attain some height. A plateau, traversed by the upper affluents of the Mira, joins the range last mentioned to the Serra Caldeirão (1,272 feet), supposed to be named after some ancient crater, or “caldron,” which terminates, to the north of Cape Sines, with the Atalaya, or Sentinel (1,010 feet). The principal range continues towards the west, and in the Serra de Monchique (2,963 feet), a mountain mass filling up the {493} south-western corner of Portugal, it attains its culminating point. A steep ridge, known as Espinhaço de Cão (“dog’s back”), extends from the latter in the direction of the Capes of St. Vincent and Sagres.

The latter was selected by Henry the Navigator as the seat of the naval school founded by him, and from its heights he watched for the return of the vessels which he dispatched on exploratory expeditions. Associations such as these are far more pleasurable than those connected with the neighbouring Cape St. Vincent, where Admiral Jervis, in 1797, destroyed a Spanish fleet.

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Fig. 205.—SERRA DE MONCHIQUE AND PROMONTORY OF SAGRES.

Scale 1 : 500,000.

The hills of Sagres are of volcanic origin, and the subsidence of portions of the coast of Algarve appears to prove that subterranean forces are still active. Wherever this subsidence has been observed the coast is fringed by sand-banks, thrown up by the waves of the sea, the channel separating them from the mainland being navigable for small vessels.

If a traveller ascend one of the culminating points of the mountains of Algarve, he cannot fail to be struck with the remarkable contrast existing between the districts to the north and south of him. On the one side he looks down upon vast solitudes resembling deserts; on the other he perceives forests of chestnut-trees, numerous villages, towns bordering the seashore, and fleets of fishing-boats rocking upon the blue waves. The contrasts between the inhabitants of these two districts {494} are scarcely less striking. The inhabitants of Alemtejo are the most solemn of Portuguese, and even object to dancing. Very thinly scattered over the landes which they inhabit, they either engage in agriculture or follow their herds of pigs and sheep into the forests of holm-oaks and thickets of rock-roses. In summer they cross the Tejo with their pigs, and pasture them in the mountains of Beira. The population of Algarve, on the other hand, is thrice as dense as that of Alemtejo, and not only are fields, vineyards, and orchards carefully tended, but the sea likewise is made to yield a portion of its food. The contrast between the two provinces is partly accounted for by the fact that most of the great battles were fought on the undulating plains of Alemtejo. When the Romans held the country Alemtejo supported a numerous population, as is proved by the large number of inscriptions found.

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