The following day we proceeded to Castello de Vida, an ancient fortified place within a league of Marvao. The first brigade entered the town, and the second bivouacked in a grove without its walls. The adjacent country presented a wild appearance; but more particularly the latter town, which was perched on a rugged and stupendous mountain, inaccessible on every side, save only one approach, and even that impracticable for carriages, the road winding under the overhanging shelving of rocks, others of which reared their rugged points in the very middle of this (hardly to be so termed) pathway. A party of us with difficulty ascended to this strange place, at a season of the year when every particle of vegetation is parched and dried up. The adjacent grey precipices presented a frightful wilderness,—the hiding-place of innumerable wolves. The mind of the beholder on surveying such a prospect became perplexed how so barren a spot, even at the remotest period of antiquity, should have been fixed on for any human habitation, far more for a fortification. Some cannon of ancient construction were still on the ramparts, but few mounted, and even the carriages of those mouldering to decay. Here and there a few miserable Portuguese were observed basking in a sunny corner, grouped and huddled together, and consisting of young and old women with dark countenances, and still darker tresses, enveloped in shabby blue cloth cloaks, and extracting piochos from each other's heads; that occupation being the greatest source of delight and amusement amongst them. Their general food consisted of roasted chesnuts, washed down with cold spring water—which caused their teeth to decay at a very early age; and when they could procure a little dried fish, or sardines, with black sour bread, they would consider it a point of luxury. The extreme heat of the weather, and the exertions that we had used to reach this spot, created excessive thirst; looking round, therefore, in search of a house of entertainment, we espied a leafless branch of a tree suspended over a doorway, which bespoke the object of our search. On our entering and demanding wine, the corner of a pig-skin was untied, out of which spouted the wine into a filthy measure. It was strongly impregnated with the taste of the skin, about milk warm, and exceedingly thick, owing to its having been recently removed from a mule's back. These animals are usually loaded with two dried pig-skins, sewed up and slung across a pack saddle for the conveyance of wine from one place to the other—the muleteer being astride in the middle, and, above all, singing a wild air, and beating time with his heels against the bags.
Quitting this isolated place, and returning to our quarters, we remained there two or three days, and then resumed our march towards the northern frontier. The first night we halted in a wood near Niza. The next morning, an hour before day light, we started; and, while passing over the summit of a high hill, as the morning dawned, we observed a thick mist overspreading an extensive valley. As the sun rose, its refulgent light pierced through the white fog, which resembled a beautiful floating sea, out of which peeped forth the tops of hills covered with investing shrubs. As the rolling mist passed away, so these apparent islands enlarged, until nothing of this enchanting illusion remained, except a bare country covered with gum cistus, (a small tree,) producing a most sickly smell, and the more particularly to those with empty stomachs. After a fatiguing weary march, half suffocated by heat, added to which our eyes, nose, and mouth, were filled with sand, we descended the pass of Villa Velha, where we observed a number of vultures perched on the pinnacles of inaccessible rocks, as if watching our motions, or waiting in anticipation of more devoted victims.
Crossing the Tagus by the bridge of boats, we bivouacked under the agreeable shade of an olive grove. The surrounding scenery presented every where a beautiful, romantic, and grand spectacle; the river foamed over the rocks that had fallen into its dark stream from the overhanging crags. The narrow road running at the base of the adjacent mountains was filled with loose stones; woe, therefore, to the sore-footed soldier who happened to stumble amongst them! Woe to the sick or wounded to whose lot it fell to be placed in those Portuguese cars, rudely constructed, with small solid wooden wheels, revolving on an unoiled axletree, and causing an indescribable creeking noise to be heard at a very considerable distance; sounds so horrible, that the bigotted peasantry declare they frighten away the evil spirit of Old Nick himself!
The jolting of these vehicles frequently tore off the plasters, and ripped open anew the wounds of the suffering soldiers; nor was it at all unusual to behold the sick, wounded, and dying, with pallid countenances expressive of unheard-of agonies, while these engines of torture, drawn by a pair of bullocks, with their heads thrust under a shapeless piece of wood, (for the purpose of yoking them together,) rolled on their heavy way. The conductor guided them with a long pole, with a piece of pointed iron at the end of it, which he poked into the beasts' necks, and directed them by such sort of "sharp practice."
[11] Massena.
[12] A jargon mixture of the Portuguese, Spanish, and French languages was frequently resorted to in our anxiety to make ourselves understood by the natives, and when one word failed another was substituted. An officer who had just entered the country was most anxious to procure an egg, and having failed to make himself understood, as a last resource, he cut a piece of pipe-clay into the shape of an egg, and was instantly supplied.