Autobiography of Sir John Rennie, F.R.S., Past President of the Institute of Civil Engineers / Comprising the history of his professional life, together with reminiscences dating from the commencement of the century to the present time.

by Sir John Rennie

CHAPTER VIII.

Surveys in Portugal and Tunis.

After visiting, with a great deal of pleasure, Batalha, by far the finest ecclesiastical edifice in Portugal, we reached Coimbra, than which, with its environs, it is difficult to conceive a more beautiful prospect. The town, with its numerous churches and academical buildings rising from the opposite shore of the Mondego, and situated in a rich fertile plain, backed by the lofty and picturesque hills of Busaco, clothed with wood to their summits, with a fine old bridge in the foreground, while the Mondego is seen winding through the valley until it is lost in the sea, which forms the distant horizon, altogether made a picture which, for loveliness, was unsurpassed by anything I have seen in Portugal. We found here, a rare thing at that time in Portugal, a clean, comfortable little hotel, near the Rocio, where Mr. Cheffins and his assistant had arrived before us. We accordingly made preparations to start next morning at six o’clock, on horseback, to explore a line along the coast to Oporto.

We started punctually at six, and crossed the valley of the Mondego, which is here about three miles wide, and is quite flat. It has a rich and fertile alluvial soil, but is frequently inundated by the floods of the Mondego, so that the roads, such as they were, viz. extremely bad, were formed by rough causeways raised 3 or 4 feet above the level of the adjacent land. In fact, at the time of my visit there were no roads worthy of the name in Portugal, except the road above mentioned, from Cairegado to Coimbra; and upon this, what was still more extraordinary, a regular four-horse mail-coach, like those of England, had been just established for the first time to run from Lisbon to Coimbra, at the rate of about seven miles an hour. Another similar road had been commenced from Oporto to Braga, and had been carried only a few miles. In fact, unless you had seen and visited Portugal you could hardly have conceived such a state of things possible. All the other roads were nothing but mere horse-tracks, in the most wretched state imaginable, full of holes and great stones, so that you could seldom go faster than a walking pace without danger of breaking your neck at every step, except in those parts where the track lay through forests and open plains. Over these the rude bullock carts jolted up and down at about the rate of half a mile an hour, and the creaking of the axles might be heard two or three miles off. As for inns, for the most part there were none, and the wearied traveller had to carry everything with him, and take refuge in some miserable cottage full of filth, which he was obliged to clear away before he could establish himself with anything approaching to comfort. I had heard of this before leaving England, and I took care to provide myself with a light travelling-bed, and a canteen with the necessary provisions.

Leaving Coimbra, we reached Aveiro the next evening, after a most fatiguing journey of fifteen hours in the saddle; during a great portion of our ride we were exposed to a terrific storm of rain, and lost our way, and narrowly escaped passing the night in a pine forest. Not far from Aveiro, Messrs. Pinto, Basto, & Co. had established a large manufactory for porcelain and common crockery ware, which was in a very thriving state, and the imitations of the English porcelain were very creditable, as well as the artistic decorations; as they were well protected by high import duties on foreign porcelain, they enjoyed a monopoly for a time, and made considerable profits. These duties have latterly been greatly modified, and it has not been found worth while to continue this establishment. It has, however, I understand, answered very well for the proprietors, who have, by this and other enterprises, realized considerable fortunes. In fact, it was quite evident that such an establishment, which had to import all the materials and the fuel from England, could not compete with the superior talent and industry of England without extraordinary protective duties, which are nothing more or less than a heavy tax upon the country. Portugal is not a manufacturing country. She has a most genial climate and generally a rich soil, and can produce a variety of raw commodities which England and the north of Europe cannot. Portugal therefore, by exporting these articles, such as wine, oil, fruits, cork, salt, cattle, &c., can always realize a good profit, which will enable her to import all other articles required at a far less cost than they can be produced at home, besides contributing materially to the State revenue. Messrs. Pinto and Basto were not at the establishment when we visited it, but their manager had received notice from them that we were coming, with orders to show us everything, and to give us a handsome entertainment, which he did to the very letter, and we returned to Aveiro much delighted with our reception. Indeed, the manager regretted greatly that we had not stayed there the previous night, and if we had known it, we certainly should have done so. For although, considering all things, we were not badly off at Aveiro, still we should have been much better off at Messrs. Pinto and Basto’s establishment, and should have been saved the severe fatigue of the last ten miles of our journey.

The next day we started for Oporto, and passed the thriving little town of Ovar, situated at the north end of the Aveiro lagoon, but having a separate entrance from the sea, formed by a small stream passing through the town. Our railway passed along the base of the hills, which was very favourable. From Ovar we continued near the shore through a forest of pines for several miles; these pines would furnish excellent sleepers for the railway at a very moderate cost. From the forest we continued along the shore through most favourable ground, until we reached the entrance of the Douro: the distance from Ovar being about twenty miles. From the entrance of the Douro there was a favourable line for the railway for two miles along the banks to Oporto, where it would have been necessary to cross the river by a rather expensive bridge to reach the chief part of the city. This, however, must have been done in any case, and as all the great wine depôts or lodges, as they are called, are on the south side, and as the wine trade of Oporto is the most important, this would have been a great advantage; moreover, there is on the south side, near the entrance, a much better position for docks.

Between Ovar and the Douro stands a rock surrounded by extensive sands. On this rock is a chapel, reputed to be of peculiar sanctity, which is annually visited by immense numbers of pilgrims. It is very curious to see the extent to which these devotions are carried, and the occasionally strange results. In going one day, on foot, from Mattozenhas to Oporto during one of these festivals, I was surprised to meet a man walking, or rather shuffling, along in an extraordinary manner, in what appeared to me to be a sack. I immediately stopped to look at him, and gazed on him with astonishment. Several persons, apparently friends, accompanied him, and I inquired what it meant; I was informed that the person whom I saw enveloped in a sack had, during a severe illness, prayed to the Saint of the church of Mattozenhas to deliver him from his illness, promising that if he recovered he would annually on the Saint’s fête-day walk to the church in his grave-clothes, to return his thanks for his delivery from death. The poor fellow seemed to be much fatigued, and no wonder, as travelling for two miles in such hot weather over a dusty road in such an uncomfortable costume must have been very severe work.

Next day we were off before daylight, and reached our old quarters at Aveiro the same night. I soon saw that it would be difficult to get a good line for the railway over this district; it was too hilly and expensive, and would have required long tunnels through granite rocks and heavy embankments. I therefore gave up this line, that is as far as Ovar. After leaving Aveiro we took a new route nearer to the hills, and with the exception of a part of the river Vouga, it was preferable to the coast line formerly mentioned. The summit near the Busaco hills was a little higher, but there the line was shorter, and on the hill there was plenty of fine limestone fit for bridges and any other works. This line evidently therefore was the best; I ordered it to be minutely surveyed and levelled, and the result proved that my anticipations were correct.

We reached our old quarters at Coimbra, and having examined the city again were much more pleased with it than before. The University is a very handsome building upon an extensive scale, with an excellent library, museum, extensive lecture rooms, and a competent establishment of professors and lecturers. The costume of the professors and students, although totally different from that of our own, was very appropriate; and the method of teaching and conferring degrees was extremely good, although a little too much savouring of sacerdotalism, but still greatly improved in this respect to what it was only a few years before. The city moreover was comparatively clean, and there appeared to be a degree of outer tranquillity and prosperity about it which pleased me much. I have seen many foreign universities, but none delighted me more than Coimbra. After leaving Coimbra we passed through Thomar and reached the valley of the Tagus; this we descended until we arrived at Santarem, which is but an inconsiderable place; it is situated on the highest point of the ridge, and bounded by precipitous rocks which abut on the Tagus, there being a small valley on the north, also on the east and west. Being thus isolated, it occupies an admirable position as a fortress, and might easily be made impregnable; commanding, as it does, the country all around, if it were properly defended, the approach of an enemy would be extremely difficult; and if fortified according to modern ideas, with a sufficient garrison and provisions, it might hold its own against all comers for almost any length of time; in fact, it may be considered as one of the keys of the kingdom. When I saw it, its works were in a very unfinished and dilapidated state. From Santarem we proceeded down the river to a small place termed the White House, where we embarked on board the steamer for Lisbon. The hills on either side of the Tagus alternately advance and recede; but the whole scenery is very rich, the soil being highly cultivated to the very tops of the hills, and in places abounding with cattle. In the flat country, however, bordering on the river, malaria and intermittent fever are very common, and indeed the whole course of the Tagus requires regulating.