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antique medallions, and supporting an urn | ried on overland, Venice was better situawith various figures representing the sacrifice of Iphigenia.

OPORTO, PORTUGAL.

ORTUGAL is but a small country, in the form of an oblong square, extending from 37° to 420 N. latitude. Its greatest length is 350 miles from north to south, and its average breadth about 115 miles; consequently the area of its surface is about 40,000 square miles, and it is therefore not much more than half the size of Great Britain, and about one fifth the size of France. Yet the fleets and commerce of Portugal at one time were more extensive than those of any country in Europe; and for two centuries, the Portuguese were equally pre-eminent as adventurous and successful navigators. Madeira, the Azores, and parts of the gold coast, were settled by them early in the fourteenth century, and the kings of Portugal placed themselves at the head of that enthusiastic ardor, which, stimulated by the hope of finding a way by sea, to the countries from which the Europeans received ivory, gold-dust, and other commodities across the desert, was at length successful in accomplishing its object. The Portuguese led the way from Europe to India by sea; they planted colonies on the shores of the African continent, from its northern extremities almost to its southern headland; they held possession of extensive territories in India by the right of conquest, and claimed for themselves the exclusive right of navigating the Indian seas. In the new world, Brazil was one of the earliest European settlements; and Lisbon became the great European mart for the productions of India, Africa, and America. Being the first to open new paths to commercial enterprise, and engrossing the trade with newly-discovered countries, great profits were made. When the trade to India was car

ted as an entrepôt for the productions of the east than Lisbon; but when they were brought by sea, Lisbon, situated between the north and south of Europe, was most conveniently placed. The Portuguese endeavored to secure to themselves, if possible, the exclusive advantages which their adventurous spirit had placed in their hands. No other country was allowed to participate in the trade to the Portuguese settlements; and the right to traffic with the natives of newly-discovered countries, was permitted only to those who had sufficient interest to obtain a license, and who were often worthless adventurers. Though, for a considerable period, commerce flourished, and profits were great, the system of monopolies, both in the colonies and at home, was sure to undermine the prosperity of the country at some future period; and many subsequent evils are to be traced to illiberal restrictions framed in the hope of excluding other countries from the African, Indian, or transatlantic trade. These efforts to maintain a monopoly were fruitless; and when other nations became their competitors, Portugal was in her turn shut out from profitable branches of foreign commerce. Thus she was left to her monopolies.

Manufactures declined, though, having such extensive colonies, it might have been expected that the demands on the industry of the mother-country would have greatly increased; and the direct object of their restrictive system had been to promote the interests of Portugal. Political events rapidly hastened the crisis which would sooner or later have been occasioned by the unsound commercial policy of the country. In the fifteenth century, Portugal was successfully struggling for maritiine and commercial pre-eminence; in the sixteenth century this object was obtained, and the people were reaping the benefits of their enterprise ; but from 1580, when Portugal was annexed to Spain, its long and melancholy decline commenced. The authority of the mother-country being relaxed, its connexion with the colonies was weakened, and it was not powerful enough to defend them against aggressions, so that one by one they fell into the hands of the Dutch

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or English. Of all its possessions in Africa, India, and the new world, only Madeira, the Azores, and one or two settlements in Africa and India now remain.

In 1640, Portugal once more became an independent state under the sovereigns of the house of Braganza, a member of which is the present occupant of the Portuguese throne. But this revival of its political life failed in quickening industry and commerce, which had gradually sunk into insignificance; and though in fact nominally independent, the principles of vitality which should have rallied and invigorated public spirit, were so stagnant, that foreign support was required to sustain the tottering state.

The great wine company of Oporto, established in 1754, was the offspring of the Anglo-Portuguese system of commercial policy. This body of monopolists assumed the right of regulating the production of wine in the upper Douro, which is the most valuable wine district of Portugal; and it even went the length of ordering vineyards to be destroyed, with a view of making the most of their monopoly at the least possible trouble. In the meantime, although the trade of England with France, a country containing more than ten times the population of Portugal, was suffered to decline, being restricted within the narrowest bounds to which the mutual wants of the two countries could be confined, the supposed advantages secured to Portugal failed in conferring those benefits upon her which were anticipated.

Under the administration of Pombal, a minister of superior energy, the country had displayed some signs of life, and useful reforms had been effected, but both were transient benefits, disappearing when the influence by which they had been produced was no longer felt. In 1807, amid the distractions occasioned by foreign invasion, the royal family of Portugal emigrated to Brazil, and from that time until the close of the war, life and property were insecure, and industry languished. After the peace, when the nations began to improve their internal resources, Portugal was not permitted to enjoy the same tranquillity, but was disturbed by civil dissensions, which raged from 1820 to the

expulsion of Don Miguel in 1834, and were but ill calculated to stimulate industry or to allow of the commencement of those enterprises which render a nation prosperous. But the energy and vigor which had distinguished the Portuguese of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were no longer the characteristics of the nation. Ignorance and misgovernment had produced their wonted effects. The foreign trade of Portugal, once more extensive than that of any other power, was chiefly carried on at the two ports of Lisbon and Oporto, with English capital; and but for the same stimulus, even the work of reproduction would have ceased in many instances.

At the termination of the late civil war, all the interests of Portugal were, as may be supposed, in a struggling condition; and the physical causes which obstruct the internal activity of the country neces-. sarily render it a work of time to overcome these difficulties. Portugal consists in a great measure of mountain-ridges, divided by chasms. Alemtejo and Beira are the only provinces which contain plains of any extent. The rivers are few, and in summer even some which are navigable at other seasons, are nearly dry; there are no canals, and the roads are wretched.

Thus the traffic between one part of the country and another is insignificant, and local prejudices of the most antiquated date hold undisputed sway in petty districts cut off from each other by ravines and desolate tracts. These circumstances have also their political influence. At present the country is too poor to construct good roads, but Roman energy overcame the natural difficulties which the surface presented, and there are the remains of highways which they formed. The want of roads is greatest in the south, but in the northern provinces the main roads are tolerably good, and there are bridges where they are required, but these are of ancient date, and not the result of recent improvements. The cross-roads resemble the tracks which cover the vast steppes of Russia. There are neither stage-coaches nor any system established by which travellers may pursue their journey with posthorses; Portugal, in this test of civiliza

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were partially converted into corn lands by order of the government, they did not remain long diverted from their former more profitable uses.

tion, ranking lower than any other country | vineyards on the Douro and Mondego in Europe. The inns are few in number, and afford very poor accommodation, and, indeed, are to be found in the larger towns. It is evident that there are few arrangements based on the locomotive habits of the people. The wheel-carriages which are in use are in keeping with the roads over which they are to travel, and on many of the roads conveyance by wheelcarriages is not possible, and goods are carried on the backs of mules.

The mines of lead, iron, copper, and other metal, and the quarries of fine marble, all once profitably worked, were neglected. In the fourteenth century, when the population of Portugal was greater than at present, sufficient corn was grown to admit of some quantity being exported; but when trade had dwindled, and agriculture was the chief resource left, Portugal had become a grain-importing country. Butter and cheese are imported in considerable quantities from England and Holland. Cows are seldom kept, goats' milk being usually used. The wool of the sheep in the plains of Beira is of good quality, and greater attention might be advantageously paid to the fleece, which would become an important article of exchange with other countries. The development of the agricultural resources of Portugal, ought, indeed, now to be the great object of her rulers. With a fine climate, and a soil favorable to the produetion of corn, wine, oil, and a variety of fruits, the aggregate riches of the country might be easily increased. Maize and rice are raised, potatoes are not much cultivated. If irrigation were more generally practised, and other improvements introduced, the surplus produce of the soil would not be confined to fruits, such as oranges, lemons, citrons, chestnuts, almonds, &c., which it requires little exertion to render profitable objects of cultivation. The olive is rather extensively cultivated; but the produce is chiefly consumed at home, the oil forming one of the commonest ingredients of cookery in Portugal. The cork-tree is also a profitable native production. But the vine is the most valuable, and when, in 1765, in accordance with the spirit in which the industry of the country was regulated, the

Lisbon and Oporto are the only ports of considerable importance in Portugal. The entrance of the Tagus is magnificent, and ships of burden come close up to the town; but how sadly has the commerce of this once famous entrepôt declined! At one period 400 large ships traded between Lisbon and South America, besides those which were employed in the trade with Africa, India, China, and with the Moluccas, and other distant parts; but the whole foreign shipping of the country has now dwindled to 50 vessels; and in 1838 only 324 vessels entered the Tagus, including steamboats which arrive from England once a week, the aggregate tonnage of these 324 vessels, being 53,728 tons. London and Liverpool are the principal ports engaged in the trade with Portugal; vessels from these places proceed with general cargoes, and return with fruit, wine, wool, and other native produce. Oranges may be bought by retail at one penny sterling per dozen, and of course are much cheaper when purchased wholesale of the grower.

Coal is exported to Portugal from Newcastle and Glasgow, and the vessels which bring fish from Newfoundland and take back salt in return, are British. From other parts of the United kingdom besides those just mentioned, vessels for Portugal usually proceed in ballast.

The manner in which the decline of foreign commerce occurred, may be easily explained. When the Dutch and English, instead of obtaining the produce of America and the Indies from Lisbon, proceeded direct to those parts of the globe, Lisbon ceased to be the great dépôt, which circumstances had temporarily made her. The trade with Brazil, was, however, preserved until within the last few years; but the monopoly of Portugal ceased when Brazil became an independent country, and England and other countries carry on a direct trade for cotton, sugar, and those articles of Brazilian produce which the mother-country formerly required to be brought to Lisbon previous to their distri

STUDY A CHILD'S CAPACITIES.

bution in Europe. The produce and manufactures of Europe, also, instead of reaching the Brazilians from Lisbon, are received direct from the country whose industry has given them an exchangeable value. The obstacles to a more extensive export trade of the native productions of Portugal arise to a great extent from the cost and labor of conveying goods and merchandise; and thus, beyond a certain distance from places which are near a shipping-port or possess some facilities for reaching it, the stimulus to production which foreign commerce excites is not very strongly experienced. Still the trade of Lisbon is extensive, as there are few seaports in Portugal, and mercantile operations are concentrated chiefly in Lisbon and Oporto. The population of Lisbon is about 260,000. Oporto, a view of which is given in the engraving, is the second port of the kingdom, and delightfully situated on two hills near the mouth of the Douro, which winds among steep hills crowned with woods. It is on the left bank of the river, the suburb of Villa Nova being opposite, and connected with Oporto by a bridge of boats. Oporto appears to great advantage after escaping from the filth of Lisbon. The immense magazines of the great wine company are prominent objects of interest. The population amounts to about 70,000. There are, of course, many small ports, but with the exception of St. Ubes, they are merely the resort of coasting vessels. About 500 vessels load annually at St. Ubes with bay-salt, which Portugal exports to the extent of 100,000 tons annually. Ships with fish take back cargoes of this salt, which is of a good quality.

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provement of navigable rivers and seaports, and a land-bank, with four branches in different parts of the country, has been projected for the purpose of assisting the manufacturer and the agriculturist in the development of their interests.

STUDY A CHILD'S CAPACITIES.

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F some are naturally dull, and yet strive to do well, notice the effort, and do not censure the dulness. A teacher might as justly scold a child for being nearsighted, as for being naturally dull. Some children have a great verbal memory, others are quite the reverse. Some minds develop early, others late. Some have great powers of acquiring, others of originating. Some may appear stupid, because their true spring of character has never been touched. The dunce of the school may turn out in the end the living progressive, wonder-working genius of the age. In order to erect the best spiritual influence, we must understand the spirit upon which we wish to exert that influence. For with the human mind, we must work with nature, and not against it. Like the leaf of the nettle, if touched one way it stings like the wasp; if the other, it is softer than satin. If we would do justice to the human mind, we must find out its peculiar characteristics, and adapt ourselves to its individual wants. In conversation on this point with a friend, who is now the principal of one of our best grammar-schools, and to whose instructions. I look back with delight-" Your remarks," said he, " are quite true; and let me tell you of a little incident which bears The monopoly of the Oporto wine com- upon the point. Last summer I had a girl pany has been abolished. Some judicious who was exceedingly behind in all her reductions of taxes have been made, the studies. She was at the foot of the diviscurrency has been improved, and the land ion, and seemed to care but little for her of useless corporations declared public books. It so happened that as a relaxaproperty. The government has deter- tion, I let them at times, during schoolmined to lend its aid to the improvement hours, unite in singing. I noticed that of roads, the construction of ports, the im- this girl had a remarkably clear, sweet

Since 1834, when Portugal entered upon a new era, her prospects have brightened, and if tranquillity be firmly established, and more enlightened sentiments prevail in her councils, the interests of industry will revive.

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