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Updated: June 9, 2025
Monte Moro is the head of a range of hills which cross this part of the Alemtejo, and from hence they fork east and south-east, towards the former of which directions lies the direct road to Elvas, Badajos, and Madrid; and towards the latter that to Evora. A beautiful mountain, covered to the top with cork trees, is the third of the chain which skirts the way in the direction of Elvas.
Much had already been done, for in 1471 Fernando Po had reached the mouth of the Niger, and all the coast southward from Morocco was well known and visited annually, for slaves used to cultivate the vast estates in the Alemtejo; but it was not till 1484 that Diogo Cão, sent out by the king, discovered the mouth of the Congo, or till 1486 that Bartholomeu Diaz doubled the Cabo Tormentoso, an ill-omened name which Dom João changed to Good Hope.
From eight till ten the cold was truly terrible, and though I was closely wrapped in an excellent fur "shoob," with which I had braved the frosts of Russian winters, I shivered in every limb, and was far more rejoiced when I again set my foot on the Alemtejo, than when I landed for the first time, after having escaped the horrors of the tempest.
Here the view became wildly interesting; the sun was sinking in the midst of red and stormy clouds, and its rays were reflected on the dun walls of the lofty town to which we were wending. Nor far distant to the south-west rose Serra Dorso, which I had seen from Evora, and which is the most beautiful mountain in the Alemtejo.
Boatmen of the Tagus Dangers of the Stream Aldea Gallega The Hostelry Robbers Sabocha Adventure of a Muleteer Estalagem de Ladroes Don Geronimo Vendas Novas Royal Residence Swine of the Alemtejo Monto Moro Swayne Vonved Singular Goatherd Children of the Fields Infidels and Sadducees. On the afternoon of the sixth of December I set out for Evora, accompanied by my servant.
Further south in the province of Alemtejo Moorish buildings are more common, and there are many in which, though the design and plan as well as most of the detail may be Western, yet there is something, the whitewashed walls, the round conical pinnacles, or the flat roofs which give them an Eastern look. And this is natural.
It seems to be older than the rest, and now its chief ornament is a large fig-tree growing near the top on the south side. Of all the towns in the Alemtejo Evora is the one where Eastern influence is most strongly marked.
The Alemtejo was an unprepossessing country, consisting for the most part of "heaths, broken by knolls and gloomy dingles, swamps and forests of stunted pine," with but few hills and mountains. The place was infested with banditti, and robberies, accompanied by horrible murders, were of constant occurrence.
Had I waited for them I should have probably landed at Aldea Gallega about midnight, and I felt little inclination to make my entree in the Alemtejo at that hour; therefore, as I saw small boats which can push off at any time lying near in abundance, I determined upon hiring one of them for the passage, though the expense would be thus considerably increased.
I determined, however, ere leaving Portugal, to establish depots of Bibles in one or two of the provincial towns. I wished to visit the Alemtejo, which I had heard was a very benighted region. The Alemtejo means the province beyond the Tagus.
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