uperstition now prevails?" Lady Mabel asked.

"So widely, that at least every other man you meet is a Sebastianist."

As they rode on they found the country dotted over with _quintas_ and
country-houses, here called _montes_, from being generally seated on
hills. Around each homestead the meagre and tame-hued olive was
mingled with the deep rich green of the orange-tree, which here
produces its fruit in the greatest perfection of flavor, at least, if
not of size, and a vineyard occasionally occupied the slope of the
hill. The lower grounds were covered with extensive cornfields,
bearing here a thriving growth of wheat, there a young crop of maize,
which furnishes these people with more than half their food.

"The Portuguese," said L'Isle, "like their Spanish neighbors, are
often charged with indolence; but here and elsewhere, under favorable
circumstances, they show no want of industry. The husbandman of this
part of Alemtejo has grown rich in spite of the greatest obstacle to
thrift, which the church has raised up in devoting more than half the
year to holy days. Good lands are apt to make good farmers, and labor
and skill well repaid, leads to the outlay of more labor and greater
skill."

"We see around us a people," said Lady Mabel, "reveling in the
Scripture blessings of corn, wine, and oil. I think there must be no
little resemblance between Portugal and Palestine."

"The Jews think so too," answered L'Isle. "The delights of Portugal
can make a Jew forget Jerusalem. They clung, and still cling to it, as
another promised land. Moreover, if their fathers of old longed after
the leeks and onions of Egypt, their sons may satisfy that longing
here."

"And stuff themselves with garlic to boot, like Portuguese sausage,"
said Mrs. Shortridge. "The quantity of these things in it leaves
little room for the pork."

The travelers occasionally fell in with peasants singly, or in parties
on the road; and L'Isle, prompted by the ladies, let few of them pass
without exchanging some words, which were easily drawn out; for
English uniforms, and ladies so evidently foreigners, excited much
curiosity, especially in the women. Struck with the air of comfort
common among these people, and the marks of fertility and cultivation
in the country around them, Lady Mabel hoped that Moodie had at last
met with something to please him; so she asked the opinion of that
high authority on the rural prospect and the farming around them. But