eing noticed is the number
of persons whose eyes are not on the same level. When this does not
amount to an actual disfigurement, it is still a blemish which prevents
many a young girl from being classed as a beauty. This and the peculiar
notched or cleft teeth seem to point to an hereditary taint. Also
unmistakable signs of a greater or lesser admixture of black blood are
numerous. As a rule, the Portuguese are dark-complexioned, with large
dark eyes and black hair; but, of course, one meets many exceptions. The
men of the working class are fond of wearing enormous bushy whiskers,
and women of all classes are accustomed to wear _moustachios_. The thin
line of softest down which accentuates the ripe lips of the _senhorina_
of some seventeen summers becomes an unattractive incident in the broad
countenance of the stout lady of advancing years; and when, as sometimes
happens, the hirsute appendages take the form of a thin, straggling
beard, with a tooth-brush moustache, it can only be described as an
unmitigated horror.

Society in Portugal is very mixed. There are the old _fidalgos_, haughty
and unapproachable, and often very poor, the descendants of the nobles
whose duplicity, ability in intrigue, and want of patriotism are so
often alluded to in the pages of Napier. Then there are the new
nobility, the "titled Brasileros," as Galenga calls them, who have come
back from Brazil to their native land with large fortunes acquired
somehow, and who practically buy titles, as well as lands and houses.
Wealthy tradesmen, also, hold a special position in the mixed middle
class. There is, too, a curious blending of old-fashioned courtesy with
democratic sentiments. The tradesman welcomes his customers with
effusive politeness--shakes hands as he invites them to sit down, and
chats with these perhaps titled ladies without any affectation or
assumption. After a while the parties turn to business. A sort of
Oriental bargaining takes place, the seller asking twice as much as the
object is worth and he intends to take. The purchaser meets this with an
offer of about half what she intends to give. With the utmost politeness
and civility the negotiations are conducted on either side. Each gives
way little by little, and in the end a bargain is struck. The amounts
involved appear to be enormous, as the _reis_ are computed by thousands
and hundreds; but, then, the _real_ is only worth about the thousandth
part of three shillings and twope