I
Thanked The Voice For Its Communications, And Walked Away.
Whilst
proceeding under the wall of the house towards the south-west, I
heard a fresh and louder tittering
Above my head, and looking up,
saw three or four windows crowded with dusky faces, and black
waving hair; these belonged to the nuns, anxious to obtain a view
of the stranger. After kissing my hand repeatedly, I moved on, and
soon arrived at the south-west end of this mountain of curiosities.
There I found the remains of a large building, which seemed to have
been originally erected in the shape of a cross. A tower at its
eastern entrance was still entire; the western side was quite in
ruins, and stood on the verge of the hill overlooking the valley,
at the bottom of which ran the stream I have spoken of on a former
occasion.
The day was intensely hot, notwithstanding the coldness of the
preceding nights; and the brilliant sun of Portugal now illumined a
landscape of entrancing beauty. Groves of cork trees covered the
farther side of the valley and the distant acclivities, exhibiting
here and there charming vistas, where various flocks of cattle were
feeding; the soft murmur of the stream, which was at intervals
chafed and broken by huge stones, ascended to my ears and filled my
mind with delicious feelings. I sat down on the broken wall and
remained gazing, and listening, and shedding tears of rapture; for,
of all the pleasures which a bountiful God permitteth his children
to enjoy, none are so dear to some hearts as the music of forests,
and streams, and the view of the beauties of his glorious creation.
An hour elapsed, and I still maintained my seat on the wall; the
past scenes of my life flitting before my eyes in airy and
fantastic array, through which every now and then peeped trees and
hills and other patches of the real landscape which I was
confronting; the sun burnt my visage, but I heeded it not; and I
believe that I should have remained till night, buried in these
reveries, which, I confess, only served to enervate the mind, and
steal many a minute which might be most profitably employed, had
not the report of the gun of a fowler in the valley, which awakened
the echoes of the woods, hills, and ruins, caused me to start on my
feet, and remember that I had to proceed three leagues before I
could reach the hostelry where I intended to pass the night.
I bent my steps to the inn, passing along a kind of rampart:
shortly before I reached the portal, which I have already
mentioned, I observed a kind of vault on my right hand, scooped out
of the side of the hill; its roof was supported by three pillars,
though part of it had given way towards the farther end, so that
the light was admitted through a chasm in the top. It might have
been intended for a chapel, a dungeon, or a cemetery, but I should
rather think for the latter; one thing I am certain of, that it was
not the work of Moorish hands, and indeed throughout my wanderings
in this place I saw nothing which reminded me of that most singular
people. The hill on which the ruins stand was doubtless originally
a strong fortress of the Moors, who, upon their first irruption
into the peninsula, seized and fortified most of the lofty and
naturally strong positions, but they had probably lost it at an
early period, so that the broken walls and edifices, which at
present cover the hill, are probably remains of the labours of the
Christians after the place had been rescued from the hands of the
terrible enemies of their faith. Monte Moro will perhaps recall
Cintra to the mind of the traveller, as it exhibits a distant
resemblance to that place; nevertheless, there is something in
Cintra wild and savage, to which Monte Moro has no pretension; its
scathed and gigantic crags are piled upon each other in a manner
which seems to menace headlong destruction to whatever is in the
neighbourhood; and the ruins which still cling to those crags seem
more like eagles' nests than the remains of the habitations even of
Moors; whereas those of Monte Moro stand comparatively at their
ease on the broad back of a hill, which, though stately and
commanding, has no crags nor precipices, and which can be ascended
on every side without much difficulty: yet I was much gratified by
my visit, and I shall wander far indeed before I forget the voice
in the dilapidated convent, the ruined walls amongst which I
strayed, and the rampart where, sunk in dreamy rapture, I sat
during a bright sunny hour at Monte Moro.
I returned to the inn, where I refreshed myself with tea and very
sweet and delicious cheesecakes, the handiwork of the nuns in the
convent above. Observing gloom and unhappiness on the countenances
of the people of the house, I inquired the reason of the hostess,
who sat almost motionless, on the hearth by the fire; whereupon she
informed me that her husband was deadly sick with a disorder which,
from her description, I supposed to be a species of cholera; she
added, that the surgeon who attended him entertained no hopes of
his recovery. I replied that it was quite in the power of God to
restore her husband in a few hours from the verge of the grave to
health and vigour, and that it was her duty to pray to that
Omnipotent Being with all fervency. I added, that if she did not
know how to pray upon such an occasion, I was ready to pray for
her, provided she would join in the spirit of the supplication. I
then offered up a short prayer in Portuguese, in which I entreated
the Lord to remove, if he thought proper, the burden of affliction
under which the family was labouring.
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