thermometer of Fahrenheit be at 110 degrees; and scarcely an instance of
canine madness is ever known to occur. When the French decreed the
extinction of the tribe of curs that infest the streets, no native
executioner could be found to put the exterminating law in force; nay,
the very measure excited popular indignation.

_Golden Sands._--Perhaps originally it was the fabled gold of the Tagus
which attracted Jews to Lisbon in such numbers, and the general
persuasion indeed is, that the yellow sands of this royal river did
actually once produce sufficient gold to make a magnificent crown and
sceptre for the amiable hands of that patriot sovereign, the good king
Denis.

_A Dinner._--A dish of yellow-looking bacalhao, the worst supposable
specimen of our saltings in Newfoundland; a platter of compact, black,
greasy, dirty-looking rice; a pound, if so much, of poor half-fed meat;
a certain proportion of hard-boiled beef, that has never seen the
salting pan, having already yielded its nutritious qualities to a
swinging tureen of Spartan soup, and now requiring the accompaniment of
a satellite tongue, or friendly slice of Lamego bacon, to impait a dull
relish to it; potatoes of leaden continuity; dumplings of adamantine
contexture, that Carthaginian vinegar itself might fail to dissolve;
with offensive vegetables, and something in a round shape, said to be
imported from Holland, and called cheese, but more like the unyielding
rock of flint in the tenacity of its impenetrable substance; a small
quantity of _very small_ wine; abundance of water; and an awful army of
red ants, probably imported from the Brazils--the wood of which the
chairs and tables are made, hurrying across the cloth with
characteristic industry;--such are the principal features of the quiet
family dinner-table of the Portuguese.