a repast for all the inhabitants of the Alemtejo.

I passed the night with great comfort in a clean bed, remote from
all those noises so rife in a Portuguese inn, and the next morning
at six we again set out on our journey, which we hoped to terminate
before sunset, as Evora is but ten leagues from Vendas Novas. The
preceding morning had been cold, but the present one was far
colder, so much so, that just before sunrise I could no longer
support it on horseback, and therefore dismounting, ran and walked
until we reached a few houses at the termination of these desolate
moors. It was in one of these houses that the commissioners of Don
Pedro and Miguel met, and it was there agreed that the latter
should resign the crown in favour of Donna Maria, for Evora was the
last stronghold of the usurper, and the moors of the Alemtejo the
last area of the combats which so long agitated unhappy Portugal.
I therefore gazed on the miserable huts with considerable interest,
and did not fail to scatter in the neighbourhood several of the
precious little tracts with which, together with a small quantity
of Testaments, my carpet bag was provided.

The country began to improve; the savage heaths were left behind,
and we saw hills and dales, cork trees, and azinheiras, on the last
of which trees grows that kind of sweet acorn called bolotas, which
is pleasant as a chestnut, and which supplies in winter the
principal food on which the numerous swine of the Alemtejo subsist.
Gallant swine they are, with short legs and portly bodies of a
black or dark red colour; and for the excellence of their flesh I
can vouch, having frequently luxuriated upon it in the course of my
wanderings in this province; the lombo, or loin, when broiled on
the live embers, is delicious, especially when eaten with olives.