1880 Facts about Port and Madeira by Henry Vizetelly

The Reiiirn Journey—Regoa—Baixo Corgo.

109

SEBOJIENHA.

liistrict is far more densely populated than the parts above the Coi-go, nine-tenths of the people employed at the vintage came from afar,the men receiving fi-om Is. Id. to Is. lOd. per day, and the women from 6d. to 8d. While I was at Eegoa I came by accident upon a party of vintagers on the wayto their distant homes after the conclusion of their labours,the men in jackets ■or their shirt-sleeves and broad-brimmed hats, andmostly carry ing long quarter-staves; the women ■with gay-coloured kerchiefs tiedover their heads, and, ■with one or two exceptions, bare-legged. The party comprised players on the drum, fiddle, and guitar, and most of the others were provided with castanets. The time ■to which they danced and sang was a very humdrum one, still they gaily pirouetted along, musicians and all, not dancing as though for money, as on the stage, nor in compliance "with social exactions, as in a ball-room, but for the pure love of the thiag, going over t'wice or thrice the ground they need other wise have done. At particular points the music and the singing rose to a louder key, when the dancers, throwing up their arms, brandished their staves and whirledround and round,leaping at times into the air with um*estrained delight. And althoughI