1880 Facts about Port and Madeira by Henry Vizetelly

Buying New Wine. A Tour of Inspectimi.

47

piled up were alike unavailable. Before you bad swallowed a few moutbfuls of turkey, or bad touched tbe ribs of sucking-pig witb wbicb you bad been simultaneously helped, you found a plump partridge in tbe middle of your plate, and if you only tiimed your bead aside for a moment a slice of bam as thick as an average beefsteak would be placed on tbe top of it. For tunately there wei'e a couple of hungry lurchers in tbe room, and unperceived we shared witb them tbe superfluities wbicb fell to our lot at this over-bounteous banquet. It was nigh five o'clock when we quitted tbe Quinta do Caedo and struck tbe high road sldi-ting tbe Kio Torto. Here a couple of us separated from tbe remainder oftbe party,who were boimd still higher up tbe Douro,to proceed to ibe Quinta do Seixo, adjacent to tbe Quinta dos AiTegadas, from wbicb we bad started that morning. Tbe way to Ervedoza having been pointed out to us, and a coiqDle of arrieiros instructed to serve as our guides,we rode leisurely down tbe mountain-side,passing droves of donkeys witb pigskins full of common wine strapped across their backs. On we proceeded imagining our guides were loitering behind until we reached tbe village,when,dusk having by this time set in,we baited at tbe fountain to water our horses and await tbe coming of our arrieiros. Long we lingered here, ignorant of tbe road we ought to take; still our men failed to turn up. In very limited Portuguese we inquired for a guide; but a heavy storm appeared to be threatening, and none was to be obtained. At length, when it bad grown quite dark and people were groping their way about tbe village witb lantems, we asked to be conducted to some inn. Tbe best accommodation tbe miserable little place afforded was readily placed at our dis posal. It consisted ofa couple of small compartments, boarded off from a large granary strewn witb sacks of grain and potatoes, and grapes and figs laid out on straw mats to dry. Scarcely were we under shelter when tbe rain came down in torrents; and when at daylight on tbe following morning we resumed our journey, witb tbe landlord of tbe inn mounted on bis mule for guide,tbe roads bore ample testimony to tbe deluge of tbe previous night.