stretch showing the parallel direction of the railway on the river bank; the driver of the electrico puts on the speed of a motor car as if giving vent to the relief from incessant guard at the many corners and cross lines nearer the city. Now a deep, open square stretches on the left almost to the river bank. It is the Praça of D. Fernando, bearing traces of recent plantation, the workmen still busy with the young palms and garden beds. In the centre stands an imposing monument of the historic figure of Affonzo d' Albuquerque, the famous viceroy who laid the foundation of Portuguese power in India, and by the conquest of Goa, Malacca and Ormuz so raised Portuguese prestige that nearly all the princes of Hindostan and of the islands of the Indian Sea sent ambassadors to Goa. Albuquerque became the arbiter of peace and war in that part of the Orient, but his triumphs in India gained him a collossal envy at home that prompted D. Manuel to appoint a new viceroy. Albuquerque was ill when the vessels arrived bearing the news, and he succumbed through the chagrin caused by the ingratitude of his country and King, both of whom he had served with loyalty.
For a moment I remain watching the excited interest of a group of soldiers in white jackets discussing the battle scenes depicted in bas-relief on the base of the great General's monument, then I make my way to a gateway in the long pink wall on the other side of the road. The upper part retreats like an earthwork, and above this rises a congerie of ancient gabled roofs and the pale rose buildings beneath them of the Palace of Belem, once a royal residence and now used for occasional royal guests to the kingdom. With sunny, serene and old-world aspect the palace faces the Tagus in a charming position on slightly high ground. Originally the property of the Conde de Aveiras he sold it to D. João V, who enlarged and beautified
53
