I (t I " . ■■■fM
.* -I !;
11
nC) THE ATLANTIC. [ c h a p . II.
terraces liaA'c been laid out and decorated with
statuary and fountains with some taste, and evidently
at g-reat expense ; but the garden has fallen
into disuse for scientific purposes, and has heen
allowed to get into disorder and disrepair ; and only
a heautiful group or two of date-palms and a splendid
dragon-tree, Avith a head 30 feet in diameter, still
maintain a trace of its former character. It is intended
to lay out a piece of ground near the ncAV
Polytechnic School as a garden for teaching purposes,
and I helieve the old Botanic Garden Avill probably
he merged in the grounds of the palace.
There is a very complete Meteorological and Magnetic
Observatory, noAV under the energetic management
of MM. J. C. de Brito Capello and Gama Loho.
The meteorological department is in telegraphic
communication Avitli the principal European Observatories,
and the Magnetic Observatory is similar in
almost all respects to that at Kcav. The building is
insulated for temperature, and a very complete
photograpliic registering apparatus is in constant
use. Photographs of the sun, registering the form
and position of the spots, are taken daily; and an
Astronomical Observatory, Avliich is to he used for the
present chiefly for oliseiwations of the sun, is in process
of completion.
W e enjoyed greatly our few days in Lisbon. The
British Minister, the Hon. Sir Charles Murray, was
most courteous in his attention. The weather was
delicious, Ave Avere in the middle of the orange and
lemon harvest and the air was redolent of the perfume
of the golden fru it; and there Avas certainly
little to remind us of the Avinter aa"c had so latelv
r«. ft