Page:EB1911 - Volume 16.djvu/793

 Cu$9$Al$4$(OH)$15$(AsO$4$)$5$.20H$2$O. It crystallizes in the monoclinic system, forming flattened octahedra almost lenticular in shape (hence the German name Linsenkupfer). Characteristic is the bright sky-blue colour, though sometimes, possibly owing to differences in chemical composition, it is verdigris-green. The colour of the streak or powder is rather paler; hence the name liroconite, from the Gr. , pale, and  , powder. The hardness is 2, and the specific gravity 2·95. The mineral was found at the beginning of the 19th century in the copper mines near Gwennap in Cornwall, where it was associated with other copper arsenates in the upper, oxidized portions of the lodes.

LISBON (Lisboa), the capital of the kingdom of Portugal and of the department of Lisbon; on the right bank of the river Tagus, near its entrance into the Atlantic Ocean, in and  Pop. (1900) 356,009. Lisbon, the westernmost of European capitals, is built in a succession of terraces up the sides of a range of low hills, backed by the granite mountains of Cintra. It fronts the Tagus, and the view from the river of its white houses, and its numerous parks and gardens, is comparable in beauty with the approach to Naples or Constantinople by sea. The lower reaches of the estuary form a channel (Entrada do Tejo) about 2 m. wide and 8 m. long, which is partially closed at its mouth by a bar of silt. Owing to the reclamation of the foreshore on the right, and the consequent narrowing of the waterway, the current flows very swiftly down this channel, which is the sole outlet for the immense volume of water accumulated in the Rada de Lisboa—a tidal lake formed by the broadening of the estuary in its upper part to fill a basin 11 m. long with an average breadth of nearly 7 m. The southern or left shore of the channel rises sharply from the water’s edge in a line of almost unbroken though not lofty cliffs; the margin of the lake is flat, marshy and irregular. Lisbon extends for more than 5 m. along the shores of both channel and lake, and for more than 3 m. inland. Its suburbs, which generally terminate in a belt of vineyards, parks or gardens, interspersed with villas and farms, stretch in some cases beyond the Estrada Militar, or Estrada da Nova Circumvallação, an inner line of defence 25 m. long, supplementary to the forts and other military works at the mouth of the Tagus, on the heights of Cintra and Alverca, and at Caxias, Sacavem, Monsanto and Ameixoeira. The climate of Lisbon is mild and equable, though somewhat oppressive in summer. Extreme cold is so rare that in the twenty years 1856–1876 snow fell only thrice; and in the 18th and early 19th centuries Lisbon was justly esteemed as a winter health-resort. The mean annual temperature is 60·1° F., the mean for winter 50·9°, the average rainfall 29·45 in. As in 1906, when no rain fell between April and September, long periods of drought are not uncommon, although the proximity of the Atlantic and the frequency of sea-fogs keep the atmosphere humid; the mean atmospheric moisture is nearly 71 (100=saturation). There is a good water supply, conveyed to the city by two vast aqueducts. The older of these is the Aqueducto das Aguas Livres, which was built in the first half of the 18th century and starts from a point near Bellas, 15 m. W.N.W. Its conduits, which are partly underground, are conveyed across the Alcantara valley through a magnificent viaduct of thirty-five arches, exceeding 200 ft. in height. At the Lisbon end of the aqueduct is the Mae d’Agua (i.e. “Mother of Water”), containing a huge stone hall in the midst of which is the reservoir. The Alviella aqueduct, opened in 1880, brings water from Alviella near Pernes, 70 m. N.N.E. Numerous fountains are among the means of distribution. Sewage is discharged into the Tagus, and the sanitation of the city is good, except in the older quarters.

Divisions of the City.—The four municipal districts (bairros) into which Lisbon is divided are the Alfama, or old town, in the east; the Cidade Baixa, or lower town, which extends inland from the naval arsenal and custom house; the Bairro Alto, comprising all the high ground west of the Cidade Baixa; and the Alcantara, or westernmost district, named after the small river Alcantara, which flows down into the Tagus. Other names commonly used, though unofficial, are “Lisboa Oriental” as an alternative for Alfama; “Lisboa Occidental” for the slopes which lead from the Cidade Baixa to the Bairro Alto; “Buenos Ayres” (originally so named from the number of its South American residents) for the Bairro Alto S.W. of the Estrella Gardens and E. of the Necessidades Park; “Campo de Ourique” and “Rato” for the suburbs respectively N.W. and N.E. of Buenos Ayres.

The Alfama.—The Alfama, which represents Roman and Moorish Lisbon, is less rich in archaeological interest than its great antiquity might suggest, although parts of a Roman temple, baths, &c., have been disinterred. But as the earthquake of 1755 did comparatively little damage to this quarter, many of its narrow, steep and winding alleys retain the medieval aspect which all other parts of the city have lost; and almost rival the slums of Oporto in picturesque squalor. The most conspicuous feature of the Alfama is the rocky hill surmounted by the Castello de São Jorge, a Moorish citadel which has been converted into a fort and barracks. The Sé Patriarchal, a cathedral founded in 1150 by Alphonso I., is said by tradition to have been a Moorish mosque. It was wrecked by an earthquake in 1344 and rebuilt in 1380, but the earthquake of 1755 shattered the dome, the roof and belfry were subsequently burned, and after the work of restoration was completed the choir and façade were the only parts of the 14th-century Gothic church unspoiled. In one of the side chapels is the tomb of St Vincent (d. 304), patron saint of Lisbon; a pair of ravens kept within the cathedral precincts are popularly believed to be the same birds which, according to the legend, miraculously guided the saint’s vessel to the city. The armorial bearings of Lisbon, representing a ship and two ravens, commemorate the legend. Other noteworthy buildings in the Alfama are the 12th-century church of São Vicente de Fóra, originally, as its name implies, “outside” the city; the 13th-century chapel of Nossa Senhora do Monte; the 16th-century church of Nossa Senhora da Graça, which contains a reputed wonder-working statue of Christ and the tomb of Alphonso d’Albuquerque (1453–1515); and a secularized Augustinian monastery, used as the archbishop’s palace.

Modern Lisbon.—West of the Alfama the city dates chiefly from the period after the great earthquake. Its lofty houses, arranged in long straight streets, its gardens and open spaces, a few of its public buildings, and almost all its numerous statues and fountains, will bear comparison with those of any European capital. The centre of social and commercial activity is the district which comprises the Praça do Commercio, Rua Augusta, Rocío, and Avenida da Liberdade, streets and squares occupying the valley of a vanished tributary of the Tagus. The Praça do Commercio is a spacious square, one side of which faces the river, while the other three sides are occupied by the arcaded buildings of the custom house, post office and other government property. In the midst is a bronze equestrian statue of Joseph I., by J. M. de Castro, which was erected in 1775 and gives point to the name of “Black Horse Square” commonly applied to the Praça by the British. A triumphal arch on the north side leads to Rua Augusta, originally intended to be the cloth-merchants’ street; for the plan upon which Lisbon was rebuilt after 1755 involved the restriction of each industry to a specified area. This plan succeeded in the neighbouring Rua Aurea and Rua da Prata, still, as their names indicate, famous for goldsmiths’ and silversmiths’ shops. Rua Augusta terminates on the north in the Rocío or Praça de Dom Pedro Quarto, a square paved with mosaic of a curious undulatory pattern and containing two bronze fountains, a lofty pillar surmounted by a statue of Pedro IV., and the royal national theatre (Theatro de Dona Maria Segunda), erected on the site which the Inquisition buildings occupied from 1520 to 1836. The narrow Rua do Principe, leading past the central railway station, a handsome Mauresque building, connects the Rocío with the Avenida da Liberdade, one of the finest avenues in Europe. The central part of the Avenida, a favourite open-air resort of Lisbon society, is used for riding and driving; on each side of it are paved double avenues of trees, with flower-beds, statues, ponds, fountains, &c., and