Page:Lisbon and Cintra, Inchbold, 1907.djvu/261

Rh town of Monchique, thence to Bucellas, and to the Tagus, where both lines almost met at Alverca. The forts, redoubts and batteries, numbered in all one hundred and thirty. Infinite pains was bestowed on the lines of fortification to procure a favourable field of action. Communication was rendered facile by a system of well-engineered roads, which shortened the distance between each corps and point by at least one mile, and by having these communications commanded by defensive works only possible to capture by help of artillery, the enemy was not able to use them. The commanding hill of Monte Junto was in front of the lines, "the ramifications of which," says Major Jones, who is also accounted an excellent authority by Portuguese officers of to-day, "extending to the very works render the enemy's movements in front of the line tedious and difficult, and give to a body of troops posted within a superiority of movement, rendering them equal to twice the number without."

Torres Vedras gave its name to these famous lines against the French invasion through possessing the strong fort of S. Vicente on one hill above the town, a fine redoubt, and the Castle on another, and the fort of the Força, to-day in ruins, on a third. The origin of the ancient town is unknown, but it had an existence in the Roman times, for they named it, Turras Viteres. It was famous in the Gothic and Moorish epochs, the castle as praça da guerra being considered impregnable. To-day it is a mere shell, and has no military classification. Kings in bygone years were wont to make of Torres Vedras a residence but of their palace no vestige remains. The Cortes was convoked here on more than one occasion. Various battles have taken place there, the latest and most sanguinary being in the civil war of 1846, when the town surrendered to the great Saldanha. The 195