Page:Lisbon and Cintra, Inchbold, 1907.djvu/66

Rh has a floating island on its surface connected with the shore by a rustic bridge, and youths and children paddle round in boats to their hearts' content. At the extreme end of the Campo to the left of the broad way there is a charming little garden which serves as a frame to a fanciful toy house, called the Chalet das Cannas, the whole of the vestibule, tiny rooms, staircase, articles of furniture being made entirely of cork and cane. With these two materials the fancy architect has made pillars, arches and porticoes in the Manueline style. The structure—in its way a little work of art—is worth seeing as a curiosity alone.

The luxuriant greenery of the Botanical Gardens envelops a high knoll behind the Avenida da Liberdade. By way of the pretty Praça da Alegria a steep ascent leads to a gateway which opens into the lower level of the gardens where rare tropical trees and plants flourish with an amazing salubrity. The beautiful Avenue of Palms is renowned. There are palm trees in groups and single palms, palms from every part of the globe where they grow—Australia, Africa, South America, the Azores, to mention but a few—and fine coco palms from Brazil, their giant columns surmounted by plumed crests of superb grace. The boscage of magnolias, and other flowering trees and shrubs discloses one beauty close upon the other as we wander through the leafy lanes and avenues. We come upon a pretty lake overhung by a weeping willow of wonderful growth. By various gradations and flights of steps the high level of the gardens is reached where the white towers of the Observatory emerge from the verdure, large parterres of rare flowers and plants all carefully labelled are spread out, and the buildings of the School of the Polytechnic—Escola Polytechnica—come to view. There are hot-houses in the grounds containing rare 42