Douro River

“ In the rainy season they are dangerous torrents: in the summer all save the very largest dwindle down into miserable brooks. A river in Spain is always a sundering obstacle, never a line of communication. Only for a few scores of miles near their mouths can any one of them be utilized for navigation: the Douro can be so employed as far as Freneda on the frontier of Portugal, the Tagus in good seasons as far as Abrantes, the Guadalquivir to Seville. ”

“ Some of the boats forming it had been destroyed, and many of the wretched inhabitants crowding to the bridge, in hopes of escaping from the enemy's sword were urged on by the affrighted multitude into the rapid stream, and thus perished. On the river, to the right and left, is seen a Portuguese coasting vessel, called Hyate; in the centre is a wine-boat of the Douro, with a raised platform for the steersman. The foreground of the view is the shore of Villa Nova, adjoining the quay. ”

“ The exposition buildings were located on a level spot on a hilltop overlooking the river Douro, at an elevation, I judged, of about 200 feet. They wished to surround them with a greensward. Between the heat and the light soil, the grass could be made to grow only by continual watering, and this is the way they did it. About 400 women and children brought up water from the river in vessels on their heads. All day long this procession was moving [110] up and down the hill, pouring the water on the ground, performing the work of a steam-pump and a 2-inch pipe. ”

“ There are generally at anchor in the river between Villa Nova and Oporto, Russian, Brazilian, English, American, Dutch, Danish, and some French vessels; but many of the latter nation are not to be found in the Portuguese ports. Two thirds of the shipping to be seen in the Douro, are British, Brazilian, or Portuguese."
The gardens of the city are luxuriantly stored. Brazilian plants, easily distinguished by their gaudy colours, vines on trellis, superb lemon-trees, lime and orange-trees, pear, apple, and plum-trees, and Alpine strawberries are in abundance. ”

“ The second chain is much more important, and more strongly [p. 78] marked: it divides Old from New Castile, the valley of the Douro from that of the Tagus. In its central and western parts it is really a double range, with two narrow valleys between its chief ridges. These valleys are drained by the Zezere and Alagon, two tributaries of the Tagus which flow parallel for many scores of miles to the broad river which they feed. If we call this great system of mountains the chain of New Castile it is only for convenience’ sake: the Spaniards and Portuguese have no common name for them. ”

“ Douro, a river, and the largest, of the Spanish Peninsula, which rises in the Cantabrian Mountains; forms for 40 m. the northern boundary of Portugal, and after a course of 500 m. falls into the Atlantic at Oporto; is navigable only where it traverses Portugal.
Douster-swivel, a German swindling schemer in the "Antiquary."
Dove, in Christian art the symbol of the Holy Ghost, or of a pure, or a purified soul, and with an olive branch, the symbol of peace and the gospel of peace.
Dove, Heinrich Wilhelm, a German physicist, born at Liegnitz, Silesia; professor of Natural Philosophy in Berlin ”

“ These include the Guadalaviar, Júcar, and Segura, important rivers of the eastern watershed. The Minho, Douro, Tagus, Guadiana, and Guadalquivir drain the western valleys, which are formed between the mountain ranges of the Peninsula. The Tagus is the largest river of the Peninsula, the estuary of which forms a magnificent harbor. The Guadalquivir, though the shortest of the larger streams, is the most important on account of its fullness and its course through the most extensive lowland of the Peninsula. ”

“ The chief affluents of the Douro descend from the north from the mountains of Burgos and the Cantabrian range. The largest are the Pisuerga, which rises not far from the sources of the Ebro among the Picos de Europa, and flows almost directly south by Palencia and Valladolid until it joins the Douro, some miles above Tordesilla; the Esla, which also rises from the western flanks of the same chain, not far from Covadonga, takes a somewhat more westerly direction, and after receiving several smaller streams unites with the Douro below Zamora. ”

“ Dangerous during times of flood are the snag-set rapids of the Douro, as many a little cross or inscription, cut on the impending rocks, bears witness. That rude mark indicates the spot where some poor fellow has lost his life, perhaps a whole boat's crew; and our men, as we pass each memorial tablet, remove their hats and cross themselves with simple piety. ”

“ The chief Portuguese tributaries of the Douro are the Tamega, Tua and Sabor on the north, the Agueda, Côa and Paiva on the south; of the Tagus, the Ocreza, Ponsul and Zezere on the north, the Niza and Sorraia on the south, while into the Guadiana, on its right or Portuguese bank, flow the Caia, Degebe, Cobres, Oeiras and Vascão. The whole country drains into the Atlantic, to which all the main rivers flow in a westerly direction except the Guadiana, which turns south by east in the lower art of its course. ”

“ Ages ago, so the story runs, when this old fane was yet a-building in the twelfth century, some Douro fishermen found their nets heavy with an unusual burden, and raising them, found this image, a miraculous gift vouchsafed them from the sea. ”

“ There are numerous parks and gardens, especially on the outskirts of the city, in which palms, oranges and aloes grow side by side with the flowers and fruits of northern Europe, for the climate is mild and very equable, the mean temperatures for January and July—the coldest and the hottest months—being respectively about 50° and 70°. The Douro is at all seasons crowded with shipping, chiefly small steamers and large sailing vessels. ”

“ No natives were seen during the excursion, nor were any traces of them seen, with the exception of two old canoes, formed of hollowed trees, which were half buried in the mud. The tameness of the birds would lead to the conclusion that they were but little acquainted with man. Only one of the numerous small creeks we met with produced fresh water, and this was sixteen miles from the sea. From the creek to the sea, the shore was inaccessible on account of the mud-bank which fronted it.
This previously unknown river received the name of Dourga River. The mouth was found to lie in lat. 7 deg. ”

“ The Douro is liable in winter to sudden and violent floods; in 1909–1910 the water rose 40 ft. at Oporto, where it is confined in a deep and narrow bed.
Though parts of the city are modern or have been modernized, the older quarters in the east are extremely picturesque, with their steep and narrow lanes overshadowed by lofty balconied houses. Overcrowding and dirt are common, for the density of population is nearly 13.000 per sq. m., or greater than in any other city of Portugal. ”

“ The country which we are describing is fertile, and irrigated by rivers both large and small, all of which flow from the eastern parts parallel with the Tagus: most of them are navigable and full of gold dust. After the Tagus, the most noted rivers are the Mondego1130 and the Vouga,1131 which are navigable but for a short distance. After these is the Douro,1132 which flows from afar by Numantia,1133 and many other colonies of the Keltiberians and Vaccæi; it is capable of being navigated in large vessels for a distance of nearly 800 stadia. ”

“ Again the gorge became a deep rift in the rocks, which left no margin on which one could walk. The only way to follow the windings of the stream would have been to wade or swim. Once more I had to own myself beaten by natural obstacles. The Dordogne is a river that cannot be followed throughout its savage wildernesses, except perhaps in a light flat-bottomed boat, and then not without serious difficulties. Anglers might have splendid sport here until they broke their necks, for the trout abound where the shadow of a man seldom or never falls. ”

“ All the people who live by the higher waters of the Dordogne, whether they belong to the Puy de Dôme, the Cantal, or the Corrèze, are called Auvergnats in Périgord, or, rather, such of them as come down the stream with their small barges laden with wood, when the autumnal rains have commenced, and there is sufficient water in the river for their purpose. Sometimes, in their anxiety to turn their wood into money, they start a little too early, and being misled by an increase of the current which is not maintained, they go aground after a few days' navigation. ”

“ In the sheltered vales oranges, figs, lemons, and many other fruits thrive excellently. Strawberries are large in size and abundant. Vegetables grow with but little culture in this fertile land, and there are flower gardens with an opulence of colour.
On the south bank of the Douro there was probably an early Roman settlement. The Vandals swept down upon Lusitania when the power of the Romans waned, and after them came other Teuton hordes—the Suevi and the fierce Visigoths. About the middle of the eighth century the Moors conquered Portugal, and held it for three centuries. ”

“ I really expected that they would have been shook out of my head before we had done manoeuvring over the big logs.”
“How will my crockery stand it in the next sleigh?” quoth I. “If the road is such as you describe, I am afraid that I shall not bring a whole plate to Douro.”
“Oh! the snow is a great leveller—it makes all rough places smooth. But with regard to this swamp, I have something to tell you. About ten years ago, no one had ever seen the other side of it; and if pigs or cattle strayed away into it, they fell a prey to the wolves and bears, and were seldom recovered. ”

“ Leaving Domara village we marched, for about five miles,226 through jungle interspersed at intervals with small, old, and new gardens; but nowhere did our scouts get into touch with the natives, until we came to the Adaua again, near its confluence with the Domara. The river, at this point, was about one hundred yards wide and in flood, quite unfordable, and far too dangerous for rafts, as the cataracts and rapids of the Musa, passing through the Didina Range, were but a short distance below. The Doriri use a small, triangular raft made of bamboo, and are much skilled in its use ”

“ As evening falls the air rings—the earth seems to vibrate—with the rattle of mole-crickets and cicadas, and the gentle tinkle of the tree-frog: glowworms sparkle on each dark slope, and by the feeble light of fire-flies we have to pick a devious way along miles of broken rock and hanging thicket, by what in Portugal passes for a bridle-path.
Twenty years ago the Alto Douro could only be reached on horseback, crossing the Serra do Marão by the Pass of Quintella. ”

“ As one rides through the hamlets which nestle in the valleys of the Douro, the heavy purple clusters, six or eight pounds in weight, hang temptingly just overhead—temptingly to the stranger to raise his parched lips and snatch a mouthful of the juicy spheres. ”

“ Joao de Pesqueira and is about five or six miles wide, including both sides of the valley of the Douro; one side is exposed to the morning and the other to the evening sun, and the reflected rays make the valley like an oven during the summer months, so that no place could be more advantageously situated for the development of the vine. No trees are allowed to grow upon the hillsides. ”

“ According to the reports of its whole course from its confluence into the Douro to near Alfaiates, with the exception of two leagues beyond Almeida towards its source, it presents, from the very great steepness and rocky soil of its banks, a most formidable barrier to any army attempting to advance towards Vizeu, Celorico, Guarda, or Francozo, from the neighbourhood of Ciudad Rodrigo. ”

“ Descending rapidly from its source, sometimes over cascades, the river soon enters deep gorges through which it flows as far as Beaulieu (department of Corrèze) where it debouches into a wide and fertile valley and is shortly after joined by the Cère. Entering the department of Lot, it abandons a south-westerly for a westerly course and flowing in a sinuous channel traverses the department of Dordogne, where it receives the waters of the Vézère. ”

“ From its four windows he could look down on the little bridge and brown rock dam above with its plunging waterfall, and beyond that the widespread lake, dotted with islands, reed and alder fringed, that narrowed again into Little River farther on.
“It’s queer,” Doris said once, when winter was half over. “Nothing ever really looks dead up here. Even with the grass and leaves all dried up, the trees and earth look kind of reddish, you know what I mean, Mother, warm like.” ”

“ But the riches of Bolivia are locked up. Small parcels of precious goods may be got out over the Andean barrier, on mule back; or they may dribble in a thin stream down the Beni, Mamoré, and Madre de Dios rivers—rivers which unite not far from the Brazilian boundary to form the Rio Madeira. The Beni is a very great and deep river which has a course of 1500 miles before it contributes its volume to the Madeira. The Rio Madeira, a broad and deep stream in the rainy season, reaches the Amazon in another 1100 miles. ”