Marched into the town of Santarem, and halted two days until the whole of the Brigade and the baggage animals purchased in Lisbon arrived. The town is surrounded with hills that are covered with innumerable olive-trees, a great source of wealth to the inhabitants. The place has a most respectable appearance, the ground very fertile, and plenty of wine, grapes, oranges, and vegetables of every description in the greatest abundance. I made my way immediately with many hungry fellows to a _bodéga_. Breakfast was instantly produced, but the quantity of each article did not at all agree with our ideas of a breakfast, so that we were continually calling out for more of this thing and the other in broken Portuguese, which bothered the landlord so much that he took to his heels and we saw no more of him. I got a billet upon a blacksmith, and found his family very kind. They brought me fruit, wine, and cakes, but, as I do not understand one word of the language properly, everything was done by signs. [Sidenote: 5th] I went on guard as supernumerary with Lieutenant Macleod at a convent. At night I had lain down on a marble slab near the men, when a monk requested me to rise and follow him. He led me upstairs and into a large apartment, where a number of his brotherhood were assembled, and soon had the table filled with rich food, plenty of fruits, and good wines in abundance. I passed a few hours very agreeably with these hospitable monks, who all appeared, from their roundity of body, to pay more attention to feeding than praying. [Sidenote: 7th] This morning at daylight I left the hospitable blacksmith, who filled my calabash with wine and my haversack with food. I slung these across my shoulder and marched to Golegão, which is a small town on the banks of the Tagus. [Sidenote: 8th] Marched to Punhete and Tancos. The former town stands on the junction of the Zezere and Tagus, and the latter on the Tagus. In the river is an island with an old castle in ruins named Almorel; I paid it a visit. A bridge of boats enabled us to pass the Zezere near Punhete. [Sidenote: 9th] A short sultry march brought us to Abrantes, which being an hospital station, there was no room for us in the town. We crossed the river over a bridge of boats, and took up our bivouac. Abrantes is a town of some importance, with a citadel and fortifications round it. Marshal Junot took his title as Duke of Abrantes from it. [Sidenote: 11th] Marched to Gavião; weather exceedingly hot. [Sidenote: 12th] Marched over an uninteresting and hilly country to Niza, which has a wall all round it in ruins, and the remains of an old Moorish castle in tolerable preservation. One observes on entering the town that several storks have built their nests near the gateway, which the inhabitants seem to be very careful of preserving, as they say that good luck attends those who are fortunate enough to be honoured by these birds building their nests in their grounds or upon their houses.