_20th_.--Coimbra to Mealhada, then to Luso, and walked to Busaco. Convent of Busaco. Scene of battle. Rail to Estarreja [which we reached at 6 P.M. A splendid full moon lighted our drive to Palhal. Mr. Cruikshank met us at the station, and drove Henry in his dog-cart; Hopie and I, with our bags, went in the _char-a-banc_ which had been procured from Aveiro. The distance is about eight miles, seven of which are a gentle ascent, and then a steep pitch down of one mile. Flags were flying in honour of the arrival of the chairman of the 'Lusitanian Company,' and after dinner a display of fireworks. Mr. and Mrs. Cruikshank are a pleasing and intelligent young Scotch couple. Three of their children are at Granja, a little bathing village two or three stations further, and Mrs. Cruikshank and her eldest little girl came back to receive us.] _21st_.--[The mine at Palhal yields copper ore; that of Carvalhal lead ore. The Pinto Basto family have the concession of the mines, and own much of the surface. From five to eight hundred persons are employed--all Portuguese, except the three mining captains, the dresser of the ores, a carpenter, and a blacksmith. The English colony consists of about thirty souls; there is a school for the children, and on Sundays they meet for Divine worship after the manner of Wesleyans. The wages of these Cornishmen are eight, ten, twelve pounds a month, and there are very tidy houses on the property, with a large cottage, or house, for the agent--Mr. Cruikshank. The works are in the ravine below the house, and the Caima furnishes ample water power.... Many women and girls are employed preparing the ores, some of them remarkably good-looking.... Their wages are from two to three shillings a week. The scenery--pine-clad hills, streams on the hill-side, ravines, and burns--reminded one of Scotland; but oranges and camellias in the gardens, arbutus, myrtle, laurustinus, cistus, all wild, tell of a different climate.... We explored Palhal on Thursday, and Carvalhal on Friday; Henry and Mr. Cruikshank going into details at the works, whilst we went, with Mrs. Cruikshank, to call on the wives, visit the school, &c.... On Friday evening we took the train at Estarreja, and so to Oporto.] _25th_.--Adolph Pinto Basto [a nephew of our Lisbon friends] gave us an entertainment in a boat on the Douro, and a collation at Avintes. Dinner at the Crystal Palace, Oporto. _26th_.--Drove to Carvalho with Elles. _27th_.--Drove to Leca do Balio with Oswald Crawford, the consul. Interesting Templars' church. _28th-30th_.--By rail from Oporto to Madrid, thirty-six hours by Badajos, Merida, Alcazar.