their behaviour and their
morality leave much to be desired. There are among them gentlemen of
blameless life and even of ascetic practices, but it is commonly
reported that, as a whole, they are of inferior birth and education. It
is not easy for a stranger to form any opinion on these points, but it
must be conceded that their appearance is generally suggestive of the
truth of the statement, and it may be admitted that there is an undue
proportion of ignoble and sensuous faces amongst them.

Funerals are occasions of great pomp, and are often picturesque enough,
while the masses for the dead at intervals after and on the anniversary
are, no doubt, profitable to the Church. By attending these one has a
good opportunity of testifying to the esteem in which the deceased was
held, or to one's good will towards the family or representatives. These
masses are generally advertised in the papers, with thanks to those
friends who have attended funeral masses. As there is scarcely any
intellectual activity in Portugal, there is practically no religious
thought. A dull acquiescence in the dictates of the Church may be
crossed by an occasional gleam of rebellion against sacerdotalism,
roused by some temporary stirring up of the hatred felt against the
Jesuits. But it in no way alters the habitual attitude of the people
towards religion and its outward manifestations. One thing is certain,
and that is that in town or country a man or a woman must be in the
lowest depths of poverty and distress to refuse to throw a few _reis_
into the bags of the licensed mendicants who, bareheaded, and clad in
scarlet or white gowns, go round soliciting alms for the support of the
churches on whose behalf they are sent out.

As is customary in most countries, the women are more amenable to
religious influences than the men, and are more under the dominion of
the priest. This is not likely to be altered yet awhile, for, under the
present system of education and bringing up, the female portion of the
community is not only not intellectual, but may even be described as
being unintelligent. They are slovenly, and cannot be described as good
housewives. They are pleasure-loving and garrulous, though this latter
trait is not, I suppose, a specially national characteristic. They do
much hard work, especially in the fields. In the classes above (if
_above_ be the proper word) the hand-workers, the young girls are still
kept very strictly, and are not all