The inhabitants also make considerable quantities
of salt with the sea-water, especially in the bay

of St. Ubes, whence a great deal is exported.
Their export trade consists of the produce of
their own country, and the merchandise which
they receive from their foreign possessions, com-

prising Madeira, Cape Verd Islands, some settle-
ments in Africa, Goa, and Macao: the latter con-
sists of wine, sugar, tobacco, cotton, indigo,
hides, and many excellent drugs. The horses of
Portinra] were formerly in great esteem; but
thev are now so fond of mules that horses are
scarce. Towards the frontiers of Spain there
are mountains, in which gold and silver were for-
merly found ; and the river Tajo was anciently
celebrated bv the poets for its golden sands.
There are also mines of iron, tin, lead, quarries of
marble, and some precious stones. The Portu-
gueseare indolent and luxurious. Plays and church
festivals, bull fights, balls, music, &c., engross
the whole attention of those who are not compelled
to labour for their subsistence. The peasants are
in a state of vassalage, and subsist on the hardest
fare. In many respects they bear a striking re-
semblance to the Highlanders of Scotland. The
principal rivers are the Tagus, Douro, Guadiana,
Mondego, and Caldao. The government is an
absolute monarchy. Formerly it had its Cortes
or representative body, but, from 1697 to the re-
cent revolution, they were never assembled. The
established religion is the Roman Catholic ; and
there are two archbishops and 13 bishops.

Portugal appears to have been known at an
eariv period to the Phenicians and Carthaginians.
It subsequentlv followed the fortune of Spain, and,
after being the scene of various military opera-
te ins. was finally reduced and constituted a Ro-
man province under Augustus. Tne Romans
were s . Tended bv the Goths and other barba-
rians. The Saracens, or Moors, invaded the pen-
msu'i from Afric a, and after the battle ofXeres,
A. D. 712. set up several kingdoms, and were
n t *xpt .led from Portugal till ihe 13th century.
In lHrti Atphonso VI.. king of Castile and Leon,
made Hinrv of Burgundy, grandson of Robert
king of France, count of Portugal, as a reward for
assisting him against the Moors. Alphonso, son
of Henrr. was the first king. The last of his
descendants by the male line dying in 1580,
Philip II. of Spain took j>:ssession of the throne
in right of h:s mother. The rapacity of the Span-
ish vicerovs was so great that in 1640, the Por-
tuguese revolted, and made John IV., duke of
Braganza, king. In 1507 the British fleet pre-
served the royal family from falling into the hands
of Bonaparte, and conveyed them to Brazil. Por-
tugal itself, also, after a long and severe contest,
was delivered from the French yoke by English
armies under the command ofthe duke of Wel-
lington and other generals. The Queen died at
Rio Janeiro, March 20, 1816, in the 82nd year of
her age, and the prince regent became king. At
the conclusion of the general peace, the people
became discontented, partly through the degra-
dation of the kingdom to the situation of a depen-
dent colony, and partly through the maladminis-
tration ofthe regency. Plot after plot was form-
ed, in which many officers of distinction were
implicated, who, as soon as they were detected,
were removed-, and replaced by British officers.
This only served to increase the discontent Doth
of the people and of the army, and to hasten a
revolution. Every thing having been previously
arranged between the civil and military authori
ties, a new constitution was announced at Oporto
August 24, 1820, and in September a councu of
regency was formed at Lisbon, and letters issued
to assemble the cortes. John VI. by a royal de-
cree issued at Rio Janeiro, February 1821, ap-
proved of the constitution, and, leaving his eldest
son Don Pedro as regent of Brazil, returned to
Portugal, and took an oath to maintain the new
constitution. Julv 4, 1521. On the 12th of Oc-
tober. 1:22. the Brazilians proclaimed the prince
regent constitutional emperor of Brazil, and the .
independence of that empire has been since ac-
knowledged by the court of Lisbon. On the 30th
of April. 1-24, Don Miguel, the king’s youngest
son, general of the army, surrounded with guards
the palace of his father, in order to depose him,
and to make his nephew regent. The foreign
ambassadors discountenanced the conspiracy ; the
king took refuge on board an English man of war ;
under the protection of Britain he resumed the
government; and Don Miguel left the kingdom
John VI. died in March, 1526.

As soon as Pedro IV. heard of his father's death,
he declared his determination to remain in Brazil,
and to abdicate the throne of Portugal in favour of
his daughter Donna Maria da Gloria (who was
born in 1819), on condition that his brother Don
Miguel should marry her, and that a free consti-
tution should be adopted as contained in a charter
which he sent over from Brazil. The acceptance
of this charter was resisted by the ultra-royalist
faction at Lisbon, and a rebellion took place un-
der the direction of the marquis of Chaves. In
consequence of the invasion of the kingdom by
the rebels, who had mustered their armies in
Spain, the sister of Pedro IV., who had by him
been appointed regent, claimed the assistance of
George IV.; who, in compliance with ancient
treaties between the two kingdoms, sent an army
to Lisbon in 1827, which checked the rebellion.
Don Miguel, who resided at Vienna, returned to
Lisbon in the spring of 1823, having first visited
Paris and London, at both which places he pro-
fessed his determination to adhere to the consti-
tution. The professions of Don Miguel soon ap-
peared to be insincere, and on the 30th of June
he assumed the title of king of Portugal and Al-
garve. A weak resistance was made by the gar-
rison and inhabitants of Oporto, but it was soon
overcome, and Don Miguel now reigns as abso-
lute king. Lisbon is the capital.

Posados, a town of Spain, in Andalusia, seated
op the Guadalquivir, 19 m. S. W. of Cordova.

Posata, a town on the E. coast of the island of
Sardinia, 45 m. E. S. E. of Castle Aragonese.
Long. 9. 30. E., lat. 40. 36. N.

Posega, a town of Sclavonia, capital of a paja
tinate of the same name. It was taken from the