IN the Voyage du ci-devant Duc du Chatelet en
Portugal; published with additions and
corrections, by J. Fr. Bourgoing,
Paris, an 6 de la Rep.; [1] and which might
be more justly entitled A Statistical
Account of Portugal; the following statement of the
population of that kingdom is given: Entre
Ducro e Minho 50400; Traz los
Montes 156000; Beira 560000;
Estremadura 660000; Alentejo 280000; Algarve
650000; altogether 2,225,000 inhabitants. The Portuguese
settlements in Asia contain 50,000 souls; those in Africa
80,000; Brazil 430,000: Madeira and Porto Santo 130,000; the
Azore Islands, 80,000; Cape Verde Islands, 16,000; the
Islands in the Sea of Guinea, 3000. The number of
inhabitants in all these colonies and foreign possessions
then is 799,000; and consequently, the sum total of all the
subjects of the king of Portugal 3,024,000.
This kingdom, according to the statements of
the Portuguese, is 150 Portuguese miles in length, and 40 in
breadth. According to Büsching its
length is no more than 75, and the breadth 35 common German
miles. [2] The whole superficial contents amount,
according to the best maps of the country, to 1875
geographical miles: so that there are only on an average
1190 inhabitants to every square mile. This low degree of
population is partly owing to the licentious manners of the
people, partly to the disproportionate number of the clergy
and religious of both sexes, of whom there are said to be
200,000. The population of Lisbon is by Büsching estimated
at 150,000. Our author makes it only 100,000. The number of
inhabitants of the other cities of the kingdom he gives as
follows: Coimbra 12,000; Oporto 50,000; Setubal from 11 to
12,000; the district of Setubal including the city,
20,000.
All the provinces of Portugal are not equally
fruitful. Oranges, which Estremadura, Alentejo and Algarve
produce in great abundance, and of an excellent quality, are
wholly wanting in the other provinces. On the other hand,
Entre Duero e Minho distinguishes itself by its
well-conducted agriculture. Traz los Montes is almost wholly
barren, and cultivated only on the banks of the rivers.
Beira produces all the necessaries of life: the sea that
washes its shores abounds with fish: its pastures feed
numerous herds of cattle; and it likewise furnishes honey
and salt. Estremadura is not less favoured by nature: its
wines are excellent. In Alentejo rice is produced. Algarve,
too, is well cultivated. Portugal would be more productive,
and the state of agriculture more flourishing, if the
English had not got possession of the corn-trade.
The land-forces of Portugal consist of 29
regiments of infantry, and 10 regiments of cavalry;
constituting altogether a military establishment of 30,000
men, under the command of 104 colonels, 150 majors, 42
generals, a field-marshall, a general of cavalry, a general
of artillery, 3 inspectors-general, 8 lieutenant-generals,
and 28 major-generals. Of the wretched state into which the
army has here sunken, many striking proofs occur; the truth
of which cannot well be doubted, as these facts are every
where asserted, and no where contradicted. The Portuguese
navy consists of 13 ships of the line, and 15 frigates. The
trading vessels amount to scarcely 100.
The public revenue of Portugal is, according
to some, 76, according to others 80, millions of French
livres: and the debts of the state had, in the time of our
traveller, already risen to the sum of 15 millions of
cruzados. The chief branch of the king’s revenue is that
drawn from the American mines; the yearly produce of which
is estimated at from 50 to 60 millions, of which however a
small proportion only comes into the royal exchequer. The
trade of Portugal is, it is well known, entirely in the
hands of the English.
