or St Urses, as it is called by the English and Dutch sailors that repair to it. This city is a seaport in the province of Estremadura, and the corregimiento of its own name, in the kingdom of Portugal. The harbour is five leagues to the eastward of Cape Espichel. It has a shoal-bar, which extends outwards to the distance of half a league. On the western side of the entrance is a peaked height, 1350 feet above the level of the sea. The eastern side is low, with a very narrow passage, so that no written notices can be sufficient to guide the mariner; but the services of a pilot are indispensable, though when entered it is the best harbour in the whole kingdom.

The possession taken of this place by the fleet of the Emperor of Brazil, in the late war of succession in Portugal, led to the conquest of Lisbon, the capital, and then to the submission of the rest of the kingdom.

The chief article of export is salt, from the evaporation of the sea-water by the heat of the sun. There are more than 500 pits on the banks of the river Jabo, where this salt is formed by the hand of nature. The quantity annually collected amounts to about 200,000 tons, nearly one half of which is sent to Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, and Russia. It is stated that from 400 to 500 foreign vessels enter the port annually. Good wine, to the extent of 1800 pipes, is made in the neighbourhood, one half of which is exported. Oranges and lemons also afford articles for foreign trade.

The city contained, a few years ago, five churches, eleven monasteries, a hospital, a poor-house, about 3000 dwelling-houses, and 14,830 inhabitants.