One hundred and fifty years ago, in the small town of Peso da Regoa, then called Regua only, near the confluence of the Corgo with the Douro, lived a single nsherman, in a hut which he had himself constructed. When the Oporto Wine Company was established, their warehouses were erected here, and an annual fair for the sale of wine was established.

Peso da Regoa - the Peso cornes from an adjoining village - is now a thriving town, and may be con-sidered the capital of the Alto Douro district (Paiz Vinhateiro do Alto Doîuro), whence are sent to England and elsewhere those wines which are here known as Port. The wine district is bounded by Villa Real on the north, Lamego on the south, S. Joâo da Pesqueira on the east, and Mezâofrio on the west. It is unwhole-some, and but thinly populated. Those who list may draw from this fact a divine prohibition of the bibbirig of Port.

The vine is cultivated in Portugal in four ways. ( I ) By being trained round oaks or poplars de enforcado, as the Romans ulmisque adjungere vîtes. (2) By the terrace System, the best as (1) is the most picturesque. (3) By bushes in rows, with the intermediate ground ploughed. (4) By the trellis or de ramada. The first liquor drawn from the lagar, or press, the result of the weight of the grapes alone, is called Lacryma Christi. After that a gang of men jump into the lagar, and dance to the sound of the fife or bagpipe. The weather is warm, the work is hard; the result is better conceived than expressed.

Of white ports the best are Muscatel de Jesus (the testimony to religious influence in this and the Lacryma Christi is extremely touching), considered the prince of all, the Dedo de Dama, the Ferral Branco, Malvazia (our Malmsey),1 Abelhal, Agttdelho, Alvaraca, Donzellinho, Folgozao, Gonveio, White Mourisco, Rabo da Ovelha, and Promissao. Of the black ports the finest is Touriga, and the sweetest Bastardo. Other dark ports are Souzdo, the darkest of all, Aragonez, Pegudo, besides Tintas, whose names are legion. Other wines grown here, or in the immediate vicinity, are Alvarilhao,. a kind of claret, Alicante, Muscatel, Roxo, and Malvazia Vermelha. Great quantities of wine are produced in the quintas outside the line of demarcation, and some of these wines are equal to those made in the wine district of the Alto Douro itself. Red wines transformed into French clarets at Bordeaux, are exported in large quantities. A wine from Tarragona, known as "Spanish Red," or superb Catalan, is sent yearly to or single entrance), a Greek island from which the grape may have been brought by the Florentine Acciajoli in 1515.

1 Malmsey wine is also a product of Funchal, in Madeira. The first so-called wine was shipped for Francis I. of France. The word is probably a corruption of Malvasia or Monemvasia England, and sold as very full, rich, fruity, and tawny Port. Port will not keep good in the cask for more than two years without the addition of alcohol. The Oporto merchants use a pure spirit distilled from the wine itself. The old Port which we prize so highly and pay for so dearly is seldom unaffected by brandy or other spirit.