Lisbon

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

liz'bon, the capital of Portugal. It lies on the northern bank of the Tagus, at the head of deep-water navigation, about nine miles from the Atlantic. It has a river frontage of four miles. It is situated in an amphitheater of low hills, at the foot of the lofty granite range of Cintra. The origin of the city is not known. It was occupied at an early date by the Romans. The Moors captured it in 716, and held it until 1147. The present Catholic cathedral and many of the churches and convents are ancient Moorish mosques or other buildings. In 1755 one of the most destructive earthquakes known visited the town. It overthrew many of the buildings and was followed by an ocean wave that destroyed 30,000 inhabitants. Lisbon is distinguished for broad drives, promenades, and fine squares bordered by handsome houses and lines of shrubbery. The house are chiefly of brick and stone, plastered on the outside with stucco and painted in delicate tints of red, blue, and yellow. These, and the gay clothing of the people, give the streets an appearance of a gala-day. The botanic garden, public libraries containing half a million volumes, an observatory, a museum of antiquities, and an academy of sciences render the city an agreeable place of residence. There are squalid quarters as well. The city derives its supply of water from the mountains by means of aqueduct. This aqueduct is partly underground, but, as it approaches the city, it crosses the vale of Alcantara by a bridge of thirty arches, the greatest of which is 240 feet high and 110 feet wide. It is the architectural feature of the city. About 6,000 vessels frequent the wharves of Lisbon annually. They bring tropical productions from the colonies of Portugal. Petroleum, hardware, machinery, foodstuffs, and cloth are imported. The principal exports are wine, salt, olive oil, fruit, and cork. The population of the city at the beginning of the century was 356,009. See Portugal Lisle (lil) Thread, a fine, hard-twisted, glossy linen thread, made originally at Lille (formerly spelled L'Isle), France. Lisle thread is used in the manufacture of fine hose, gloves, and high grade underwear. A fine cotton thread, made from long stapled Egyptian cotton, which is combed before spinning, is called lisle thread also, and is used largely at present in place of the linen thread. The threads of a garment knitted of lisle slip and slide over each other with no disposition to felt. The garment is thus very elastic. If a thread breaks, however, the raveling is more rapid than is the case in garments made of softer, more loosely twisted thread. See Carding; Combing