CHAPTER V
THE Rua de Santo Bento passes to the north of the Cortes and climbs gradually to the Rato, a large open space, circus-shaped, the streets diverging in many directions. On the right in the street of the Escola Polytechnica is the palace of the Duke of Palmella with a handsome entrance, two Caryatids in stone at the side, and the sculptured escutcheon above the door. The palms and greenery of the gardens show above a high, pink wall which turns towards the Rato with a large fountain at the base where people are constantly filling their pitchers. Following the electric car lines right to the other side up the street of the Amoreiras you skirt an enormous stone wall, and above this stands out like a small Bastille, a squared, plain, massive building with a flat roof. It is the famous depositary of water called the Mãe d'Agua, or Mother of Water, which at one time supplied all the fountains of Lisbon. Striding away from the edifice behind are the high, grey piles and arches of a noble aqueduct which show through the openings peeps of a little praça filled with trees and flowers, and the datura trees conspicuous with their white, sweet-smelling pendant blossoms. At the end of the garden the aqueduct turns sharply across the street, forming a triumphal arch of the Doric style erected in honour of its founder. Masses of ivy cover the piers as they pass from sight behind the houses.
It was a work that D. Manuel, and also Philippe II had once in project, but it was left for D. João V to bestow this great benefit upon Lisbon. Though in the vicinity of the city there are vestiges of many abandoned aqueducts, some of Roman antiquity, none of them have excelled in fame and splendid construction this Aqueducto das Aguas Livres. It is a superb aqueduct, uniting solidity
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