Joam de Mello, Bishop of Coimbra, with grottos, fountain jets, and fantastic stone-work, less unpleasing, however, in a country where the value of water is so great, and the sound so peculiarly grateful, than they would be in our own. The Portugueze writers describe these ornaments with delight. The water, which is called the Fonte Fria, or Cold Spring, is supposed to possess great virtues. The highest point of the Serra is within the limits of the Desart, from hence there is a most extensive command of prospect Cardoso says in the Diccionario Geografico, that to the east the Serra de Castello Rodrigo may be distinguished, which is thirty leagues off; the Serra de Minde is seen to the south, that of Grijo to the North, fifteen leagues distant; westward is the mouth of the Mondego and the coast. On this point a large wooden cross was erected, by Francisco Pereira de Miranda, some time before the Carmelites settled here:
