Português
The water of Dona Maria
Returning to Dona Maria, we revisited Natália.
She had already done, however, some research to help us over the Jamor River, but none conclusive as to the place of its source, advising us to consult the military letters. There are many water mines in the area, for example one under the main Dona Maria’s square, Largo do Chafariz (Chafariz’s square).
He told us that this is the area of Lisbon with greater groundwater, so local ethnography is closely linked to the theme of water: the washerwomen until the 1980’s attended Lisbon with its services, nowadays there are still the water tanks where they were washing their clothes (at the moment the water tanks are in private property, not being able to be visited); the waterbeds went from Dona Maria to Lisbon to sell water. There is a belief that these waters have medicinal properties and it was customary to drink from them in sickness.
He spoke to us again about Mr. Fernando and in the three mines of Brejo (which she considers the most important), which exist in his lands. This time he has already picked us up and scheduled a visit for the next few weeks.
Following the clue of the owner of the café in Dona Maria, we went to the Lisbon Sports Club. We found Nuno, greenskeeper of the golf camp, who very sympathetically made himself available for a visit on the grounds of the club along the river.