Note 124 — RETREAT OF MASSENA.

Santarem stands on a hill which rises boldly from the banks of the Tagus. The road runs across an open plain, and a causeway that extends nearly eight hundred yards. This is the only approach, one side being surrounded by impassable marshes, and the other, which reaches to the river, by deep ditches overgrown with reeds, which are impracticable for either cavalry or guns.