COVILHA  , a

town of Portugal, in the district of Castello Brahco, formerly included in the province of Beira; on the eastern slope of the Serra da Estrella, and on the Abrantes-Guarda railway . Pop . (1900) 15,469 . Covilha, which has been often compared with a collection of swallows' nests clinging to the rugged granitic mountain side, is shaped like an amphitheatre of closely crowded houses, overlooking the river Zezere and its wild valley from a height of 218o ft . Over 4000 operatives are employed in the manufacture of saragoca, a coarse brown cloth worn by the peasantry throughout Portugal . The village of Unhaes da Serra (1507), 6 m . W.S.W., is noted for its sulphurous springs and baths .