1831.] Spanish High-ways and By-ways. 607 



thousand hands. There are two large gardens affording the choicest 

 fruit, and the Serenillio or island is seven miles in circumference, planted 

 with timber trees for the use of the manufactory. The works are exactly 

 in the same state as our own were about fifty years since ; at that period 

 this establishment was unequalled ; but rapid improvements have taken 

 place in England within the last half century, whereas in Spain altera- 

 tions are deemed innovations, and old errors are persevered in with a 

 consistency worthy a better object. Having gained all the information 

 I required, on my return to Madrid I made my report to the minister, 

 in which I did not disguise the evident decline of the manufactory, and 

 the gross peculation of the director and his associates. Shortly after- 

 wards I was invited to an interview with his excellency, who informed 

 me that he had found my report to be correct, and expressed a wish that 

 I should proceed, without delay, to examine the royal mines, and other 

 establishments throughout Spain, intimating that I should have a grant 

 of any I might choose to undertake. On the following day having obtained 

 my credentials for the inspection of all the royal mines and establishments 

 of every nature in Estremadura and Andalusia, I left Madrid, and 

 arrived at Aranjuez late the same evening. Owing to the lateness of 

 the hour I had some difficulty in finding a decent posada, when I had 

 the satisfaction of paying double for every accommodation, the landlord 

 assuring me that the innkeepers of that town had an acknowledged right 

 to extortion, being one of the privileges attached to a royal residence. I 

 have no space to describe the beauty of this town, nor its palace, nor its 

 gardens, and the same excuse must hold good throughout the greater 

 part of my journey. I must therefore hurry along the sterile plains of 

 La Mancha, celebrated by the valorous knight of the immortal Cervantes 

 hardly allowing time to halt at La Mota del Cuervo to visit the hill on 

 which stood the fourteen enchanted windmills, and make directly for the 

 grand pass of the Sierra Morena, which divides the desert plain of La 

 Mancha, from the rich and luxuriant province of Andalusia. At Man- 

 zanares I was obliged, though with much regret, to part with my favourite 

 Andalusian horse, and take in his place a little shabby animal, whose 

 only recommendation was his youth. The road across the mountains 

 called the Sierra Morena, was constructed by the order of Bonaparte, 

 and is only inferior to the great road over the Simplon into Italy. There 

 are some features in this work which excite the admiration of every tra- 

 veller, particularly the grand pass, which is carried on arches over a 

 tremendous abyss nearly a mile in length, and secured on the outside by 

 a parapet wall. I alighted from my horse in one particular spot to ascer- 

 tain the depth of the precipice on the brink of which I was standing, 

 and could not consider it less than 600 feet. At the bottom a river was 

 roaring along amongst the immense masses of rock, which were scattered 

 about in wild disorder, though the scene was considerably softened by 

 the luxuriant foliage of the tulip tree, the arbutus, and the evergreen 

 oak, which sprouted from every fissure. The road to La Carolina is 

 most romantic, and winds through the mountains, which open to the 

 mineralogist and botanist an extensive field for study. Mines of gold 

 and silver, copper, christals and quicksilver, are in its immediate vicinity. 

 Marbles of the most exquisite beauty, and a variety of rare fossils every- 

 where abound. There are likewise aromatic and medicinal plants. Fo- 

 rests of blooming myrtles, the tulip, and gum scystus, and other indige- 

 nous plants, perfume the air with their fragrance. On one occasion I 



