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4 
Mr. Jacob’s Letters from Spain. 
eesses require considerable disburse- 
ments before any profits can be derived 
from the crops. Ina country, therefore, 
where capital is so limited asin Spain, 
there can be but little progress made in 
the increase of this branch of agriculture ; 
and hence, the plantations are in exact 
proportion to that surplus of capital 
which the merchants of Malaga can spare, 
for this purpose, from their other con- 
cerns. 
The ancient and more extensive sys- 
tem of agriculture is in a state equally 
languishing, from the same cause. The 
growers of wine, raisins, and figs, are 
mostly small proprietors of lands, or petty 
“tenants, paying their rents monthly, 
when in money, and, when in produce, 
at the season of harvest, and who, being 
unable to subsist and pay their labourers, 
aye under the necessity of being supplied 
by the merchants to whom they mortgage 
their expected produce, long before it is 
fit for market; the consequence is, that 
the cultivators are kept in a state of po- 
verty and depression, from which there 
is no prospect of their emerging. 
On the hills that surround Malaga, 
there are upwards of seven thousand 
Vineyards, which produce annually eighty 
thousand arobas “of wine, of which more 
than one half is exported. The first 
harvest of grapes commences inthe month 
of June, which is solely fur those dried 
by the sun, the heat of which, by extract- 
ing the saccharine juice, preserves them 
without any other process; and this spe- 
cies is known through Europe under the 
denomination of Malaga raisins. In the 
month of September the second crop is 
gathered, which is n-ide into a dry wine, 
resembling ‘sherry, and called by that 
‘name, but, to my taste, much inferior. 
Of late years the cultivation of the grape 
for this kind of wine has much increased, 
‘and the merchants are not without hope, 
that ina few years they shall rival the 
vineyards of Xeres, both in quantity 
and quality. The last vintage of the year 
is in October and November, and pro- 
duces those wines called in Spain and 
other colonies Malaga, and in England 
Mountain; the natives of Spain prefer 
these to the dry wines of Xeres, or even 
of Madeira. 
There are several species of wine made 
in this district of great celebrity, one in 
particular, called Pedro Ximenes, is very 
wich, and is said to be made from the 
Rhenish grape transplanted to these 
mountains, where it has lost its tartness, 
‘and ‘acquired a rich and delicious Rayour. 
~~ Mononry Mac, No. 215. ~ 
‘ 
621 
Another kind called Guinda, is ‘merely 
the common sweet wine of the*moun- 
tains, with a mixture of the juice of 
cherries, and is not much valued here, 
but highly esteemed in other countries; 
and the Lagrima de Malaga, a° sweat 
wine, resembling Constantia, though 
highly valued by Spaniards, is not agree-’ 
able to an English palate. These wines 
are rather cultivated by the curious than 
made an object of commerce, and the 
quantity produced of each is very small. 
Next to wine, the most important ar= 
ticle is oil, for the making of which theve 
are more than seven hundred mills in 
the district through which I have lately 
passed. In general, the oil partakes of 
the bad qualities I noticed at Seville, 
but in Velez more attention is paid-ta 
cleanliness than any where else, and the 
oil is by far the best I have tasted in 
Spain. 
~ The quantity of raisins exported hence’ 
is very great, indeed this is the principal 
market for that article. Besides what 
is sent over the mountains to Granada, 
and other places farther north, there is 
annwally exported fifty thousand quintals 
by small vessels, which anchor near 
Torre del Mar, or by ships from the port 
of Malaga. 
The quantity of fizs dried in this 
neighbourhood 1s very-considerable, but 
is of less importance, as an object of 
foreign trade, than the raisins; they are 
mostly sent into the mountains, or to the 
city of Granada, whence wheat and bar- 
ley are brought in exchange ; for, though 
some of the playas are capable of produ- 
cing these grains in the greatest abun- 
dance, the quantity raised is not sufficient 
for the consumption of the inhabitants. 
Oranges, lemons, citrons, and almonds, 
are much cultivated, and the more rare 
fruits, such as the pine apple and chiri- 
imoya of Peru, are produced without 
difficulty; the banana and_ plantain, 
though not plentiful, are yet sufficiently 
grown to shew that every vegetable pro- 
duction of the West Indies may be culs 
tivated here with success. 
PALACES OF THE MOORISH KINGS. 
I have several times visited the Al-| 
hambra, the ancient fortress and palace 
of the Moorish kings: itis situated on 
the top of a hill overlooking the city, and 
is surrounded with a wall of great height 
and thickness. The road to itis by a 
winding path through a wood off lofty 
elms, mixed with poplars and oleanders ; 
aod some orange aud lemon trees. By 
the side of the 10ad, or rather path (for 
4L it 
