CASTILE. 



Gil 



of hilli and some stumpy olive planti, scarce de- 

 of trees." A few particular spots, 

 however, art- more favoured. In tin- pi -in of Re- 

 (ju na, trees arc cultivated with considerable care and 

 success ; and some of the mountains, particularly 

 those of Cuenca, are clothed with indigenous pines, 

 and vari MI* kinds of oak. Poplars are abundant at 

 T;dav ra de la Reyna ; and there are woods of green 

 oak in the environs of Torrija. The banks of the 

 rivers an-, in general, embellished with elms, poplars, 

 and \vi.lows ; and between the village of Flores and 

 the river Henare/, is a forest of the quercus cocci 

 fera, producing the precious worm which supplies 

 the carnation tint. Fruit trees are very scarce ; and 

 though the soil, with the means of irrigation which 

 they possess, is very favourable for their culture, yet 

 this province draws most of its fruits from Valencia 

 and Arragon. Vines are cultivated in several places; 

 but the wine of New Castile, though good, is often 

 thick, and sometimes hard, and is considered as infe- 

 rior to that of Arragon and the southern provinces. 

 In some cantons, plantations of olives are both nu- 

 merous and flourishing, especially between Cebolla 

 and the Guadarama, and the southern parts of the 

 province. The fruit is excellent, but the oil both of 

 N< w Castile and Arragon is execrable, owing entire- 

 ly to the method of preparing it ; for were it pro- 

 perly extracted, it would be equal to any in the 

 kingdom. Considerable quantities of honey are ga 

 thered in this province; and that of Alcaria and the 

 Sierra de Cuenca is reckoned the best in Spain. On 

 the mountains of Cuenca alone, the produce of 1773 

 .was 3334- arobas of honey, tnd 156 of wax. 



The manufactures of New Castile consist chiefly 

 in woollen stuffs. The cloths of Brihuega are excel- 

 lent in their quality, but they are surpassed by those 

 of Guadalaxara and Vigonia. Very little linen is 

 mude here ; and its manufacture is confined almost 

 entirely to Toledo and St lldefonso, which employ 

 only about 30 looms. Extensive manufactories of 

 silks and gildings, however, are established at Reque- 

 na, Toledo, and Talavera de la Reyna ; where are al- 

 so fabricated plain and figured velvets, of mixed co- 

 lours, and embroidered with gold ; taffetas, satins, 

 silk serges, silk stuffs, gold and silver stuffs, and silk 

 ribbons. At Rrquvna aK/ne these manufactures give 

 employment to nearly 800 looms, and the annual con- 

 sumption of the thm- places is estimated at J00,000 

 pounds of S'lk, 4-000 merks of silver, and 70 rtv rks 

 of gold. Besides these, the other principal brunches 

 of manufacture are, calicoes, laces, and tapestries; silk, 

 cotton, and worsted stockings ; hats and caps ; por- 

 celain and .'.elf ware; pikes, swords, and cutlery ware. 

 There is also a royal manufactory for mirrors, which 

 was carried on at the king's expense. Most of its 

 manufactures, however, are scarcely adequate to the 

 demands of the province ; and it is indebted to other 

 districts for many articles of comfort and luxury, of 

 ornament and use. A few of its stuffs are carried 

 to .Seville and Cadiz, and thence exported to Ame- 

 rica ; but its cloths and woollens are inferior to those 

 of England and France, and cannot stand in the same 

 market. Its silks, which are exposed to sale at Ma- 

 drid, are also undersold by the French silks, as well 

 as by those of Catalonia and Valencia. 



Considerable improvements have been recently made 

 en the roads of this province, which have greatly fa- 



cilitated the traniportation of good* between the dif- 

 ferent districts. -Some of these roads are broad and 

 handsome, but almost universally incommoded with 

 dust. They are sometimes planted with tree on each 

 side, and arc frequently intersected by rivers, oer 

 which are several well constructed and magnificent 

 bridges. Many of the cross roads, however, are 

 still scarcely passable, being rough, narrow, and of- 

 ten dangerous. 



Though New Castile is the residence of the court, 

 and comprises within itself every thing calculated to 

 produce opulence and splendour, a fertile soil and a 

 salubrious climate, yet its general characteristics are 

 poverty and ignorance. Industry, science, and the 

 liberal arts, are confined entirely to the capital, where 

 they flourish under the influence and protection of the 

 sovereign. But the traveller has scarcely left the ci- 

 ty, when he finds himself transported, as it were, to a 

 different region. The luxury, wealth, and activity ot 

 Madrid emit not one ray beyond its walls, to cheer 

 th- poverty and sloth with which it is surrounded. 

 While the capital is fostered by the hand of power, 

 the province is left to languish in indigence and ob- 

 scurity. The means of instruction are denied to the 

 majority of the inhabitants, and but niggardly sup- 

 plied to others. The universities of Toledo, Alcala de 

 Henarez, and Siguenza, are (excepting those of the 

 capital) the only public institutions in the province 

 for the advancement of literature. The mechanical 

 arts are equally neglected ; and there is scarcely a na- 

 tive of New Castile who is distinguished as an artisan. 

 Those of the capital are either foreigners or Catalo- 

 nians ; and among the literati are to be found fewer 

 Castilians than the natives of other provinces. It is 

 not. however, the want of capacity which renders the 

 Castihan inferior in these respects to the other inha- 

 bitants ot the peninsula, but rather a native indolence 

 arising from habit, and the want ot sufficient encou- 

 ragements to exertion. He still retains the prejudices 

 of his warlike ancestors, who, devoted entirely to the 

 exercise of arms, looked upon agriculture and the 

 arts as ignoble and inferior objects ; and though the 

 arts of peace have been long established in many of 

 the other provinces of the kingdom, the prejudices of 

 the Castilian has been perpetuated by indolence and 

 the scarcity of instruction. " With superior capaci- 

 ties for reflection," says Lab'jrde, " the Castilian 

 thinks much, but demonstrate* little, and acts less ; 

 he is rather slow in yielding his confidence, but when 

 he trusts at all, it is with hi> whole heart and soul ; 

 he is neither prompt in enterprize, nor disposed to ac- 

 quire the regular habits of industry. There are per- 

 haps not many active occupations he is likely to pur- 

 sue with success; his aptitudes are to science, parti- 

 cularly to such abstruser branches as are connected 

 with speculation and research ; his conceptions are 

 strong and vigorous; his judgment solid; his imagi- 

 nation vivid and vivacious ; he devotes himself com- 

 pletely to the objects of his pun>uit, but he is seldom 

 capable of embracing more than one at the same mo- 

 ment ; his genius only requires culture and encou- 

 ragement ; but he possesses not the power to obtain 

 knowledge, and the government fails to afford him 

 the means of instruction."'' The New Castilian," 

 says the same author, " possesses qualities of genuine 

 excellence ; he is honourable and humane, sober and 

 temperate, and revolts from every species of falsehood 



