384 TRAVELS THROUGH 

 travelled from hence all the way to Gibraltar* 

 I fhould find the country and cultivation 

 growing worfe and vvorfe, and very many 

 great lines of country entirely uncultivated, 

 even upon the coaft. But near the city of 

 Alicante the cafe is different, and the 

 country as well cultivated as any I had feen ; 

 and I was informed that all the way to 

 Murcia it is the fame. 



As I am now upon the point of quitting 

 Spain, I muft make a few general obferva- 

 tions on that part of it I have feen. In the 

 line of country I have travelled^ of near 

 four hundred miles, I have found it, in ge- 

 neral, well cultivated; the foil excellent, 

 and the climate to exceed ,al mod any thing 

 I had experienced : the crops are abundant, 

 the people rich and at their eafe, and, if a 

 Proteftant country, would exhibit every 

 thing that is to be feen in Holland itfelf* 

 This, it is true, is the fmeft part of Spain j 

 but the obfervation which I would prin^ 

 cipally dwell on is the circumflance of 

 the manners of the people. There is evi- 

 dently nothing in the manners of the Spa- 

 niards againft working and induftry, when 

 they have once been put in the right road, 



and 



