A S T U R I A S. 



isama. 



iV [u!l- 

 ii- a. 



Mjuc nf the 

 peasantry. 



agru ultural uk.-, Martial and Silius both speak of 

 abortea, It docs not appear, however, that 

 they arc at l qiully cil' l.rated. 



Irishes, 23 

 monasteries and nunneries, and I:! other religious es- 

 tablishments. The total population is about :J.50,000 

 persona. Besides dignitaries of the tliurch, the num- 

 ber of religious, including 200 nuns, B 2858) which is 

 less in proportion than in some other parts of Spain. 

 From the nature of the climate, the mode of life pur- 

 sued, and certain predisposing causes, the people are 

 subject to many severe diseases, such as fevers, drop- 

 ay, scrofula, palsy, leprosy, and others. The maltle 

 rosa attacks the back of the hands, the insteps, and 

 the neck, where it descends to part of the breast, but 

 leaves the rest of the body free. At first it appears 

 red, attended with pain and heat, and ends in scurf. 

 ;o and delirium succeed in the progress of the 

 disease, and another extraordinary symptom, consist- 

 ing in a peculiar propensity of the patients to drown 

 themselves. The disease disappears in summer, and 

 returns in spring : it may be cured by gentle medi- 

 cines, but if neglected, terminates in scrofula, maras- 

 nia, melancholy, and insanity. The inhabitants are 

 also grievously afflicted with leprosy, for which there 

 are no less than 20 hospitals in the Asturias. Some 

 labouring under it are covered with a dry white rem f, 

 and look like so many millers : some have the skin 

 almost black, full of wrinkles, and covered with a 

 loathsome crust : some have one leg and thigh swol- 

 len to an enormous degree, with many pustules and 

 ulcers ; while in others, especially women, the swelling 

 seizes one hand or the face, and hardly leaves the hu- 

 man features discernible. Certain patients, again, 

 amidst the variety which this disease assumes, have 

 carbuncles as large as hazel nuts all over the surface 

 of the body. 



Formerly the lower classes were in a condition but 

 little better than bondage. Now, however, they are 

 not adscripti glebw, because a great portion of the 

 peasantry abandon their native soil in quest of em- 

 ployment, and are absent even for whole years. Du- 

 ring the interval, the ground which they would have 

 had to labour, is cultivated by their wives. An in- 

 dulgence is shewn to tenantry here, of which we have 

 hitherto found no example in other countries, and 

 which we can scarce reconcile with our notions of 

 the right of property in land. A landlord in the 

 Asturias, as elsewhere, could remove his tenants 

 at the expiry of their leases ; but a royal ordi- 

 nance interposed in the year 1755, stating, that 

 the principal cause why agriculture declined was 

 the unlimited power of landlords to eject their 

 tenants at the termination of their leases : and it 

 declared, that thenceforward, if a farmer cultivated 

 his lauds properly, and was in no considerable arrear, 

 he should neither be removed, nor have the rent raised. 

 Both landlord and tenant were empowered to appeal 

 to skilful persons, in order that the value of the farm 

 might be ascertained ; or to fix the compensation 

 which a tenant on quitting it should receive for the 

 improvements he had made. The chief estates of 

 the Asturias arc s?id to be in the hands of SO fami- 

 lies, and those of the next degree belong to the clergy. 



The great extent of surface occupied by mountain?, 



limits the quantity of agricultural produce; never". A 



. wheat, rye, barley, and maize, are cultivated /""' 



with success, and another kind of corn called CXCItnda, % *, 



affording white flour of good quality. Two crops in lurc . 

 one year are obtained from the low lands, in which 

 barley follows either maize or flax. But the 

 Operations of the peasantry are rude and unskilful. 

 Their ploughs are ill constructed, being adapted only 

 to scratch the ground, which rather requires a deep 

 furrow; and their harrows have no iron. These are 

 used only for maize, as the wheat and harley never 

 undergo harrowing. Their cart wheels arc made of 

 planks, and are fashioned without spokes ; and I 

 axles, to which no grease is applied, are eight or ten 

 inches in diameter. An immoderate degree of friction, 

 produced by such a clumsy apparatus, is increased by 

 the most injudicious expedients. In some of the ra- 

 vines of the mountains, horizontal water wheels are 

 seen driving the mills. Very considerable quantities 

 of fruit are gathered throughout the principality, and 

 much cyder is made from the apples. This ij uv.d:.- 

 tained to be inferior to English cyder, for two rea- 

 sons : first, because the inhabitants neither pay suffi- 

 cient attention to the proper selection of fruit, nor ta 

 the treatment of the liquor ; and secondly, becatii* 

 its quality is u"f~d kj the extreme humidity of the 

 climate. There are some vineyards, but no wine is 

 made from their produce. Though the Asturias 

 chiefly consist of successive mountains, there are se- 

 veral extensive pastures, grazed by numerous flocks of 

 sheep and cattle. 



The whole commerce of the Asturias is inconsi- Commerce- 

 dcrable : the imports are linen, woollen stufEs, and 

 hardware goods ; the exports, fruit, cyder, and mill- 

 stones. There are eighteen sea-ports on the coi. 

 some of them so unimportant as hardly to be know;) 

 by name. They send out shipping to France and 

 England for articles which the province requires. 

 Formerly their whole trade was engrossed by the 

 Dutch, but is now partitioned among other countries. 

 The difficulty of intercourse with the rest of Spain, 

 undoubtedly restricts the commerce of the Asturias ; 

 and the roads in general are represented as frightful. 

 There is only ooe great road leading from Madrid to 

 Oviedo, which traverses this principality : the rest 

 are bye roads, many of them almost impracticable 

 even by a toot passenger. A road runs along the 

 coast forty leagues, or nearly the whole length of the 

 principality. In its course the traveller has to pass 

 thirty-one rivers, only ten of which have bridges. 

 Five of these are crossed in boats ; the remainder 

 must be forded. The dangers of attempting this 

 road on horseback, can be but imperfectly conceived. 

 Sometimes th*. traveller finds himself on the summit 

 of lofty mountains, then in dark and narrow vales ; 

 next buried in the thickest woods, or journeying 

 along the edge of naked precipices. But to com- 

 pensate for his difficulties, the true picture of the 

 country is disclosed to his view, here consisting of 

 hills whose tops are covered with snow, while the 

 greenest pasture is seen below ; and there of rocks,. 

 cascades, and natural fountains, or fields in a rich 

 state of cultivation. 



There are several edifices of Gothic architecture Rem 

 in the Asturias. Not far from Caugas de Onit, is antimutg 



