222 WILD SPAIN. 



represent "fanegas," which are, roughly, equivalent to 

 acres. 



Crop or Condition. 



Garden produce, vegetables, &c. 



Fniit-trees 



Corn and seeds ... 



Vines 



Olive-woods 



Meadow ... 



Salt-pans ... 



Pasturage... 



Groves and marshy dells [alamedas y sotos) . 



Brushwood [monte, alto y hajo) 



Winter grazings (e/'mZes con ^;«s^os) ... 



Threshing-grounds, &e. (ems y canteras) 



Non-productive ... 



Total 1,907,168 42,580,148 



Oriental customs survive in the hiring of labour, both 

 for field and vineyard. Men are not employed permanently 

 — only " taken on " as occasion requires. A hiring-place 

 is the feature of Spanish rural towns — the Plaza, or public 

 square, usually serving the purpose. Here, at all hours, 

 but notably at early morn and sunset, stand groups of 

 swarthy labourers, waiting for hire, and contentedly smok- 

 ing their cigarettes till some capataz, or foreman, comes 

 to terms with them. 



Corn and wine are cultivated by distinct classes of 

 labourers — those for the vineyard, superior workmen, gain- 

 ing thrice the pay of the others. In the vineyards the 

 men receive the equivalent of three francs a day, with oil 

 and vinegar — important items in a hot country — while the 

 corn-farmer only pays one franc, with bread and oil. 



The only permanent hands at a vineyard are the capataz 

 and his assistant, the duties of the latter being to 

 bring bread from the town on his pannier-mule, and 

 water from the best or nearest well in those cool earthen 

 pitchers called caiitaws. Water is almost as important as 

 food. Among the poor it is the national drink — the 

 quality produced by each well is known and often dis- 



■a 



