108 RELATION BETWEEN [chap. v. 



on the ground he leases, he is called a caseiro, from the casa 

 or house he occupies ; otherwise he is called a meyro, from 

 the meyo or half produce that he gives his landlord. The 

 owner of the land is called the senhorio ; he generally pos- 

 sesses nothing but the land ! the tenant is usually owner of 

 everything on it, such as trees, vines, walls, houses, embank- 

 ments, &c, to which the name of bemfeitorias (improvements) 

 is given. The tenant pays to his landlord one-half of all 

 the produce of the land. The wine and corn are strictly 

 looked after; but the oerduras, such as potatoes, cab- 

 bages, lupines, &c, are often unaccounted for by the tenants. 

 The landlord by right can demand one-half of the grass, but 

 it is rarely done ; when the landlord and tenant quarrel, and 

 the former refuses to give his share of grass to the latter, the 

 tenant cannot in this case dispose of his own half of it. Where 

 the landlord is needy, as the greater part now are, this sys- 

 tem gives rise to a constant watching and suspicion on both 

 sides, anything but conducive to the mutual good under- 

 standing which is essential to the due cultivation of the land. 

 Few of the landlords are now resident on their estates, and 

 where the steward, or feitor, is too rigorous in exacting his 

 master's due, he receives very unequivocal marks of the dis- 

 approbation of the tenants. Few tenements exceed an acre, 

 but the greater part are not more than one-eighth of that 

 size. When the leases are farmed out to a middle-man, or 

 rendeiro, the tenants are sometimes treated with great oppres- 

 sion. The landlord cannot turn off his tenant, without com- 

 pensating him for all his useful improvements, except houses, 

 for which he is not obliged to pay unless they were built with 

 his permission. The tenant, when he obtains leave to build 

 a house, is generally obliged to pay annually a trifling ac- 

 knowledgment to his landlord, such as a fowl, a dozen eggs, 



