76 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



Townsend's " Travels,"^ in the second volume of wMcli the following 

 occurs : — 



(pp. 59, 60). — "■ Journey from the Asturias to the JEscurial. — As we 

 approached the confines of the principality the scene changed gi'eatly ; 

 for, instead of soft and swelling hills, covered with grass or clothed 

 with woods, scarcely anything was to be seen hut stupendous rocks of 

 limestone — some in long ridges, rising perpendicular to the height of 

 two or three hundred feet, others cragged and broken into a thousand 

 forms. In this route the way winds chiefl.y by the side of little rivers, 

 brooks, or torrents, till it has passed the summit of that vast chain of 

 mountains which separates the Asturias from Old Castille; yet in 

 the midst of these stupendous mountains a few rich valleys intervene, 

 each with its little village, in size proportioned to the extent of 

 land susceptible of cultivation. In the ravines through which we 

 passed I observed that all the mills have horizontal water-wheels. 

 These grind the corn very slowly, being fed by single grains; but 

 then to compensate for this defect, they place many near together, 

 and the same little stream, having communicated motion to one wheel, 

 passes in succession to the rest. These are well suited to a country 

 abounding with stone for building, where water runs with rapidity 

 down a steep descent, and where despatch is not required" : since, 

 however, Comillas is hardly known to geography, its environs and 

 the coast along may be equally ignored by travellers. 



Prom those different examples of this class of water-mill it may be 

 fairly concluded that their origin can hardly be ascribed to the Danes, 

 finding them, as we do still, on the Cantabrian coast and in Greece. On 

 the other hand, nothing so far gives us any clue to their origin or intro- 

 duction into the MediteiTanean countries. There is fair grounds for 

 presuming that they really come from the East or from Asia Minor, 

 where all the arts were developed to so high a degree from the very 

 earliest times known to history, and that their remains or presence in 

 these countries and in the north of Spain and in these isles may be 

 regarded as offering testimony of the frequency and continuity of 

 the commercial relations between the southern trading peoples and 

 the " Hyperboreans " or northern races inhabiting these islands, Hol- 

 land and Scandinavia. Ground is therefore furnished for research in 

 that direction, and, mayhap, it would be neither f I'uitless or uninterest- 

 ing. It may at once be pointed out that the Senchus-Mdr contains 

 some notices of mills which are worth quotation. In vol. i., p. 125,., 



^ Three volumes. Published in London, 1791. 



