THE OLIVE. 233 



and elaboration are too rough and careless, to enable the 

 Spanish produce to compete with the refined neutral oils 

 of Italy and France. With a little more care in its manu- 

 facture, and more energy in its introduction to foreign 

 markets, the rich oils of Spain might doubtless be made a 

 source of much additional national wealth. 



Its substantial qualities, and in particular its power of 

 long sustaining light, are appreciated in Eussia, where it is 

 superseding the oils of other countries for its reliable 

 illumination of the icons, or sacred lamps. The religious 

 tenets of the Muscovites require that these small lamps, 

 suspended before their images, should burn brightly, without 

 trimming, through the longest winter nights of eighteen 

 or twenty hours. The little glass tumblers of the icons 

 are filled to the brim with Spanish oil : a perforated metal 

 bar placed across, holds the lightly-twisted cotton wick, and 

 once lighted the little lamp burns brightly, without smoke 

 or attention, through the longest nights of the northern 

 winter. 



At present the preparation and export of Spanish oil is 

 almost monopolized by the port of Malaga. 



Hoesb-Breeding and Live Stock. 



Andalucia is the breeding-ground of the best horses of 

 the Peninsula : many of the landowners are possessed of 

 well-known " brands, " as they are called, and the farmers 

 are almost universally interested in horses to some extent. 

 Great strides have been made of recent years in the 

 improvement of the breeds through the importation of 

 thorough-bred English sires, &c. This is, indeed, the one 

 branch of rural industry in which a decided advance has 

 been made. Since the introduction of racing into the 

 country by Englishmen, about 1867 — Jerez de la Frontera 

 being the cradle of this, as of most other sports — the superi- 

 ority of the present breed has been thoroughly established. 

 Horses of a larger and better stamp than formerly are 

 now seen bearing the branded device of the various pro- 



