38 JOURNEY FROM SEVILLE 



is the state of personal insecurity, that no farmer or pro- 

 prietor ventures to live on his land. The inhabitants 

 are congregated in the towns or in miserable villages, 

 and only visit the distant fields to give them the least 

 possible culture, and to gather in the harvest when ripe. 

 This beincr a cross-road, the inns were of the meanest 

 description ; and the fare, which was undoubtedly supe- 

 rior to the daily fare even of those above the rank of a 

 peasant, was such as to indicate the greatest poverty. I 

 did not see 100 head of cattle, or twice as many sheep, 

 during the whole journey ; and only once was butcher's 

 meat set upon the table. My companions seemed to 

 consider themselves fortunate when the bill of fare in- 

 cluded a stewed rabbit or hare; and this was in a country 

 rich enough to support ten times its population, in the 

 greatest abundance. From Antequera to Malaga, about 

 22 miles, the character of the country was totally different. 

 Instead of the rich and extensive plains, bounded by 

 gently rising hills covered with the olive, the road here 

 wound through a continuation of steep rocks and hills, 

 in many places approaching in character to mountains. 

 But here the hand of industry had been at work, and. 

 instead of a track formed by the successive marks of 

 wheels, there was a road cut out of the sides of the hills, 

 and winding through them with considerable "^rt. Here 

 and there also, where a favourable spot was presented, a 

 peasant had established himself ; and the plantations of 

 vines and olives, with which his industry had surrounded 

 his habitation, had given to the narrow valleys, and steep 

 declivities of the mountains, an appearance of cultivation 

 and fertility that might be looked for in vain in the wide 

 spreading and rich valleys through which we had pre- 

 viously passed. As we approached Malaga these plan- 



