portation: about seventy houses are occupied in these manufactories, which employ about 7000 persons of both sexes, including children, in the different branches, into none of which have they yet introduced machinery: the quantity of wool consumed is 460,000 pounds annually. There is besides a royal manufactory for fine cloths, which I did not visit, but learnt that it was in a very languishing state.

The royal manufactory for salt-petre and gunpowder, as well as that for belts and cartouch boxes, has been fully occupied under the direction of the Junta; but the same degree of lethargy prevails in them now, as in whatever else relates to the defence of the country.

The mountains round this city are well calculated for vines, but so little attention is paid to the cultivation of them, that the wine produced is very bad; at the Posada where we reside, there is only one kind of inferior sweet white wine, which is not drinkable; but we had the best proof that good wine is made here, in some Burwhich a gentleman sent us from his cellar; it was equal to any gundy I have ever tasted, and of the same colour, without any flavour of the skin; in fact, he had sent bottles to a vineyard about three leagues distant, celebrated for its excellent wine, in order to have it free from that taste which all the wines here acquire, from being brought from the vineyards in sheep-skins, with tarred seams. It is rather a curious fact, that in a country where cork trees abound, the trifling operation of cutting them is so ill done, that to have his wine in good order, this gentleman thought it necessary to send to Malaga for English corks, as well as English bottles.

The oil now produced in this vicinity is not sufficient for the

consumption of the inhabitants; but as the quantity of wheat is very great, a considerable exchange in the two commodities is carried on between this place and the townships to the South of the moun

tains.

I can say little of the state of society in this city: I have been at no parties excepting those of the Duchess of Gor; and there the gloom of the political horizon was too powerfully felt to allow of much enjoyment. At other times I am told it is a place of gaiety and amusement; and though the charming public walks by the side of the river are now deserted, yet in better times they are said to have been crowded with all the beauty and fashion of the city. There is a theatre, but it is not open, the performers having gone away to avoid the French.

The remark I made at Cadiz on the effect of despotism, in stifling the strong feelings of the populace, has been confirmed here; every one knows that the enemy has forced the passes of the Sierra Morena, and is rapidly advancing in this direction, but no one speaks of it openly; it is whispered only to confidential friends, and even they affect to treat it as a temporary irruption, which will be checked before it can possibly extend to this place. I shall leave Granada to-morrow. I have received much pleasure in viewing it, and feel no small degree of regret at the fate it must soon experience. I have, however, no personal apprehensions; for our route hence is not in the direction in which the enemy is advancing; and besides, we are sure of having two or three days notice of his approach, in which time we can reach the sea coast, even if the road to Cadiz should be occupied by the French.

WE left Granada at break of day, and proceeding by a road passable for wheel carriages, travelled over the Vega, through fields of great fertility. In two hours we reached Santa Fee, a city built by Ferdinand during the siege of Granada, which suffered very severely the last as well as the preceding year by earthquakes. The last extended its effects across the whole Vega, in a track of about one league in breadth, and was even felt at the city of Granada, though very slightly: the shock there lasted only a few minutes; but at Santa Fee it continued twelve hours, and has left marks of its ravages on most of the buildings: one of the churches is completely divided in the centre, and the tower is a heap of ruins. A convent which has been much injured, exhibits a curious spectacle ; one half is thrown down, and the cells of the monks in the other half are laid completely open. Several houses of private individuals have suffered severely; but so much are the people accustomed to these occurrences, that many of their habitations are already repaired, and workmen were busily employed in rendering the others

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habitable. I did not find that apprehensions of a repetition of the calamity, though the place is peculiarly subject to it, has induced of the inhabitants to contemplate a removal to situations of greater security.

any

I enquired the price of the most valuable land, with a right of water, and learnt, that the best corn lands had been lately sold at one hundred dollars the fanegada, which is equal to four-fifths of an English acre. Those lately sold were the property of the Prince of Peace, which had been confiscated by the Junta; and so much confidence was entertained by the purchasers in the security of the property so circumstanced, that even land, the title of which under any change of government would be undisputed, being the property of private individuals, had not sold to greater advantage than those, the titles of which depended on the stability of the present system.

Near this city is a valuable property, called Sota de Roma; it formerly belonged to the crown, and was kept as the country retreat of Charles the Fifth, who stocked the woods with pheasants, which are still found in great plenty. The king, Philip, granted it to Wall, the prime minister, who laid out the grounds and cultivated the lands in the English manner, and retired from the court, to pass the evening of a long life, which had been devoted to the public service, in this delightful retreat. After his death, it reverted to the crown, and was granted to Godoy, with some other rich and extensive farms in this vicinity. The Sota de Roma is a track of about five miles in length, and two in breadth; it contains extensive woods filled with elms, the right of cutting which is reserved by the crown, and very extensive and fruitful arable lands. Game of every kind

abounds in it, and has till lately been carefully preserved, but the people from the surrounding towns have destroyed much of it since the flight of its late owner.

On leaving Santa Fee, we continued our journey over the plain, till we arrived at a lonely venta on the side of a river, under the gateway of which, surrounded by muleteers and their mules, we ate the frugal repast which we had brought from Granada. This river is the Saladillo, which, even at this distance, retains so much of the saltness which it has imbibed from the waste water of the brine springs at Almaha, as to be refused by our horses, though they were thirsty from their long journey.

We continued our route across the plain, which appeared so inclosed by lofty and almost perpendicular mountains, that we could scarcely conjecture by what avenue we were to get out of the valley : by following the course of the Xenil, however, we at last found an opening, but through a chasm between the mountains so extremely narrow, that it hardly admitted of more than a passage for the stream. The mountains rose on both sides in terrific forms and tremendous heights throughout the whole of this pass, which, when the Moors possessed the plain of Granada, was considered as the most important of its defences. In the wider part of this fissure, the town of Loxa is situated; its streets rise one above the other on the side of the mountain, and still higher is a Moorish castle, which gives the whole scene a most picturesque appearance. The town contains about nine thousand inhabitants, who are mostly occupied in agricultural pursuits. The principal product is oil, but a sufficient quantity of corn is also raised for the consumption of the district. The parish