Formerly the lower classes were in a condition but little better than bondage. Now, however, they are not adscripti glebes, because a great portion of the peasantry abandon their native soil in quest of em ployment, and are absent even for whole years. Du ring the interval, the ground which they would have had to labour, is cultivated by their wives. An in dulgence is shewn to tenantry here, of which we have hitherto found no example in other countries, and which we can scarce reconcile with our notions of the right of property in land. A landlord in the Asturias, as elsewhere, could remove his tenants .at the expiry of their leases ; but a royal ordi nance interposed in the year 1755, stating, that the principal cause why agriculture declined was the unlimited power of landlords to eject their tenants at the termination of their leases : and it declared, that thenceforward, if a farmer cultivated his lands properly, and was in no considerable arrear, he should neither be removed, nor have the rent raised. Both landlord and tenant were empowered to appeal to skilful persons, in order that the value of the farm might be ascertained ; or to fix the compensation which a tenant on quitting it should receive for the improvements he had made. The chief estates of the Asturias are ssid to be in the hands of 80 fami lies, and those of the next degree belong to the clergy.
The great extent of surface occupied by muuntains, limits the quantity of agricultural produce ; never theless wheat, i ye, barley, and maize, arc cultivated with success, and another kind of corn called escanda, affording white flour of good quality. Two crops in one year are obtained from the low lands, in which case barley follows either maize or flax. But the operations of the pei'santry are rude and unskilful. Their ploughs arc ill constructed, being adapted only to scratch the ground, which rather requires a deep furrow ; and their harrows have no iron. These are used only for maize, as the wheat and barley never undergo•harrowing. Their cart wheels are made of planks, and arc fashioned without spokes ; and the axles, to which no grease is applied, are eight or ten inches in diameter. An immoderate degree of friction, produced by such a clumsy apparatus, is increased by the most injudicious expedieLts. In some of the ra vines of the mountains, horizontal water wheels are seen driving the mills. Very considerable quantities of fruit are gathered throughout the principality, and much cyder is made from the apples. This i3 main tained to be inferior to English cyder, for two ma. sons : first, because the inhabitants neither pay suffi cient attention to the proper selection of fruit, nor tor the treatment of the liquor ; and secondly, becau3a its quality is insles;red 1.7 the extreme humidity of the climate. There are some vineyards, but no wine is made from their produce. Though the Asturias chiefly consist of successive mountains, there are se veral extensive pastures, grazed by numerous flocks of sheep and cattle.
The whole commerce of the Asturias is inconsi derable : the imports are linen, woollen stuffs, and hardware goods ; the exports, fruit, cyder, and mill stones. There are eighteen sea-ports on the coast, some of them so unimportant as hardly to be known by name. They send out shipping to France and England for articles which the province requires. Formerly their whole trade was engrossed by the Dutch, but is now partitioned amon other countries. The difficulty of intercourse with the e rest of Spain, undoubtedly restricts the commerce of the Asturias ; and the roads in general are represented as frightful. There is only ooe great road leading from Madrid to Oviedo, which traverses this principality : the rest are bye roads, many of them almost impracticable even" by a foot passenger. A road runs along the coast forty leagues, or nearly the whole length of the principality. In its course the traveller has to pass thirty-one rivers, only ten of which have bridges. Five of these are crossed in boats ; the remainder must be forded. The dangers of attempting this road on horseback, can be but imperfectly conceived. Sometimes the traveller finds himself on the summit of lofty mountains, then in dark and narrow vales ; next . buried in the thickest woods, or journeying
along the edge of naked precipices. But to com pensate for his difficulties, the true picture of the country is disclosed to his view, here consisting of hills whose tops are covered with snow, while the greenest pasture is seen below ; and there of rocks,. cascades, and natural fountains, or fields in a rich state of cultivation.
There are several edifices of Gothic architecture I in the Asturias. Not far from Caugas de Onis, is the monastery of St Peter Villanosa, said to oc cupy the site of a palace belonging to Alphonso I. the son of Favila, prince of Oviedo. Here there is a Gothic arcade, exhibiting proofs of great antiquity, which is reputed to have been the entrance to the chapel of the palace. At the gate of the church are sculptured the tragical incidents attending the death of the prince Favila, who while hunting was torn to pieces by a wild boar, in 738. Roman antiquities have been found near Gijon.
In regard to the Iiictory of the Asturias, it appears that the Romans made ineffectual attempts to subdue them. Florus describes a great body of Asturians descending from the mountains, and boldly attacking the Roman camp. The engagement was long and bloody, and the victory uncertain. When the Moors struggled for the conquest of Spain, and gained a decisive battle at Xeres de la Frontera, in 711, the Asturians received Pelayo and the other Christians, who escaped the force of their arms. The Moors found an impenetrable barrier in -the mountains sur rounding this province. Their cavalry, which con tributed so much to their successes in the low coun tries, was of little use ; and after being exposed to various attacks from the Asturians, they judged it expedient to retreat to a distance from the mountains. Pelayo, protected by their fastnesses, here laid the foundation of the Spanish monarchy ; his posterity waged constant war with the Moors, but it was only after a contest of several successive centuries, that they were able to effect their expulsion. From that :era the Asturians derived those privileges of nobility which they still retain : the inhabitants of Ansena are distinguished from the rest of their countrymen, by the title of Illustrious Mountaineers. The two provinces of Asturias were erected into a principality, and the oldest son of the Catholic king, under the late dynasty, has front the year 1388 bore the title of Prince of Asturias.
The character of the Asturians seems formed, in a great measure, from local circumstances: Extreme simplicity of dress and manners prevail : the women use no artificial decorations, trusting only to what na ture has bestowed. The people arc distinguished for honour, probity, and candour ; every thing bespeaks their remoteness from the more sociable and civilized districts of the kingdom : they are warmly attached to their country, faithful to their rulers, and passive to the laws. They are zealous, perhaps it may be affirmed superstitious, in matters of religion ; and in herit a degree of courage frequently the characteris tic of mountaineers. Dishonesty is said to be quite unknown among them. Yet notwithstanding such qua lifications, they are accused of dullness, and the want of vivacity, which we may probably ascribe to the interrupted intercourse subsisting between those who dwell in wild and uncultivated regions. However, they shouldprobably prize their situation, though the source of so many disadvantages, as it removes them from the impression of those convulsions to which a province more populous, civilized, and ac cessible, would be exposed.
The state of the sciences is at the lowest ebb in the Asturias : medicine in particular, as now prac tised, is less calculated to effect a cure than to en danger life. Hence a modern author, in speaking of the frequency of palsy, observes, " The physician has such a dread of palsy, that he bleeds his patient , into a dropsy, or leaves him to languish between life and death, a prey to the most gloomy of all diseases to which humanity is subject." See Bourgoing Tableau de l'Espagne Moderne, torn. 2. p. 16'2. Townsend's Travel in Spain, vol. i. ii. Laborde's View of Spain, vol. ii. Bleau's Atlas, tom. 3. Ma riana ilistoria de Espana. (c)