boundaries, and to wander into diftricts where 110 impediments
occurred to their progrefs, making a cafual life
of the. lands without the leaft thought o f proper cultivation,
as that would require more hands than they were
able to furnifh; and on this occafion they firit introduced
that barbarous method o f ploughing with mules, by
which they only juft fcratched up the ground.
Thus what was fo imperfeCtly tilled, and much more
left entirely uncultivated, remained for the purpofe o f
grazing for foreign cattle, to the great prejudice of a-
griculture. Eftremadura is a province o f Leon, and not
o f Caitile ; the natural remedy for thefe misfortunes
was immediately perceived by the Portuguefe, though
the> Caftilians would. not underhand it, fome being
warped by their avarice, under a fond notion of having
large trails of land although barren, - and others by the
flattering idea of pofleffing numerous flocks, as if agriculture
had been loft. The laws therefore that were made
by Ferdinand King o f Portugal deferve to be written
in letters of gold, one of which was ; “ That no perfon
who was not an huibandman or his fervant, ihould '
keep iheep either for himfelf, or for others ; and i f any
other perfoos were defirous of having them, they muff
oblige themfelves to .cultivate a certain portion of land,
under the penalty o f Iofing their cattle if the regulation
■was not exaitly complied with.” By this lingular and
moft
moft excellent law, many defeils o f the Mefta could be
remedied, both in refpeCi to the Iheep, and the ihep-
herds, who without cultivating a foot of land ufurped fo
confiderable a diftrift, in a manner fo prejudicial, to
the induftry o f the farmer.
It is ihameful to obferve in Spain, a continuation o f
the barbarous cuftoms of the Saracens, who totally neglectful
o f agriculture, wander with their cattle over
the depopulated plains o f Arabia and Lybia. When
the induftrious Moors pofleiTed Eftremadura, they turned
the whole province into a garden, replete with inhabitants,
as appears by the numerous armies they brought
into the field againft the Chriftians. They did not fend
their flocks to Caitile, nor the Spaniards come with
theirs into Eftremadura, for the Mefta was unknown.
This'expreflion therefore is not circumfcribed to the
foie mixture, or variety of cultivation, but comprehends
grazing, united with farming, fince the praCtice of both
properly combined, conftitutes the true farmer, who
without fome cattle, will ever be poor. The method ob-
ferved by the Romans, in allotting a certain number o f
head of cattle o f the larger and fmaller fort, in proportion
to a given quantity of land, evinces the propriety o f
fimilar laws in Portugal, as well as the indifpenfable connection
o f thefe branches of rural ceconomy.^
Some