vent inflammation, fo that the earth may be burned in
the fame manner as charcoal. They fpread out this
burned turf, which acquires the colour of brick-duft,
then till the land and fow. their corn; the three firft
years they have -a plentiful harveft of wheat, the fourth
they fow barley, and the fifth flax; then the land begins
to wear out,.' the hedge is taken down and it affords tolerable
pafture till its furface gets covered with brambles
and weeds. All this hard labour is neceffary to o-
blige this ftubborn foil to maintain fuch numbers of people,
who like to live well, and ftand in need of good
food, to fupport fuch conftant fatigue ; even all this will
not do, they are ftill forced to get corn from Caftile, or
elfewhere, but they always prefer that of Caftile, as better
though dearer. In the fame manner they depend on
their neighbours for other kinds of food, as in fo clofe a
country, covered with woods, little is left for grazing ;
neverthelefs they eat better meat than their neighbours,
as their cattle are Hall fed in the winter.
Game would be plentiful if there were not fo many
fportfmen, though they do not want for partridges, and
their quail are the belt in all Spain. In marihy places,
they are well Hocked with wild ducks, woodcocks, and
fnipes. In the plains they have hares, but no rabbets,
nor any deer, nor roebucks,.which laft the Spaniards call
corzo, as coming originally from Corfica; as they give
the
the name of galgo to a greyhound, having firft had them
from Gaul, as Martial fays,
“ L e p o r e m q u e l a e f u m G a l l i c i c a n i s d e n t e . ”
L i b . i i i . E p i g . 4 7 .
The woods are not without wild boars ; and Don Manuel
de las Cafas who had been minift©r of Marine at St, Se-
baftians, killed, a very largelynx, (lupus cervarius) in
that part called las encartaciones [a) ; but the common
wolf is fcarce, there being fo few iheep to entice them,
and the country fo fully inhabited by which means they
are immediately difcovered and killed. Hardly once
in an hundred years one meets with a bear, though fo
common in the mountains of Leon and Afturias, which
form a chain jointly with thofe o f Bifcay; but they
have plenty o f foxes, to the great annoyance of their houfe-
wives, from the havock they make amongft the poultry.
Their fea-ports are well fupplied with fiih, every fort being
better and firmer in the ocean than in the Mediterranean,
fo that without having a very nice palate, it is eafy to
diftinguifh a bream o f Bifcay from one o f Valencia. Oy-
fters and other teftaceous fiih they have likewife in great
plenty, and that delicate fiih. called Sardina, in fuch
numbers, that you may buy a hundred for the value o f
a halfpenny.
(¿) The name'of Encartaciones is given to a certain number'br villages iii the mountains
of Burgos near Bifcay, where they enjoy the.famc rrancbires and privileges .as the.people .of
that lordihip.
X L E T T E R