on their legs, for stockings. The women are dressed just as oddly, in
short gowns, and with their hair plaited and hanging down their backs,
if they are unmarried; or a cap and cotton kerchief round their heads,
if they are married. The peasants' houses are built of wood, and have
one or two rooms only; they are miserably furnished, with no beds, as
the family sleep on benches in summer, while nearly one-fourth of the
principal apartment is filled by an enormous stove, or rather oven,
upon which they sleep in winter; for the smoke of which, there is no
chimney beyond a hole in the wall. I don't think you or I would much
like to spend a winter in Russia.

Many useful things, you may observe, have come from Spain--cheeses,
honey, dried fruits, salt, lime, wool, oil, flax, and cotton; with
guns, swords, and also beautiful ornaments; with some precious
stones, diamonds, rubies, and emeralds. The Spaniards are not either a
very active or a very cleanly people, but they are exceedingly proud,
honest, and hospitable; they are skilful workers in woollen and silk
stuffs, and manufacture sword-blades of a very fine kind; while their
leather is celebrated for its superiority. They also work beautifully
in gold and silver; and trade in immense quantities of those oranges
you like so well, lemons, citrons, grapes, raisins, olives, nuts, and
wines.

The chief amusement of both high and low is one which neither you nor
I would be pleased with, I hope, for it is bull-fighting; which cruel
entertainment they learned from the Moors, who once had possession of
Spain, and built all the beautiful castles and palaces that are in it.
The manners of the rich people are merely like those of our own
gentry, but the common people are very peculiar; and all classes
delight in playing on the guitar, and singing, both of which they