a province of Spain. It is bounded on the north and east by New Castile, on the south by Andalusia, and on the west by Portugal; the southern part being divided from that kingdom by the river Guadiana. It is the most thinly peopled of any part of the kingdom except Cuenca, and the density of its population very little exceeds that province. Its extent is 1199 square leagues, and its population amounts to 428,493 souls. The soil in general is fruitful, and produces vines, oil, hemp, silk, corn, and fruits. Its mountains abound in chestnuts, in oaks, and the other timber trees. Its pastures feed large flocks of sheep, both of the migratory and fixed breeds. The breeds of horses are excellent; and the pigs are celebrated throughout Spain, the hams and sausages made from them being preferred to all others. In spite however of the capacity to yield these valuable productions, much of the land is uncultivated, and many parts of it are without inhabitants. The backward state of the agriculture is generally attributed to vast tracts of land, susceptible of the best cultivation, being destined solely to the pasturage of the Merino flocks. As the pastoral life requires but few labourers, and extensive open fields, where sheep flocks are managed so very injudiciously as they are in Spain, it has a tendency to check the increase of population and cultivation. The northern part of this province extends to the banks of the Tagus, into which, after their junction, run the two rivers of that district. These are the Xerte and the Alagon. The middle of the province, between the upper part of the Guadiana and the Tagus, is a very dry country, with no great and few small streams. The southern part has the river Guadiana, a muddy and often stagnant stream, and some tributary rivers. It is the best cultivated part, but between it and Seville are ranges of mountains, which hold out little inducement to any other system of farming than that of feeding sheep for the sake of their valuable fleeces. There are some mines of silver and of platina in this southern division of the province. The yearly produce of this province is 6000 cwt. of pepper, 5925 of flax, and 875 of hemp; of wine 4376, of brandy 53,125, of vinegar 1000 ohms; of oil 50,259, of sumach 9800, of madder 45, of woad 100, and of silk 204½ cwt. The annual produce of honey is 3975, and of wax 600 cwts. In manufactories of cloth there are employed 725, and of linen 2168 looms. There are also 155 tanneries, twenty-five hat manufactories, and seventy-three soap-boiling houses.

a province of Portugal, the only one in that kingdom which does not in some of its borders join to Spain. Though Lisbon and its great population forms part of this province, it is not so thickly peopled as either Entre-Douro-e-Minho or La Beyra. Its extent is 823 square leagues, and its inhabitants amount to 826,680 souls. The province of La Beyra surrounds Estremadura, excepting where the sea or the river Tagus are its limits. The soil produces some wheat, maize, and millet, much wine and oil, and abundance of fruits and culinary vegetables. Its shores abound with fish, as well as the fresh-water rivers. On the coast great quantities of salt are made by the evaporating power of the sun alone, and consequently much cheaper and better than in our more northern climate. The only river besides the Tagus that runs into the sea is the Lis, which empties itself near Leyria. The Tagus, which crosses Estremadura, has its course so interrupted by rocks and cascades, as to be incapable of navigation above Abrantes; but from that city to Lisbon, a distance of thirty leagues, shallows regularly navigate. The right bank, after the Tagus enters Portugal, is mountainous; but the left bank is marshy, sterile land. From Santarem there is a constant gradual declivity to the city of Lisboa, and, though fourteen leagues asunder, the capital may be seen from the former city. The rivers which from the north increase the waters of the Tagus, are the Pouzat, the Lysa or Laca, and the Cecere. These descending from the mountains of La Beyra, have an unequal and sometimes dangerous degree of rapidity, being at one time mere rivulets, almost dry, and at others rapid torrents, which inundate the country; but when they do so, they afford means of defence against an invading enemy. Some ranges of high mountains run northward from the Tagus towards Busaco. One spot in these will be long celebrated. The lines of Torres Vedras will not be forgotten as the place where Lord Wellington made his successful stand, and caused to roll back on the invaders the desolation they had spread in their advancing course.