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XERBS•..,.-SIBRRA MÛRENA. 71Hs wine. The soil of its vicinity is rich and cultivated; the adjacentcountry is thickly studded with villages; the town itself is handsome;and elegant equipages ftitting about in it, indicate that the afRuenceof commerce has here at least supervened the deleterious effects of aninju~ious system of rU,ral product.Quitting Xeres to the north, travellers cross a Moorish bridge witha tower on the centre (a military idea transmitted to our island), and atnight reached a single posada, four leagues from Xeres. The soil hereis deep and moist: a proof of the lat~r exists in the multitude of fire..flies which pervade the air àt evening.A company ofa description ofpersons called Montan~ses occupied the inn. They were going on businessof trade to Seville. They looked of the most respectable class offarmers, grave and decorous in demeanour. From the appearance ofthemselves and the cattle they ro~:le, both seemed to live in plenty.They were weIl mounted; armed with carbines, swords, andpistols:rode with the old Moorish horse appointments; and when on horsebackcovered an by a cloak. 'Vhy is not ail like this ?The country hence toward the Sierra Morena is divided into inclosures;fat'ming establishments and villages, with open woods interspersed,present themselves to the traveller's delighted eye.SIERRA MORENA.-Approaching this tract of mountains here, thecountry gradual1ybecomes rugged, assuming "an oudine very dilferentfrom' that of itseastern extremity..,The Sierra here i8 much more acute,the ridges narrower, the raviI)ès wider,-all those diversities offeature8w,hich make the djfference between schist and granite. Here, too, ismore wat.er,andverylittle wood. H~reabou,t, however, (that is onthe southern skirtsof the Sierra,) the country is still picturesque, beinginterspersed with woods and groves of cork-tree and dwarf oak.Thistract i8, by the information ofour good muleteer, whose openness and