While at Murcia, I visited the manufactory of saltpetre, this, and all other manufactories of the same article, are farmed by government to a company. The company is bound to furnish the article at six dollars the arroba, (25 lbs.). At present, they make but 1200 arrobas yearly; but formerly, they manufactured as much as 10,000. There were 70,000 arrobas in the magazine when I visited it. The trade has lately been thrown open; but I was informed that few have availed themselves of the permission to enter it. I did not visit the gunpowder manufactory, which is about a league distant from Murcia. It is bound to furnish government with 10,000 arrobas every two months, but there is at present so large a stock on hand, that it only produces 32,000 arrobas yearly. The silk manufactories of Murcia, were once so extensive, as to employ 16,000 hands; at present, scarcely 400 are required. In Murcia, all the silk is prepared by hand labour, and cannot, therefore, enter the market with the Valencia silk, which is for the most part, produced by machinery. The only other manufacture of Murcia, is a coarse cloth, which, to a certain extent, is sure of a market. The city lives almost entirely by agriculture; but the prosperity of the agriculturist, here as in Granada, has greatly decreased since the loss of the colonies has created a necessity for the imposition of new burthens upon land. The land in the vale of Murcia produces two crops yearly: wheat and lentils, wheat and maize, or wheat and beans; and may be computed to return about five per cent. CHAPTER XIX. JOURNEY FROM MURCIA TO ALICANT--ALICANT; AND JOURNEY FROM ALICANT TO SAN FELIPE AND VALENCIA. Winter in England and in Spain; Journey from Murcia; Orihuela and its Huerta; Inhabitants, and Superstition; a Muleteer’s Story; La Granja, and effects of the Earthquake of 1829; Elche, and its Forest of Palms; Commerce; the Date; arrival at Alicant; magnificent Houses; Situation of Alicant; the Feast of the Patron Saint; peculiarity in Alicant Society; Political Restrictions on Society; the Trade and Exports of Alicant; Barilla, the Huerta; an extraordinary Law-suit; Dangerous Road to San Felipe; Montforte, Novilda, and Elda; the Feast of the Concepcion Purissima; Sax, and Villena; Recontre with Moorish Physicians; Fuente de Higuera; Soldiers’ Opinions; charming Scenes; the Algarrobo; arrival at San Felipe; magnificent Moorish Remains; Relics of Moorish Customs; Journey to Valencia; Conversation with a Dominican Friar; the Plain of Valencia; Spring and Autumn in Spain; arrival at Valencia.