The huerta of Valencia belongs, for the most part, to great proprietors; and many of the Grandees own estates in it. The Duke of Medina Cæli has a revenue of seventy-five thousand dollars per annum from his estates in the huerta. The families of Villa Hermosa and Benevento have almost as much; and in fact, there are very few persons who labour upon their own land. This is another explanation of the poverty that every where obtrudes itself in the midst of abundance. The price of labour is generally about three reals, and provisions are by no means remarkably cheap, considering the situation and advantages of Valencia. Beef is twelve quartos the pound of eighteen ounces, mutton seventeen quartos, pork a little more; a wild duck costs 10_d._ These are found in immense quantities on the lake of Albufera, a fowl costs 1_s._ or 1_s._ 3_d._ Wine, owing to the dues upon entry, costs in the city, three times its price in country; but bread is the dearest article in Valencia, notwithstanding the abundance of wheat: this is owing to a combination among the bakers, who are well known to bribe the corregidor not to interfere. There are few good pictures in Valencia; I looked for them in the convents, but found scarcely any; and the only tolerable private collection is up five pair of stairs, in a remote alley in the house of a Peruquier. He has an extraordinary number of pictures,--some originals, but more copies: one picture by Alonzo Cano, and another by Juanes, are, however, sufficient of themselves, to repay the labour of mounting to the gallery of the peruque maker.