It is scarcely possible to conceive a more beautiful drive than between Barcellona and Gerona. The road keeps near to the sea all the way, and an enchanting country lies on the left. You pass through a succession of little plains, each from half a mile to three miles across, and each containing a village. These plains lie in little recesses of the mountains, which screen them behind, and separate them from each other, leaving one side open to the sea. They are covered with the finest vegetation, which advances within twenty yards of the sea, and are generally skirted by a hedge of aloes, that runs all along the coast. Between these plains the hills run forward into the sea, generally terminating in perpendicular cliffs; and the road, after traversing the green level, approaches close to the sea, and is carried along the front of the precipice, till having passed the barrier, it then descends into another of these little smiling recesses. These plains were covered with beautiful and promising crops when I passed through them; and round the villages, beds of every kind of vegetable,--cauliflower, cabbage, carrot, onion, and pease, shewed excellent crops, all ready for the kitchen. Every house, the centre of its own little farm, has a draw-well in its neighbourhood, from which the land is supplied. Some of these villages were singularly beautiful, particularly Cardetta, hanging upon some heights above the sea, with its little fertile plain,--all that the mountains would allow to it,--lying at its feet. These heights were entirely covered with the prickly pear, the last I saw; and near that village I also saw the last palm tree; but it was of stunted growth, not the stately and branchy palm of Elche. The difference between the villages and cottages of Catalunia, and of the other provinces of Spain, is seen at a glance; and in the state of the inhabitants, the difference is equally striking. The houses and cottages have an air of greater neatness and comfort,--there is glass in the windows, and the insides display the articles of furniture in common use. No beggars, and fewer ragged people are seen,--industry is evidently active,--stones are removed from the ground, and collected in heaps,--fences are more general, and more neatly constructed,--nobody is seen basking in the sun,--even the women and girls who are tending the cattle, are not sitting idly wrapped up in plaids, but every one has her spindle in her hand. In short there is altogether a new order of things.