[78] It is stated in the Fuero of Nájera (A.D. 1076) that the price of the blood of a Moorish slave was twelve _sueldos_ and a half, while the Fuero Viejo of Castile (Book II., Tit. III., Ley IV.) contains the significantly contemptuous phrase, "If a man demand of another a beast or a Moor" (_si algún ome demanda á otro bestia ó moro_). The Countess d'Aulnoy wrote in 1679;--"There are here (at Madrid) a large number of Turkish and Moorish slaves, who are bought and sold at heavy prices, some of them costing four hundred and five hundred _escudos_. Until some time ago the owners of these slaves possessed the right to kill them at their pleasure, as though they had been so many dogs; but since it was remarked that this usage tallied but poorly with the maxims of our Christian faith, so scandalous a license was prohibited. Nowadays the owner of a slave may often break his bones without incurring censure. Not many, however, resort to so extreme a chastisement." In the same century the Countess d'Aulnoy recorded comical instances of the pride of the tradesmen of Madrid. "One morning," she says, "we stopped awhile in the Plaza Mayor to await the return of a servant whom my aunt had sent with a message to some place not far away. Just then I saw a woman selling some slices of salmon, crying them aloud and proclaiming their freshness in tones which positively molested the passers-by. Presently a shoemaker came up (I knew him to be such, because they called him the _señor zapatero_), and asked for a pound of salmon; since here they sell everything by the pound, even to coal and firewood. 'You have not been through the market,' cried the woman who sold the fish, 'because you fancy that my salmon is cheap to-day; but let me tell you that it costs an _escudo_ the pound.' Furious that his poverty should thus be hinted at in public, the shoemaker exclaimed in angry tones: 'It is true that I was not aware of the price of fish to-day. Had it been cheap, I would have bought a pound of it; but since you say it is dear, give me three pounds.' With these words, he held out his hand with the three _escudos_, jammed his hat upon his eyebrows (tradesmen in this town wear small hats, and persons of quality hats of great size), and then, twisting the ends of his mustachios, and clapping his hand to his rapier, the point of which bobbed upward, carrying with it a fold of his ragged cloak, caught up his purchase and strode home, looking at us with an arrogant air, as though he had performed some heroic deed and we had witnessed it. Yet the drollest part of it all was that beyond doubt the fellow had no money left at home, but had spent his week's wages upon the salmon, so that his choleric and haughty act would keep his wife and children famishing for all those days, after supping once upon abundant fish. Such is the character of this people;