girdle; loose short
trowsers which terminate at the knee, and boots and gaiters. Their heads
are shaven, a slight fringe of hair being only left at the lower part.
If they wore the turban, or barret, they could scarcely be distinguished
from the Moors in dress, but in lieu thereof they wear the sombrero or
broad slouching hat of Spain. There can be little doubt that they are a
remnant of those Goths who sided with the Moors on their invasion of
Spain, and who adopted their religion, customs, and manner of dress,
which, with the exception of the first, are still to a considerable
degree retained. It is, however, evident that their blood has at no time
mingled with that of the wild children of the desert, for scarcely
amongst the hills of Norway would you find figures and faces more
essentially Gothic than those of the Maragatos. They are strong,
athletic men, but loutish and heavy, and their features, though for the
most part well-formed, are vacant and devoid of expression. They are
slow and plain in speech, and those eloquent and imaginative sallies so
common in the conversation of other Spaniards seldom or never escape
them; they have, moreover, a coarse, thick pronunciation, and when you
hear them speak, you almost imagine that it is some German or English
peasant attempting to express himself in the language of the Peninsula.
They are constitutionally phlegmatic, and it is very difficult to arouse
their anger; but they are dangerous and desperate when once incensed, and
a person who knew them well told me that he would rather face ten
Valencians, people infamous for their ferocity and blood-thirstiness,
than confront one angry Maragato, sluggish and stupid though he be on
other occasions.

The men scarcely ever occupy themselves in husbandry, which they abandon
to the females, who plough the flinty fields and gather in the scanty
harvests. Their husbands and sons are far differently employed, for they
are a nation of _arrieros_ or carriers, and almost esteem it a disgrace
to follow any other profession. On every road of Spain, particularly
those north of the mountains which divide the two Castiles, may be seen
gangs of fives and sixes of these people lolling or sleeping beneath the
broiling sun on their gigantic and heavily laden mutes and mules, the
boast of Spain, but dearly purchased by the debasement and degeneration
of a once noble breed of horses. In a word, almost the entire commerce
of nearly one ha