With regard to mineral wealth, Asturias can no longer boast, as it did in the days of the Romans, of satisfying the quest of the “pale seeker after gold,” but it possesses valuable coal-measures, which are worked at Langres, Mieres, Santo Firme, &c., and furnish a supply to Cadiz, Carthagena, and other ports in the Mediterranean. The yield in 1868 was 2,720,000 met. quintals, or upwards of 267,000 tons. Beneath the coal-beds there is frequently a large development of hematite or iron ore; copper mines are worked in the neighbourhood of the river Aviles; and lead, magnesia, arsenic, cobalt, lapis lazuli, alum, antimony, jet, marble, and rock-crystal are found in various parts of the province, while amber and coral are gathered along the coast. Fuel of various kinds being plentiful, several manufactories of copper utensils are maintained, which supply some parts of Leon and Castile with kettles, pots, and similar articles. There used, besides, to be a large royal cannon-foundry near Oviedo. Coarse cloth is manufactured in the province, but not in sufficient quantity to supply the inhabitants. The roads in Asturias are not of a very satisfactory description, with the exception of the Camino real, or royal highway, leading from Gijon to Leon and Madrid, which was projected by Jovellanos,—himself a native of Gijon,—and cost so much that Charles V. inquired if it were paved with silver. It is carried by means of bridges and embankments over every impediment of a rugged and mountainous territory. A railway has been formed from Gijon to Langres, about twenty-five miles inland, where there are mines; and a more important line uniting Gijon to Leon has for long been “in course of construction.”

The capital of the province is Oviedo, and the other towns of importance are Gijon, Aviles, Llanes, and Luarca. Ten miles E.S.E. of Oviedo is the collegial church and sanctuary of Covudonga, famous for its connection with the struggle of Pelayo against the Moors. The people of Asturias have been called the Swiss of Spain: they are robust, patient, and hardy; unenterprising, but laborious; hospitable to strangers, and enthusiastic lovers of their country. Like the Swiss, they leave their homes in large numbers, and make a living in the southern cities as servants and water-carriers, the married women even often hiring themselves as nurses in Madrid and elsewhere. The native dialect is called Bable, and among other distinctive marks employs f for the usual Spanish h in many words, thus approaching nearer to the original Latin. There is a special clan among the Asturians called the Baqueros, who lead a nomadic life, tending their cattle in winter on the coast, and in summer on the mountains of Leytariegos. They never marry beyond the bounds of the tribe. The ancient Asturians or A stures—so called, it is supposed, from the old Spanish root ast, a hill-fortress—were in possession, not only of the present province, but also of what is now the northern part of Leon, where they have left their name to the city of Astorga. The district south of the Cantabrian mountains was subjugated by the Romans about 25 b,c., but the warlike natives maintained their independence in the north. And long after, when the rest of Spain was in the hands of the Moors, this rugged region was a refuge to the otherwise vanquished race, which at length acquired strength to break forth from its fastnesses and beat back the invader.