To the Rev.A.Brandram (ENDORSED:recd.July 25,1837)ASTORGA,5TH JULY,1837.
REVD.AND DEAR SIR,-I avail myself of the present opportunity of giving an account of what has befallen me since I last wrote to you from Salamanca,which I shortly after quitted.By that time my advertisements had been affixed in all parts of the city,and several New Testaments had been sold;I myself had the pleasure of seeing three despatched in less than a quarter of an hour that Iremained in the shop.From Salamanca I proceeded to Valladolid,distant about twenty-five leagues,where I employed the same means which I had adopted at Salamanca for the promulgation of God's Word.I must here observe that Valladolid is a place where literature of every description is at the lowest ebb,and bookselling there is merely carried on in connexion with other business,it being in itself quite insufficient to afford a livelihood to those who pursue it.Nevertheless during the five days that I continued there my labours were so far favoured that twenty copies were disposed of,and a fair prospect opened that many more would be demanded.Before leaving I gave orders that the advertisements should be renewed every week,as evil-disposed,persons probably of the Carlist or Papist party,had defaced or torn down a great number of those which had been put up.From pursuing this course I expect that much and manifold good will accrue,as the people of these parts will have continual opportunities of acquainting themselves that a book which contains the LIVING WORD is in existence and within their reach,which may induce them to secure it and consult it even unto salvation.
Quitting Valladolid,I directed my route to Leon by the Palencia road;the greatest part of the way was barren and uninteresting to a high degree,consisting of wide dusty plains scantily sown with barley,but unrelieved with trees or waters.The people are ignorant and brutal,though they boast themselves to be Old Castilians,which is however not the fact,as these desolate and benighted regions belong to what was once the kingdom of Leon.
Their inhospitality is so great that I have been refused a glass of water in their villages,though I asked it in the name of God;though I have subsequently obtained it by paying for it,for their hearts can always be opened by the key of interest,though inaccessible to every noble and generous sentiment.I suffered dreadfully during this journey,as did likewise my man and horses,for the heat was the fiercest which I have ever known,and resembled the breath of the simoom or the air from an oven's mouth.
Leon is beautifully situated in a smiling blooming country abounding in grass and trees,and watered by many streams which have their source in a mighty chain of mountains in the neighbourhood,which traverse a great part of Spain and are connected with the Pyrenees;but unfortunately it is exceedingly unhealthy,for the heats of the summer-time raise noxious exhalations from the waters,which generate all kinds of disorders,especially fevers and tertian agues.It is the Feversham of Spain.
NOMEN CUI INFAUSTA FATA DEDERE FEBRIS [sic].
