Mallorca

"The Mallorcan’s strong physique, their sobriety and the simplicity of their customs make them ideal farmhands which, as we’ve been able to verify, represent the greatest number. Their abilities for this work are clearly demonstrated by the current state of Mallorcan agriculture, even if orphans of other contributions than their hard work, instinct and the customs farmers have inherited from their ancestors. What couldn’t a people with these skills and good disposition achieve if they had all the means we make use of in our latitudes?

They are also particularly well-endowed for manual and industrial trades, especially those requiring a certain artistic sentiment, such as goldsmithing, woodworking or the embroidering done by women. Also very common is a talent for music, painting and, especially, poetry. By contrast, they give little importance to the sciences, which currently has few representatives. This is not the case with the moral sciences in which they have stood out and not without merit.

Mallorcans tend not to be very enterprising, preferring a smaller yet safer profit than greater ones the fruit of long-term business management which always implies a certain risk. For this reason, their spirit of association is not very developed, though true that in recent times things have changed somewhat in this respect as demonstrated by the existence of some already thriving mercantile associations."

Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria. Las Baleares por la palabra y el grabado. Majorca: General Part. Ed. Sa Nostra, Caja de Baleares. Palma de Mallorca. 1982.