Here, in the centre of a small chapel, surrounded by his chief companions in arms, by Alvar Fanez Minaya, Pero Bermudez, Martin Antolinez and Pelaez the Asturian, were placed the remains of the mighty warrior, the truest of Spanish heroes, the embodiment of all the national virtues and most of the national vices.
The peasantry, especially in the north, are closely akin to the Galician and Asturian Spaniards in character, physique and dialect; and these three ethnical groups - Portuguese of the north, Galicians, Asturians - may perhaps be regarded as the purest representatives of the Spanish stock.
Few of the buildings of Gijon are noteworthy for any architectural merit, except perhaps the 15th-century parish church of San Pedro, which has a triple row of aisles on each side, the palace of the marquesses of Revillajigedo (or Revilla Gigedo), and the Asturian Institute or Jovellanos Institute.
In the same Asturian districts the government has its foundries and factories for making arms at La Trubia and Oviedo, Toledo being only now famous for its blades and decorative work, while the foundries at Seville and Segovia are unimportant compared with those of Asturias.
Others, especially the hill tribes of the Basque and Asturian mountains fringing the north coast, were still unquiet under Augustus, and we find a large Roman garrison maintained throughbut the empire at Leon (Legio) to overawe these tribes.
