Spain

Spain
Wentworth Webster

Wentworth Webster

Spain

PREFACE

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THERE is a difficulty in writing a book of this character on Spain, which does not exist, we think, to the same extent with any other European country. In most European nations the official returns and government reports may be accepted as trustworthy, and the compiler has little more to do than to copy them; but in Spain this is far from being always the case. In some instances, from nonchalance and habitual inexactitude, in others, and especially in all matters of finance and taxation, from designed misstatement, all such reports have to be received with caution and scrupulously examined. The reader must remember also that in Spain smuggling and contraband dealing in various forms is carried on to such a vast extent as seriously to vitiate all trade returns. Thus it is that Spanish statistics can be considered only as approximate truths.

Another difficulty arises from the very varied character of the Spanish provinces. Hardly any statement can be made of one province which is not untrue of another. The ordinary descriptions of Spain present only one, or at most two, types, the Castling and Andalusian, and utterly neglect all the rest. The provinces of Spain have been well described as divided into "five Irelands" whose habits and modes of thought, political aspirations, and commercial interests and aptitudes, are often utterly opposed to those of the capital. A brief survey of the whole of Spain is attempted in the following pages.

In a work of this kind one other obvious difficulty is to know what to omit. Some well-worn topics will be found to be absent from these pages. No references are made to the great Peninsular War. This can be easily studied in the admirable pages of Sir W. Napier in English, and of Toreno in Spanish, or in compendiums of these, which again are filtered down in every guide-book. For a like reason Prescott's brilliant works are not alluded to.

For the chapter on Geology and Mining the reader is indebted to one of the most distinguished Associates of the School of Mines, who has been recently engaged in practical geological survey and mapping in Spain.

Much also of the present work is due to private information most kindly furnished by Spanish friends of high position in the literary and political world, and with whom some of the subjects treated have been frequently discussed. To these the author offers his warmest and most grateful thanks.

CHAPTER I.

THE GEOGRAPHY OF SPAIN

SPAIN, with the neighbouring kingdom of Portugal, constitutes the most westerly of the three southern peninsulas of Europe, and in Cape Tarifa, latitude 36° 1', it attains the most southerly point of the whole continent. Separated from France and from the rest of Europe by the chain of the Pyrenees, and surrounded on all other sides by either the Mediterranean or the Atlantic, it presents at first sight the appearance of an exceedingly compact and homogeneous surface. It seems strange that this well-defined peninsula should contain two separate kingdoms, with peoples who speak languages allied, yet so distinct as to be mutually unintelligible to the uneducated classes.

The peninsula lies between latitude 43° 45' and 36° 1' N., and between 3° 20' E. and 9° 32' W. longitude. In shape it is thus nearly a square; a diagonal line from the N.E. Cape Creuz to the S.W. Cape St. Vincent measures 650 miles, while from Cape Ortegal, N.W., to Cape Gata, S.E., would be 525 miles. The whole area of the peninsula contains 219,200 square miles, of which 36,500 on the west belong to Portugal, and 182,700 to Spain.

The peninsular form of the country would lead us to expect that it would partake of all the characteristics of a maritime climate; but such is not the case. From the comparative evenness of the coast-line, unbroken and unindented by any deep inlets except on the extreme north-west, in Galicia, the coast-line bears a less proportion to the whole surface than that of many lands less surrounded by the sea. It counts only 1300 miles, 700 of which are washed by the Mediterranean, and 600 by the Atlantic; that is, 1 mile of coast-line to 134 square miles of area; while Italy contains 1 to 75, and Greece 1 to 7. From the configuration of the coast, and from the character of the great central plateau, a large part of Spain has really an extreme continental climate.

For while it is distinctly separated from the rest of Europe by the line of the Pyrenees, Spain is no less distinctly divided into different districts in the interior—districts which differ most widely in climate and elevation and products. Six of these are usually named: (1) The N.W. Atlantic coast, comprising Galicia, the coast of which presents a continuation of the Fiord system of Norway, and of the Firths of Scotland and Ireland; (2), the northern slope of the Cantabrian Mountains, and the narrow slip of land contained between them and the Bay of Biscay, comprising the Asturias, Santander, and the Basque Provinces; (3) the Valley of the Ebro, with Navarre, Aragon, and Catalonia; (4) the great Central Plateau—Leon, Old and New Castile, Estremadura, and La Mancha; (5) the Mediterranean Provinces, including Valencia, Murcia, and the parts of Andalusia between the Sierra Nevada and the Mediterranean; (6) the rest of Andalusia sloping towards the Atlantic.

We will treat of these in order.

Mountain Chains

But first we must speak of the various mountain systems and river basins of Spain, without which it is impossible to understand either the physical conditions of the country, or the social and political state of the various populations which has resulted from them.

First, on the north is the chain of the Pyrenees, a continuation of the great Alpine system of Central Europe, stretching from Cape Creuz, 3° 19' E., to the Bay of Biscay, 2° 12' W., a distance of 320 miles, and prolonging itself westward in lower chains of different denominations until it finally sinks into the Atlantic at Cape Finisterre. The culminating points of the Pyrenees are towards the centre of the chain, in Mounts Maladetta, 11,150 feet, and the Pic de Posets and the Mount Perdu, each about 11,000 feet, whence the heights gradually descend, on the east to the Mediterranean and on the west to the Bay of Biscay. With the exception of the little Bidassoa, which in the lower part of its course forms the boundary between France and Spain, at the bottom of the Bay of Biscay, all the other waters of the Spanish side of the Pyrenees belong to the Ebro and to the Mediterranean. Parallel to the coast of the Bay of Biscay the Pyrenees are prolonged, first, by the Cantabrian Mountains, which run through the Basque Provinces, and the Province of Santandar; thence by the Picos de Europa, 8300 feet—from the south-eastern spurs of which the Ebro and Pisuerga take their rise—and the Asturian Mountains, to the Sierra de Penamarella, at the junction of the three Provinces of Leon, Asturias, and Galicia. The chain here attains its greatest elevation, 9450 (?) feet, then descends to a plateau of about 4000 feet, whence it sinks rapidly to the Atlantic, forming the headlands of Ortegal, the extreme north-western, and of Finisterre, the extreme western, point of Northern Spain. The mountains of Leon form the western watershed, between the waters of the Ebro and those which fall into the Atlantic. The line is continued eastward by the Oca Mountains, the Sierra de Moncayo, and the Idubeda Mountains. These mountain chains divide the basin of the Ebro from that of the Douro. They also form the northern buttress of the great plateau of Central Spain, which attains an elevation of from 2000 to 4000 feet. The rise to the plateau from the Bay of Biscay is very abrupt. Within fifty miles of leaving the coast the railways from the north attain a height of 2000 feet, and reach the Central Plateau, at Quintanapalla, at an elevation of 3000 feet; while La Cañada, the highest point on the line to Madrid, is nearly 4460 feet, or about sixty feet higher than the tunnel of the Mount Cenis. From the eastern side the rise is less abrupt, and the plateau is entered at the lower elevation of 2330 feet, on the line from Alicante to Madrid. The famous Pass of Somosierra, on the old northern coach-road from Madrid, is about 4700 feet above the level of the sea. From these figures it is easy to perceive how very different is the aspect of these buttress chains when seen from the plateau, and when looked at from the plain from which they rise. Thus the Sierra de Moncayo, 7700 feet, stands out with boldness from the Valley of the Ebro, but viewed from the plateau of Castile it is scarcely noticeable. From its summit, however, the finest view of the whole range of the Pyrenees to be found anywhere on the Spanish side of the chain, is to be obtained.

Turning thence towards the south and south-east, these mountain chains—under the various names of the Sierras de Cuenca, de Molina, and Albarracin—divide the river basins of the Mediterranean from the far larger ones of the Atlantic. They have their culminating point in the Muela de San Juan and the Cerro de San Felipe, nearly 6000 feet, at the junction of the three provinces of Teruel, Cuenca, and Guadalaxara. From the sides of these mountains the waters fall with rapid course, on the north to join the Ebro, on the east and south to the Mediterranean; while with gentler slope, but in far greater volume, the Douro, the Tagus, and the Guadiana roll their waters to the Atlantic. From these Sierras the plateau tilts gradually westward and southward, but is intersected by mountain chains, peaks of which towards the west attain a higher elevation than those which form the real culmination of this part of the peninsula. The bare and bleak granite range of the Guadarrama, which divides the basin of the Douro from that of the Tagus, and from whose summits steals the icy wind so fatal to Madrid, attains in its highest summit, Peña Lara, 7800 feet, near Segovia; while in its western prolongation, the Sierras de Credos and de Gata, the Plaza del Moro reaches 8700 feet. The chains which divide the valley of the Tagus from that of the Guadiana are not nearly so well marked as are those more to the north, and rise to a much less elevation above the plateau. Beginning with a south-westerly prolongation of the Cerro de San Felipe, under the successive titles of Montes de Toledo, Sierras de Guadaloupe, Montanchez, and San Mamed, about 2000 feet, they reach the Portuguese frontier near Portalegre. The highest point seems to be in the mountains of Toledo at Villuercas, where a height of a little over 5000 feet is attained. The mountains which separate the basins of the Guadiana and the Guadalquiver, under the names of the Sierras de Alcaroz, Morena, de Cordova, Guadacanal, and Aroche, and which form the southern buttress of the central plateau, present a still greater difference than those of the northern buttress when viewed from the plateau and from the plains of Andalusia. From the former they appear only rolling undulations, and the traveller scarcely notices the rise till he finds himself descending one of the steep and savage gorges, like that of the Pass of Despeña-Perroz, on the road and rail between La Mancha and Andalusia. The Col of Despeña-Perroz is nearly 2500 feet above the sea, and but few summits along the ranges of the Sierra Morena and its prolongations attain a greater elevation, the general range being about 2000 feet, except towards the west and north of Seville, where the Sierra de Aracena reaches 5550 feet. Eastward of the Guadalquiver the ranges which divide its waters from those of the Segura, the Sierras de Segura, and Sagra, attain a greater height, the former 6500 feet, the latter to 7800 feet.

Thus as supports to the great plateau, or on it, we have the following successive ranges as we proceed from north to south. First, the Sierra de Moncayo and the Idubeda mountains, dividing the basin of the Ebro from that of the Douro; next the Guadarrama chain, with the Sierras de Credos and de Gata, separating the Douro from the Tagus; then the Mountains of Toledo, and the Sierra de San Mamed, between the Tagus and the Guadiana; and lastly, the southern buttress, the Sierra Morena, dividing the Guadiana from the Guadalquiver.

But it is south of the last stream that the culminating points of the whole peninsula are to be found—in the mighty Sierra Nevada, which separates the lovely valley of Granada from the Mediterranean, shielding it from the scorching winds of Africa, and giving it its eternal freshness and verdure. The highest of its summits are Muley Hacen and Velate, lying to the south-east of Granada, the former attaining nearly 11,670 feet, and the latter 11,400. The altitudes diminish rapidly east and west. Towards the east, outlying ranges, such as those of the Sierras de Filabrés and of Gador, attain heights of 6000 and 7000 feet respectively; while in the westward prolongations, the Mesa de Ronda is only 5000; and the chain gradually drops till it reaches the sea at Cape Trafalgar, and the rock of Gibraltar, 1400 feet.

But besides these greater chains of mountains Spain is traversed by numerous offshoots and lateral ranges, and a great portion of her territory is more or less of a mountainous character. In districts where rain is unfrequent these hills are absolutely bare of verdure for a great part of the year, and remain untenanted and uncultivated. Among the more elevated of these lesser chains are those of Monseni, Monserrat, and Montagut, in Catalonia, which attain respectively 5500, 4000, and 3000 feet in height. On the borders of Leon and Galicia, and in the latter province, there are numerous mountains and smaller ranges, which vary from 3000 to 5000 feet. The whole frontier of Portugal is covered by lower ranges, connecting the great chains of which we have already spoken with hills of from 2000 to 3000 feet. From the great eastern buttress two spurs, or rolling plateaux, run down to the Mediterranean, and terminate in the different headlands—such as Cape Gata in the south-east, Cape Palos near Carthagena, Capes de la Nao and San Antonio near Denia, Peniscola, and others. Some of these smaller ranges are exceedingly rich in minerals, and as they approach the sea form sites of picturesque and enchanting beauty, such as can be surpassed only by the better-known and historic glories of the coasts of Italy or of Greece.

Rivers of Spain

Of the five great rivers of Spain only one, the Ebro, pours its waters into the Mediterranean; the other four, the Douro, Tagus, Guadiana, and Guadalquiver, discharge theirs into the Atlantic; but of these last the Guadalquiver alone is wholly a Spanish stream. In the lower and more valuable part of their course the Douro, Tagus, and Gaudiana, belong to Portugal—a fact which must always be remembered when treating of the internal commerce of Spain. But besides these larger streams there are several of slightly smaller dimensions, of which we will treat in order.

Few countries present within so short a distance so great a difference in rainfall and moisture as does Spain. In some parts of the Asturias and Galicia the rainfall is probably as heavy as that of any part of Europe—as much as 147½ inches are said to have been measured in a single year; and the average fall on the northern slopes of the Cantabrian mountains is said to be sixty inches annually. Yet the average of the whole basin of the Ebro—which rises from the southern slopes of the Picos de Europa, one of the most rainy of the rainy districts—is only eighteen inches annually, the last 300 miles of its course being through almost barren districts, where rain seldom falls.

The principal river of Galicia is the Minho, with its tributary the Sil. Each of these rises, though at some distance apart, from the southern side of the Cantabrian mountains, much nearer to the waters of the Bay of Biscay than to those of the Atlantic, into which they flow. They take thence a southerly and south-westerly course, until they unite a few miles above Orense. The lower part of the united course, which bears the name of the Minho, forms from Melgaco to the sea the frontier between the kingdoms of Portugal and Spain. The remaining rivers of Galicia are numerous but of little importance: the Tambre is the largest of those which fall into the Atlantic on the west; while on the north the sources of the Eo and the Navia overlap those of the Minho, and take their rise from the mountains which border on Leon. The whole country is exceedingly well watered. Both in its agricultural character as a grazing country, and in its flora and fauna, it resembles the milder portions of southern Ireland and of Devonshire, but with occasional products of a warmer zone. The rivers of the Asturias, Santander, and of the Basque provinces, all partake of the same general character. In the upper part of their courses they are mere mountain torrents, their course is rapid but short, and they are of but little use for navigation, though occasionally small but insecure harbours are formed at their mouth. The only great exception to this is the Nervion, on which Bilbao is situated, and which is navigable for eight miles from its mouth. The waters of the Bidassoa, the Deva, and others, are, however, utilized for the transport of ore from the mines and ironworks along the course. The Bidassoa, for some ten miles before it enters the Bay of Biscay at Cape Figueras forms the boundary between France and Spain; about four miles from its issue, between Irun and Behobie, is the celebrated Isle des Faisans, where, in 1659, the marriage was arranged between Louis XIV. and the Infanta, which eventually placed the Bourbons on the throne of Spain. The Bidassoa is the last of the northern rivers of Spain which falls into the Atlantic.

The Ebro has its rise from the source, Fontibre, in the province of Santander, and takes a south-easterly course of 466 miles, through the provinces of Santander, Burgos, Navarre, and Aragon, almost parallel with the Pyrenees, till it falls into the Mediterranean, through a sandy delta stretching some fifteen miles into the sea below Amposta. The descent for the first 200 miles of its course is exceedingly rapid, but after that the fall is gradual till it reaches the sea. In its course it receives the waters of many tributaries, both on the left from the Pyrenees, and on the right from the Idubeda mountains and the sierras of Southern Aragon. Were it not for these tributaries little of its waters would reach the Mediterranean, so dry and arid are the Bardenas of Navarre, and the Dehesas of Aragon, through which it flows. The Spaniards have a proverb that it is the Navarrese and Aragonese streams—the Arga, the Ega, and the Aragon—which make a man of the Ebro. Farther down, the Gallego runs in near Saragossa; while the united waters of the Cinca and the Segre at Mequinenza pour a far larger volume of water into the parent bed than it contains itself. From the right, the principal streams are the Xalon, with its tributary the Xiloca, which joins the Ebro between Tudela and Saragossa, the Marten, and the Guadalope near Caspe. The Ebro, notwithstanding its length, the number of its tributaries, and the extent of its basin, 25,000 square miles, is of little use for navigation. A magnificent canal—first projected and commenced by the Emperor Charles V. (I. of Spain) then after a lapse of more than two centuries taken in hand by Charles III., in 1770—runs from Tudela to Saragossa; thence to the sea it still remains in project only. The part already finished is falling into decay; and it is only the excellent quality of the masonry, and of the cement or mortar employed, that retards its utter ruin. The traffic is very small; and even as a means of irrigation its waters are allowed greatly to run to waste. At the apex of the delta from Amposta to San Carlos de la Rapita a canal of eight miles has been cut for purposes of navigation; but the formation of a bar, and the silting up of the bay, have rendered it almost useless. The other rivers which flow into the Mediterranean, between the lower course of the Ebro and the Pyrenees are the Fluvia, which flows into the gulf of Rosas, the Ter, which passes by Gerona, and the Llobregat near Barcelona. All are torrential streams, unfit for navigation; but their waters, if all utilized for irrigation like those of the Llobregat, would be sources of immense wealth to the country.

From the fact that the lower part of the course of the great rivers of the plateau—the Douro, the Tagus, and the Guadiana—flow through Portugal, their streams are hardly at all available as a means of communication or of navigation for Spain; and from the nature of the deeply cut beds which the waters have worn through the soil, flowing, especially as they approach the frontiers of Portugal, through gorges approaching in length and depth the cañons of North America, the rivers are little available for irrigation, although far more use might be made of them for this purpose than is actually done. Owing to the prejudices of the Spanish husbandman, and to his reluctance to accept any change, however profitable, in his ancient routine, neither the little that has been done in the present century, nor the remains of a wiser agriculture in former times are used by the peasantry. In the province of Zamora, for instance, both the ancient "acequias" and the modern canal of the Esla are equally neglected. The rich results that have followed the employment of the waters in the few cases in which they have been intelligently directed, stirs no one up to follow the example. It is one of the many contrasts between different parts of Spain, that the value of irrigation should be so well understood in some parts and so utterly neglected and under-valued in others. But we shall have more to say of this when we treat of the eastern and southern streams: at present let us return to the Douro, and to the other rivers of the plateau.

The Douro takes its rise in the Lago Negro, or Black Lake, on the southern flanks of the Mount Urbion, in the north-western angle of the province of Soria. It first runs eastward to the city of that name, the ancient Numantia, then turns almost directly south as far as Almazan, whence it runs westward to Portugal, receiving meanwhile the waters of the Esla, below Zamora; at the frontier, again it turns south, through deep gorges which form the boundary between Spain and Portugal, until it receives the waters of the Agueda, where it finally enters Portugal, and after a westerly course thence of about 100 miles, falls into the Atlantic below Oporto.

The basin drained by the Douro is the most extensive of all those of the rivers in Spain. Including the portion in Portugal, it comprises 35,000 square miles; the length of the river is about 500 miles; the average rainfall is stated at twenty inches. The chief affluents of the Douro descend from the north from the mountains of Burgos and the Cantabrian range. The largest are the Pisuerga, which rises not far from the sources of the Ebro among the Picos de Europa, and flows almost directly south by Palencia and Valladolid until it joins the Douro, some miles above Tordesilla; the Esla, which also rises from the western flanks of the same chain, not far from Covadonga, takes a somewhat more westerly direction, and after receiving several smaller streams unites with the Douro below Zamora. These two rivers supply water for two of the most successful canals in Spain, especially that along the Pisuerga, for over ninety miles from Alar del Rey to Valladolid. There is a considerable traffic on it, especially for passengers. It was planned in 1753 by Ensenada, but completed only in 1832. The canal of the Esla, for purposes of irrigation, begun by English engineers in 1864, and finished in 1869, has hardly been so successful. The latest report (June, 1880) states that the peasant proprietors, notwithstanding examples of the great utility of irrigation, obstinately refuse to use it. The principal affluents of the Douro on the west and south are the Tormes, which flows by Salamanca, and joins it about midway in its course as a frontier of Portugal; and the Agueda, which runs in just where it takes its final departure for the west.

The Tagus, the central river of Spain, and which divides its territory into two nearly equal portions, rises from a fountain called the Fuente Garcia, or Pié, on the south side of the Muela de San Juan, between the Sierras de Molina, Albaracin, and San Felipe, the knot of mountains which, as we have indicated above, form the great watershed of the peninsula, whence the waters flow northwards to the Ebro, east and southwards to the Mediterranean, and westwards, in the Tagus and its tributaries, to the Atlantic. Were the whole peninsula of Spain and Portugal one kingdom, the Tagus would be perhaps the most important of its rivers; but in the divided state it is of far more value to Portugal than to Spain. Its swift and turbid current, flowing between steep banks, and in a bed broken into rapids and encumbered by rocks, is scarcely navigable above Abrantes. The basin of the Tagus contains an area of nearly 30,000 square miles, and its length is estimated at about 550. The rainfall is less than that of the Douro, being only sixteen inches annually. The river, moreover, runs by no means in the centre of its basin, but far to the southwards of a central dividing line, and consequently the tributaries which it receives from the north or left bank are of much greater importance than those which come from the south or right. After flowing a few miles in a north-westerly direction, the river gradually bends, first westerly, and then in a slightly south-westerly direction, in a deep channel, through a bare rolling country, where everything takes the prevailing colour of red dusty uplands, until it arrives at Aranjuez, situated at the confluence of the Jarama and the Tagus, a royal residence whose abundance of water and of shade make it a true oasis in a desert. The Jarama, which rises in the Guadarama, brings in also the waters of the Henares, and those of the Manzanares, on which Madrid is situated. These streams have been the subjects of many projects and attempts at canalization, either for irrigation or for supplying the metropolis with water. Most of these have failed, but a canal from Porcal to Aranjuez, of seventeen miles and a half, is in working order. The canal of Cabarrus brings the waters of the Lozoya to Madrid. But the great enterprise of the canal of irrigation from the Henares, constructed by the same English company which made the canal of the Esla, and which was to have been twenty-eight miles in length, and to have irrigated 30,000 acres, is suspended by lawsuits as to the ownership of the waters. The Alberche, which rises to the north of the Sierra de Gredos, enters the Tagus near Talavera de la Reyna. The Tietjar, and the Alagon, which joins the main stream just above Alcantara, beside the frontier stream, the Heyas, are the only Spanish waters of importance from the north before the Tagus enters Portugal; and from the south the Salor and the del Monte, both of which have their rise and course in the same province of Caceres alone need mention. In the upper part of its course, however, the smaller tributaries of both the Tagus and the Guadiana often overlap, and but a very few miles separate the Tagus itself from the waters which flow into the Guadiana.

The exact source of the Guadiana has been a subject of much debate and of many fables. Its true origin seems to be in a series of lakes at the junction of the provinces of Ciudad Real and Albacete, near Montiel, in La Mancha. A picturesque stream, the Ruidosa, with many cascades and broken water, connects these lakes; but after running a few miles in a north-westerly direction, it disappears underground near Tomesillo, and is believed to rise to the surface after about twenty miles, in the Ojos (eyes) of the Guadiana, near Damiel. Very soon it receives from the right the united waters of the Zancara and the Giguela, streams whose contributions are much more scanty, especially in summer, than the length of their course on the map would lead one to suppose; thence the river flows in a westerly direction, passing near Ciudad Real, below which the Javalon enters from the left, coming from the Campo de Montiel; near Don Benito the Zuja, from the Sierra Morena, joins it, and some miles lower down the Matachet. Flowing past Medellin, five miles below Badajoz the river crosses the frontier of Portugal, changes its course from westerly to south-west, and afterwards south and south-east, till it again joins the frontier near San Lucar, and dividing the two countries till its mouth, falls into the Gulf of Cadiz at Ayamonte. In the lower part of its course the river, which before has been wide and shallow, and often almost dry in summer, narrows its course, and rushes with impetuosity through the rapids called the Salto del Lobo (the wolf's leap), near Serpa, in Portugal. The whole length of the Guadiana is estimated at 550 miles, and the area of its bed at 24,000 square miles. The rainfall is about fourteen inches.

To the south of the rivers of the plateau the only considerable stream is the Guadalquiver, with its tributaries. The character of this river is entirely different to that of the former streams. Like the Ebro, it forms a true valley, instead of merely cutting its way through rocks, cañons, and defiles. Its bed is on an average about 1200 feet below that of the Guadiana in the greater part of its course. It is also the only river in Spain of any utility for navigation; the tide is felt beyond Seville, and vessels of 200 to 300 tons ascend to that city. There are also several lines of steamboats trading thence directly with London, Marseilles, Bilbao, Cadiz, and Gibraltar. The Guadalquiver takes its rise from two sources—one, in the streams Guadalimar and Guadarmeno, rises in the Sierra Alcaraz, and not very far from the sources of the Guadiana; the other, which bears the name of the Guadalquiver, in the south-west of the Sierra Sagra; this latter branch is soon joined by the Guadiana Menor, coming down from the Sierra Nevada. The basin of the Guadalquiver presents this peculiarity, that its boundary is not formed by the line of the highest summits; on the contrary, many of its tributaries take their rise on the farther side of the Sierra Morena on the north, and of the Sierras de Granada and Nevada on the south, and have cut their way through these higher grounds to join the Guadalquiver in the plains of Andalusia. The upper part of its course is very rapid, and the junction of the two rivers Guadalimar and Guadalquiver, in the plains of Baeza, is about 5000 feet below the Punta de Almenara; but from thence to the sea the fall is very slight. After the junction the river passes by Andujar, Montoro, and Cordova, receiving on both banks the waters of many streams of but little importance; but between Cordova and Seville it is joined by its largest tributary, the Xenil, which rises in the Sierra Nevada, and flowing through the celebrated Vega of Granada, bursts through the Antequera mountains to enter the great plain of Andalusia, and loses itself in the Guadalquiver. From Seville downward the character of the stream is greatly changed; it wanders in large meanderings through low and marshy grounds for two or three leagues on each bank, mostly uninhabited, and used only for pasturing cattle. These low lands, which are called Marismas, in dry weather are covered with clouds of black dust, and in wet are an almost impassable slough of mud; mid these the river divides, and its winding beds form two islands—Isle Mayor and Menor, the former of which is wholly given to cattle, while the latter is inhabited and well cultivated; The river finally enters the Gulf of Cadiz, at San Lucar de Barameda, forcing its way with difficulty through low hills of sand, like those of the Landes in France. The marshes near the mouth are utilized as Salinas, for making excellent salt; and on the hills which overlook the Marismas some of the most renowned wines and fruits of Spain are produced. The whole course of the Guadalquiver is about 340 miles and the area of its basin 21,000: the rainfall is estimated at nineteen inches.

The other streams which fall into the Gulf of Cadiz—the Rio Tinto, which runs into the Huelva basin, and the Guadalete at Cadiz—are of no utility for navigation. The little port of Palos, whence Columbus sailed to discover a new world, is almost entirely blocked up by sands brought down by the former torrent.

The remaining rivers of Spain—those which, descending from the great plateau, flow eastward to the Mediterranean—though all useless for navigation, are among the most productive of all its streams. Flowing through a country whose temperature exceeds that of the opposite coast of Africa; where the rainfall is either scanty, or disastrous in quantity from rare but terrible storms; and through districts in which no rain falls for years together—the waters of these rivers, skilfully applied to irrigation, have rendered what would otherwise be a barren land one of fertility unparalleled in Europe. Unlike the peasants of Castile, the cultivators of Murcia and Valencia have learnt to value the use of water in agriculture; although even there, works which were first constructed by the Moors have been allowed to fall into ruin, and are yearly becoming of less utility. Of this we shall speak more at length below. The three great rivers we have yet to notice are the Murcian Segura, and the Jucar and Guadalaviar, in Valencia.

The river Segura takes its rise in the Sierra de Segura, between the Sierras of Alcaraz and Sagra. The upper part of its course is that of a mountain torrent, leaping from terrace to terrace of the mountains as it descends, until after the junction of the Mundo, which rises from a cirque in the Sierra Alcaras, like the cirque of Gavarnie in the Pyrenees, and flows through a deep ravine from the north-east. Its waters are dammed up, cut into numberless channels, and almost wholly utilized for irrigation, so that only about ten per cent of them reaches the sea; the rest are dissipated in the huertas of Murcia, Orihuela, and part of Elche. Its tributary the Sangonera loses almost all its waters in the plains of Lorca. With the little Vinalapo, almost 15,000 acres are rendered productive by the waters of these streams in one of the driest districts of Spain. The wheat of Orihuela is some of the finest in Spain; and so certain is the crop as to give rise to the proverb, "Rain or no rain, there is always wheat in Orihuela." The Segura has a course of about 217 miles, and an area of about 850 square miles; the average rainfall is estimated at about twelve inches, but the difference is very great in different years, as the district is liable to rare but most heavy and destructive floods.

The Jucar takes its rise not far from the sources of the Tagus, on the south side of the Muela de San Juan, which we have before mentioned as the culminating watershed of the peninsula. It flows first in a south-westerly direction as far as Cuenca, whence it gradually turns south and south-east, and at Jorquera, to the north-east of Albacete, strikes eastwards for the Mediterranean, which it finally enters at Cullera. Like the Segura and Guadalaviar, its waters are drained off for irrigation; but its basin is narrower, and it can boast of no fertility equal to the huertas of Murcia or Valencia. Its course is about 317 miles, the area of its bed 580, and the rainfall some twelve and a half inches; the irrigated land is over 30,000 acres.

The Guadalaviar, or Turia, rises on the north side of the Muela de San Juan, and descending rapidly, flows eastward past Albarracin and Teruel; at which latter town it turns abruptly southwards till it enters the province of Valencia, where it again takes a more easterly course, flowing with ever-diminished stream through the rich garden of Valencia, at which city it falls into the Mediterranean, with water which, except in time of flood, scarcely rises above the ankle. The length of its course is about 187 miles, the area of its basin 320 square miles; it irrigates over 25,000 acres near Valencia.

Besides these larger rivers, there are on the Mediterranean slope innumerable smaller streams, whose waters, though of little geographical importance, are of the greatest utility to agriculture. In summer scarcely a drop of their waters reaches the sea; all is either employed for irrigation, or dissipated by evaporation; often they are dammed up to form reservoirs or pantanos, sometimes employed for rice culture. But small as these streams are, it is to them that this burning coast owes its beauty and fertility, its almost tropical vegetation and its rich products. The fair gardens of Castellon, of Gandia, of Murviedro would be barren and valueless without these waters. Still farther to the north the waters of the Llobregat, and the canal of Urgel in Catalonia, are used for the same purpose.

The lakes of Spain are neither large nor numerous, but some are curious from a geographical point of view. On the high plateaux whence the Guadiana, the Guadalimar, the Segura, and the Jucar take their rise, either a dam or a trench would suffice to turn the waters either to the Atlantic or the Mediterranean; and here alone in Western Europe are found temporary lakes with no outlet, and consequently salt from excess of evaporation. For the same reason salt springs and brackish streams abound in these highlands. All around the coast, both on the Atlantic and Mediterranean, salinas, or salt-works for making salt, either from the sea or from the brackish water of lagoons and tidal marshes, abound; those of Cadiz, and of the coast between Cartagena and Alicante are celebrated for the excellence of their salt. Besides these are the five Albuferas, or lagoons, of Valencia, Alicante, Elche, Auna, and Oropesa. Of these that of Valencia is far the largest, and feeds enormous quantities of fish and of aquatic fowl of all kinds. The interior lakes, as that of Sanabria in Zamora, Gallocanta in Aragon, and those from which many of the rivers take their source, are noted only for their picturesque beauty. We can hardly show the value of water in Spain better than by directing the reader's attention to the number of places which take their name from water of some kind: thus there are forty-four villages or towns whose names are compounded of Aguas, waters; 238 into which the word Fuente, fountain, enters; 144 Rios, rivers; 54 Arroyos, brooks; 44 Pozos, wells; 30 Salinas, salt waters; 9 Rio Secos, dry rivers; and about 600 Molinos or water-mills. The multiplicity of these last dates perhaps from the time when every seigneur had his own mill, and obliged his vassals to grind their corn there; but assuredly in a moister climate water would not have played so great a part in the nomenclature, or toponymy, of the country.

We add the following table, deduced from Reclus' "Nouvelle Géographie Universelle," 6° Serie, p. 886, compared with an article in "La Revista Contemporanea," December 30th, 1880:—

The mineral springs of Spain are very numerous, as might be expected in a mountainous country, at the junction of different strata in the metamorphic fissures, and in the neighbourhood of extinct volcanoes. Many of them were known and used by the Romans, and possibly by other races before their time. The Moors made use of many, more especially in the south. The majority of these springs are much neglected, and the bathing establishments in their roughness are a striking contrast to those of Germany and of France; there is, however, no reason to suppose that the waters themselves are less efficacious. The best known springs lie along the line of the Pyrenees, in Catalonia, Navarre, and especially in the Basque provinces and Santander. Another noted group are in the neighbourhood of Granada, and on the northern slopes of the Sierra Nevada. Those in the Guadarrama range are more frequented, from their vicinity to Madrid. Many of the Salados and Salinas in the higher parts of the eastern range, as well as the springs in the neighbourhood of Valencia, might be utilized with advantage. In this, as in many other things, Spain has not yet recovered the threads of a lost civilization, and in many points of material comfort and well-being is behind the Spain of Roman and of Moorish times.

CHAPTER II.

CLIMATE AND PRODUCTIONS

SPAIN may be roughly divided into five climates: (1) that of the north and of the Pyrenees, where rain is abundant; (2) the west or Atlantic climate, including Portugal; (3) the north-east or Mediterranean; (4) the east and south, or African climate; and (5) lastly, the climate of the great Central Plateau, or the Continental. All these are well marked, and differ greatly in their temperature, in elevation, in exposure, in rainfall, and in prevailing winds. To speak of an average temperature, or of an average rainfall in Spain, is only to mislead. The temperature of the south and south-east is higher than that of the opposite coast of Africa, while the winters in Castile recall those of Scandinavia in their bitterness. In some of the Asturian valleys there is, perhaps, the heaviest rainfall in Europe; while the lower valley of the Ebro is almost a desert, from want of rain; and in parts of Valencia and Murcia, and even in Andalusia, not a drop will fall for years; yet at times these provinces, and their driest portions, are visited—as in 1802, 1879, and 1881—by overwhelming and destructive floods. To strike an average, then, even for the same spot, through several years, is often merely deceptive.

We have remarked above on the similarity of the conformation of the western coasts of Galicia to those of Norway, Scotland, and Ireland. They partake also of the same Atlantic character in their climate and productions. Galicia and the Asturias are essentially grazing countries; and from the Galician ports, up to 1878, about 20,000 head of fatted cattle were annually sent to England. Except in the more sheltered valleys, where the productions of a warmer clime will flourish, the native flora is not unlike that of the milder parts of Ireland and of Devonshire. The average temperature of Santiago is about 55° Fahr., with a maximum of 95°, and a minimum of 28°; Oviedo is given as 54° average, maximum 80°, and minimum 24°; while the rainfall of the former is from 58 to 68 inches, and that of the latter varies from 38 to 50 in ordinary years, but in 1858 it attained 80 inches. Proceeding eastward we meet the northern or Pyrenean climate, where the rainfall is not so great, and, except in the immediate vicinity of the highest mountains, lessens gradually as we either go eastward or descend into the plains. The moisture is condensed and wrung out of the clouds brought by the watery western winds, and precipitated on the mountains of the west and north. From the Picos de Europa, in the province of Santander, which may be considered as the meeting-point of the two climates, the waters descend on the one side by the Ebro to the Mediterranean, by the Pisuerga to the Douro and the Atlantic, and by the shorter northern streams to the Bay of Biscay. In the valley of the Cabuervega (Santander) the rainfall is 57½ inches. Passing eastward we find Bilbao and San Sebastian, with an average temperature of 56° and 55°, a maximum of 93°, and minimum 23°, while the rainfall has diminished from 55 to 48 inches. At Vergara, more inland, it is 52. At Huesca, in Aragon, notwithstanding its proximity to the mountains, the rainfall is only 25 inches; at Balaguer, in Catalonia, only 15½. At Saragossa the climate becomes more extreme; the average is 60°, the maximum 96°, and the minimum 20°, while the rainfall descends to 14 inches. The equalizing influence of the neighbourhood of the sea is felt in the Mediterranean climate at Barcelona; for while the average is 63°, the maximum is only 88°, and the minimum 32°, and the rainfall ascends to 24 inches. The difference is still more marked if we compare the extreme oscillation between the maximum and minimum temperatures. At Saragossa this is from 120° to 130°; at Barcelona from 90° to 100° Fahr.

The productions of this northern zone vary greatly according to elevation and exposition. Those of the Basque Provinces still belong to the north temperate zone climate—cattle, corn, and cider, as well as wine. The olive, and the mulberry for silk, are almost unknown; but maize is largely grown. As we approach Catalonia these products give way to those of the Mediterranean region of Provence and of the Riviera—the olive, the grape, the mulberry. A powerful red wine is made on the lower southern spurs of the Pyrenees and of the Cantabrian Mountains, in the Riojas, in Navarre, and in Aragon. Much of it would be excellent if more attention were paid to the preparation, and especially to the conditions of transport. Great quantities are at present exported to France by sea from Bilbao and San Sebastian, and also by rail, for the purpose of mixing with the thinner and poorer clarets of Bordeaux, to fit them for the taste and market of England. In Catalonia the wine improves, and is less used for mixing. The chief kinds are a red wine, like Rousillon, and sweet, luscious wines, Rancio, somewhat like Muscat or Malaga. Of late the manufacture of effervescing wines like champagne has been carried on with considerable success. The wine made in Catalonia amounts to one-fifth of the whole produce of Spain. Already the orange and the palm appear.

Proceeding southwards from Catalonia, we gradually advance into the south-eastern and southern climate of Spain, a climate which is rather African than European in its character, and both whose products and dryness have more relation to the African continent than to that of the rest of Europe. It is here that the date-palm ripens—which it does not on the opposite coast of Algeria—and the camel breeds, and can be used as a beast of burden equally as in Egypt and the East. Sheltered by the mountain ranges to the east and north from the cold winds which sweep the plateau of Castile, exposed by the slope of the country to the full influence of the southern sun and its powerful evaporation, the characteristics of the climate are warmth and dryness, while the vicinity of the Mediterranean partly tempers the extreme range of heat and cold which might be found in lands more remote from the sea. Thus the average temperature of Valencia is 65°, its maximum 102°, its minimum 41°, and extreme range 100°. Alicante, still further south, has an average of 66°, a maximum of 100°, and a minimum of 35°. The average rainfall at Valencia is stated at 17, and that of Alicante at 18 inches; but, as remarked above, in this south-eastern district of Spain averages of rainfall are quite deceptive. In some years the quantity marked is only a very few inches, 3 or 6, over the whole district, and there are considerable portions where rain does not fall for years. The country is rendered fertile and productive, not by its rains, but by irrigation from the rivers, fed by the winter snows on the mountains which border the great plateau. At times, however, as in 1802 and 1879, storms of rain descend on the high lands of Murcia and the eastern sierras, and floods rush down, sweeping away dams which have stood for centuries, washing away towns and villages, and spreading destruction far and wide. To compute the rainfall of such floods into an average is only to play with figures. Murcia has an average temperature of 64°, maximum 112°, minimum 24°, and an extreme range of 120°. The rainfall averages about 12½ inches on the coast, but varies greatly; at Albacete it is said to average 13 inches. The directly southern coast, from the Cabo de Gata to Gibraltar, has a milder and more equable climate than that of the south-eastern coast; but in the inland valley of the Guadalquiver the range is more extreme, both for heat and cold. The dryness in the eastern district still continues from Cartagena to Almeria; the rainfall is said to be only 12 inches. At Malaga, while the average temperature is 66°, about the same as that at Valencia and Alicante, the maximum is said to be only 78°, and the minimum 53°. At Motril, between Malaga and Almeria, the maximum is 77°, and the minimum 52°. In Seville on the other hand, the average is 68°, with a maximum Of 118°, and a minimum of 30°. Cordova, somewhat colder, has a maximum of 93°, and a minimum of 27°. The rainfall is also more moderate at Malaga, 15½ inches, and 23 at Seville. Granada, in its upland but sheltered valley, at an elevation of 2681 feet, defended from the east and south by the snowy range of the Sierra Nevada, and by the mountains of Granada to the north, has still an average of 65°, with a maximum of 97°, and a minimum of 42°. The rainfall varies considerably in different years, and various geographers give its average as 23½ 33½, and the latest (Reclus) 48½. Cadiz has an Atlantic climate, which in temperature and greater rainfall, 37 inches, closely approximates to that of Madeira. Moving westward it decreases, at Gibraltar, 34½, San Fernando, 27; while at Huelva and Tarifa, where the moisture of the north-west gales is intercepted by the Portuguese mountains, it descends to 24½. We have now only to treat of the climate of the great central elevation, the plateau, which ranges at an average height of some 2000 feet above the sea. Thus, Madrid is 2148, Segovia 2299, Burgos 2873, Soria 3504, and the Escorial, 3683 feet above the sea-level. But even these altitudes do not wholly account for the rigour of the climate in the latitude of Naples, Rome, and Constantinople. We have seen how excellent is the climate of Granada at a nearly equal elevation, only three degrees further south. The extremes of heat and cold felt at Valladolid and Madrid are due more to the uncovered mountain ranges to the north, the treeless, waterless plains, over which the wind sweeps unchecked, than to mere elevation. The want of rain is greatly owing to the ranges of mountains parallel to the frontier and to the Atlantic in Portugal, which condense and wring all the moisture from the rain-clouds of the Atlantic, and distribute it almost wholly on the western slope. Thus at Lisbon the fall is 29, at Coimbra 35, at Oporto 63, in the mountains of Beira and Tras os Montes from 68 to 100 inches; while on the eastern slope, at Salamanca it is 9, Valladolid 12, at Badajoz 12½, Ciudad Real 14. From the bare granite range of the Guadarrama steals down the treacherous icy wind so fatal in Madrid—not sufficiently strong to extinguish a candle, but quite enough to destroy human life. It is the dislike of the Castilian peasant to trees, which would overshadow so much of his small property, the destruction of the mountain forests, and the want of good agriculture, which has embittered the climate of these plateaux. Were the hill-sides clothed with wood, the country dotted with farms, the wide and bare plains covered throughout the year with varied agricultural produce, the climate would soon be modified and become sensibly warmer, and no longer, as it at present is, an obstacle to civilization and to improvement. In spite of all neglect these plains grow some of the finest wheat in Europe, and the lower mountain ranges supply pasture in the summer for the immense flocks which return to winter in the plains of Estremadura. The average temperature of Madrid is 59°, its maximum 104° to 107°, and its minimum only 7°. That of Salamanca is said to be 57°, with a maximum of 97°, and a minimum of 12°. The average rainfall of Madrid is only from 9 to 14 inches, that of Salamanca 9, while Soria, nearer to the mountains, in some years reaches 25 inches.