DESCRIPTION OF PROVINCES.
Spain was formerly divided into some fourteen separate provinces or
kingdoms, once ruled by distinct and independent sovereigns, and under
very different political conditions. It was not until the taking of
Granada, in 1492, that the whole nation became, even nominally, subject
to the joint sovereigns Ferdinand and Isabella; and for long afterwards
Aragon and Catalonia preserved a semi-independence, while, even to our
own day, the Basque Provinces and Navarre were really an independent
republic united to the Spanish crown.
Since 1841, however, the whole country has been divided for
administrative purposes into forty-eight provinces, including the
Balearic Isles.
We shall now hastily sketch the chief features of the old kingdoms, with
the modern provinces included in each. Beginning from the north-west,
we have the kingdom of GALICIA, with its four provinces, _Corunna_,
_Lugo_, _Pontevedra_, and _Orense_. We have before remarked on the Frith
or Fiord-like character of the western coast of Galicia, a conformation
which gives it by far the finest harbours of the whole Spanish coast.
Thus, in the province of Corunna there are the harbour and city (33,000
inhabitants) of the same name, so well known by our forefathers under
the title of "the Groyne," and the scene of many a gallant fight both by
land and sea from the days of Queen Elizabeth to the fall of Sir J.
Moore, but now the chief port of the cattle-trade with England. Its port
is frequented by about 130,000 tons of British shipping annually; and
about 20,000 bullocks are exported annually, mostly in small schooners.
It has also a tobacco factory. A little to the north-east Ferrol
(23,000) has a still better harbour, and is one of the principal naval
establishments of Spain. It is capacious enough to almost contain the
united fleets of Europe; and its only drawback, a singular one in so
humid a climate, is the want of good water. But the most famous city in
the province, and indeed, in all Galicia, the pilgrim-town of Santiago
(St. James) de Compostella (24,000) owes its magnitude to devotion
rather than to commerce. The legend of the voyage of St. James to Spain,
the finding his body at Compostella, and his subsequent appearances in
battle as the champion of Spain, made this the most celebrated shrine
in Europe. Roads led to it from every land, and one of the popular names
of the "Milky Way" was "The road to Compostella." The wealth both of the
military order of Compostella and of the cathedral and chapter was
immense. Even now, after all its spoiling, the cathedral is rich in
precious goldsmiths' work, in architectural, and in literary treasures.
Pontevedra (8000) is the capital of the thickly-populated province of
the same name, whose inhabitants reap a harvest both from sea and land.
Vigo (6000) has an excellent harbour and roadstead, but its commerce has
greatly fallen off in comparison with that of Corunna. It was formerly
the port at which the galleons disembarked their treasures for Northern
Spain. The total tonnage of the harbour in 1878 was 208,000. _Orense_,
an inland province east of Pontevedra, has a capital of the same name
(11,000) on the banks of the Minho. It is the head of an agricultural
and pastoral district, and in it are produced some wines which were
considered in the eighteenth century the finest of all Spain. Here, too,
is one of the grand bridges of Western Spain, possibly of Roman
construction. _Lugo_, with its city (8000), faces north instead of west,
and has its harbours, Vivero and Rivadeo, on the Bay of Biscay; but the
near neighbourhood of Ferrol and of Corunna deprive them of all but
coasting trade.
The ASTURIAS, the home of the Spanish monarchy, and the only ancient
kingdom of which no part was subdued by the Moors (though they raided
once to Oviedo), contains but one province, called after its chief town
_Oviedo_ (34,000), with a cathedral, university, and a most pleasant
situation. In this province is Covadonga, where the Visigoth Pelayo, in
719, repulsed the Moors, and thus took the first step towards the
recovery of Spain. The whole country slopes rapidly from its southern
frontier, the summit of the Cantabrian Mountains, towards the Bay of
Biscay. Cangas de Tineo (22,000) is the centre of a mining district.
Owing to the great development of mining operations in this province
within the last ten years the small towns of Siero, Tineo, Grado, and
Villaviciosa have suddenly sprung into importance, and each now contains
over 20,000 inhabitants. The chief port is Gijon (30,000), of which the
chief trade is in hazel-nuts for England, of which over 1000 tons are
annually exported, to the value of 23,000 _l._ Here is one of the seven
government tobacco manufactories, and also important glass-works,
conducted chiefly by Swiss and French artisans; but it is far
outstripped in commercial importance by SANTANDER (41,000), the capital
of the neighbouring province, and the great port of outlet for the
agricultural riches of Leon and of the Castiles. Santander has also a
great trade with Cuba and Porto Rico, and possesses almost a monopoly
of the supply of cereals to those islands. A port of equal natural
excellence is Santona, which the first Napoleon would have made the
Gibraltar of Northern Spain, but which is now frequented only as a
bathing-place by the inhabitants of the interior. The mountain scenery
of these two provinces is most picturesque, both along the sea-board and
in the interior, where the snow sometimes lies on the Picos de Europa
until July or August. The coal-mines of the Asturias are rapidly
assuming importance. The output was, in 1878, 400,000 tons, at a cost on
board ship of 13_s._ per ton. The extent of the bed is estimated at
667,200 acres.
The BASQUE PROVINCES (Las Provincias Vascongadas) are _Biscay_,
_Guipuzcoa_, and _Alava_. The union of the three is often represented by
a symbol like the heraldic bearings of the Isle of Man; and they are,
with Navarre and the French Pays Basque, the home of the Basque race,
but only one province, Guipuzcoa, is _wholly_ inhabited by them.
_Biscay_ has for its chief town the busy mining city of Bilbao (32,000)
on the Nervion, with a commerce of over 2,000,000_l._ annual value,
notwithstanding an inferior harbour, exceeding that of Santander. The
chief mines, iron, are in the Somorrostro district, a few miles to the
east of the city, and they are worked mainly by English, French, or
German companies. In 1879 the exports from Bilbao amounted to 1,160,248
tons of iron minerals, while the imports included 72,196 tons of English
coke and coal, chiefly for the use of the mines. In this province is the
Oak of Guernica, where the Spanish sovereigns swore to observe the
constitutional privileges or _fueros_ of the Basques. The chief city of
_Guipuzcoa_ is San Sebastian (21,000), a sea-port with a strong citadel.
Of less commercial importance than Bilbao, it is much frequented in
summer as a city of pleasure; the town has been almost wholly rebuilt
since the siege of 1813. The province, though almost wholly
agricultural, and famous for its cider and apple orchards, contains also
some mines, and a few manufactures grouped round its old capital, Tolosa
(8000). Eibar and Plasencia, two small manufacturing towns on the Deva,
have preserved the art of inlaying iron with gold and silver, and are
noted for their manufacture of fire-arms. _Alava_ has but one town of
importance, Vitoria (25,000), a picturesque city at the foot of the
Cantabrian Mountains and the head of the fertile plains of the Upper
Rioja. These two districts, the Riojas, divided by the Ebro, are noted
for their wines, which need only more careful preparation to become an
important article of commerce; at present they are chiefly exported to
Bordeaux, for mixing with inferior French wines, to be re-exported as
claret to England. NAVARRE, the only other province where Basque is
spoken, once formed part of a petty kingdom which stretched on both
sides of the Pyrenees, and of which the Spanish portion was definitely
secured to Spain by the Duke of Alva in the reign of Ferdinand the
Catholic, in 1512, has Pampeluna (25,000), a fortified city of Roman
origin, for its capital. The upper part of Navarre is extremely
mountainous, but it contains some useful iron-mines, and a Government
foundry at Orbaiceta. The southern parts, along the banks of the Arga,
and in the valley of the Ebro, are extremely fertile; but at the
south-eastern corner in the Bardenas Reales, we encounter a series of
bare, stony hills, scored with deep ravines, and on which nothing will
grow, the first of the desert tracks so common in Spain. Tudela (9000)
on the opposite side of the Ebro, is united to the rest of the province
by a fine bridge; it is here the traveller first sees in operation the
_norias_ or water-wheels of the East.
The kingdom of ARAGON contains three provinces, _Huesca_, _Saragossa_,
and _Teruel_. The kingdom is almost bisected by the Ebro, towards which
it slopes on both sides, from the highest summits of the Central
Pyrenees on the north, and from the Idubeda Mountains and the Molina de
Aragon on the south. Aragon divides with the Asturias the honour of
having been one of the cradles of the Spanish monarchy. In 795 Don Asnar
defeated the Moors near Jaca, in the province of Huesca. But the
progress of the reconquest was very slow; from 714 to 1118 the Moors
held possession of the town and kingdom of Saragossa, and it is from
this occupation of four centuries that the traveller first meets here
distinct remains of Moorish architecture. A still more lasting note of
their sway is found in the nomenclature of the country. The rivers
Guaticalema, Alcanadre, Guadalope, the names of the sierras, Alcubiere,
and of many of the lesser towns and villages, sufficiently attest the
former presence of the race who gave those names.
_Huesca_ (10,000), the capital of the province of the same name, is an
episcopal and university town, the bishop's palace being on the site of
an old mosque. The upper part of this province is exceedingly
mountainous, and is entered from France by the Central Pyrenean road,
that of Somport, originally constructed by the Romans. The only other
towns are Barbastro (7000), Monzon (4000), and Jaca (3500), nearer the
mountains. _Saragossa_ (84,000), on the Ebro, formerly the Caesar Augusta
of the Romans, then for four centuries the capital of a Moorish kingdom,
rivals Santiago de Compostella as a place of pilgrimage to the shrine of
the Virgen del Pilar. The worship has, however, much declined of late
years, and her devotees are not now a tithe of those who frequent the
more recent shrine of Notre Dame de Lourdes on the other side of the
Pyrenees. The art treasures of the cathedral were sold in 1870, when
many fine examples of jewellery and art were acquired for the Kensington
Museum. Saragossa, though now fallen as a place of commerce, must again
become important if the railway project is carried into effect, which
will place it on the most direct line between Paris and Madrid. The
Ebro, from its shallowness, is of no service for navigation; and, from
neglect, the canals of Charles V. and of Tauste do not render the
services they might, either for transport or for irrigation. Hence the
despoblados and desiertos in the valley of the Ebro, both above and
below the town. _Calayatud_ (12,000) was one of the four _comunidades_
of Aragon, and is in the midst of a mineral district, the wealth of
which seems at present almost wholly undeveloped. _Teruel_ (7000) is the
capital of a very mountainous province which slopes towards the
north-west from the Sierras de Molina and Albarracin, the mountain
ranges which form the eastern boundary of the great watershed of the
peninsula. Excepting the mines in these sierras, the province is almost
wholly agricultural, but with no towns of importance. The historian Don
Vicente de la Fuente has remarked that while the lands of the
_comunidades_, the four free towns of Aragon, Calayatud, Teruel, Daroca,
and Albarracin, have remained fertile under their more liberal
government, the lands of the Seigneurs in the valley of the Ebro, where,
almost alone in Spain, feudalism received its full development, have
been for centuries barren and _despoblados_.
[Illustration: LEANING TOWER OF SARAGOSSA.
_Page 98._]
CATALONIA.--The ancient principality of Catalonia is now separated into
four provinces, named after their chief towns, _Gerona_, _Barcelona_,
_Tarragona_, and _Lerida_. The first three lie along the shores of the
Mediterranean--the last, inland, and stretches from the Ebro to the
Pyrenees. To the north of Lerida, and buried in the mountains, is the
so-called republic of Andorra, which owes its practical independence to
the singular fact of a double _seigneurie_. Both the Counts of Foix, in
France, and the Prince-Bishops of Urgel, in Spain, were supreme Lords of
Andorra. On paper its constitution is by no means so free as that of
several other Pyrenean communities; but by skilfully playing off the
jealousies and rivalries of its two lords, and preventing either from
getting absolute power, this little state of twenty-eight miles by
twenty has remained unsubdued, and unattached to either nationality. The
chief trade of the republic may be said to be smuggling. _Lerida_,
except in the valley of the Segre, is extremely mountainous, and like
all the hill country of Catalonia is rich in minerals, especially in
salt, near Solsona. The rest of its products are chiefly agricultural.
The province is but thinly peopled; its chief town contains 20,000
inhabitants. Balaguer (5000), Urgel (3000), Solsona (2500), are the most
populous of the remaining. With _Gerona_ we enter the Mediterranean or
Provencal region and climate, and come in contact not only with
picturesque and glowing scenery, with a gorgeous variety of natural
productions, but also with traditions and remains of the great works of
all the races that have dominated this inland sea. From the Pyrenees to
Carthagena the names of the chief towns recall classic reminiscences,
and bring before us the struggles of ancient nations, contending on her
soil for a far mightier empire than that of Spain. The province of
Gerona contains Cape Creuz, the extreme north-easterly point of the
peninsula, not far from the old Greek cities of Rosas and Emporium
(Ampurias). Of its towns, Gerona, on the Ter, and Figueras have each
8000, but are surpassed by Olot, 10,000, around which town are grouped
the most recently extinct volcanoes in Spain. Coal is found in San Juan
de las Abadesas. Here the Spanish gravity is mingled with the fire and
dash of the Provencals, and the inhabitants both of Gerona and
Barcelona, are more Provencal than Spanish, in language, political
character, and in commercial and industrial aptitudes. The natural
productions, and the flora too, are almost identical with those of the
more sheltered parts of Provence and of the Riviera. Palm trees are seen
as common ornaments in gardens and public squares, oranges and olives
flourish, the mulberry is cultivated and silkworms are reared, and all
announces a warmer zone than any that we have hitherto traversed.
_Barcelona_ (250,000) the first industrial and commercial city of Spain,
and the second in point of population, is also the capital of the most
thickly inhabited province. The greater part of the trade and navigation
of the whole Spanish sea-board from Catalonia to Cadiz, or even to
Seville, is in the hands of its merchants. The cotton industry of
Catalonia employed in 1870 a capital of 6,000,000_l._, and 104,000
workmen, distributed in 700 factories. The chief of the other
manufacturing towns are Gracia (33,000), and St. Martin de Provensals
(24,000). The annual commercial movement of Barcelona is estimated at
about 11,000,000_l._ sterling. The British imports, chiefly of coal and
iron, amount to nearly 1,000,000_l._ sterling; but the exports are a
mere trifle, 10,000_l._, most of the ships returning in ballast; while
on the contrary, the exports of Tarragona, Palamos, Mataro, and
Villamena, and the smaller ports amount to nearly 1,000,000_l._, chiefly
in wine, and the imports are only half that amount. Irrigation is
successfully carried on in the valley of the Llobregat. _Tarragona_
(23,000) is rich in Roman remains, in the picturesque beauty of its
site, in its Gothic architecture, in the mildness of its climate, and in
the goodness of its wines; but it is surpassed both in wealth and
population by the neighbouring manufacturing city of Reus (27,000), and
also by Tortosa (24,000) on the Ebro, to which town all the river
transport converges. The Ebro below Tortosa forms a sandy delta, and its
channels are continually silting up. The canal of San Carlos, to connect
Amposta with the sea by the port of Alfaques, has had but little
success.
VALENCIA includes the three provinces of _Castellon de la Plana_,
_Valencia_, and _Alicante_, all three lying along the Mediterranean, and
facing east and southwards from the mighty buttress sierras which form
the eastern wall of the great central plateau. It is in these provinces
that we gradually pass from the Mediterranean climate to the "_Tierra
caliente_," the warm lands and African products of south-eastern Spain.
Here too we meet with the finest Roman remains; and Moorish architecture
begins to form a prominent feature in the characteristics of each city.
The speech is still a dialect of the Provencal, and the fiery Provencal
nature is still apparent in the political history of the cities of
Valencia. The hill-sides, bare of trees, are covered either with the
esparto grass or with strongly aromatic herbs and shrubs. The rainfall
gradually lessens; the streams all assume a torrential character, nearly
dry in summer, swollen with rapid floods in winter; but they are greatly
utilized for irrigation. By this means are formed the "_huertas_,"
gardens, and "_vegas_," plains, oases of beauty and fertility lying in
the bosom of the barren hills, which serve as frames to pictures as
valuable for their productiveness as they are enchanting in their
beauty. The chief towns in the province of _Castellon_ are Castellon de
la Plana (23,000), Vinaroz (9000), Villareal (8000), both near the
Mediterranean; Segorbe on the Palancia, and numerous smaller towns in
the interior. Benicarlo and Vinaroz, on the coast to the north of the
province, are noted for their excellent red wines, quantities of which
are exported to France for mixing with inferior French vintages, whence
they find their way to England as Rousillon or Bordeaux. _Valencia_, a
city of 143,000 inhabitants, and with a fine artificial harbour called
the "_grao_," is the third city in population in Spain; but its commerce
is little more than that of Santander and Bilbao, cities only one fourth
of its size. The value of British imports, chiefly of coal, cod-fish,
guano, and petroleum, in 1878, was 136,450_l_., and of exports, chiefly
of fruits to Britain, 524,984_l_. The "_huerta_" of Valencia, with its
canals for irrigation, its "_acequias_," "_norias_," and other devices
to draw the waters of the Guadalaviar, is one of the most successful
examples in Spain of regulated application of water to agriculture. The
quantity of water allotted to each property, the hour of opening or
closing the sluices, are regulated according to laws and customs
descended from Moorish times. So great is the drain upon the streams
that the waters of some of the smaller rivers are entirely absorbed in
the summer, and even of the Guadalaviar but little then reaches the sea.
It is from the _huerta_ of Valencia that the oranges come which form the
delight of the population of Paris at the new year; hence are the
raisins and the almonds and candied fruits equally dear to the British
housekeeper. Rice is successfully cultivated on some of the lower
grounds near the coast, and fruits and vegetables of every kind abound;
but the Spaniards complain that they lack the richness and lusciousness
of flavour belonging to those grown in other parts. "In Valencia," say
they, "grass is like water, meat like grass, men like women, and the
women worth nothing." The district was formerly noted for its
silk-growing and stuffs of silk; also for the fine pottery known as
Majolica ware from its carriers to the Italian ports, the sailors of
Majorca and the Balearic Isles. It was also the earliest place of
printing in Spain, and celebrated as a school of poetry and the arts;
but nearly all this ancient fame is lost. To the south of Valencia is
the large lake or lagoon of Albufera, the most extensive of the many
lagoons along the Mediterranean coast, about nine miles long and
twenty-seven miles round; it is full of fish, and frequented by wild
fowls, and its varied inhabitants recall those of the Nile rather than
those of any part of Europe. In the north of the province is Murviedro
(7000), the ancient Saguntum, with its port almost entirely blocked up.
Considerable remains of the older city still exist, with inscriptions in
idioms yet unknown, and are a treasure to archaeologists. The largest of
the other cities are Alcira (13,000) on the Jucar, and Jativa (14,000).
The southern coasts of Valencia and the neighbouring districts of
Alicante abound in sites of picturesque beauty, and the position of many
of the ruined monasteries, built generally on the hills with a distant
prospect of the sea, can hardly be excelled.
_Alicante_, whose _huertas_ and _vegas_ with their appliances for
irrigation rival those of Valencia, has but 34,000 inhabitants.
Orihuela, in its rich wheat-growing district of never-failing harvest,
has 21,000, and Alcoy 32,000. The smaller towns are numerous, and from
the little ports in the north of the province, round Cape Nao, a good
deal of coasting trade is done with the neighbouring Balearic Isles.
From Denia, Tabea, and Altea, nearly 100,000 tons of raisins are shipped
every year, chiefly for Great Britain. At Elche (20,000) is the
celebrated forest of palms of which we have before spoken, and the
leaves of which are sent to Rome for the ceremonies of Easter week. The
number of the trees is gradually declining, as the produce hardly repays
the great amount of labour required. In the church at Elche religious
plays or mysteries are occasionally performed, with an enthusiasm and
solemnity both of actors and spectators equal to that of the
Passionspiel of Ober-Ammergau.
MURCIA contains the two provinces, _Murcia_ and _Albacete_. The first
faces the Mediterranean; the second, besides comprising the Sierras of
Alcazar and Segura, climbs those boundary mountains, and advances far
into the plateau of La Mancha, and thus contains within its limits the
sources of the Guadiana as well as those of the Mundo and the Segura.
_Murcia_, in its higher parts, is very thinly peopled, and in spite of
the fertile plains in the lower course of the Segura and the Sangonera,
and the rich mining district round Cartagena, has only two-thirds as
many inhabitants to the square mile as Valencia. Murcia is perhaps the
driest province of Spain, and the one in which the want of water is the
most generally felt, yet it is in this province that the floods are the
most pernicious and destructive. Year by year the irrigation works
become less effective. Ancient dams broken down by the floods are not
restored. Since 1856, however, a new source of wealth has been opened to
this province by the export of the esparto grass, which grows on all the
low hills, and which, in addition to its use in the country for numerous
native fabrics, is now largely exported for paper-making. The export
began only in 1856. In 1873 it had reached 67,000 tons for England
alone; in 1875 the money value of the whole export was 400,000_l._, but
it declined to 30,000_l._ in 1877, and 284,000_l._ in 1878, since which
date it has gradually lessened. Murcia, the chief city, is an irrigated
plain on the Segura, has a population of 91,000. It is one of the chief
seats of silk cultivation in Spain. Lorca (52,000), on the Sangonera,
offers another example of the extreme fertility that can be obtained by
irrigation in a suitable climate. Cartagena (75,000), with its grand
harbour and docks, is one of the three naval arsenals in Spain; but has
greatly fallen from its ancient wealth and importance. Like Barcelona
and Valencia it has distinguished itself by its extreme democratic and
cantonalist opinions, and has revolted against the republic equally as
against the monarchy. In its neighbourhood are some of the richest lead
and silver mines in Spain, and which have been worked since Carthaginian
and Roman times. The coal imported from England for smelting purposes
amounts to 80,000 tons yearly. The tonnage of British vessels employed
was over 200,000 in 1877. Along the coast are various lagoons and
salt-lakes (salinas), where salt is made on a considerable scale; it is
exported chiefly to the Baltic. The Barilla plant, for making soda, is
also cultivated along the coast; and, of the plants in the salinas, it
is computed that at least one-sixth of the species are African.
_Albacete_ (16,000), situated at the junction both of road and railway
from Murcia and Valencia to Madrid, is chiefly celebrated for its trade
in common cutlery. It is here that the large stabbing knives (navajas)
are made, and for the use of which both Valencians and Murcians have an
unenviable notoriety. On the plateau of this province (Albacete) are
found (Salinas) salt-lakes formed by evaporation, the only examples of
this kind in Western Europe. The only other town of any importance in
the province is Almanza (9000), on the edge of the plateau before making
the descent into Valencia. The numerous names compounded of "pozo,"
well, and "fuente," fountain, in this province, attest its arid
character, where fresh water is scarce enough to make its presence a
distinguishing mark to any spot.
ANDALUSIA embraces the whole of southern Spain from Murcia to the
frontier of Portugal. Its seaboard includes both the Mediterranean and
the Atlantic. In Cabo de Gata, 2 deg.10' W., it has the extreme
south-easterly point of Spain; and in Cabo de Tarifa, 36 deg.2' N., the
extreme southerly point, not only of Spain, but of Europe. One chain of
its mountains, the Sierra de Nevada, contains the highest summits of the
peninsula; and its river, the Guadalquiver, from Seville to the ocean is
the only stream of real service for navigation in the whole of Spain.
Its wines and olives, its grapes and oranges, and fruits of all kinds,
are the finest, its horses and its cattle are the best, its bulls are
the fiercest, of all Spain. The sites of its cities rival in their
entrancing beauty those of any other European land; while, wanting
though they may be in deeper qualities, its sons and daughters yield not
in wit or attractive grace or beauty to those of any other race. The
Moor has left a deeper mark here than elsewhere, even as he kept his
favourite realm of Granada for centuries after he had lost the rest of
Spain. And when the sun of Moorish glory set, it was from Andalusia that
the vision of the New World rose upon astonished Europe. The year of the
conquest of Granada (1492) was also that of the discovery of America.
All things take an air of unwonted beauty and of picturesque grace in
this land of sun and light; even the gipsy race, avoided and abhorred in
other countries of Europe, at Granada, as at Moscow, becomes one of the
attractions of the tourist. The province is not entirely of one type. It
unites many kinds of beauty; even in Andalusia are "_despoblados_" and
"_destierros_," dispeopled and deserted wastes, under Christian hands,
but once fertile and inhabited under Moorish rule. Savage wildness and
barrenness reign in its lofty mountain chains as much as softer beauty
does in the "_huertas_" and "_vegas_." But from the minerals the one
district is equally valuable as the other. The province possesses the
richest mines, as well as the richest fruits and wines, of the whole of
Spain. ANDALUSIA, is divided into the provinces of _Almeria_, _Granada_,
_Malaga_, on the Mediterranean; _Cadiz_, _Seville_, _Huelva_, on the
Atlantic coast; and _Cordova_ and _Jaen_ inland, along the upper waters
of the Guadalquiver.
[Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF GRANADA, WITH THE ALHAMBRA.
_Page 110._]
In _Almeria_ (40,000) the flat-roofed houses are built round a central
court, the "_patio_," wherein is often a fountain, and palm and vine for
shade; while oranges, myrtles, passion-flowers, and other gay or
odoriferous shrubs or flowers, add their colour and perfume. The type
and the manners of the inhabitants tell us that we are already in the
land of the Moors. Almeria has declined from what it was when one of the
chief ports of transit between the Moors of Africa and their brethren of
south-eastern Spain; but from the growing importance of the Spanish
colony in Oran, its trade is now fast reviving. The exports are lead and
silver ore from the mines of the neighbourhood, fruits of all kinds, and
a little wine. The tonnage of British shipping employed at Almeria was,
in 1875, 117,123 tons; 1876, 85,840 tons; 1877, 89,988 tons. The chief
exports in 1877 were about 10,000 tons of esparto grass, 280,000 barrels
of grapes, 10,000 tons of minerals, and nearly 10,000 of calamine. The
sugar-cane is also grown here. The whole province is mountainous,
covered with the spurs and offshoots of the mighty Sierra Nevada, the
Sierras de Gador, de Filabres, de Cabrera, de Aljamilla, all which have
their terminations in headlands which run into the Mediterranean. The
basins of the rivers of the region are often cleft by these smaller
ranges, and thus they receive their waters from both the northern and
southern slopes of the Sierra Nevada. The only other towns of importance
are Cuevas de Vera (20,000), and Velez-Rubio (13,000), in the north of
the province on the road between Murcia and Granada, where some
lead-mines have been lately opened. The ports, except Almeria, are all
small; Dalias, on the confines of Granada, is noted for the magnificent
grapes and raisins shipped there.
_Granada_ (76,000) is one of the most celebrated spots of Europe, a city
of enchantment and of romance. It is one of the few places of renown,
the sight of which does not disappoint the traveller. The natural
advantages of its position would be sufficient to mark it as a city of
unusual beauty, were there no masterpieces of art and of architecture,
or storied memories, connected with it. It is situated in an upland
valley, at an elevation of 2200 feet above the sea level--sufficiently
high in that climate to prevent the summer's heat from being
oppressively exhausting, and not too high to hinder the choicest
semi-tropical fruits and flowers from growing in the open
air--surrounded, yet not too closely, by mountain ranges, of which those
to the east are the very highest in Spain--Mulhacen (11,700), Alcazaba
(11,600), and Veleta (11,400). The ice and snow on their summits not
only cool the hot winds which blow over them from Africa, but provide
the means of making the iced water which is the Spaniard's greatest
luxury. Its climate is second in its equable range only to that of its
coast towns, Motril and Malaga. It is watered by the united streams of
the Darro and the Jenil, which meet within the city, both hurrying from
their mountain home to join the Guadalquiver between Cordova and
Seville; and with their fertilizing waters dispersed in irrigation they
make the "Vega," or plain, of Granada one of the noted gardens of the
world. Granada is worth all the praise that has been sung or written of
it. On an isolated hill to the east, cut off from the town and from the
Generalife by the ravine through which the Darro flows, and enclosed
with a wall flanked by twelve towers, stands the celebrated group of
buildings known by the name of the Alhambra, perhaps the fairest palace
and fortress at once ever inhabited by a Moslem monarch. Almost
unrivalled in the beauty of its site, it outstrips all rivals in the
beauty of its Arab architecture. The mosque of Cordova is grander, and
the tombs of the Caliphs at Cairo may be in a purer style, but they lack
the variety and richness of these diverse buildings. The Alhambra hill
is to Arabic what the Acropolis of Athens was to Hellenic art; only to
the attractions of the plastic arts were added in the case of the
Alhambra the triumphs of the gardener's skill. Shrubs and flowers
delighted the eyes with colour, or gratified the sense of smell with
sweetest odours, while water, skilfully conducted from the neighbouring
hills, purled among the beds, or leaped in fountains, or filled the
baths with purest streams. Thus every sense and taste was gratified, and
Granada was indeed an earthly paradise to the Moor. Even in its decay,
and seen in fragments only, it is one of the world's wonders, a
treasure and delight to pilgrims of art from every land. But we must not
waste our space in detailing the beauties of Granada; its trade, sadly
diminished from what it was formerly, is chiefly in fruits and silk and
leather stuffs. Next to Granada, the chief city in the province is Loja
(15,000), near the Jenil, and the little port of Motril (13,500),
sheltered under the highest summits of the Sierra Nevada, is said to
possess the most equable climate of the Spanish Mediterranean ports. It
is here, in the extensive alluvial plain stretching from Motril to the
sea, that the sugar-cane is most extensively cultivated, producing in
1877, 113,636 tons of cane. Far inland, and separated from Motril by the
mountain mass, is Baza (13,500). The mineral riches of the Sierra Nevada
have never been adequately explored; from specimens used in the
construction of Granada, it must possess marbles of rare beauty; metals,
too, abound, but few of its mines are worked. In picturesque beauty,
when seen near at hand, these mountains are not nearly equal to the
Pyrenees and to many minor chains; with rounded summits, they are bare
and denuded of wood, and are entirely without the glacier forms, and the
lakes and rushing streams, which delight us in the Alps.
[Illustration: ALHAMBRA TOWER BY MOONLIGHT.]
_Malaga._--The greater part of this province lies in an amphitheatre of
mountains, stretching from the Sierra de Almijarras on the east to
those of De la Nieve and of Ronda to the west. It faces the full
southern sun, but is watered and irrigated by torrential streams from
the mountains, at times almost dry, at others, as in December, 1880,
rushing down in most destructive floods. The city, with over 110,000
inhabitants, boasts not only the finest climate in Spain, on which
account it is greatly frequented by invalids in the winter, but its
commerce is second in value to that of Barcelona. Its wealth and exports
are almost wholly agricultural, consisting of luscious wines--which,
however, have a greater reputation on the continent than in
England--oil, fruits, and especially dried raisins; oranges, olives,
figs, sugar, and sweet potatoes. Bananas, and all other tropical and
semi-tropical products of Spain are here found in perfection. Upwards of
2,000,000 boxes of raisins, 3,000,000 gallons of oil, and 1,100,100
gallons of wine, besides other fruits, esparto grass, and minerals
(chiefly lead), are annually exported. The tonnage of British vessels in
1878 was about 158,000 tons. It has been a city and port from great
antiquity; but though a favourite residence of the Moors, they have left
fewer remains here than at Granada, Seville, Cordova, Toledo, and many a
place of lesser note. Antequerra (25,000), on the Guadaljorce, on the
northern slope of the sierras, guards the defile leading to Malaga, and
was formerly of great military importance. The Cueva del Menjal, in the
neighbourhood, is a fine dolmen. Ronda (20,000), the chief town of the
sierra of the same name, is remarkable for its position on both sides of
an enormous fissure (el Tajo) from 300 to 600 feet deep, and which is
spanned by a magnificent bridge, constructed by the architect Archidone,
in 1761. Velez Malaga (24,000) is a small sheltered port to the east of
Malaga, with a trade in fruits and wines.
_Cadiz_, the most southerly province of Spain, includes the capes of
Trafalgar and Tarifa, and the Punta de Europa, or the English Rock of
Gibraltar. This province is also the principal seat of the great sherry
trade. The town (65,000) and port have greatly fallen from their former
importance, when Spain possessed nearly all the Americas south of
California, and but for the Transatlantic steamers to Cuba and the West
Indies, and to the Philippine Islands in the East Indies, would probably
decline still more. The application of steam, allowing ocean vessels to
ascend the Guadalquiver rapidly to Seville, has arrested there a great
deal of the produce which formerly came to Cadiz, but which is now
shipped at the former town. The total tonnage of the port is now about
800,000; the imports over 2,000,000_l._, of which about one-sixth is
British; but of the exports, which are about the same in value, fully
two-thirds go to Great Britain. Cadiz itself is undoubtedly one of the
oldest ports of Western Europe, and is situated on a narrow promontory,
formed into an island by the channel of San Pedro. Unlike most of the
southern cities of Spain, its houses are of great height and of several
stories, the contracted space of its site having occasioned this
architectural modification. The city is excellently supplied with fish;
the market is noted both for the quantity and the variety of its supply,
which amounts to nearly 900 tons annually. Round the Bay of Cadiz are
situated towns and harbours of considerable size, whose united commerce
is almost equal to that of Cadiz itself. Of these, Puerto de St. Maria
(22,000), on the northern side of the bay, is the great harbour for the
shipment of sherry wines. Immense quantities of salt are made, chiefly
for exportation, in the Salinas between Puerto Real and San Fernando
(26,000), and Chiclana (20,000), on the San Pedro canal, which cuts off
the Isle of Leon from the mainland. The export of wine from the whole
Bay was, in
Gallons. Butts.
1858 3,600,000, or 33,028
1862 5,600,000, " 51,376
1871 8,300,000, " 77,064
1876 " 61,609
1877 " 68,246
Xeres de la Frontera (64,000), situated about thirty miles from Cadiz,
surrounded by vineyards, is a city of Bodegas, or wine-cellars, the
principal of which, as well as of the vineyards, are in the hands of
foreigners. It is one of the busiest of Spanish commercial towns, and,
like Barcelona, is on that account less peculiarly Spanish than many
others. The exportation of sherry wines from the district, and those
shipped at Port St. Mary, amounted, in 1873, to 98,924 butts; 1874,
65,365 butts; from Jerez alone, in 1875, 43,727 butts; 1876, 42,272
butts; 1877, 41,660 butts; 87 per cent, of which goes to Great Britain
and her colonies. The decrease in later years is probably caused by the
greater amount of lighter French wines now consumed in England. San
Lucar de Barrameda (22,000), at the mouth of the Guadalquiver, is noted
for its winter-gardens, which are said to date from Moorish times, and
which supply Cadiz and Seville with their earliest fruits and
vegetables. From its vineyards, too, comes the stomachic Manzanilla
sherry, flavoured with the wild camomile, which grows abundantly in its
vineyards. Arcos (12,000), on the Guadalete, is the only other Spanish
town of importance in the province; but to the south lies the isolated
rock and fortress of Gibraltar (25,000), captured by the Earl of
Peterborough in 1704. Though held only as an English garrison (5000),
and made almost impregnable as a fortress, it is yet of considerable
commerce from its position as a port of call for vessels passing the
Straits of Gibraltar, and also from its contraband trade with Spain,
which is a source of constant irritation between the two nations. In
natural history, it is remarkable for its apes (_macacus inuus_), as the
only spot in Europe where any species of monkey lives, and it is
doubtful whether even these would survive without the aid of occasional
importations from Morocco.
_Seville_ is the typical province of Andalusia, and its city of 133,000
ranks fourth in population of the cities of Spain. The Moors have left
deeper outward traces at Granada, but here they have fused more
thoroughly with the population, and have given it the Oriental grace and
culture which is lacking in the former place; their wit belongs to
themselves. Seville is peculiarly the home of Spanish art; the greatest
of her painters, Murillo and Velasquez, were born there, and Zurbaran
painted his best pieces to adorn her walls. Her writers are scarcely
less noted. The most celebrated novelist of modern Spain, Cecilia Bohl
de Faber (Fernan Caballero), had her home there. There Amador de los
Rios composed his chief works. The Becquers--both the painter and the
novelist--were born there. It is a city of predilection for all of
artistic tastes. The Giralda, a tower of Moorish architecture, rivals,
if it does not surpass, in its exquisite proportions the _campanille_
of Italian art. The Alcazar is a home of beauty. The _patios_, or inner
courts, of many of the houses have remains of Moorish decoration. The
Cathedral shows that Christian lags not far behind Moslem architecture.
But Seville, on the Guadalquiver, is not a mere city of pleasure. Like
Paris, its gay exterior contains a great deal of real work and commerce
within. Since the invention of steam, allowing sea-going vessels to
breast with ease the current of the Guadalquiver, it has drawn to itself
a great deal of the traffic which formerly passed through the harbours
of the Bay of Cadiz. The tonnage of its shipping amounts to about
120,000 tons, and the value of its imports to over 2,000,000_l_., and of
its exports to 1,750,000_l_., one-half of which belongs to Great
Britain. Among its manufactories, one of porcelain, carried on by a
British company, but employing Spanish methods, is celebrated; and its
tobacco manufactory, with its 1000 women workers, is the largest
government establishment of the kind in Spain. The city long enjoyed
almost a monopoly of West Indian and of Manilla productions; the wealth
brought by the galleons was deposited here, and here are still preserved
the "Archivos de las Indias." It possesses both a university and a mint.
The lower part of the Guadalquiver runs through marshy lands, which in
places present almost impenetrable jungles. In these are bred the bulls
which supply the bull-fights with their victims, and which make Seville
the great school of _tauromachia_ in Spain. The finest Andalusian horses
are also produced in this province, and the wines, though not equal to
those of the neighbouring provinces of Cadiz and Cordova, are still
highly esteemed. Besides Seville, the chief towns are Ecija (24,000) on
the Jenil, a place of large trade; Carmona (18,000); Ossuna (16,000).
Utrera, Lebriga, and Marchena would be considerable towns in other
provinces, but we can only indicate them here. From the absence of
mountains Seville has not the mineral wealth of some other provinces,
but coal is worked at Villanueva del Rio, and the copper-mines at
Arnalcollar yield 20,000 tons of ore; other outlying deposits of the
Huelva beds are found in this province, and a great part of the lead
from the Linares mines is shipped here.
_Huelva_, the last maritime province of Spain, conterminous with
Portugal on the west and with Seville on the east, with its capital of
10,000, is one of the richest mining districts in Europe. Worked in
prehistoric times, and in the mythical dawn of history, by Iberians,
Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and Romans, the mines of Tharsis and of
the Rio Tinto were strangely neglected by the Spaniards until purchased
by an Anglo-German company in 1873 for 3,850,000_l_., but with the
certainty of a rich return. There are now over 7000 men employed by
this company, and 906,600 tons of copper ore were extracted in 1879 from
the south lode only; about 10,000 tons of hematite iron were also sold.
The mines contain sulphur, copper, iron, and silver. In fact, the
mountains round the source of the Tinto seem to be almost one mass of
mineral ore. From the working of these mines the development of the
riches of this province has been most rapid of late years, and the
tonnage of shipping from the port of Huelva will probably soon rival, if
not surpass, that of Cadiz: in 1873 the foreign shipping was 180,000
tons; this had ascended to over 300,000 tons in 1877. The imports were
valued in 1873 at 168,000_l_., of which 112,000_l_. were British; and in
1877 to over 300,000, of which not quite one-half was British. The
exports are of far greater importance, ranging from 750,000_l_. in 1873,
of which 667,000_l_. were British, to 1,236,243_l_. in 1877, of which
1,132,782_l_. went to Great Britain. Except in minerals, the province is
not rich; but a trade which will probably increase, has lately sprung up
in wines, fruits, and cork. The frontier stream the Guadiana is of
little use to Spain, and the little port of Palos, whence Columbus set
out to give a new world to Spain, is now completely silted up.
_Cordova._--The interior provinces of Andalusia are _Cordova_ and
_Jaen_, both on the Guadalquiver, the latter embracing the sources and
upper part of the course, the former the central portion before it
enters the province of Seville. The northern part of the province of
Cordova is covered by parallel ranges of low mountains running east and
west--the Sierras de Cordova and de Pedroches within the province, and
the Sierras de Almaden and Morena, which form the boundary of Castile.
_Cordova_, the capital, contains now but 49,000 inhabitants in place of
the 1,000,000 who dwelt there when it was the seat of the western
khalifat. Its mosque, almost the sole remnant of its former splendour,
with its 1200 columns, is to Islam what the temple of Karnac at Thebes,
and that of Karnac in Brittany, with their 100 pillars, are to the
religions of Egypt and of prehistoric Europe. It is perhaps the grandest
building for worship ever raised by Moslem hands; its materials were
pillaged without scruple from shrines of older civilizations, but were
wrought into new and fairer forms of beauty by the magic of Arabian art.
As a Christian city, Cordova is of only second rank. It is chiefly noted
for its leather work, and for its commerce in wines and fruits. It is to
Cordova that the Amontillada sherry--the most prized of Spanish
wines--comes, from the vineyards round Montilla (15,000). The only other
town of importance in the province is Lucena (16,000), to the south.
_Jaen_, like Huelva, at the opposite extremity of Andalusia, is a mining
province, and like those of Huelva its mines are chiefly in the hands of
Englishmen and of foreigners. Linares (36,000), north of the
Guadalquiver, is the centre of the mining district, and is far the most
populous town in the province. Nearly 11,000 men, women, and boys were
employed in the lead-mines in 1877, and the ore raised amounted to
70,000 tons. It has been calculated that the production of the world is
about 300,000 tons of lead, of which Spain furnishes 100,000 tons and
the United Kingdom 100,000 tons. The capital, Jaen, south of the great
river, has only 24,000 inhabitants; Ubeda and Baza, close together, a
little south of Jaen, have each 15,000. Andujar (11,000), with its old
bridge over the Guadalquiver, is noted for its porous pottery, the
cooling water-jars used throughout the whole of Southern Spain. In the
north of this province is the celebrated Pass of Despena-perros, through
the Sierra Morena, one of the wildest gorges through which the traveller
passes in any part of Europe; a few miles to the south of it is Las
Navas de Tolosa, the field of the battle in 1212 which first proved how
fast the power of the Moors was waning in Southern Spain.
ESTREMADURA, conterminous on the west with Portugal and on the south
with Huelva, is the wildest and least peopled of all the provinces of
Spain, and has been almost sufficiently described in a former chapter.
It is divided into the two modern provinces of _Badajoz_ and _Caceres_,
through which run respectively the two rivers, the Guadiana and the
Tagus. Desolate as it is now, the numerous Roman remains at Merida
(6000) and Trajan's mighty bridge at Alcantara tell what it was in Roman
times; but in Moorish days it suffered more from war than any other
province, and the curse, the "_mesta_," the only means the Christian
conquerors had of utilizing their vast and thinly-peopled properties,
has ever since rested upon it. Besides its flocks and herds its chief
wealth consists in acorns and bark for tanning, and cork for other
purposes. The rivers run in deep gorges, almost canons, and are useless
for either navigation or for irrigation. Badajoz (22,000), on the
Guadiana, one of the frontier fortresses of Spain towards Portugal, is
by far the largest city. Higher up the river are Merida and Medellin,
but Don Benito (15,000) is of greater commercial importance than either.
_Caceres_, a province still more thinly peopled than Badajoz, having
only fifteen inhabitants instead of nineteen to the square kilometre,
has 12,000 for its chief town; Plasencia, on the Xerte, an affluent of
the Alagon, has only half that number. In the north-east of this
province, on the southern spurs of the lofty Sierra de Gredos, stands
the monastery San Juste, to which the Emperor Charles V. retired on his
resignation of his many crowns. The shepherds of Estremadura,
notwithstanding the scanty population, gave numbers of emigrants to the
New World; Cortez and Pizarro were swineherds, the one of Medellin, the
other of Truxillo. The town of Alcantara gives its name to one of the
three great military orders of Spain.
NEW CASTILE and LA MANCHA comprise the five modern provinces of _Ciudad
Real_, _Toledo_, _Madrid_, _Cuenca_, and _Guadalajara_, which all take
their names from their chief towns. The province of _Ciudad Real_, which
lies between the Sierra de Morena and the mountains of Toledo, is
traversed by the Guadiana. It is the most thinly populated of all the
provinces of Spain, having only thirteen inhabitants to the square
kilometre; but it is by no means the least wealthy. It contains within
it the quicksilver-mines of Almaden (9000), the richest deposit in the
world before the late discoveries in California. They were a source of
revenue to the Spanish crown for centuries, with an annual rent of over
a quarter of a million. They were however mortgaged by the Government
for thirty years in order to raise a loan of 2,318,000_l._ at five per
cent., to be extinguished in 1900. The average annual extract is
estimated at 12,000 tons of mercury. The vineyards round Valdepenas
(11,000) supply the red wine which is the favourite beverage of the
Spaniards throughout the centre and the south, and the home consumption
of which is far beyond that of the sherries. Almagro (14,000) is known
for its lace manufacture; but Ciudad-Real, the capital (12,000), is
fallen from its ancient importance. Damiel (13,000) and Manzanares
(9000) are the only other towns that need mention.
_Toledo_ (21,000), watered by the Tagus, was for centuries the most
important city of Spain. It is here that the great councils which really
regulated the civil as well as the ecclesiastical administration of
Spain, from the fourth to the eighth centuries were held. Here too was
one of the centres of Arabic civilization: the waterworks, clocks, and
observatory of Toledo were among the wonders of the world from the tenth
to the twelfth centuries, and even after its capture by the Christians,
in 1085, the conqueror seemed for a while to have fallen under the same
spell. The court of Alfonso X., the Wise, was a semi-Moorish court, and
his tolerance excited the indignant wonder of travellers from other
parts of Europe. Moorish and Christian architecture is still most
strangely blended in many of its buildings, and Moorish architects were
long employed to keep in repair not only the structures which their
ancestors had raised, but even the Christian churches. The skill of its
ironworkers and the temper of its sword-blades were renowned throughout
Europe. The superiority of its steel was said to be due to some peculiar
virtue of the water of the Tagus used in tempering; but the best of the
iron was taken from the mines of Mondragon, in Guipuzcoa. The
manufactory has greatly fallen from its ancient splendour, but some good
weapons are still made, though they cannot compete in price with British
or foreign goods. The insurrection of its inhabitants under the
"Comuneros" in 1520, in defence of the ancient constitutional liberties
of Castille probably determined the selection of the more obsequious
town of Madrid as the capital of Spain by the Emperor Charles V. Toledo,
with its narrow streets and semi-Moorish houses, is emphatically the
city of Old Spain; the purest Spanish is said still to be spoken there,
and for native poets and romancers it seems to have an attraction beyond
that of any of the cities of Andalusia. The only other town of
importance in the province is Talavera, with its fifteenth-century
bridge of nearly a quarter of a mile in length.
_Madrid._--The province of Madrid lies between the Sierra de Guadarrama
on the north and the Tagus on the south. The city, which now contains
almost 400,000 inhabitants, was a third or fourth-rate town until
Charles V., and after him Philip II., chose it for the capital of Spain,
in place of either Toledo or Valladolid. Its recommendations seem to
have been its central position, and the absence of any strong traditions
of ancient constitutional liberties, such as might hamper the sovereign
in developing his new despotism. A city which owed its creation
entirely to the sovereign, and its riches to to the presence of his
court, would be certain to be obedient to its rulers. If Charles V. and
Philip II. did not make it the centre of a free and constitutional
government, they at least enriched it with all the treasures of art
which the rulers of the greater part of Europe could collect from the
various parts of their vast dominions. It is at the museum of Madrid,
which owes its existence to Ferdinand VII., that not only Spanish, but
also many of the Flemish and some of the Italian painters can be best
studied; and by a happy chance the royal palace, built in the eighteenth
century, is one of the least faulty and most impressive structures of
that age. At the west end of the city, on the banks of the Manzanares,
are the royal gardens; at the opposite extremity the promenades of the
Prado and the gardens of the Buen Retiro. These artificial parks and
walks in some way compensate for the dreary and almost desert aspect of
the country round Madrid; for there are "_despoblados_" and
"_destierros_" almost within sight of the greatest city of Spain. It is
now approached by rail from all sides, and the convergence of these iron
roads and of the highways will probably secure its future position as
the capital of the nation; but until the present century, contrary to
that of most European capitals, the approach to Madrid seemed to be
an approach from civilization to barbarism. As the traveller neared the
capital, whether from the north or from the east and south, the inns
grew worse, the roads more impassable, and the difficulty of procuring
food greater in the neighbourhood of the capital than elsewhere; the
contrast of magnificence and meanness, of dirt and discomfort and formal
etiquette in the city itself, until the time of Charles III., is the
theme of every visitor. Of late its character has much changed; the
increase of its population has not been caused by the natural growth of
its inhabitants, but by the migration thither of Catalans, Gallegos,
Asturians, Basques, and especially of Andalusians; and thus the Puerta
del Sol, the heart of Madrid, has become, as it were, the heart of
Spain, and almost every political and social movement which stirs the
nation has its origin there. Though not quite to the extent with which
Paris absorbs France, still Madrid collects to itself the greater part
of the intellectual and literary life of the nation. It is Madrid that
supplies most of the daily journals, the scientific periodicals,
reviews, and literature to the rest of Spain. Here is the seat of the
learned academies and of the chief literary, educational, and scientific
institutions. The universities, the national and the free, the Ateneo,
the great public libraries of Madrid, are the best in Spain. It is here
that Cortes meets, here that the elections are arranged, all the lines
of Spanish administration converge hither, and it is here that the
intrigues for place or power are principally conducted, and unhappily we
must add it is thus that Madrid is also the focus and example of
administrative corruption for the rest of Spain.
[Illustration: FOUNTAIN OF THE FOUR SEASONS, MADRID.
_Page 130._]
Besides Madrid, the province contains two other royal residencies,
Aranjuez to the south, at the junction of the Tagus with the Jarama, and
the Escorial to the north, at the foot of the Guadarrama. The chief
attractions of the former consist in its abundant supply of water, in
its fountains and running streams, and in the avenues and groves of
lofty trees, whose roots are fed by these waters. The Escorial is of an
entirely opposite character. This vast and extraordinary structure was
raised by Philip II., in pursuance of a vow made at the battle of St.
Quentin, August 10 (St. Lawrence's Day), 1557; the ground-plan is that
of a mighty gridiron, to recall that on which the martyr suffered. The
central piece of architecture is a chapel, impressive from its grand
simplicity; and however faulty the general design of the vast edifice,
several details, and especially the frescoes of the ceilings and some of
the paintings, are of great beauty. The whole fabric, in its severe and
sombre majesty, harmonizes well with the bare and wind-swept granite
mountains near which it is placed. Like most of the other
treasure-houses of Spain, it suffered severely from pillage during the
French invasion. _Acala de Henares_ (8000) was celebrated in the
sixteenth century as a university under the patronage of the Cardinal
Ximenes, and here the celebrated Complutensian Polyglot Bible was
printed. It was also the birthplace of Cervantes. The canal of Henares
is described above, pp. 18, 19.
_Cuenca_, one of the most thinly populated as well as one of the most
mountainous provinces of Spain, stretches on two sides of the chief
watershed, and the waters of the streams which rise in this province
from different slopes of the Cerro de San Felipe flow to the Atlantic
and to the Mediterranean. Cuenca (7000), the capital, is still untouched
by railway routes, and slumbers on its lofty cliff, and emerged into
temporary notoriety by its capture and sack by Alphonso, the brother of
Don Carlos, in 1874.
_Guadalajara_ (6500), on the Henares, though on the line of railway
between Saragossa and Madrid, is scarcely more lively than Cuenca, but
it contains the school for military engineers, the most distinguished
corps in the Spanish army, and which has never stained its character by
political intrigue. The province supports a slightly higher population
than that of Cuenca.
OLD CASTILE was with Leon for several centuries the chief of the rising
kingdoms of Spain, and the one into which all the rest gradually merged.
It now contains five provinces, _Avila_, _Segovia_, _Soria_, _Logrono_,
and _Burgos_. Avila (7000), still surrounded by its mediaeval walls in
excellent preservation, is one of the most picturesque cities in Spain,
at an altitude of nearly 3500 feet above the sea-level. The province is
remarkable as the one in which the rudely-sculptured stone monuments of
boars and bulls, the "Toros de Guisando," are chiefly found. They are
the art remains of a population whose name, age, and ethnic affinities
are totally unknown. The southern half of this province is traversed by
the lofty Sierra de Gredos, and hiding in its secluded valleys are some
of the most primitive peoples of Spain. There are no other large towns
in the province.
_Segovia_ (7000), another of the picturesque cities of Spain, contains
fine specimens of Roman, Moorish, and Christian mediaeval architecture in
its wondrous aqueduct, cathedral, the Alcazar, and castle. It was
formerly a place of great commercial as well as of political importance,
and was the centre of a trade in woollen goods which employed 34,000
workmen, and made the cloth of Segovia celebrated throughout Europe.
This commerce has now utterly departed, both from it and from the other
cities, such as Avila, Medina del Campo, which shared its reputation. It
is now visited by the lover of the picturesque, whose taste will be
here abundantly gratified. Not far from Segovia, under the Penalarra
(7800 feet), on the northern slope of the Guadarrama range, are La
Granja and San Ildefonso. At a height of 4000 feet above the level of
the sea, this is the most agreeable of all the inland royal residences
of Spain. Built in French taste by Philip V., it is redeemed from
banality by its pleasant surroundings. But retired and peaceful as it
looks, La Granja has been the scene of some of the most important
political events in the modern history of Spain. The celebrated passes
of Somosierra (4700 feet), and that of the Col de Guadarrama (5000),
lead from this province to Madrid; the railway, too, attains at La
Canada a height of 4457 feet above the level of the sea.
_Soria_, on the north-eastern edge of the great plateau, is one of the
poorest provinces of Spain. Leaning on the Sierra de Moncayo, the whole
of the northern and central part of the province slopes gradually to the
west, and is watered by the Douro, which takes its rise in the Sierra de
Moncayo. The southern angle of the province contains also the sources of
the Jalon, which, flowing through a break in the Idubeda range, finds
its way to the Ebro, and thence to the Mediterranean, the upper courses
of the two rivers completely overlapping. In spite of these two
river-valleys the province is very unproductive. Soria, near the site of
the Keltiberean Numantia, which held out for twenty-nine years against
the Romans, contains but 6000 inhabitants. Osma, on the Douro, has
barely 1000, and Agreda (4000) is celebrated only for the visions of a
nun in the sixteenth century.
The province of _Burgos_ overlaps the plateau, and in its northern and
southern extremities embraces the valleys both of the Ebro and the
Douro, with their respective towns, Miranda del Ebro and Aranda del
Douro. The basins of these two rivers are separated by the Oca or
Idubeda mountains, which cross the centre of the province. The
difference of the elevation of the two valleys may be seen in the fact
that while Miranda del Ebro is 1600 feet above the sea-level, Burgos is
more than 2800. Burgos (29,000) and Aranda del Douro were formerly towns
of considerable commerce, and the former had at one time a claim to be
considered the chief city of Northern Spain. It has now greatly fallen,
but will always be visited for the noble remains of Gothic architecture
in the city and its suburbs. Miranda del Ebro (3000), when the river
formed the customs line for all commerce passing from the Basque
Provinces into Spain, was of great consequence, and is now the point of
junction for the northern lines of railway from Bilbao and from Irun. In
this province, too, is the pass of Pancorbo, through which both road and
railway wind; for savage wildness it is inferior only to that of the
above-mentioned Despena-perros in the Sierra Morena.
The whole province of _Logrono_ lies in the southern half of the valley
of the Ebro, and leans against the mountains which form the supports of
the great plateau. The Ebro forms its northern boundary, and its chief
towns, Logrono (12,000) and Calahorra (7000), are both on the river.
Here the traveller from the north first sees the Noria or Moorish
water-wheel at work. The province is noted chiefly for its strong, rough
wines, and for its agricultural products. Navarete is known in English
history as the spot where the Black Prince and Bertrand du Guesclin
fought out their mightiest duel, the one as the partisan of Pedro the
Cruel, and the other of Henry of Trastamare.
The kingdom of LEON is divided into five provinces, _Salamanca_,
_Valladolid_, _Zamora_, _Palencia_, _Leon_. _Salamanca_ lies along the
Portuguese frontier, which is here formed by the Rivers Douro and
Agueda. The city (15,000) was famous throughout the early part of the
Middle Ages for its university and for its Arabic and Hebrew learning.
It thus became in popular estimation the home of magic and of the black
arts, and as such its name is found in the folk-lore tales of many parts
of Europe; its students, poor, riotous, and witty, made it the
birthplace of the peculiar, picaresque romance literature of Spain, from
Lazarillo de Tormes to Gil Blas. Like all the Spanish provincial
universities, it is but the shadow of its former self, nor does the city
preserve any of the older features which still make Toledo a delight to
the tourist. Its old bridge over the Tormes is said to date from Roman
times. Bejar (8000) does a fair trade as a manufactory of cloth. Ciudad
Rodrigo (5000) is one of the strongest fortresses of Spain, and guards,
with Badajoz, the frontier against Portugal. The provinces of Salamanca
and Zamora contain some of the most peculiar and picturesque peasantry
yet remaining in Spain; even around Salamanca the festal dresses of the
Charros and Charras are rich with gold and silver ornaments of Moorish
type. In the valley of the Batuecas, amid the Sierra de Gata, the
Hurdes, and to the west of Zamora, the Sayagos, and again, the
Maragatos, to the north-west of the province, in the mountains of Leon,
are all remnants of ancient races, preserving habits and tribal customs
and laws, differing from their neighbours, and well worthy of the study,
as survivals, of the comparative ethnologist. The contrabandistas of the
province are among the boldest in Spain; they cross the Douro and its
deep ravine, sometimes on rafts or on inflated skins; at others, when
the river is in flood, in baskets suspended from ropes flung across the
whole ravine.
_Zamora_ (10,000), formerly a strong walled city on the Douro, in a
rich country, notwithstanding the rail which unites it to the Medina del
Campo, still remains one of the decaying towns of Spain. Toro (9000),
higher up the stream, is a busier town. A great impulse will probably be
given to all this district, now one of the most behindhand in Spain, by
the completion of the Portuguese lines of Beira-alta, connecting Lisbon
and Oporto with Paris by the North Spanish lines. Benavente (5000), on
the Esla, is the only other town we have to notice.
_Leon_, which gave its name to one of the old kingdoms of Spain before
the re-conquest of the Castiles, is full of towns which recall the
glories of the past, but which are of little importance in modern times.
The capital (9000) is noted for its cathedral and churches, which are
perhaps the purest specimens of Gothic, unmixed with Arabian art, to be
found in Spain. The province is generally mountainous, especially to the
north and west, and the higher lands afford excellent summer pasture for
flocks from the plains, and even from Estremadura. The valley of the
Esla is extremely fertile. Astorga (5000) may be considered as the
Capital of the Maragatos, of whom we have spoken above; like Sahagun
(3000), it is a town of ancient consequence now dwindling to
insignificance. The "_fuero_" or charter of Sahagun, 1085, was the model
of the "_fueros_" or constitutional privileges of the Castiles, which
were eventually lost in the war of the _comuneros_ in the time of
Charles V.
_Palencia._--Through this province passes the canal of Castile from Alar
del Rey to Valladolid, borrowing its waters from the Pisuerga, and is
the most useful for transport of all the canals of Spain. This waterway
is less needed now, owing to the railway of the north from Valladolid to
Santander, to Bilbao, and to San Sebastian, which runs parallel to it;
but it will be always available for local traffic. The capital is a
walled city on the banks of the Carrion, a little above its junction
with the Pisuerga, an affluent of the Douro; its cathedral is remarkable
for its size and simplicity, but is otherwise inferior to Leon. The
valleys, watered by these rivers are very rich in cereals, which find
their outlet for exportation at Santander. The great coal-field of the
Asturias extends into the north of this province, and at Barruelo de
Santillana is largely worked by the Northern Railway Company, and
supplies Madrid with a yearly increasing quantity of coal. The villages
near the mines are fast becoming populous towns.
_Valladolid_ (52,000) was till the middle of the sixteenth century the
capital of Spain, and is likely to become of great importance in the
near future as the point of junction of all the Spanish and Portuguese
railways of the north and west. The Douro flows through the centre of
the province, and the plains of Valladolid are perhaps the most fertile
of all those in North-western Spain. It is a great centre for the
corn-trade of the Castiles, and the smoke from its tall chimneys tells
also of manufacturing industry. There are here two colleges for Scotch
and Irish students for the Roman Catholic priesthood. They were
established at the time of the persecutions in England, but are much
less frequented now than formerly. Medina del Campo (4500) an ancient
commercial city, was ruined in the wars of the _comuneros_, but may
recover somewhat of its former traffic as a junction of railways. A town
of similar name and standing, Medina de Rio Seco (4500), is in the north
of the province; both are situated in rich corn-growing plains.
Tordesillas (3500), on the Douro, owes its existence to the junction of
roads which cross the river by its noble bridge. In this province is the
Castle of Simancas, wherein are deposited the archives of Spain, as
those of the Indies are at Seville. Long closed to the world, they are
now open to the researches of scholars, and guides and inventories in
aid are being published during the present year.
_The Balearic Isles._
These islands are geologically a submarine continuation of the Valencian
mountains which sink into the sea at Cape Nao. They are divided into
two groups: (1) Minorca, Majorca, Cabrera, and a few islets; the nearest
point of which to the mainland is Soller on Majorca, ninety-three miles
distant; (2) Iviza and Formentera, with some smaller satellites, are
within sixty miles of the Spanish coast. The whole superficies of the
islands is nearly two thousand square miles. The inhabitants number
about 290,000. The climate is equable but exceedingly variable within
somewhat narrow limits; the average both for Minorca and Majorca being
sixty-four, the highest temperature ninety, and the lowest forty-four.
The average rainfall is nearly twenty inches. Majorca, the largest of
the islands is about sixty miles from east to west, and fifty from north
to south. The surface is very broken, but with a few fertile plains; the
greatest elevation is 5000 feet. Minorca, twenty and a half miles to the
east of Majorca, is twenty miles long by six broad. Iviza, the largest
island of the western group is only four miles by four. The highest
points of these two islands are about 1000 feet; but Iviza retains
traces of volcanic action which seem to connect it geologically with the
extinct Catalan volcanoes, by way of the Columbretes rocks, and the
Point de la Bana at the mouth of the Ebro. Majorca and Minorca are
remarkable for erections called "Talayots," similar to the "Nuraghies"
of Sardinia; they are the work of one of the many prehistoric, or at
least unrecorded races whose blood mingles in the veins of the present
inhabitants, and the origin of them has given rise to almost as many
theories as those of the round towers of Ireland and Scotland. In the
west of Majorca is the remarkable and extensive cavern of Arta. The
language of the islanders is one of the purest dialects of the Provencal
speech. The only separate race now in the islands is that of the
"_Chuetas_" or converted Jews, who still keep apart notwithstanding
their nominal Christianity. The population is mostly engaged in
agriculture, and the islands export fruits, oil, leather, and a few
cattle, to an annual value altogether of 350,000_l>_, while the imports
amount to 210,000_l>_. The land is cultivated mostly by peasant
proprietors and metayers in small holdings, and by reason of steady
emigration those who remain are fairly prosperous. The people show
strong aesthetic tastes, and the art school of Palma is one of the most
flourishing of the whole of Spain. The chief towns on Majorca are Palma,
on the east coast, of 58,000 inhabitants; Manacor, in the centre, of
12,500; Felanitz, 10,000; and Llummayor, Soller, Inca, and Pollensa, of
about 8000 each. Minorca has only two towns of importance, Port Mahon,
22,000, and Ciudella, 7000, at opposite extremities of the island. Port
Mahon is perhaps the finest harbour in the Mediterranean, and is also
one of its strongest fortresses; during the English occupation the town
attained great prosperity. Iviza has only one town, of the same name as
the island, containing 5500 inhabitants. We have noticed before that the
majolica ware was not made in these islands, but at Valencia, and that
it acquired the name from Balearic vessels being used for its export to
Italy.