of all Spain, enjoys a more favourable geographical position than
Burgos. It lies on the Lower Pisuerga, where that river enters the
broad plain of the Duero, at an elevation of less than 600 feet above
the sea. There are numerous factories, conducted by Catalans, and the
city boasts, like Burgos, of many curious buildings and historical
reminiscences. The houses in which Columbus died and Cervantes was born
are still shown, as is the beautiful monastery of San Pablo, in which
resided Torquemada, the monk, who condemned 8,000 heretics to die at
the stake. The castle of Simancas, where the precious archives of Spain
are kept, is near this city.
Descending the Duero, we pass Toro, and then reach Zamora, the “goodly
walls” of which proved such an obstacle to the Moors. Zamora, though
on the direct line between Oporto and continental Europe, is an
out-of-the-way place at {389} present, and the same may be said of the
famous city of Salamanca, on the Tormes, to the south of it.
[Illustration: Fig. 144.—THE ALCÁZAR OF SEGOVIA.]
Salamanca, the Salmantica of the Romans, succeeded to Palencia as the
seat of a university, and during the epoch of the Renaissance was
described as the “mother of virtues, sciences, and arts,” and the
“Rome of the Castiles.” It still deserves the latter epithet, because
of its magnificent bridge built by Trajan, and the beautiful edifices
dating back to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Its intellectual
superiority, however, is a thing of the past.
Arevalo, and the famous town of Medina del Campo, to the north-east of
Salamanca, carry on a considerable trade with corn. Ávila occupies an
isolated hillock on the banks of the Adaja, to the north of the Sierra
de Gredos. Ávila still preserves its turreted walls of the fifteenth
century, and its fortress-like cathedral is a marvel of architecture.
There are also curious sculptures of animals, which are ascribed
{390} to the aboriginal inhabitants of the country. Similar works of
rude art in the vicinity are known as the “bulls of Guisando,” from a
village in the Sierra de Gredos.
[Illustration: Fig. 145.—TOLEDO.]
Segovia the “circumspect” is situated on an affluent of the Duero, like
Ávila, and in the immediate vicinity of the Sierra de Guadarrama. Its
turreted walls rise on a scarped rock, supposed to resemble a ship.
On the poop of this fancied ship, high above the confluence of the
Clamores and Eresma, rise the ruins of the Moorish Alcázar, whilst the
cathedral, in the centre of the city, is supposed to represent the
mainmast. A beautiful aqueduct supplies Segovia with the clear waters
of the Guadarrama. It is the finest Roman work of this class in Iberia,
and far superior to the royal palace of San Ildefonso or of La Granja,
in the neighbourhood of the city.
[Illustration: PEASANTS OF TOLEDO, CASTILE.]
[Illustration: ROMAN BRIDGE AT ALCANTARA.]
Toledo is the most famous city to the south of the great rampart formed
by the {391} Sierras of Guadarrama, Gredos, and Gata. This is the
_Ciudad Imperial_, the “mother of cities,” the coronet of Spain and
the light of the world, as it was called by Juan de Padilla, the most
famous of its sons. Tradition tells us that it existed long before
Hercules founded Segovia, and, like Rome, it stands upon seven hills.
Toledo, with its gates, towers, Moorish and mediæval buildings, is
indeed a beautiful city, and its cathedral is of dazzling richness.
But, for all this, Toledo is a decayed place, and its famous armourers’
shops have been swamped by a Government manufactory.
Talavera de la Reyna, below Toledo, on the Tajo, still possesses some
of its ancient manufactures of silk and faience. Puente del Arzobispo
and the other towns on the Tajo are hardly more now than large
villages. The bridge of Almaraz crosses the river far away from any
populous town, and the old Roman bridge of Alconétar exists no longer.
Alcántara,—that is, _the_ bridge,—near the Portuguese frontier, still
remains a monument of the architectural skill of the Romans. It was
completed in the year 105, in the reign of Trajan, and its architect,
Lacer, appears to have been a Spaniard. Its centre is at an elevation
of 160 feet above the mean level of the Tajo, the floods of which rise
occasionally to the extent of a hundred feet.
All the great towns of Estremadura lie at some distance from the Tajo,
and its great volume of water has hitherto hardly been utilised for
purposes of irrigation or navigation. On a fertile hill nearly twenty
miles to the north of this river, the old town of Plasencia may be seen
bounded in the distance by mountains frequently covered with snow.
Cáceres is about the same distance to the south, as is also Trujillo,
which received such vast wealth from the conquerors of Peru, but is now
dependent upon its pigs and herds of cattle.
The position of those towns of Estremadura which lie on the banks
of the Guadiuna is more favourable. Badajoz, close to the Spanish
frontier, has lost its ancient importance as a fortress since it became
a place of commerce on the only railway which as yet joins Spain to
Portugal. Mérida, on the same railway, is richer in Roman monuments
than any other town of Spain, for there are a triumphal arch, the
remains of an aqueduct, an amphitheatre, a naumachy, baths, and an
admirable bridge of eighty granite arches, 2,600 feet in length; but in
population it is far inferior to Don Benito, a town hardly mentioned
in history, higher up the Guadiana, at the edge of the vast plain of
La Serena. It was founded in the beginning of the sixteenth century,
and together with its neighbour, Villanueva de la Serena, derives its
wealth from the fertility of the surrounding country. Its fruits,
and particularly its water-melons, are much esteemed. The plains on
the right bank of the Guadiana abound in phosphate of lime, which is
exported to France and England.
The towns of La Mancha are of no historical note, and the province
owes its celebrity almost exclusively to Cervantes’ creation, the
incomparable “Don Quixote.” Ciudad Real, an industrious place formerly;
Almagro, known for its point-lace; Daimiel, near which stood the
principal castle of the military order of Calatrava; Manzanares; and
other towns are important principally because of their {392} trade
in corn and wine. Almaden,—that is, “the mine,”—in a valley on the
northern slope of the Sierra Morena, has become famous through its
cinnabar mines, which for more than three centuries supplied the New
World with mercury, and still yield about 1,200 tons annually.
[Illustration: Fig. 146.—MADRID AND ITS ENVIRONS.
Scale 1 : 200,000.]
Eastern Castile, being at a considerable elevation above the sea-level,
and having a rugged surface, cannot support a population more dense
than either La Mancha or Estremadura. There are but few towns of
note, and even the capital, Cuenca, is hardly more than a third-rate
provincial city. Picturesquely perched {393} upon a steep rock
overhanging the deep gorges of the Huecar and Júcar, it merely lives
in the past. The only other towns of note in that part of the country
are Guadalajara, with a Roman acqueduct, and Alcalá, the native place
of Cervantes and seat of an ancient university, which at one time saw
10,000 students within its walls. Both these towns are situated on the
Henares, a tributary of the Tajo, and either would have been fit to
become the capital of the kingdom.
Indeed, at the first glance, it almost appears as if Madrid owed its
existence to the caprice of a king. It has no river, for the Manzanares
is merely a torrent, its climate is abominable, and its environs
present fewer advantages than those of Toledo, the ancient capital of
the Romans and Visigoths. But once having been selected as the capital,
Madrid could not fail to rise in importance, for it occupies a central
position with respect to all other towns outside the basin of the Upper
Tajo. Pinto (_Punctum_), a short distance to the south of Madrid, is
popularly supposed to be the mathematical centre of the peninsula;
and thus much is certain, that the plain bounded in the north by the
Sierra de Guadarrama forms the natural nucleus of the country, and is
traversed by its great natural highways.
Toledo occupies a position almost equally central. It was the capital
of the country during the reign of the Romans, and subsequently became
the capital of the ecclesiastical authorities and of the kings of the
Visigoths, and retained that position until it fell into the power of
the Moors. During the struggles between Moors and Christians the latter
shifted their capital from place to place, according to the varying
fortunes of the war, but no sooner had the former been expelled from
Córdova than the Christian kings again established themselves in the
plain to the south of the Sierra de Guadarrama. They had then to choose
between Toledo and Madrid. Toledo no doubt offered superior advantages,
but its citizens having joined the insurrection of the _comuneros_
against Charles V., the Emperor-king decided in favour of Madrid.
Philip III. endeavoured to remove the capital to Valladolid, but the
natural attractions of Madrid proved too strong for him, and the
schools, museums, public buildings, and manufactories which have arisen
in the latter since then must for ever insure it a preponderating
position. The railways, which now join Madrid to the extremities
of the peninsula, countervail the disadvantages of its immediate
neighbourhood; and although the purest Castilian is spoken at Toledo,
it is Madrid which, through its press, has insured the preponderance
of that idiom throughout Spain. Madrid has long been in advance of all
other cities of the peninsula as regards political activity, industry,
and commerce, but its growth having taken place during a period devoid
of art, it is inferior to other towns with respect to the character of
its public buildings. The museums, however, are amongst the richest in
Europe, and make it a second Florence. Immediately outside the public
promenades of the Prado and Buen Retiro we find ourselves in a desolate
country covered with flints, and this must be crossed by a traveller
desirous of visiting the delightful gardens of Aranjuez, the huge
Escorial built by Philip II., or the villas in the wooded valleys of
the Sierra de Guadarrama. These latter supply Madrid with water, as the
neighbouring mountains do with ice. Formerly one of the most secluded
of these valleys became {394} the seat of a mock-kingdom, nominally
independent of the Kings of Castile. During the Moorish invasion
the inhabitants of the plain of Jarama had sought shelter in the
mountains, and the rest of the world forgot all about them. They called
themselves Patones, and elected an hereditary king. About the middle
of the seventeenth century the last of the line, by trade a carrier,
surrendered his wand of authority into the hands of a royal officer,
and the valley was placed under the jurisdiction of the authorities at
Uceda.[140]
III.—ANDALUSIA.[141]
[Illustration: Fig. 147.—ARANJUEZ.
Scale 1 : 75,000.]
Andalusia embraces the whole of the basin of the Guadalquivir, together
with some adjoining districts. It is bounded in the north by the Sierra
Morena, which in the direction of Portugal becomes a rugged mountain
district of crystalline formation intersected by tortuous ravines, and
rising in the Sierra de Aracena, north of the mining region of the
Rio Tinto, to a height of 5,500 feet. Farther east the Sierra Morena
ascends in terraces above the valley of the Guadalquivir, and on its
reverse slope we meet with districts, such as that of Los Pedroches
(1,650 feet), hardly less monotonous of aspect than the plains of La
Mancha. The {395} Punta de Almenara (5,920 feet), in the Sierra de
Alcaraz, in the extreme east, may be looked upon as the culminating
point of this sierra, which is indebted for its name of “Black
Mountain” to the sombre pines which clothe its slopes.
The line of water-parting does not pass through the highest summits
of this range. Most of the rivers rise on the plateau, and take
their course, by picturesque gorges, right through the heart of the
mountains. The most famous of these gorges is that of Despeñaperros
(2,444 feet), leading from the dreary plains of La Mancha to the
smiling valley of Andalusia. This pass has played a great part in every
war. At its foot was fought in 1212 the fearful battle of Navas de
Tolosa, in which more than 200,000 Mussulmans are said to have been
slaughtered.
[Illustration: Fig. 148.—THE BASINS OF THE GUADIANA AND GUADALQUIVIR.
Scale 1 : 3,000,000.]
The mountains which shut in the basin of Andalusia on the east are cut
up by deep river gorges into several distinct masses or chains, of
which the Calar del Mundo (5,437 feet), Yelmo de Segura (5,925 feet),
and Sierra Sagra (7,675 feet) are the principal. The southern mountain
ranges uniformly extend from east to west. From north to south we cross
in succession the Sierras de María (6,690 feet), de las Estancias, and
de los Filabres (6,283 feet), so famous for its marbles. In the west
the latter two ranges join the Sierra de Baza (6,236 feet), itself
attached to the great culminating range of Iberia, the Sierra Nevada,
by a saddle of inconsiderable height (2,950 feet). {396}
The Sierra Nevada consists mainly of schists, through which eruptions
of serpentine and porphyry have taken place. The area it occupies is
small, but from whatever side we approach it rises precipitously,
and the eye can trace the succeeding zones of vegetation up to that
of perennial snows pierced by the peaks of Mulahacen (11,661 feet),
Picacho de la Veleta (11,386 feet), and Alcazaba (7,590 feet). Vines
and olive-trees clothe the foot-hills; to these succeed walnut-trees,
then oaks, and finally a pale carpet of turf hidden beneath snow for
six months. Masses of snow accumulate in sheltered hollows, and these
_ventisqueros_, _ventiscas_, or snow-drifts, supply Granada with ice.
In the _Corral de la Veleta_ there even exists a true glacier, which
gives birth to the river Genil, and is the most southerly in all
Europe. The more extensive glaciers of a former age have disappeared
long ago. To the purling streams fed by the snows of the sierra the
Vega of Granada owes its rich verdure, its flowers, and its excellent
fruits, and the delightful valley of Lecrin its epithet of “Paradise of
the Alpujarras.”
[Illustration: Fig. 149.—THE PASS OF DESPEÑAPERROS.]
{397}
No other district of Spain so forcibly reminds us of the dominion of
the Moors. The principal summit is named after a Moorish prince. On
the Picacho they lit a beacon on the approach of a Christian army, and
in the Alpujarras, on the southern slope, they pastured their sheep.
The Galician and Asturian peasants, who now occupy this district, are
superior in no respect to the converted Moors who were permitted to
remain at Ujijar, the capital of Alpujarras, when their compatriots
were driven forth. The natural riches of the mountains remain
undeveloped, and they are surrounded by a belt of _despoblados_.
[Illustration: Fig. 150.—THE SIERRA NEVADA AS SEEN FROM BAZA.]
From the Pass of Alhedin (3,300 feet), between Granada and Alpujarra,
we look down upon one of the most charming panoramas of the world. It
was here that Boabdil, the fugitive Moorish king, beheld for the last
time the smiling plains of his kingdom, and hence the spot is known as
the “Last Sigh of the Moor,” or the “Hill of Tears.” From the highest
summits of the sierra, however, the prospect is exceedingly grand.
Standing upon the Picacho de la Veleta, we see Southern {398} Spain
spread out beneath our feet, with its fertile valleys, rugged rocks,
and russet-coloured wilds. Looking south, across the blue waters of the
Mediterranean, the mountains of Barbary loom out in the distance, and
sometimes we are even able to hear the murmuring of the waves as they
beat against the coast.
The mountains around these giants of Granada are very inferior to them
in height. The country in the north, which is bounded by the valleys of
the Genil, Guadiana Menor, and Guadalquivir, is occupied by an upland
intersected by deep ravines, and rising now and then into distinct
mountain chains, such as the Sierra Magina (7,047 feet) and Sierra de
Jabalcuz, near Jaen (1,800 feet); the chain Alta Coloma, farther south,
with its wild pass, Puerto de Arenas, between Jaen and Granada; and the
Sierra Susana, close to Granada, which extends westward to the mountain
mass of the Parapanda, the great prophet of the husbandmen of the Vega:―
“Cuando Parapanda se pone la montera,
Llueve, aunque Dios no lo quisiera.”
(“When Parapanda puts on his cap it rains, though God may not wish it.”)
The mountains extending along the coast are cut up by transverse
valleys into several distinct masses. The Sierra de Gata, in the
south-east, is a detached mountain mass, pierced by several extinct
volcanoes. Farther west rises the Sierra Alhamilla, the torrents of
which are so rich in garnets that the huntsmen use them instead of
shot. Crossing a rivulet, we reach the superb Sierra de Gádor (7,620
feet), consisting of schists.
The Contraviesa (6,218 feet), which separates the Alpujarras from the
Mediterranean, rises so steeply from the coast that even sheep can
hardly climb it. The Sierra de Almijara, beyond the narrow valley of
the Guadalfeo, and its western continuation, the Sierra de Alhama
(7,003 feet), present similar features. The mountains on the other side
of the Pass of Alfarnate or de los Alazores (2,723 feet) constitute
the exterior rampart of an ancient lake bed, bounded in the north by
an irregular swelling of ground known as Sierra de Yeguas. The road
from Málaga to Antequera crosses that rampart in the famous Pass of
El Torcal (4,213 feet), the fantastically shaped rocks of which bear
some resemblance to the ruins of an extensive city. Archæologists have
discovered there some of the most curious prehistoric remains of Iberia.
To the west of the basin of Málaga, drained by the Guadalhorce, the
emissary of the ancient lake referred to above, the mountains again
increase in height, and in the Sierra de Tolox attain an elevation of
6,430 feet. Snows remain here throughout the winter. From the Tolox
mountain chains ramify in all directions. The Sierra Bermeja (4,756
feet) extends to the south-west, its steep promontories being washed by
the waves of the sea; the wild “Serrania” de Ronda (5,085 feet) extends
westward, and is continued in the mountain mass of San Cristóbal (5,627
feet), which sends branches southward as far as the Capes of Trafalgar
and Tarifa. The rock of Gibraltar (1,408 feet), which rises so proudly
at the entrance of the Mediterranean, is a geological outlier attached
to the mainland by a strip of sand thrown up by the waves of the ocean.
[Illustration: GORGE DE LOS GAITANES, DEFILE OF GUADALHORCE.]
[Illustration: Fig. 151.—THE MOUTH OF THE GUADALQUIVIR.
Scale 1 : 200,000.]
{399}
Erosion has powerfully affected the mountains occupying the country
between the basin of the Guadalquivir and the coast. Amongst the
numerous river gorges, that of the Gaytanos, through which the
Guadalhorce flows from the plateau of Antequera to the orange groves of
Alora, is one of the wildest and most magnificent in all Spain. Only
torrents enter the Mediterranean, and even of the rivers discharging
their waters into the Atlantic there is but one which is of some
importance, on account of its great volume and the facilities it offers
for navigation. This is the Guadalquivir, which rises in the Sierra
Sagra, at an elevation of 5,900 feet above the sea-level. Having
received the Guadalimar, its current becomes gentle, and it flows
through a wide and open valley, thus differing essentially from the
rivers of the Castiles, which, on their way to the sea, traverse narrow
gorges. Its volume fairly entitles it to its Arab name of Wad-el-Kebir,
or “large river.” The geological work performed by this river and its
tributaries has been enormous. Mountain ramparts have been broken
through, lakes drained, and immense quantities of soil spread over the
valley. Nowhere can this work be traced more advantageously than in the
valley of the Genil of Granada, for the fertile district of La Vega
was covered by a lake, the pent-up waters of which opened themselves a
passage near Loja. {400}
The estuary of the river has been gradually filled up by sediment. The
tide ascends nearly as far as Seville, where the river is about 250
yards wide. Below that city it passes through an alluvial tract known
as the _marismas_, ordinarily a dusty plain roamed over by half-wild
cattle, but converted by the least rain into a quagmire. Neither
villages nor homesteads are met with here, but the sands farther back
are covered with dwarf palms, and lower down a few hills of tertiary
formation approach close to the river, their vine-clad slopes affording
a pleasing contrast to the surrounding solitude.
A contraction of the alluvial valley marks the exterior limit of the
ancient estuary silted up by the Guadalquivir. Sanlúcar de Barrameda,
a town of oriental aspect, stands on the left bank, whilst a range of
dunes intervenes between the sea and the flat country on the right
bank. The mouth of the river is closed by a bar, so that only vessels
of small draught can enter it. These _Arenas Gordas_, or “great sands,”
are for the most part covered with pines, and, except on their exterior
face, they have remained stable since the historical epoch.
The Guadalquivir is the only river of Spain which is navigable for a
considerable distance above its mouth. Vessels of 200 tons ascend it as
far as Seville, a distance of sixty miles. Sanlúcar was formerly the
great port of Spain, and its coasting trade is still considerable. None
of the other rivers of Andalusia are navigable. The Guadalete, which
enters the Bay of Cádiz, is a shallow, sluggish stream; the Odiel and
the Rio Tinto are rapid torrents, and their estuary, below Huelva, has
been choked up by the sediment brought down by them; while Palos, so
famous as the port from which Columbus started upon his great voyage of
discovery, has dwindled down to a poor fishing village.
But what are these changes compared with the great revolution which
joined the Mediterranean to the Atlantic? There can be no doubt that a
barrier of mountains separated the two seas. The destructive action of
the Atlantic appears to have been facilitated not only by the cavernous
nature of the rocks on both sides of the strait, but also by the fact
of the level of the Mediterranean having been much lower at that time
than that of the Atlantic. Even now the waters of the latter sometimes
rush through the strait with astounding velocity (see Fig. 6, p.
26). We cannot tell whether the strait has increased in width during
historical times, for ancient geographers are not very precise in their
measurements. Thus much, however, is certain, that the general features
of the strait have not changed, and the two pillars of Hercules, Calpe
and Abyla, may still be recognised in modern Gibraltar and Ceuta.
The rock of Gibraltar does not form the southernmost promontory of
Iberia, but, being the most striking object along the strait, it has
given its name to it. Mariners look upon it as the true boundary
between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, and it has been likened,
not inaptly, to a crouching lion guarding the gateway between the two
seas. It rises almost perpendicularly on the east, and the town, with
most of the batteries, has been constructed on the western slope, which
is more accessible. The famous rock, though a natural dependency of
Spain, has become, by right of conquest, one of the great strongholds
of England, and its {401} importance as a fortress as well as a place
of commerce is indisputable. In its caverns have been discovered stone
implements and the skeletons of dolichocephalous men.