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very generally we get Catalan wine from the Ebro valley, sherry from Jerez near Cadiz. A very large part of Spain is excellently adapted for wheat, but little is grown.

175. MINERALS. In ancient times Spain was the most famed country in Europe for minerals, and there is no good ground for supposing her mines exhausted, but rather for believing that in her present state of national decay they are not properly worked. Large quantities of mercury are now obtained from the cinnabar of Almaden. Iron is abundant in the Asturias range. Some tin and lead are still raised.

176. DIVISIONS AND TOWNS :

(1) Aragon, in the Ebro basin, was anciently a Kingdom. Chief town, Saragossa, on the Ebro, contains 80,000 inhabitants.

(2) Navarre, at the head of the Ebro basin, was anciently a Kingdom. Chief town is Pampeluna, population 80,000.

(3) Biscay, Asturias, Galicia, the three Provinces on the northern coast, have a moister climate than the interior and south of Spain. The largest town is Santiago, in Galicia, with less than 30,000 inhabitants.

(4) Leon, on the Middle Douro, was anciently a Kingdom. The largest town is Salamanca, celebrated anciently as a University, but now having only 15,000 inhabitants.

(5) Estremaduras, on the Middle Tagus and Guadiana. This province, like Leon, is not on the higher table-land, and being in the west, its climate approaches that of Portugal. The two provinces of Leon and Estremaduras should be among the richest and most populous territories of Europe; but they are quite otherwise. There is no large town in Estremaduras.

(6) Old Castile, on the high table-land, chiefly on the Upper Douro. Valladolid has 40,000 inhabitants; no other

town above 20,000.

(7) New Castile, on the high table-land, chiefly on the Upper Tagus and Guadiana. Madrid contains 400,000 people perhaps; the other towns are all small.

(8) Andalusia, mainly the basin of the Guadalquiver. Its chief towns are :

Cordova, the ancient capital of the Caliphs, population 150,000.

Granada, the last Moorish capital, population 100,000.
Malaga, a Mediterranean port, population 110,000.
Seville, on the Guadalquiver, population 150,000.
Cadiz, a fine port, population 75,000.

Jerez, or Xeres (pronounced "Sherry," or thereabout), population 50,000.

(9) Murcia: chief town Murcia, population 100,000, in an irrigated rich plain with warm climate.

(10) Valencia: its chief town, Valencia, contains 140,000 souls, and some manufactures.

(11) Catalonia: chief town Barcelona, on the Mediterranean, population 250,000; the most important town in Spain, and possibly the largest, for as regards the populations assigned to the towns in this enumeration they can only be given on the authority of the Spanish Government, whose statements are not merely doubtful, but in some cases self-contradictory.

SPAIN (Abstract).

ISLANDS. Majorca, Minorca, Grand Canary, Teneriffe. CAPES. Finisterre, La Hogue.

MOUNTAINS. Pyrenees, Asturias, Sierra Nevada. RIVERS. Ebro, Douro, Tagus, Guadiana, Guadalquiver. DIVISIONS. Old Castile, New Castile, Andalusia, Aragon, Catalonia.

TOWNS (with their populations)—Madrid, 400,000; Barcelona, 250,000; Seville, 150,000; Cordova, 150,000; Valencia, 140,000; Malaga, 110,000; Granada, 100,000.

COLONIES. In the West Indies, Cuba; in Asia, the Philippines.

Sect. VII. PORTUGAL.

177. EXTENT. Portugal is a little larger than Scotland, with about the same population. It contains about onesixth of the Peninsula; that is, Spain is five times as large,

176. BOUNDARIES. Portugal is bounded on the West and South by the Atlantic; on the North and East by Spain.

179. ATTACHED Islands. No island is geographically attached to Portugal; but, politically, Madeira and the Azores form provinces of the Kingdom.

180. CAPE. St. Vincent is the south-west corner of Portugal.

181. CLIMATE. The climate of Portugal is very fine; it is more moist than Spain; and is a warm-temperate clime of the insular character; the vine, fig, orange, and American aloe flourish.

182. MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS. Portugal consists of the lower ends of three river basins :

(1) The Douro, at the mouth of which is Oporto.

(2) The Tagus, at the mouth of which is Lisbon. (3) The Guadiana.

The most mountainous part of Portugal is the north: the watersheds separating the three river basins are also mountainous in character.

183. COMMUNICATIONS. One line of railway proceeds north from Lisbon, by Coimbra to Oporto: another line proceeds due east from Lisbon to join the Spanish (and thus the European) railway system. Besides these two routes Portugal has only a few short lines of railway. Portugal is altogether deficient in communications, being very poorly off for roads. There is some boat traffic on the Douro and Tagus.

184. RACES OF MEN. The Portuguese are nearly the same race as the Spanish; they contain perhaps more Iberian Keltic, less Gothic Teutonic blood. They are therefore

Latinized Iberians, with a considerable mixture of Gothic and some mixture of Moorish especially in the south.

185. HISTORIC SKETCH. The Kingdom of Portugal was founded A.D. 1139, when the Moors were beaten back. It attained great prosperity by the fifteenth century, and spread its colonial empire widely over the world. It fell under the power of Spain in A.D. 1580, and ruled by her, declined with her. It recovered an independent government in A.D. 1640 under the House of Braganza.

In 1807, Portugal having been overrun by Napoleon, the royal family fled to Brazil. In 1826 the monarchy was settled on a junior branch of the House of Braganza, and the government was established on popular Parliamentary principles: the Ministry is responsible to the Chamber of Deputies, and the power of the Sovereign is altogether limited.

186. RELIGION. The Roman Catholic religion is the established religion of Portugal; and though other religions are tolerated, the Dissenters are very few.

187. LANGUAGE. The Portuguese language was originally but a dialect of the Spanish : it has, however, in the lapse of centuries separated so far that Spaniards and Portuguese cannot understand each other. Portuguese is essentially a Latin language therefore, with some Keltic and many Gothic and Moorish words.

188. MINERALS. Portugal, like Spain, is naturally rich in minerals, but little mining is carried on. Some iron and copper is exported.

189. DIVISIONS AND TOWNS. In continental Portugal are only two towns that contain over 20,000 inhabitants, viz. :

(1) Lisbon, population 275,000, on the Tagus, the capital. (2) Oporto, population 90,000, on the Douro; whence Port wine is exported. The wine is grown on the Lower Douro basin, partly in Spain, partly in Portugal.

Funchal, in Madeira, has 30,000 inhabitants. This fertile island exports the wine called Madeira.

The Azores contain 275,000 inhabitants. They are cele

brated for producing oranges, known as St. Michael's oranges, because the largest of the Azores is named St. Michael's.

PORTUGAL (Abstract).

ISLANDS. Madeira, the Azores.

CAPE. St. Vincent.

RIVERS. Douro, Tagus, Guadiana.

TOWNS (with populations). Lisbon, 275,000; Oporto,

90,000.

COLONIES. Goa in India. Angola, Mozambique in Africa, with the Cape Verde Islands.

Sect. VIII. ITALY.

190. EXTENT. The Kingdom of Italy is a little less than Great Britain with Ireland, and contains about as many inhabitants as Great Britain only. It is about the same length as Great Britain, but on the average less wide.

191. BOUNDARIES. Italy is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea and the Alps; a very natural boundary. The political boundary by land follows the watershed of the Alps very closely, commencing on the west where the Maritime Alps run down to the sea, and following the crest round to the Carnic Alps north of Venetia, whence a short artificial boundary line is carried to the Adriatic Gulf west of Trieste.

At two points the political frontier line deviates considerably from the watershed, and in both cases to the disadvantage of Italy, viz. (1) The Tyrol south of the Alps belongs to Austria; (2) the province Ticino, south of the Alps, belongs to Switzerland.

192. ATTACHED ISLANDS. Sicily and Sardinia form part of the kingdom of Italy. Corsica, geographically going with Sardinia, belongs to France.

193, STRAITS. Messina, between Sicily and the mainland of Naples. Charybdis is an eddy on the Sicilian side;

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