Chapter V: Description of Provinces (2)

_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.

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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.