SPAIN
BY THE
REV. WENTWORTH WEBSTER, M.A. OXON.
WITH A CHAPTER BY AN ASSOCIATE OF THE SCHOOL OF MINES.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.
London:
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON,
CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET.
1882.
[All rights reserved.]
LONDON:
PRINTED BY GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, LIMITED,
ST. JOHN'S SQUARE.
[etext transcriber's note:
No attempt has been made to correct, normalize or de-anglicize the spelling of Spanish names or words.
For example: Calayatud/Calatayud, Alfonso/Alfonzo, Cacéres/Caceres/Cáceres, Cardénas/Cárdenas, Guipúzcoa/Guipuzcoa all appear.
Click on any of the images to view them enlarged.]
ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
INDEX.
PREFACE.
————
THERE is a difficulty in writing a book of this character on Spain, which does not exist, we think, to the same extent with any other European country. In most European nations the official returns and government reports may be accepted as trustworthy, and the compiler has little more to do than to copy them; but in Spain this is far from being always the case. In some instances, from nonchalance and habitual inexactitude, in others, and especially in all matters of finance and taxation, from designed misstatement, all such reports have to be received with caution and scrupulously examined. The reader must remember also that in Spain smuggling and contraband dealing in various forms is carried on to such a vast extent as seriously to vitiate all trade returns. Thus it is that Spanish statistics can be considered only as approximate truths.
Another difficulty arises from the very varied character of the Spanish provinces. Hardly any statement can be made of one province which is not untrue of another. The ordinary descriptions of Spain present only one, or at most two, types, the Castling and Andalusian, and utterly neglect all the rest. The provinces of Spain have been well described as divided into "five Irelands" whose habits and modes of thought, political aspirations, and commercial interests and aptitudes, are often utterly opposed to those of the capital. A brief survey of the whole of Spain is attempted in the following pages.
In a work of this kind one other obvious difficulty is to know what to omit. Some well-worn topics will be found to be absent from these pages. No references are made to the great Peninsular War. This can be easily studied in the admirable pages of Sir W. Napier in English, and of Toreno in Spanish, or in compendiums of these, which again are filtered down in every guide-book. For a like reason Prescott's brilliant works are not alluded to.
For the chapter on Geology and Mining the reader is indebted to one of the most distinguished Associates of the School of Mines, who has been recently engaged in practical geological survey and mapping in Spain.
Much also of the present work is due to private information most kindly furnished by Spanish friends of high position in the literary and political world, and with whom some of the subjects treated have been frequently discussed. To these the author offers his warmest and most grateful thanks.
ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
THE GEOGRAPHY OF SPAIN. PAGE Boundaries of the Peninsula 1 Area and Coast-line 2 Six divisions of Spain ib.
Mountain chains: Pyrenees 3 Cantabrian, Asturian, and Galician mountains 4 Leon ib. Oca, Sierra Moncayo, and Idubeda chains 5 Central Plateau and its passes ib. Culminating water-shed of the Peninsula 6 Guadarrama range ib. Toledan range 7 Sierra Morena and passes ib. Central ranges and river basins 8 Sierra Nevada and offshoots ib. Minor ranges 9
Rivers, river basins, and rainfall: Five great rivers 10 Rivers of Galicia and Asturias 11 Basque Provinces 12
CHAPTER II.
CLIMATE AND PRODUCTIONS. Five climates of Spain 30 Temperature and rainfall of: Galicia and the Asturias 31 Santander and the Basque Provinces 32 Aragon ib. Catalonia ib. Valencia 34 Alicante ib. Murcia 35 Cartagena to Almeria ib. Malaga, Motril, Seville, and Cordova ib. Granada 36 Cadiz, Gibraltar, &c ib. Elevation of Central Plateau ib. Temperature and rainfall of Madrid, Salamanca, and Soria 38 Agricultural products of: Galicia and the Asturias 39 Basque Provinces and basin of the Ebro 40 Moorish agriculture and exotic flora of Southern Spain 41 Products of Valencia and Murcia 43 Palms at Elche 44 Aromatic mountain shrubs 45 Products and wines of Andalusia 46 Products of the Central Plateau ib. Estremadura and law of the Mesta 47 Locusts 48 Corn-lands of Castile and Sierras de Campos 50 Comparative Flora of Spain 52
Fauna: Monkeys of Gibraltar ib. Beasts and birds of prey
CHAPTER III.
GEOLOGY AND MINES. Peculiar interest of Spanish geology 58 Granite and Silurian rocks ib. Carboniferous formation 59 Secondary formations ib. Upper Cretaceous ib. Eocene tertiary 60 Miocene fresh-water ib. Pliocene ib. Influence of geology on populations ib. Statistics of Spanish geology 61 Volcanoes, recent ib. Minerals of: Gneiss and crystalline schists 62 Metamorphic rocks ib. Cambrian formation ib. Silurian slates ib. Devonian sandstones ib. Carboniferous series ib. Permian 63 Triassic conglomerates ib. Jurassic limestones and marl ib. Cretaceous formation ib. Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene ib. Production and export of six chief minerals ib. Of argentiferous ore, cobalt, silver ib. Coal 65 Iron of the Bilbao district ib. Locality of principal mines 66 Mining laws 67
CHAPTER IV.
ETHNOLOGY, LANGUAGE, AND POPULATION. Pyrenees, no true boundary of 69 Population of Spain, mixed 70 Iberi, Kelt-Iberi, Basques, and Kelts ib. Foreign races in Spain 73 Visigoths, Arabs, and Moors 75 Toponymy of Spain 76 Language of Spanish Jews 77 Existing dialects ib. Statistics of the Spanish language 78 Characteristics of " " 79 Population of Spain 80 Density of ib. Occupations of 81 Manufacturing and mining Provinces
CHAPTER V.
DESCRIPTION OF PROVINCES. Division of Kingdoms and Provinces 91 Galicia and its provinces, Corunna, Lugo, Pontevedra, and Orense 92 Asturias 94 Santander ib. Basque Provinces, Biscay, Guipuzcoa, Alava 95 Navarre 96 Aragon and its provinces, Huesca, Saragossa, Teruel 97 Catalonia " Gerona, Barcelona, Tarragona, Lerida 100 Valencia " Castellon de la Plana, Valencia, Alicante 103 Murcia " Murcia and Albacete 107 Andalusia, Mediterranean Provinces, Almeria, Granada, Malaga 109 Atlantic: Cadiz, Huelva 117, 122 Inland: Seville, Cordova, Jaen 120, 123, 125 Estremadura, Badajoz, Cacéres ib. New Castile and La Mancha, Provinces—Ciud ad Real, Toledo, Madrid, Cuenca, Guadalajara 127 Old Castile—Avila, Segovia, Soria, Logrono, Burgos 133 Leon—Salamanca, Valladolid, Zamora, Palencia, Leon 137 Balearic Isles 141
CHAPTER VI.
HISTORY AND POLITICAL CONSTITUTION. Early liberties, behetria, fueros 145 Capitulations of Moors and Jews
Present Constitution and Administration of Spain 162 Cortés, Senate, Congress 163 Provincial administration 164 Municipal " ib. Religion 165 Rights of persons, natives and foreigners ib.
Military Administration 166 Army 167 Quality of Spanish soldiery, pronunciamientos, &c. 168
Naval Administration 169 Royal Navy ib. Mercantile Navy ib.
Judicial Administration 169 Legal Procedure 170 Prisons ib. Hospitals and lunatic asylums 171 Railways 172 Telegraphs ib. Letters and post ib. Finances of Spain. Public debt 174 Increase of, since 1868 175 Deficit of budgets ib. Sources of revenue 176 Expenditure ib. Imports and exports 177 Foreign tariffs ib. Protection and free trade 178 Empleomania and its results 179
EDUCATION AND RELIGION. Universities, number of students, salaries of professors 181 Theological seminaries 182 Course of university study 183 Provincial and special institutes ib. Secondary instruction, institutes and colleges 184 Number of students, and salary of masters 185 Course of instruction 186 University degrees ib. Primary education 187 Church and Religion. Early Church Councils 188 Roman and Mazarabic liturgy ib. Inquisition ib. Philip II., the Jesuits, and the Reformation 189 Expulsion of the Jesuits 191 Concordat of 1851 ib. Archbishops, bishops, and clergy ib. Mode of appointment of bishops 192 Spanish Protestants ib.
CHAPTER VIII.
LITERATURE AND THE ARTS. Præhistoric art and architecture 194 Roman and Visigothic ib. Arabic 195 Three periods of 196 Mudejar 201 Christian ib. Renaissance 202 Churrigueresque 203 Domestic architecture ib. Church furniture and minor arts 204 Painting. Characteristics of Spanish painting 205 Local schools 206 Murillo 208 Painters of Valencian school 209 " " Castilian " ib. " " Andalusian " ib. Modern painters 210 Industrial arts, goldsmith's work, iron, porcelain, glass, wood, lace 212 Music ib. Literature. Early Romances 213 " Prose works 214 La Celistina and the picaresque novels 215 Drama and Autors 216 Lope de Vega
CHAPTER IX.
EPILOGUE. Spain not a worn-out country 231 Two hindrances to development ib. Protection and free trade 233 Cruelty and charities of Spain 234 ———————— Appendix I.—Census of Provinces 237 " II.—Chief historical events 239 " III.—Chief books used 241