BOOK CXXXVII. Lusitanian range. Marianic range. tile, and separates the province of Salamanca from Estramadura. From the same chain, during the winter season, proceed the storms and tempests that are not uncommon at Madrid; in summer, the heat of the atmosphere is increased by the burning winds, which blow from Africa, and traverse the arid plains of La Mancha. Some summits are so lofty that the snow has been known to remain on them throughout the year. The range may be divided into three groups; the eastern, formed by the Somo-Sierra and the Guadarama, the central or the Sierra de Gredos, the most elevated of them all, it has its glacier near the Palacio del Moro Almanzor; many streams, that rise from different lakes in the same part of the country, enlarge the Tormes, a feeder of the Duero; lastly, the western group comprehends the Pena de Francia, the Sierra de Gata, the Estrella, and the heights that reach to the neighbourhood of Lisbon. In no part of the Peninsula, are the woods and forests so extensive as in the last group. Granite appears to be the most common rock; it is of a coarse texture and a grayish colour; it may be concluded to be of a late formation, both from its liability to decomposition, and from the masses of a harder granite contained in it. Calcareous rocks abound in the neighbourhood of Madrid, while chalk and silex serve as a support for recent deposits. The Lusitanian range is lower than any that have been already mentioned, and the snow never remains on any part of it during the summer. It occupies the country between the Tagus and Guadiana, and is formed by the mountains of Toledo on the east, the Sierra de Guadaloupe on the centre, and the Sierra of Saint Mames on the west. The Marianic range, or the chain connected with the ancient Marianus, is higher than the last; the greatest elevation may be about 4600 feet, and the snow remains in some places during nine months in the year. A part of the chain separates the course of the Guadiana from the Guadalquivir. The eastern extremity consists of two branches, the Sierra Alcaras and the Sierra de Segura; the centre has been called the Sierra Morena, which signifies the black mountains, and recalls the ancient name of BOOK Mons Marianus. The Sierra Albaleyrra, which terminates near the Guadiana, forms the western extremity. The CXXXVII. heights that surround Alcaras, are composed of psammites Rocks. or argillaceous sandstone; and a chain consisting of volcanoes, now extinguished, but still easily discernible, stretches almost to the sources of the river.* The Cuneic range consists of the small chain, which the ancients called Mons Cuneus. It extends from the mouth of the Guadiana to Cape St. Vincent, and separates the kingdom of Algarva from the province of Alentejo, or the southern part of Portugal. It forms two chains, the eastern or the Sierra Calderona, and the western or the Sierra de Monchiqua. The heights are not lofty, and the range differs from the others in its constituent parts: sandstone is very common, but lava and other substances of the same sort appear on the eastern part; hence the name of Sierra Calderona or Caldron Mountains is not inapplicable to the volcanic products, for the craters still retain their forms and the characters that mark their origin. The Betic range, of which the northern sides formed the Roman province of Betica, extends from the Rio Almanzor to the heights that terminate near the mouth of the Gua dalquivir. The central part is made up of the Sierras Nevada and Loja. Although not the largest, it is certainly the loftiest range in the Peninsula. Many summits, higher than the Pyrenees, are covered with eternal snow. The steep sides of Algodonales and the Gastor are commanded by the peak of San Oristoval. The snow always appears on the top of Sierrania de Conda, where a small hermitage has been erected and dedicated to Nuestra senora de las Nieves. In the eastern part of the same range are different groups that rival each other in height; the most remarkable are the Sierra Prieta, the Sierra Alhama and the Sierra Tejeda; but in point of picturesque scenery, they cannot be compared with the Sierra de Torqual, in which the rocks, forms, and dimensions, are so singularly arranged that they might be compared to the ruins of a town Introduction a la Historia Natural y Geografia fisica de Espana, 4to. 1782. Cuneick range. Betic range. BOOK Rocks. Parameras built by the Titans. But these mountains are neither so imposing nor so lofty as the summits of Sierra Nevada, which, commanding the horizon on every side, bear the marks of perpetual winter. The snow line commences at the height of about 9500 feet above the level of the Mediterranean, which bathes the southern base. From these summits, says M. Bory de St. Vincent, may be seen at the same time the Sierra Morena, more than thirty leagues distant towards the north, and the coasts of Africa, which are at least forty-five leagues distant to the south. The Mulabacen is the most elevated point in that range of snow-covered peaks; it reaches nearly to the same height as the famous peak of Teneriffe, in other words to more than 12,700 feet. The deep valleys in the Betic range cross each other in every direction, and most of them are watered and rendered fruitful by limpid streams. The whole chain belongs to the primitive formation. The Sierra Nevada is schistous; limestone useful in building, and marble of different colours are supported on gneiss, and the onyx, a find kind of agate, is not uncommon in the neighbourhood of Cape Gata. The rock of Gibraltar, at the other extremity of the chain, rises to the height of 1470 feet above the Mediterranean. It has excited for a long time the attention of geologists. It consists of gray limestone, divided by perpendicular fissures, and these are filled with calcareous concretions, containing an immense quantity of bones and shells; many of the former belong to different sorts of deer, none of which are at present found in Europe. Such phenomena may be considered the proofs of a partial cataclysm, fatal to the animals on the sides of our continent.* As connected with the heights in the Peninsula, it may be worth while to mention the Parameras or platforms, all of which are very lofty, and many of a great size. They either extend between different parts of the ranges that have been already mentioned, or are situated near their summits, so that they appear less elevated than they really * See Recherches sur les ossemens fossiles by M. G. Cuvier, 4to. 1821. The most remarkable of these bare and solitary table BOOK lands are situated in the province of Soria. In the Pyre- cxxxvii. nees, in the mountains of Molina, Albarracino, Cuenca and also in those of Toledo and Gredos, may be seen other parameras, which, independently of their extent, might be compared with the arid summits in Tartary. Considered physically, the Peninsula may be divided into Basins, five large basins, and into as many others of a smaller size. To the first class belong the basins of the Ebro, the Duero, the Tagus, Guadiana and Guadalquivir; to the second, the basins of the Guadalaviar, Jucar, Segura, Mondego and Mino. The basin of the Ebro, although the smallest in the first class, is larger than any other that communicates with the Mediterranean. Three of the second class are inclined in the same direction; from four large basins and two of a smaller size, the waters of the Peninsula are borne to the ocean. Thus, before the straits at Gibraltar were formed, all the eastern and southern declivities in the country must have been submerged, while the others on the side of the ocean were not inundated. The Tagus flows through the longest basin in the Peninsula; it was famed in ancient times; its name has not been changed. Poets have celebrated the happy banks and flowery meads of the Tagus; but whoever surveys its numerous windings, discovers little that can justify the praises of Silius Italicus and other ancient writers. The arid banks are in most places very steep; for more than three-fourths of its course it flows with the rapidity of a torrent; the ancients styled it Auratus, but no particles of gold are now found in the red ooze carried down by the waters. The river takes its source in the Albarracino mountains, and the length of its course is not less than a hundred and seventy leagues. The principal feeders on the right bank are the Jarama, which is enlarged by the Tajuna, the Guadarrama that descends from the mountains of the same name, the Albercho that rises between the mountains of Gredos and Avila, the Tietar that has its source in the heights connected with the Gredos chain; lastly, the Alagon and the Zezere, the former rising from the Sierra do Francia, and the other at the base of the Sierra de Estrella, Basin of the Tagus. CXXXVII. BOOK The largest streams that enter the Tagus on the left bank, are the Rio del Monte and the Salor, the one descends from the Sierra Guadalupe, and the other from the Sierra of Montanches. Basin of the Anas. Basin of the Duero. The ancient name of the Anas is still retained in the Guadiana, an Arabic periphrase which signifies the waters of the Ana. The length of the river may be about 150 leagues; it descends from the mountains of Cuenca, where it is called the Rio Gijuela; but as it is formed by several streams that unite with each other, its real source has not yet been determined. It is supposed that it issues from the marshes of Riduera, where indeed a rivulet escapes and disappears after a course of twenty-five miles; but it is seen anew near a place called the Ojos of Guadiana. The Ojos or Eyes are two large fountains of bubbling water which issue from the earth, and form by their junction a stream that the inhabitants of the country call the Guadiana. Several rivers are known which appear and disappear, but if the marshes of Riduera be really the sources of the Guadiana, it disappears twice before it runs through its extensive basin. The size of the river, still insignificant below Gijuela, is not much increased until it receives the Jabalon on the left bank, and the Bullague on the right, which descends from the mountains of Toledo. It receives at a greater distance from its source the Guadalema and the Zuja that rise in the mountains connected with the Sierra Morena; the other feeders are the Matachel that issues from the Sierra Constantina, the Ardila and the Chanza, that descend from the Sierra of Aracena. All these enlarge the Guadiana, and give it such a degree of velocity below Martola as to form a cataract, the Wolf's leap or Salto del Lobo. The Duero, the ancient Durius or the Douro, according to its Portuguese name, flows through a broader basin than the Tagus or the Guadiana; it takes its source at the peak of Urbione, and separates it from the Sierra of Oca. The length of its course may be about a hundred and forty leagues, and as its basin is very broad, most of its feeders are important. The Pisuerga, one of the largest on the right bank, is formed by the junction of several rivers that rise in the Pyrenees and the Sierra de Oca; the Esla which |