are. CXXXVII. The most remarkable of these bare and solitary table BOOK lands are situated in the province of Soria. In the Pyrenees, 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. The Tagus flows through the longest basin in the Pe- Basin of ninsula; 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 de Francia, and the other at the base of the Sierra de Estrella. 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 fo: m 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 Riducra 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 BOOK descends from the same chain and receives itself several large feeders, falls into the Duero below its junction with cxxxvII. the Pisuerga; the Tamega enters the same river at the distance of fifteen leagues from the ocean. The feeders on the left bank, are the Eresma from the parameras of Avila, the Tormes from the lofty summits of Gredos, and the Rio Coa from the Sierra of Gata. The soil in different parts of the basin is not unfruitful, but in some places the land is so heavy, that the rain changes it into a thick and tenacious clay; in others, it consists of moving sand, on which the only plants are resinous trees. The river, after it leaves the mountains, waters dismal and extensive parameras, of which the elevation above the sea is not less than 2,400 feet. A wretched vegetation heightens the monotonous appearance of these immense plains. When the Arabs made themselves masters of the Penin- Basin of the Guasula, they were struck with the great size of the Boetis, dalquivir. and gave it the name of the Guad-al-Keber, the same name has been changed by the Spaniards into Guadalquivir. According to the common opinion, it rises on the western declivities of the Sierra Sagra, but according to the rule generally adopted by geographers, the source of a river must be sought in the stream most distant from its mouth. The Guadermena, therefore, that descends from the Sierra Alcaras, has been incorrectly denominated, it ought to be called the Guadalquivir; thus the river rises in the basin of the Guadiana, and waters the Betican range. Two other large rivers, issuing from the same basin, enter the Guadalquivir on the right side, the one or the Ajandula flows across the Morena mountains, and the Biar or the other makes a passage for itself in the middle of the Sierra Constantina. The Genil or the ancient Singilis, the largest feeder that flows from the Nevada range, enters the same river on the left bank. The lands near the Genil are in many places deeply impregnated with salt; efflorescences, hurtful to vegetation, are formed in the summer season. The Guadalquivir, after its junction with the Genil, waters a low and fruitful country, but beyond the neighbourhood of Seville, a belt of land about two leagues in breadth, which the inhabitants call the Marisma, as insalu BOOK brious as the Italian Maremmas, extends from Tablado to CXXXVII. the salt springs of San Lucar. That small region is intersected by several brackish streams, which descending from the declivities of Morone and Montelliano, change the country into a sort of marsh; a few slender plants, useful only in furnishing soda, are all the vegetation on the light ooze thus formed. But the river, divided into several branches, encloses different islands, the Menor and the Major, as well as others of great fertility, and numerous herds of cattle are reared on their rich meadows. The same river is not navigable above Cordova. Basin of It is from the ancient Fons Ibera in the valley of Reynosa the Ebro. that the Ebro takes its source. It was called the Iberus by the Romans; during the greater part of its course, it is confined by mountains, and the valleys they enclose, afford passages to its numerous feeders. On the left side, the Agra and the Arragon unite, and at no great distance beyond their junction, enter the river; the Gallegos, the Cinca, and the Segre are the rivers it receives below Mequinenza; ail of them flow from the Pyrenees. Other feeders descend from the Oca heights, the Sierras of Moncayo and the Pena Goloca. The principal are the Xalon, which has been compared to the Marne, and the Guadalope, which the Arabs rendered useful by their canals on the basin of the Ebro. The length of its course amounts to 120 leagues; although less sinuous and more rapid than the Seine, it may be compared to it from the extent of its course and the body of its water. The rocks that fall from the mountains, often impede its navigation, thus the Spanish government has been at considerable expense in constructing a canal parallel to the river from Tudela to Sastaga. It might be equally useful to complete a canal, which was begun many years ago, between the Ebro and the Duero. The country between the two rivers, is not of such a nature as to oppose any great obstacles, but the funds are wanting for the completion of such a work. A canal stretches along the Segre between Mequinenza and Lerida, and others on the basin of the Ebro have diffused abundance into that part of Spain, still their number is not sufficient. The deposits which the river carries to the Mediterranean have formed a considerable delta at is embouchure, and it has been necessary to cut a canal BOOK in order that vessels may ascend to the small town of Am- CXXXVII posta below Tortosa. basins. The other basins in the Peninsula, although of less con- Other sequence, may be shortly mentioned. On the south of the Ebro, extends the basin of the Guadalaviar, a small river rising between the Sierras Molina and Albaracino, and fed by several streams, none of which are so large as the Alhambra. The length of the course may be more than 50 leagues: the basin, which it waters, is bounded on the north by the Pena Goloca, and other heights that extend towards the Ebro; on the west by the chain that stretches to the Albaracino range. On the south of the last is situated the basin of the Jucar, another small river, fed by the Gabriel and the Lambay, and forming many windings between mountains and hills. The Jucar rises on the western declivities of the Albaracino heights, and runs to the distance of more than eighty leagues. The basin of the Segura is Basin of the Segura. larger than the two last; on the north and on the east it is bounded by hills, and a group, the Penas di San Pedro, extends on the north-west; on the cast are situated the Sierra Sagra and the Sierra Alcaras. The Segura including its windings, may be equal in length to fifty-five leagues; it receives the streams of the Rio Mundo, the Quipar and the Sangonera. In the first part of its course, the country, which it waters, is wild and desert, but from the valley of Ricote to the Mediterranean, the lands are covered with the richest vegetation. Two small rivers discharge their waters into the ocean; Mino. the Mino or the larger descends from the Sierra de Mondonedo; although of considerable breadth the length of the course does not exceed sixty leagues. It flows southwards until it joins the Sil, then turns to the west where it is commanded on one side by the Sierras of Penagache and Estrica, and on the other by the Barcian chain. The mountains on the same basin, exclusively of those connected with the Pyrenees, are the Sierras of Segondina, from which the Bibey, a feeder of the Sil takes its source. The Mondego, a river to the south of the Duero, flows in the direction of east to west, the basin through which it passes, is enclosed by |