The disadvantages of what has been termed centralization, are not felt in Spain, an evil that exists in France, and which most Frenchmen would wish to see abolished. BOOK CXXXIX. Navarre. The kingdom of Navarre is separated from France by the Kingdom of Pyrenees; it is bounded on the east by Arragon, on the south by Old Castille, and on the west by the Vascongades. The country is mountainous, but intersected with rich and fruitful valleys, and crossed in different directions with excellent roads, an advantage which few Spanish provinces possess. The climate although cold and variable, is by no means unwholesome; the inhabitants are laborious and poor. That petty kingdom, of which an ancestor of Henry the Fourth had been deprived by pope Julius the Second, was united to the crown of Arragon and Castille in the year 1518. The traveller who enters the country from France, observes as soon as he has crossed the Pyrenees, the small plain of Roncevallos, and in the convent of the same town, are still seen several relics, that may remind him of the brave Roland and archbishop Turpin. Pampeluna (Pamplona) rises on Mount St. Christopher, Pampeluna at no great distance from the last place, above the banks of Spain was divided in 1822, conformably to a decree of the cortes, into fiftyone provinces; Navarre was at the same time called the province of Pampeluna. Three provinces were included in the Biscays, Villoria, San Sebastian and Bilboa. One province or Oviedo in the Asturias. Those of Corunna, Lugo, Vigo and Orense in Gallicia. Those of Villafranca, Leon, Zamora, Salamanca and Palencia in the kingdom of Leon. Those of Santander, Burgos, Logrono, Soria, Valladolid, Segovia and Arila in Old Castille. Those of Huesca, Teruel, Calatyud and Sarragossa in Arragon. Those of Gerona, Barcelona, Tarragona, and Lerida in Catalonia. Those of Madrid, Guadalazara, Cuenca and Toledo in New Castille. Those of Alicante, San Felipe, Valencia and Castellon de la Plana in the kingdom of Valencia. Huelva, Seville, Cadiz, Jaen, Cordova, Grenada, Malaga and Almeria in Andalusia. Murcia and Chineilla in the kingdom of Murcia. Palma in the Baleares. These divisions were abolished when the king obtained despotic power. BOOK the Arga. It has been affirmed that the town was built by CXXXIX. Pompey, who gave it the name of Pompeiopolis, at all events, Vascongades. Province of it is the capital of the province, and the seat of a diocess. The walls, bastions and ancient castle are imposing, but the interior of the town is by no means cheerful, the streets are straight, spacious and deserted, the houses are lofty and built of stone; the trade of the inhabitants consists chiefly in coarse cloths and different sorts of earthen ware. Tudela, a handsome episcopal town, possessing cloth manufactories, soap and porcelain works, and carrying on a considerable trade in cattle, stands at the confluence of the Queila and the Ebro. The Vascongades* or the three provinces that derive their name from the ancient Basque population, form a triangle of which the northern side is watered by the gulf of Gascony, and the two others bounded by Navarre and Old Castille. Distinguished by that great activity and love of independence common to the people in other mountainous countries, these industrious Basques have found in an unfruitful soil, the palladium of their freedom. Although subject to the Spanish domination in virtue of ancient treaties, the kings of Spain may rather be considered their protectors than their sovereigns. The three provinces have a separate government and general assemblies in which their mutual interests are not only discussed, but the orders of the king examined, for they cannot be executed without that formality. They tax themselves to defray the expenses of the local administration; the contributions, which they pay to the crown, are considered gifts that are rarely sought, and never granted unless they be very moderate. The Bidassoa separates France from the province of M. William de Humboldt has proved in his learned researches, that the Basque bears more characters of a primitive language than any other known tongue in Europe. The name of the people who speak it, appears to be derived from the Basque word Vaso, which signifies a monotain. If the same word be used adjectively, the termination co must be added, thus the people have been denominated Vasoco, and by contraction Vasco or mountainous. The Romans called the Basques, Vascones, and their country Vasconia, of which the etymology is still preserved in the Spanish word Vascingudes. BOOK bastian. Guipuscoa. Fontarrabia or Fuenterrabia, according to its Latin name Fons rapidus, is a strong place on the CXXXIX. mouth of the little river, which discharges itself into the bay of Biscay. Tolosa or the ancient Iturissa is a small but pleasant town on the banks of the Orio. Saint Sebas- Saint Setian is the capital of the province; situated on a Peninsula watered by the bay, with a small harbour at the mouth of the Urumea, the town itself cannot be considered very large, but the inhabitants are industrious, they carry on a trade in cloth, leather, arms and iron. A bay apparently closed on all sides by mountains runs into the land between Fontarrabia and Saint Sebastian; it forms the harbour of Los Passages, perhaps the finest and safest in Europe. The town is built on a piece of ground between the mountains and the bay. Bergara possesses a patriotic school, in which the physical sciences are taught, and where the young nobles of the country are educated at the expense of the state. All the coasts are peopled by fishermen or mariners, and the rural districts by laborious and peaceful husbandmen. No country can be more agreeable than the hills in Province of Biscay, none more fruitful than the cultivated vallies. Bilboa or the capital has long been the mart of all the wool that Spain exports, and of all the merchandise sent from different countries into the northern provinces of the kingdom. Crowds frequent the harbour, many ships repair to it, although the town may be about two leagues from the sea; it rises above the right bank of the Ausa, a small river sufficiently deep to receive large merchant vessels; the same river abounds in angulas, a very delicate fish, highly valued in Spain. Biscay. Alava. The road that leads from Biscay into the province of Province of Alava passes along the great ravine and mountain of Sali- Vittoria. vas. Beyond the burgh of the same name, the heights become gradually lower until they terminate in the fruitful plain of Vittoria, in which many hamlets and villages vary the romantic scenery. Vittoria, the capital or, according to its Latin name, Victoria serves still to mark the place where the Cantabri were defeated in the reign of Augustus. It was rebuilt by Sancho the Great, who gained under its walls a decisive victory over the Saracens. The old town consists BOOK CXXXIX. Principality of the Asturias. Oviedo. Gallicia. of irregular and clumsy houses, but the new has been buil with much elegance, it contains a spacious square at present set apart for bull fights. Several festivals are held in Vittoria, some in honour of the young, others of married persons; these ceremonies tend to preserve the purity of the people. The principality of the Asturias is bounded on the north by the ocean, on the east by Biscay, on the south by the ridge of the Asturian Pyrenees, and on the west by Gallicia. Many small and sinuous vallies intersect it, they are watered by torrents and rivers well supplied with fish. The people in the province boast that they have never mixed with foreigners; they are brave, patient and laborious. Oviedo or the capital, the ancient Ovetum, may be situated about the middle of the province, on a hill that rises above an undulating plain between the Nora and the Nalon. The cathedral, a Gothic edifice and the finest in the town, was built in the eleventh century, some ancient relics have been deposited in it, and the people hold them in great veneration. Cangas de Onis, a small town on the banks of the Cella, stands at a short distance from the abbey of Our Lady of Cavadonga, which, it is said, occupies the site where Pelagius first planted the standard of independence. The same distinguished person resided long at Gijon, a well built town at the base of a mountain that terminates in cape Penas; its port was formerly much frequented. Aviles rises on the other side of the cape, it carries on a trade in coal, copper and hardware manufactured in the neighbourhood. The kingdom of Gallicia, contiguous to the Asturias and to Leon, is bounded on the north and the west by the ocean, and on the south by Portugal. The large vallies in the province are formed by different high chains connected with the Pyrenean range. Some important towns and more than forty harbours are situated in Gallicia. Santiago or San Iago de Compostella, although it may not perhaps be the ancient Galloecia, is considered the capital of the kingdom. The streets are crooked and ill paved the principal ornament of the town, the large Gothic cathedral, was built more than a thousand years ago. It is a double edifice, the lower forms a subterranean church consecrated to St. Iago Minore or St. James the younger, in the upper one the pious catholics adore BOOK the body of St. James the elder, which was discovered cxxxix. at the time the workmen were building the cathedral. The riches of the same church or the treasures supplied by credulous piety have been greatly exaggerated, probably because they were never generally known until an equal division was made between the chapter and Marshal Ney in 1809; the sum alloted to him for the pay of his troops amounted to a hundred thousand crowns.* The gold statue of St. James turned out to be only gilt, and his diamond eyes, it was discovered, were imitation diamonds. The magnificence of the church consists principally in the extravagance of the sculpture, and in the beauty of the painted windows. The trade in images, chaplets, and other objects of superstition is not without importance at Santiago, but the real industry of the place is centred in the cloth and silk manufactories. Orensé, situated in a fine country near the southern extremity of the province, and watered by the Mino, was formerely more flourishing; a fine bridge of ten arches so lofty that a ship of war with all its masts may sail under them, has been built over the river; one edifice too, the Gothic cathedral, may be remarked for the elegance and regularity of its proportions. Many still resort to the three warm springs, on account of which the town was called Aqua Calda by the ancients. Lugo, founded by the Romans seventy-six years before the vulgar era, was named Lucus Augusti in honour of Augustus. The Tamboga waters the town, the thermal springs and a sacred wood induced the Romans to build it on its present site, where several ruins not uninteresting to antiquaries are still to be seen within the walls and in the neighbourhood. The townhouse and its majestic front were built by the ancients. The circular walls that encompass Lugo, might contain ten times the number of inhabitants, they are nearly a league in circumference. Mondonedo, situated on the Sierra d'Infestia of which the declivities descend to the ocean, was the ancient Bretonia; it was long well known for its cattle-fairs, but at present they are not much frequented. Bory de St. Vincent, Guide du Voyageur en Espague. |