from the neighbouring heights has been diverted at a great expense; a thousand channels supply lakes, cascades, fountains and spouts that rise above the trees, and surpass every thing of the kind in Europe; in short, Philip the Fifth imitating the prodigality of his ancestor, expended 4,500,000 piastres on his country seat, an enormous sum, by which the treasury was almost exhausted. BOOK CXXXIX. Avila is the most southern province in Old Castille; the Avila. chief town or Avila derives its name from an Arabic word. It has a fine cathedral and college, but on the whole it may be considered a dismal and gloomy city encompassed with thick walls. It was the native town of St. Theresa and Gilles Gonzalez Davila. Arragon, The ancient kingdom of Arragon forms a single pro- Kingdom of vince bounded on the north by France, on the east by chief town. Catalonia and the kingdom of Valencia, and on the south by Old Castille. Tarazona, supposed to be the ancient Augustobriga, stands below the Sierra de Moncayo, it is divided into the high and low town. It may be doubted if the convent belonging to the Fathers of Mercy is entitled to the encomiums that have been lavished on its architecture, the faithful repair to it that they may adore the bodies of St. Boniface and St. Eusebius. Borja, a small place at no great distance from Tarazona, carries on a trade in flint, which abounds in the neighbourhood. Calatayud was built on the ruins of Bilbilis, on the banks of the Xalon, the birth-place of the poet Martial. Doroca appears to be the ancient Agiria, a city of the Celtiberi; the vast cavern in the vicinity, dug under the chain of Moncayo, receives the torrents that descend in rainy seasons, and thus secures the town against inundation. Albaracin, of which the name is evidently Arabic, is watered by the Guadalaviar, it rises in a fruitful and romantic valley enclosed by the mountains of Idubeda and the Sierra d'Albaracin. Teruel near the confluence of the Guadalaviar and the Rio Alambra, an ancient town without any remarkable buildings, has been distinguished by the industry of its inhabitants. Alcaniz was built by the Moors, its name signifies a treasury in the Arabic language, it is commanded by an old fortress near the Guadaloupe, and adorned BOOK with a very fine square, that leads to the principal church. CXXXIX. Barbastro, an old town encompassed with walls, stands on Saragossa. the banks of the Vero, a small river which divides it into two parts, that communicate with each other by a stone bridge. The Madragora flows near the little town of Benavarre, the same stream issues with a loud noise at irregular intervals from the depths of the earth, and rushing suddenly into the neighbouring vallics, destroys the harvest and the labours of the husbandman. Iaca, a strong hold at the base of the Pyrenees, is not more than six leagues from the frontiers of France, it lies in a beautiful valley that communicates with several others of a smaller size. Sos is only remarkable for an old castle in which Ferdinand the Catholic was born. Huesca or the ancient Osca which was raised to the rank of a metropolitan town in the sixth century, is pleasantly situated in the midst of a plain, that extends on the north to the Sierra Guara. The streets are well built, the longest or the Coso consists of uniform houses and different public buildings, such as the cathedral, the consistorial chamber, the university founded in the year 1354, the palace of Count Huaza, and the convents of St. Francis and St. Domingo. Saragossa or the ancient Salduba was erected into a military colony by Augustus under the name of Cæsar Augusta. The Spaniards call it Zaragoza; situated almost in the centre of Arragon, near the junction of the Ebro with the Huerva, it is the capital of the province, and likely to be for ever memorable in the annals of Spain from the resistance it made against the French troops, who took it by assault, and when masters of the walls, were obliged to besiege the houses. The bridge of Saragossa consists of seven arches, one of which is 180 feet wide. The Holy street is not only longer but broader than any other in the town. The church of Our Lady is superior in architecttural beauty to the cathedral, and also more celebrated on account of its miracles; but the adjoining country has a monotonous appearance in spite of the most varied culture. An edifice in the neighborhood, the convent of the hieronomites, erected in the middle ages, exhibits a fine mixture of the Moorish and Italian styles. Catalonia, contiguous to France, Arragon and the king- BOOK dom of Murcia, is bathed on the east by the Mediterranean. CXXXIX. A mountainous country and a great extent of coast appear Catalonia. to have had some influence on the character of the inhabitants, in other words to have rendered them more industrious, more attached to their native land, and consequently more watchful of its independence. The people of Marca Hispanica, as the province was then called, shook off the Moorish yoke in the tenth century. Gotholaunia from which the word Catalonia has been derived, was at the same time substituted for its ancient name. The counts of Catalonia originally vassals of France, first made themselves independent, and the people excited by their warlike spirit, carried their arms or their commerce into most countries then known. Lastly, the house of Catalonia having become powerful from alliances, was able to unite a single head all the crowns of Spain. The activity which distinguishes the Catalonian, his patience of labour, his pride that makes him submit to many privations rather than become a servant, or engage in servile employments in his native country, his language, a Provençal dialect unintelligible to other Spaniards, render Catalonia different in many respects from every other province in the kingdom. Agriculture has made greater progress; trees are not prohibited as in some other provinces; the woods and groves near the towns heighten the effect of the scenery, and afford a grateful shade against the heat of the sun, an advantage of which Arragon has been deprived. Junquera at the base of the Pyrenees, the most eastern Junquera. burgh towards the extremity of these mountains, was called Juncaria by the Romans from the great number of rushes (stipa tenuissima), that grow in the neighbourhood. The industry of the inhabitants is mostly confined to their cork manufactories, from which they derive a considerable profit. Figueras, supposed to possess the strongest citadel in Europe, is regularly built and situated in a fruitful country at the base of the hills which separate the course of the Muga from the Marol. Two roads meet in Figueras, the one leads to Roses, a strong place on the coast with a large but not very safe anchorage, the other to Gerone, which BOOK CXXXIX. Urgel. Mount Serrat. the poet Prudentius, a writer of the fourth century, calls the small and the wealthy town of Gerunda. Little of its wealth now remains, it stands at the foot of a hill, it is commanded by the small fort of Montjoui; all the other fortifications were destroyed by the French in 1808. The only remarkable monuments are the Arabic baths within the convent of the Capuchins, and the cathedral of which the front cannot be too much commended. There are soap works and one or two cotton manufactories in the town. Urgel, or as it is called in Spain, Seo de Urgel, an episcopal city, well known during the last Spanish revolution as the place where the apostolic junta assembled, rises in a valley on the Pyrenees, on the banks of the Segra. Balaguer and its strong castle are situated below it on the same river; it is the ancient town of Bergusia, to which place, according to Livy, the Romans sent ambassadors two centuries before the vulgar era, to persuade the inhabitants to break off their alliances with the Carthagenians. The Segra also waters Lerida, or as Lucan calls it "Ilerda on the peaceful streams of the Sicoris." Livy calls it by the ancient Greek name of Athanagia, which signifies immortal. Lerida rises on the declivity of a hill, it is surrounded by a very fruitful country, the banks of the river are shaded by poplars and other trees. The town still possesses some remains of ancient splendour, among others the gate of Los Botes, a Roman building. Cervera, although the largest of the four towns of the same name, is a small place surrounded with walls and defended by an ancient castle. The university may be considered the finest edifice, it was founded in the year 1717. Igualada on the banks of the Reo-Noya, is well built, the inhabitants are frugal and industrious. Mount Serrat rises at the distance of five leagues from the last place; its numerous peaks tower into the air, and from their appearance its name has been derived, which signifies the serrated mountain. The caverns in its schistous and calcareous mass are remarkable for the yellow alabaster deposited within them in the form of stalactites. The mountain may be about eight leagues in circumference, and its summit is almost always concealed by clouds. Fourteen hermitages are situated between the base and the top; the magnificent convent of the Benedictines may be about half way from the summit. It was there that Ignatius Loyala, anticipating the great events to which he believed himself called, consecrated his sword to the virgin. The Cardenet which throws itself into the Llobregat, flows at no great distance from Mount Serrat; a canal serves as a communication between the two rivers, and runs through the town of Manresa, the inhabitants of which carry on a trade in silk and gun-powder. A very magnificent church may be seen on the left bank of the Cardenet; it was built by the Jesuits above a grotto, to which the founder of their order retired and composed his Spiritual Exercises. BOOK CXXXIX. The small town of Cardona, at some leagues to the north Cardona. of Manresa, was the ancient Udura, at present only remarkable for the rock-salt mines in the vicinity, but it is difficult to conceive a more splendid spectacle than these large quarries exhibiting saline deposits nearly four hundred feet in height, and which when illumed with the sun's rays, display the brilliant colours of the rainbow. The strata of rock salt are in some places as transparent as crystal, in others they are blue or bright red or mixed with gray argil. The variety of vivid colours, the abrupt sides, the prominences and summits in this imposing mass, the only one of the kind in Europe, render it not unlike a mountain of precious stones, surpassing in magnificence whatever has been imagined by the natives of the east concerning the abodes of fays and genii. The geological situation of these salt mines was long unknown to naturalists; but it has now been ascertained that the vast prominence which they form, or a space nearly twelve thousand feet in length, and four thousand in breadth, contains deposits of gypsum and argil arranged in vertical strata, and separating in some places the layers of salt. These substances together with sandstone are found in the quartz and calcareous rocks of the surrounding mountain, which belongs to the intermediate formation.* A road from Cardona passes between frightful precipices Solsona. See the memoir on the rock salt of Cardona by M. Cordier, Journal de Physique, tome 82. |