B I S 



450 



B 1 S 



KUket. The barracks, luilt to accommodate 8000 men, lie 

 bout half a mile from Iho town, and have M\I\ acres of 

 land attached for holding reviews. The mendicity free- 

 scbooU are supported partly by subscription and the libe- 

 rality of the Earl of Rosso, and partly by the government. 

 There were, in 1824. in the town and suburbs, 20 schools of 

 various kinds ; und in the parish of Birr at large, 3 1 schools, 

 educating about 600 moles and 400 females. There is a 

 public reading-room, but no regular library. The neigh- 

 bourhood is rich and well cultivated, and the gentry and 

 proprietary in general resident. 



('1/ie Picture of Parsonstoten (privately printed, Dublin, 

 1826); Slatit. Sum. of King's County; Archdall's Mv- 

 nast. Hib. ; Calendar of Inquisitions for Leinster ; Ap- 

 fmlif to Second Report of Commissioners of Education ; 

 Pcttigrew and Oulton's Dublin Almanac and General Re- 

 gister of Ireland for 1835 ; Communiaditsn from Ireland.) 

 BISCA'CHO. [See LAGOSTOMYS.] 

 BISCAY, BISCA'YA, or VIZCA'YA, LORDSHIP 

 OF, one of the Basque provinces in Spain. For the ety- 

 mology of the name sec BASQUE, which appears to be the 

 name word : thus the inhabitants of the three provinces are 

 indifferently called Vizcainos and Bascos. The !crdship of 

 Visoaya extends from 42' 55' to 43 30' N. lat., and from 

 2 30' to 3 25' W. long. : it is bounded on the north by 

 that part of the ocean called the Bay of Biscay, on the south 

 by Alavaand Old Castile, on the east by Guipuzcoa, and 

 on the west by Old Castile. The territory is occupied by 

 mountains, with numerous narrow valleys and well-culti- 

 vated plains between them, which give the country a singu- 

 larly pleasing aspect, both for the agriculturist and for the 

 lover of the picturesque. Some of the mountains appear like 

 several hills heaped upon one another, such as that of Gor- 

 veya, which is reckoned to require five hours' walking to 

 reach the top. On its summit is a large plain, which fur- 

 nishes abundant pasture to cattle during the summer months. 

 Near Durango there are other mountains, or rather large 

 masses of calcareous rocks, naked, and of very difficult 

 ascent. Near the bar of Portugalete is the lofty Serrantes, 

 an immense natural pyramid, which points out to sailors 

 the entrance of the port, and which Bowles considers to be 

 an extinct volcano. There are other mountains, which ter- 

 minate in bare points^of calcareous rocks, yet have a very 

 easy slope, ;uv well cultivated, and covered with neat farms. 

 There are some round lew hills, which are inhabited, and 

 well cultivated to tho summit. 



The soil rests in general upon rock of different kinds, some 

 of which rises above it in immense masses of sandstone, cal- 

 careous rocks, or pure marble. The marble is nearly black, 

 with white spots and veins. Several torrents descend from 

 the mountains, which in the rainy season have a full stream, 

 but in summer arc almost dry. The coast is very abrupt 

 and deeply cut in different points, through which the sea 

 penetrates to a considerable distance inland, forming rias 

 and ports for fishing-boats and small trading vessels. The 

 principal of these ports are, from east to west, Hca, Berrneo, 

 1'lcncia, and Portugalete. 



With the exception of the arable land and the bare 

 summits of the highest mountains, the province is covered 

 with natural or artificial woods of wild holly, arbutus, 

 and oak. Where the soil is not deep enough for raising 

 Urge trees, it is covered with argumas, or furze, and 

 several species of erica, or heath. The lower parts of the 

 mountains are planted with oak and chestnut. Apple-trees 

 grow in every part of the province almost without cultiva- 

 tion. Cherry-trees grow to the size of a large elm, and 

 the peaches are among the best in the peninsula. There 

 are several species of pears, two of currants, and several 

 varieties of figs and walnuts. Strawberries are indigc- 

 BOUS in Biscay ; those that grow wild in the woods arc 

 not very large, but when cultivated in the neighbourhood 

 of Bilbao they are of the best in Europe. The kitchen 

 vegetables are excellent and plentiful, particularly onions, 

 hich_are very large and sweet. In the territory of Bil 



bao, Ordufia, and tho Encartaciones, very good muscat 

 and white table grapes are cultivated ; and likewise the 

 common grape, of which the Biscayans make their 

 rharolf or wine. Some of the vines are high and planted 

 by the side of the road, or near the farms ; hut tho g: 

 part of them are low vines, rising between three and lour 

 feet above the ground. The chacoli is one of the products 

 which gives rooit profit ; but as the municipal authority 

 fixes the price for tale, and absolutely prohibits the intru 



duction of any other wine while it lasts, t 



attends to tho quantity and not the qu i .he 



makes. Bowles savs, that if the ^ 



and the winD to ferment < H would be a 



sparkling wine little inferior to i-hump.v 



The soil of Biscay is in general <.'. . although 



from time immemorial the farmers have mixed it wil 

 careous earth U> render it lighter and more fertile, it is 

 only by great labour that it is rendered products 

 tober the earth in the plain is dug up in largo clods and left 

 till the spring in that -state, when it is broken to ] 

 planted with Indian corn, pumpkins, and scarlet-rum 

 Thi> crop is gathered in October, when whea' 

 cutting which, in the following August, the soil i- 

 and produces only grass for the cattle. The labour on Iho 

 low hills is different ; in July and August, the tui! 

 and formed into heaps, which being hollowed are filled 

 dry brushwood and burnt. The ashes and burnt earth are 

 then strewed about. The three first years ll 

 abundant crops of wheat, in the fourth year tin y sow it 

 with rye, and in the fifth with llax ; afterwards, it is left for 

 pasture-ground. 



All the province abounds with game. The partri 

 and quails are exquisite. There are also wild do-, 

 and woodcocks. The chimbo, a very delicate bird i , 

 sage, arrives at Biscay in August, and remains there till the 

 end of October. Hares are not very abundant ; but deer 

 and wild rabbits are plentiful. Wolves are very rare, and it 

 is still a greater rarity to find a bear, but fox Mil'ul 



everywhere. The oxen of Biscay are small but sluing, and 

 give a very juicy and well-flavoured meat. There ai< 

 goats, and a few'shcep. The sea and rivers alwund in deli- 

 cate fish, not inferior in flavour to that of Asturias and 

 Galicia. 



Biscay is very rich in minerals : the most common is iron, 

 which is found in almost every part of the province. The 

 richest mine, and that which contains the most malleable 

 metal, is that of Somorostro. Every body U allowed to dig 

 out the ore, to take any quantity he pleases, and to transport 

 it where he pleases, without paying any duty. A hundred 

 pounds of ore produce from thirty to thirty-five pounds of 

 iron. 



The population of Biscay is reckoned by Miiiano (1826) at 

 132,000 inhabitants, and by Malte Brun at 133,000, distri- 

 buted in one city, twenty towns, seventy anteiglesias, and 

 ten valleys or republics. The only city in the provn, 

 Ordufia, and the principal villa or town is Bilbao, the capital 

 of the province ; but the whole province appears one large 

 town composed of isolated farms, a certain number of which 

 form a parish with a church in the centre. The houses are 

 in general two stories high ; the ground-floor is used for 

 the cattle, cellaring, and the implements of agriculture- ; the 

 first floor is occupied by the family, and in the second the 

 grain and fruits are preserved. Every house has an oven, 

 a kitchen-garden, an orchard, and a certain portion of arable 

 land and woodland. In former times, the houses were 

 built of stone to the first lloor, and the second of wood, but 

 at present they are all of stone, floored with wood. It 

 is the greatest rarity to sec a ruined house, while new 

 ones are often built. Tho greatest part of the farms are 

 cultivated by their owners, who are called crhrjuuimc, 

 that is, lords of the house, in possession of whose family 

 they have been from time immemorial, ns every I 

 considers it a disgrace to sell the patrimonial house. In ge- 

 neral, the name of the family exposes the situation or 

 other circumstance of the house ; hence tho names, ICclialuze, 

 Goicochea, Goycnecho, &c. In this, as in all the noill.crn 

 provinces of Spain, are found those old edifices called t>> 

 from the founders of which the antient nobility (!<- 

 These buildings are of very simple construction, ilanked !>y 

 strong towers: at present very few of them exist. Tho 

 greatest part of them have been destroyed in times of civil dis- 

 cord, and others have been altered to suit the convenience and 

 comfort of the owner rather than please his vanity. Tho 

 owners of these houses are called Parientcs May-ores, and 

 are by all their relations considered as the head* of their re- 

 spective families. Some of these families were the founders 

 of the churches, have received the tithes, and appointed the 

 ministers to serve in them, from a time which was said to 



iinemorial, five centuries ago. Beyond this pm 

 and the influence which their riches may give them, they 

 possess no other, nor are they considered as superiors by 

 any other independent although poorer farmer. The earlv 



