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education which the people give to their children at home 

 is more calculated to harden their bodies than to develop 

 their mental faculties ; but at a later period they send them 

 to colleges, where they receive the necessary instruction. 

 The daughters, even of the richest persons, are employed 

 in all the menial labours of the household, and pride them- 

 selves on their skill in these matters. Bowles says, that 

 when he visited that country he imagined himself trans- 

 ferred to the patriarchal age ; and adds, ' Whoever seeks 

 native simplicity, health, and real happiness, will un- 

 doubtedly find these blessings in these mountains ; it is in 

 them that he will find in general a people, if not opulent, 

 really contented, true patriots, and not servilely submitting 

 to the powerful. Every one possesses something ; and, in 

 general, it is considered disgraceful to be a beggar.' Although 

 things have greatly altered since Bowles's time (1 780), it is 

 not rare to find families who still preserve the simplicity of 

 manners here described. > 



The climate of Biscay is in general damp and cold, but 

 so salubrious, says Bowles, that if it were not for the dis- 

 eases which the people contract from excessive eating during 

 their festivals, physicians would be almost useless. Al- 

 though they drink in proportion, it is a very rare thing to 

 see a Biscayan drunk. [For the history, government, and 

 language of the Biscayans, see BASQUE.] 



Pedro el Cruel, having been expelled from Spain by his 

 brother Enrique, sought assistance from the gallant son of 

 Edward III. of England, known by the name of the Black 

 Prince, and promised him, among other favours, the lord- 

 ship of Biscaya, if he restored him to the throne. After the 

 battle of Najera, in which the allied forces conquered the 

 Castilian troops, Pedro sent his minister Ayala with the 

 agents of the Black Prince to Bilbao, but the Biscayans 

 refused to admit a foreign prince for their lord. Some 

 historians say that the refusal was the effect of the secret 

 intrigues of Pedro, a thing which his character renders not 

 improbable. 



(Minano ; Diceionario Geogrdfico de laAcademia ; Bowles's 

 Introduction a la Hislona Natural, y a la Geograjia 

 Ffsica de Espaiia.) 



BISCAY, BAY OF, is that portion of the Atlantic 

 Ocean which washes the northern coasts of Spain, and 

 divides them from the western coasts of France. Its open- 

 ing, which is directed to the N. W., is very wide: the two 

 extreme points, Cape Ortegal (about 8 W. of Greenwich) 

 and the isle of Ushant (called by the French Ouessant), at 

 the western extremity of France, are upwards of 400 miles 

 distant from each other. From the opening the bay gra- 

 dually becomes narrower, the coast of France trending to 

 the S.E., while that of Spain continues nearly in a due 

 eastern direction ; but even at the innermost extremity be- 

 tween the mouth of the Bidasoa, the boundary river between 

 Spain and France, and that of the Sevre Niortaise, it is 

 still upwards of 200 miles wide. A line drawn from S. Jean 

 dc Luz, situated at the western extremity of the Pyrenees, 

 to the middle of another which unites Cape Ortegal with 

 the isle of Ushant, would measure somewhat less than 400 

 miles, which is the length of the gulf. 



The shores which enclose this bay vary greatly in cha- 

 racter. Beginning with Cape Ortcgal, and continuing along 

 the whole of the coast of Spain as far as the mouth of the 

 Bidasoa and the western extremity of the Pyrenees, they 

 are rocky and elevated, sometimes rising to several hundred 

 feet, and cut by numerous short inlets, which in several 

 places form excellent harbours. This rocky coast extends 

 \ipwards of 300 miles. The shores of France present a 

 different aspect. From the Bidasoa to the Gironde, upwards 

 of 150 miles, they are sandy and low, lined by an uninter- 

 rupted series of sandy downs, by which numerous lakes are 

 separated from the sea. There is not a single harbour on 

 all this coast except those formed by the embouchures 

 of the rivers Adour and Gironde; the Bassin d'Arcaehon, 

 which lies nearly at an equal distance from each, is hardly 

 accessible to fishing-boats. To the north of the Gironde the 

 shore continues to be low, but instead of being sandy it is 

 marshy, and at no great distance from the beach a fine- 

 slightly undulating country commences. The marshy 

 ground is in general firm and cultivated, or used as pas- 

 ture ; but it is in some places intersected by salt pools, from 

 which immense quantities of salt are procured not only 

 fir the consumption of France, but also for exportation. 

 This coast continues as far as the bay of Morbihan and the 

 p -niinula of Quiberon, about 200 miles. The remainder of 



the French coast along the Bay of Biscay," about 120 miles 

 in length, is rather high, but commonly of very mode- 

 rate elevation, and only rocky in a few places. In this part 

 there are several good harbours. 



No islands nor rocks occur along the coast of Spain, nor 

 along that of France south of the Gironde. But to' the 

 north of this river there are some considerable islands at no 

 great distance from the shore. Such are the isles of OK-ron 

 and R6, which form the harbours of Rochfort and La Ro- 

 chelle, and those of Noirmoutier and Bouin, all of which 

 are rather low and marshy. The rocky island of Dieu or 

 D'Yeu lies farther off from the shore. This part of the coast 

 is lined by several shoals, but is free from rocks. West of 

 the bay of Quiberon the islands are smaller but more nu- 

 merous, and the rocks frequent. The most considerable 

 islands are Belle Isle and the rocky and almost inaccessible 

 Ushant. 



The rivers which run into the Bay of Biscay on the shore 

 of Spain have a short course, originating commonly twenty 

 or thirty miles, and perhaps never more than forty miles, 

 from the coast, so that here the basin of this gulf extends 

 only a short distance inland. But it is otherwise in France : 

 the waters from more than half the surface of France find 

 their way to this part of the ocean, and the uppar course of 

 the Loire is fully 200 miles distant from the sea to which its 

 waters descend. Besides the Loire and its numerous tri- 

 butaries, the Bay of Biscay receives the waters of the Ga- 

 ronne, by means of its wstuary, called the Gironde, and some 

 rivers of less magnitude, as the Adour ngar Bayonne, the 

 Charante near Ruchefort, the Sevre Niortaise, opposite the 

 isle of Re, the Vilaine to the east of the bay of Morbihan, 

 and the Blavet below Orient. 



The commerce carried on in the harbours of the Bay of 

 Biscay is considerable. Spain, however, furnishes only a 

 small portion of the exports, owing to the height of the 

 mountains which divide its numerous and excellent har- 

 bours from the plains in the interior of the peninsula, and 

 the difficulty and expensiveness of the transport of heavy 

 commodities. From the inland provinces only wool is 

 brought to the ports of Santander and Bilbao ; the produce 

 of the coast itself is not considerable, and consists chiefly of 

 fruits. But more than half of the products of the soil of 

 France, and nearly the same portion of its manufactures, 

 are exported from the harbours of Bayonne, Bourdcaux, 

 La Rochelle, Nantez, Vannes, and Orient ; and great quan- 

 tities of foreign merchandise are received by the same 

 way. 



The navigation of this part of the ocean would be easy 

 and safe on account of the great width of the bay and the 

 absence of rocks and shoals, if its waters during strong 

 western and north-western winds were not extremely agi" 

 tated, and formed into high, short, and broken waves : on 

 this account it is nearly as much feared by navigators as 

 the Cape of Good Hope. This effect is probably mainly 

 produced by the peculiar form of the bay. Its wide opening 

 allows at once an immense volume of water to be brought 

 into it by the western winds, to which at its innermost ex- 

 tremity it opposes a long, regular, unbroken line of coast, 

 running nearly parallel to the opening of the bay, and 

 throwing back all the volume of water which is cast upon 

 it. Such immense masses of water pushed towards the 

 centre of the bay with great force must necessarily disturb 

 its surface to a considerable depth. This agitation of the 

 bay is probably sometimes increased by the current which 

 runs along the whole of its shores. This current, like that 

 which is called by Major Rennell the North African or Gui- 

 nea Current, originates, as it seems, in the sea north-west 

 of Capes Finisterre and Ortegal, and is commonly very sen- 

 sible at both of these points, running sometimes twenty-six 

 miles per day, at a distance of fifty miles and upwards from 

 the shore. It continues along the northern coast of Spain 

 to the east, then turns northward and north-westward along 

 the shores of France, and when it arrives at the point where 

 the Bay of Biscay and the British Channel join, it shoots 

 across the mouth of the latter, brushing and sometimes en- 

 closing the Scilly Islands. It then bends farther west, and 

 approaches the coast of Ireland between Cape Carnsore and 

 Cape Clear, whence it bends to the south-west and south, 

 till it joins the North African current, performing a com- 

 plete rotation between Spain, Franco, Ireland, and the At- 

 lantic Ocean at large. This current is hardly perceptible 

 after a long interval of moderate winds ; but after hard and 

 continual gales from the west, it is felt in considerablu 



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