50 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



trained over rows of trees, produces a shade, beneath 

 which cereal crops are raised. The plains of Lombardy 

 comprise some of the richest vegetable soils, from 

 which four or five wheat crops can be got in suc- 

 cession. Vast breadths of corn again grow upon the 

 plains of Hungary and the Lower Danube. Northward, 

 France and Germany produce large crops; and still 

 heavier ones of wheat, rye, and oats are met with 

 amongst the sandy and swampy lowlands of South 

 Russia. The scene of Russia's extensive but rude 

 agriculture is a tract of black, thick vegetable soil, 

 equal in area to France and Austria combined, which 

 produces rye the people's chosen grain and limitless 

 stores of wheat. This region is bounded by the Great 

 Steppe of the Cossacks, and the saline steppes of 

 Astrakan. The latter of these boundaries is so impreg- 

 nated with salt as to be fertile only on the narrow 

 margins of the rivers ; but spring clothes the arid soil 

 of the Great Steppe with a rapid growth of thick coarse 

 grass, upon which troops of horses are pastured. 



Thus the vine and wheat, with equal propriety, may 

 stand sponsors for this European region, which is also 

 known as the region of the Oil Countries, from the 

 free use everywhere made of the product of the olive, 

 although it does not nourish so far north as the vine. 



The subdivisions of the zone display distinctive 

 physical features and productions, and an individual 

 character is impressed upon each of the countries form- 

 ing the subdivisions. Spain differs from France and 

 Italy, and these countries from Germany, Austria, 

 Turkey, and Russia, and from one another, while all 

 are united by the grape and wheat and olive-oil. 



Southern sub-division. Physical Features and Produce. 



Spain and Portugal. The arid and treeless table-land 

 of the peninsula betrays its proximity to Africa, and the 

 geological formation of its southern boundaries indicates 

 a former union with that continent. The table-land 

 occupies the whole of the centre of the country, its mean 

 elevation being over 2,000 feet. It is not one plain, but 

 consists of a series of terraces, blanched in the summer 

 sun, and subjected to great extremes of cold in the winter. 

 These terraces, rising upwards towards the steep and diffi- 

 cult acclivities of the Pyrenees, are separated by mountain 

 ridges, of which the Sierra Nevada is the highest, and 

 by rocky gorges, at the bottom of which the rivers flow, 

 at the depth sometimes of 200 feet. Numerous fertile 

 valleys slope down to the shore, where the rivers, useless 

 for irrigation on the table-land, revive the vegetation. 

 The stately chestnut-trees congregate in forests, and the 

 cork and evergreen oaks yield their bark and galls, as 

 well as sweet mast, which is ground into meal, and, like 

 the chestnut, used for bread. Orange groves perfume 

 the air with their flowers ; and the golden fruit hanging 

 at the same time from the boughs, recalls the fabled 

 garden of the Hesperides. The Biscayan coast, open to the 

 ocean breezes, produces cider and the fruits of a higher 

 zone; but the Mediterranean seaboard, defended by a 

 rampart of inland elevations, is tropical in its warmth. 

 Peaches gain the fulness of their flavour, and melons 

 reach their highest perfection, while pine-apples, figs, and 

 prickly pears grow in every garden. The harvest of 

 hazel-nuts is so great, that besides what are eaten in 

 Spain, every fruiterer in England shares in the produce. 

 Barcelona, the district where the finest variety of -nuts 

 is grown, is a household word in our own country. 

 The almond and the palm flourish together. The flower- 

 ing aloe, rare in Great Britain, here forms the country 

 hedges ; and lemons, limes, and every kind of citron are 

 excellent and abundant. 



With the minor botany of Spain several important 

 industries are associated. Bees find a plentiful repast 

 in the myriad flowers, and honey is produced to a 

 very large extent. Cochineal insects feed upon the 



cactus; the nurture of them and the cultivation of 

 their food are so successful, that Mexico the original 

 source both of cochineal and cactus is of less import- 

 ance to us in this respect than Spain and the Spanish 

 islands. Silk-worm rearing employs many of the 

 Spanish people. Of greater importance in animal pro- 

 duce is the merino sheep, whose fleece is of high value; 

 and the famed barbs of Andalusia are amongst the most 

 beautiful of horses. The institution of the Mesta, by 

 which baneful privileges were granted to the nobles and 

 priests, who held a monopoly of sheep'farming for genera- 

 tions, protected pasturage at a disastrous cost to agricul- 

 ture. This institution arose in feudal times, but its. 

 abuse has obstructed husbandry, while the sheep have 

 been improved neither in breed nor number. No field 

 once in grass might be ploughed without the sanction 

 of the Mesta, who had a right of way and of pasture, in 

 perpetuity, between the lowlands and the table-lands. 



Minerals. Spain possesses at Almaden the richest 

 European quicksilver mines, without which the gold 

 and silver obtained from America would, till recently, 

 have been of little use ; the quicksilver being employed 

 to separate the precious metals from the ore. Lead is 

 found in sufficient abundance to allow of export; but 

 generally, the mineral treasures of Spain, once of national 

 concern, were neglected upon the discovery of America, 

 and the mining industry of the mother country is only 

 now very slowly resuming its proper position. The 

 Peninsula commands the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, 

 and is well placed for communication with the whole 

 world. In the sixteenth century, the two kingdoms of 

 which it is constituted divided South America between 

 them, Spain also possessing Mexico and Central America, 

 and for enterprise the Portuguese and Spanish were the 

 first people in the world. In the present day their com- 

 merce is possessed by foreigners, and almost entirely 

 confined to France and England. Spain, however, has 

 made important advance within recent years. 



READINGS IN LATIN. VIII. 



TACITUS. 



C. COKXELIUS TACITUS, who was born A.D. 54, and died about 

 130, was the historian of the early period of the Roman empire, 

 and if we had his writings complete we should possess the history 

 of that time in one of the greatest works of antiquity. As he 

 lived but very shortly after the times of which he writes, while 

 the various events he describes were fresh in men's minds, and 

 yet sufficiently removed from them to be uninfluenced by pas- 

 sion and prejudice, his history possesses a peculiar value, which 

 is enhanced by the scrupulous care and diligent research evi- 

 dently exercised in its composition. He exhibits the most 

 thorough acquaintance, not only with the minutest details of 

 the facts he narrates, but also with the motives which led to 

 them. To write history as it should be written, an author must 

 study the characters of the actors in his drama, and in this 

 particular Tacitus especially excels every character is drawn 

 with the utmost vividness and finish ; and with this knowledge 

 in our hands we have a safe clue to guide us through the in- 

 tricacies of intrigue and crime which we have to encounter 

 in the history of that reign of terror. " Wherever we have 

 Tacitus for our guide," says the great German historian, 

 Niebuhr, " it would be foolish to seek for any further light." 

 Of those four of his works which have come down to us, 

 only two are in a complete form. Of the " Annals " we pos- 

 sess sixteen books, but it is believed by eminent authorities 

 that there were originally twenty. Of the "Histories" we 

 only possess four books complete and a few chapters of a fifth, 

 this last fragment being an especially interesting one, as it 

 gives the account of the commencement of the Jewish war, 

 which ended in the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. These 

 two works, in their complete form, are said to have comprised 

 the history of the period from the death of Augustus to the 

 beginning of the reign of Trajan. His two other works are 

 the " Agrioola," one of the finest pieces of biography extant, 



