SPA SPAIN. 



329 



SPA, OR SPAA; a celebrated watering-place in 

 the Belgian province of Liege, situated in a romantic 

 valley, surrounded by heights covered with woods, 

 about seven leagues from Aix-la-Chapelle ; popula- 

 tion, 3100. Spa has been long famous for its 

 medicinal springs, which are mentioned by Pliny, 

 and are six or seven in number. The principal 

 ones are Pouhon, Geronstere, Sauveniere, and Ton- 

 nelet. The waters are all chalybeate, and those of 

 Pouhon, being the most strongly impregnated, are 

 bottled for exportation. (See Mineral Waters.} 

 Their effect is diuretic and exhilarating; useful in 

 cases of relaxation, obstructions of the liver, &c. 

 They are visited in the warm season, lasting about 

 four months. The company is composed, in a great 

 measure, of men of rank from Germany, France, 

 Russia, Netherlands, and England. Spa is provided 

 with various amusements, and has good accommo- 

 dations. The new Vauxhall is one of the finest 

 buildings of the kind on the continent. The town, 

 on account of its being resorted to from various 

 parts of Europe, has been allowed neutrality during 

 the hottest wars. The promenades are the four 

 o'clock walk (la prairie de quatre heures}, and the 

 seven o'clock walk (la prairie de sept heures'), so 

 called from the hours at which they are respectively 

 visited. The inhabitants manufacture various little 

 ornamental articles of varnished wood, as boxes, 

 &c., called Spa work (puvrage de Spaa}. 



SPAGNOLETTO, a celebrated painter, whose 

 true name was Joseph Ribera, or Ribeira, was born 

 at Xativa, in Valencia, in 1588, but educated at 

 Naples, and probably takes the name by which he 

 is usually known from the country of his birth. 

 He was at first a pupil of Caravaggio, but after- 

 wards improved himself by the study of the woiks 

 of Raphael and Correggio, at Rome and Parma. 

 After his return to Naples, he was appointed court 

 painter to the viceroy, the duke of Ossuna, and 

 overseer of all the royal works, in which post he 

 conducted himself with great haughtiness towards 

 the artists, and is said to have shown a particular 

 jealousy of Domenichino. It has been said that 

 Ribeira concealed himself, out of chagrin, occasioned 

 by an amour of don John of Austria, natural son of 

 Philip IV., with one of his daughters, and that 

 nothing more was heard of him; but, according to 

 Bermudez, he died, in good circumstances, at 

 Naples, in 1656. Ribeira excelled in the represen- 

 tation of terrible scenes, such, for example, as the 

 flaying of St Bartholomew. He executed such 

 subjects with a minute accuracy that excites horror, 

 and was very skilful in delineating the separate 

 parts of the body hair, wrinkles, skin, &c. There 

 are works of his in Naples, Paris, Vienna, and 

 Dresden. 



SPAGNUOLO. See Crespi. 



SPAHIS, oa SIPAHIS; a part of the Turkish 

 cavalry, which is said to have been organized by 

 .Amurath I., the founder of the janizaries. (See 

 Janizaries.} Their number is estimated at 20,000 

 men. They are paid by the sultan. The lowest 

 rate of pay is twelve aspers per day; but those 

 who have performed especial services, or have the 

 advantage of favour, receive higher pay. When 

 the sultan takes the field in person, each spahi 

 receives a present of money: and the janizaries 

 enjoyed the same privilege. The spahis are com- 

 posed of two classes: the spahaoglari, who have 

 red, and the silhatari, who have yellow banners. 

 The latter, who pretend to have been instituted 

 oy Ali, the pupil of Mohammed, were formerly the 



most important; but the former have now become 

 superior. The usual arms of the spahis are a 

 sabre, a lance, a jereecl (a dart about two feet long, 

 which they hurl with great strength and skill), 

 and a second sabre, or rather broad-sword, attached 

 to the saddle. Some of them have bows and 

 arrows, and also pistols and carbines: but they 

 make little use of fire-arms. In war, the spahis 

 form a tumultuous mob, without discipline or 

 organization. Their first charge is formidable; 

 but if they are unable to make an impression on 

 the enemy's line after three attempts, they flee in 

 confusion. 



SPAIN {Espana}. The physical features of the 

 Spanish peninsula have exercised a most important 

 influence on the character and history of its inhabi- 

 tants. The whole surface of the peninsula com- 

 prises 225,600 square miles, of which 187,110 

 belong to Spain, and the rest to Portugal and the 

 republic of Andorra (110 square miles). It is 

 separated from France and the rest of Europe by 

 the Pyrenean chain of mountains, and is surrounded 

 by three seas, the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, and 

 the bay of Biscay. Spain lies between lat. 36 

 and 43 4? N., and between Ion. 9 13' W. and 3 

 15' E., and is the sixth in extent of territory among 

 the European powers. The bay of Biscay gives 

 great facilities for northern commerce ; the gulfs of 

 Alicant and Rosas offer secure harbours and roads 

 to the merchants of Italy, the Levant, and Northern 

 Africa, whilst the bays of Corunna and Cadiz open 

 to her mariners the path to the Indies. One 

 hundred passages lead over the Pyrenees to France ; 

 but only three of these are passable for carriages. 

 (See Pyrenees.} From this frontier ridge rise the 

 Cantabrian mountains, which traverse Asturia and 

 Galicia, and terminate at cape Finisterre. To the 

 south-east extends the Sierra d'Occa, five ridges of 

 which, running nearly east and west, separate the 

 basins of the Minho, Douro, Tagus, Guadiana, and 

 Guadalquivir ; and two others, to the south-west, 

 form the southern point of Spain, the island Tarifa. 

 The valleys of the Xucar and the Ebro have a 

 southerly direction. These sierras, among which 

 the Somo Sierra, the Guadarrama, the Sierra Morena, 

 the Alpuxarras, the Sierra Nevada, and the Sierra 

 de Ronda, are the principal, ^surround the plains 

 of Castile and La Mancha (the highest of such 

 extent in Europe) with strong bulwarks, and even 

 constitute distinct moral divisions of the inhabi- 

 tants. The whole country thus appears to be 

 formed of several great intrenched camps, and is 

 admirably adapted for a war of posts, and particu- 

 larly for guerilla warfare. Although Spain con- 

 tains 150 considerable streams, very few of which, 

 however, are navigable, there is a deficiency of 

 water. Except the Albufera, in Valencia, there is 

 no lake of much extent ; and there are no marshes 

 except in the valley of the Guadiana. The marshy 

 islands in the Guadalquivir have been drained and 

 planted since 1819. The dry and pure mountain 

 air renders the inhabitants vigorous and healthy: 

 the sea breezes have the same effect upon the 

 coasts; but in the southern parts the scorching 

 solano, from the shores of Africa, is felt during 

 some seasons. Snow lies upon the summits of 

 some of the mountains till July ; and the capital is 

 situated in a region fifteen times more elevated 

 than the site of Paris. The fertile soil, wherever 

 it is well watered, produces abundance of plants 

 with little cultivation. The finest wines are ex- 

 ported in great quantities (Alicant, Sherry, Malaga), 



