^ WILD SPAIN. 



clitions, to the wild beasts of the field and the birds of the 

 air. Perhaps in this respect the semi-savage regions of 

 the far East, the provinces of the Balkans and of classic 

 Olympus, most nearly apiDroach, though they cannot 

 rival, the splendid abandonment of rural Spain. And as 

 a nation, the Spanish people vary mter se in almost 

 the same degree. It is, in fact, that characteristic of 

 Iberia which is reflected in the picturesque diversity of 

 the Iberians. 



One cause which .tends to explain these divergences, 

 racial- and . physical, is , the. exceptionally high mean 

 elevation of the- Peninsula above sea-level. Spain is a 

 highland plateau ; a huge table-mountain, intersected by 

 ranges of still loftier mountains, but devoid of low-land 

 over a large proportion of its area, save in certain river- 

 valleys and in the comparatively narrow strips of land, or 

 alluvial belts, that adjoin the sea-board — chiefly in its 

 southernmost province, Andalucia. 



Few nations live at so great an average elevation. The 

 cities of London, Paris, Berlin, St. Petersburg, all the 

 Scandinavian capitals, and even Lisbon, stand at, or a 

 little above, sea-level ; Vienna, Moscow, and Dresden have 

 elevations of only a few hundred feet ; l)ut Madrid is 

 perched at 2,384 feet, with the snow-fields of Guadarrama 

 overlooking the Puerta del Sol, while a large area of Cen- 

 tral Spain, comprising the Castiles, Aragon and Navarre, 

 is of even greater altitude. Thus Burgos stands at 2,873 

 feet ; Segovia, 2,299 ; Granada, 2,681 ; and the Escorial 

 at 3,686ifeet. 



These central table-lands, exposed to a tropical sun, 

 become torrid, tawny deserts in summer ; in winter — 

 owing rather to rarefied air than to very low temperatures — 

 they are subject to a severity' of cold unknown in our 

 more temperate clime, and to biting blasts from the Alpu- 

 jarras, the Guadarrama, and other mountain ranges which' 

 intersect the uplands, and on which snow lies throughout 

 the year, contrasting strangely in the dog-days with the 

 pitiless heat of summer and the intensity of the azure 

 background. 



