Unexplored Spain 



way he traverses low-lying levels ; fat pastures, fertile and tilled 

 to the last acre. His aneroid tells him he has seldom risen above 

 sea-level by more than a few hundred feet ; and never once has 

 his train passed through mountains— hardly even through hills; 

 he can scarce be said to have had a real mountain within the 

 ranse of his vision in all these 1200 miles. 



Now he crosses the Bidassoa . . . the whole world changes ! 

 At once his train plunges into interminable Pyrenees, and ere it 

 clears these, he has ascended to a permanent highland level — a 

 tawny treeless steppe that averages 2000-feet altitude, and some- 

 times approaches 3000, traversed by range after range of rugged 

 mountains that arise all around him to four, five, or six thousand 

 feet. Railways, moreover, avoid mountains (so far as they can). 

 Our traveller, therefore, must bear in mind that what he actually 

 sees is but the mildest and tamest version of Spanish sierras. 

 There are bits here and there that he may have thought anything 

 but tame — only tame by comparison with those grander scenes to 

 which we propose guiding him. 



For the next 500 miles he never quits that austere highland 

 altitude nor ever quite loses sight of jagged peaks that pierce the 

 skies — peaks of that hoary cinder-grey that shows up almost 

 white against an azure backs^round. Never does he descend till, 

 after leaving behind him three kingdoms — Arragon, Navarre, and 

 Castile — his train plunges through the Sierra Morena, down the 

 gorges of Despenaperros, and at length on the third day enters 

 upon the smiling lowlands of Andalucia. Here the aneroid rises 

 once more to rational readings, and fertile vegas spread away to 

 the horizon. But our traveller is not even now quite clear of 

 mountains. Whether he be booked to Malaga or to Algeciras, he 

 will presently find himself enveloped once more amidst some fairly 

 stupendous rocks — the Gaetanes or Serrania de Ronda respectively. 



Spain is, in fact, largely an elevated table-land, 400 miles 

 square, and traversed by four main mountain-ranges, all (like 

 her great rivers) running east and west. The only considerable 

 areas of lowland are found in Andalucia and Valencia. 



Naturally such physical features result in marked variations 

 of climate and scene, which in turn react upon their productions 

 and denizens, whether human or of savage breed. We take three 

 examples. 



The central table-lands, subject all summer to solar rays that 



