2, 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 
range 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 backeround. Never does he descend till, 
after leaving behind him three kingdoms—Arragon, Navarre, and 
Castile—his train plunges through the Sierra Moréna, down the 
gorges of Despefiaperros, 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 Gaétanes 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 
