332 SPAIN. 



leagues In circumference. The straits are 34 miles long, and IS broad, 

 througn which sets a current trom the Atlantic Ocean into the Medi- 

 terranean, and for the stemming of it a brisk gale is required. The 

 town was neither large nor beautilul, and in the last siege was totally 

 destroyed by the enemies Dombs ; but on account of its fortifications 

 is esteemed the key of Spain, and is always furnished with a garrison 

 ■weil provided for its defence. The harbour is formed by a mole, which. 

 Is well fortified and planted with guns. Gibraltar is accessible on the 

 land side only by a narrow passage between the rock and the sea ; but 

 that is wailed and fortified both by art and nature, and so enclosed by 

 hign steep hills, as to be almost inaccessible. It has but two gates on 

 that side, and as many towards the sea. Across this isthmus the 

 Spaniards have drawn a fortified line, chiefly with a view to hinder 

 the garrison of Gibraltar from having any intercourse with the coun- 

 try behind them ; notwithstanding which they carry on a clandestine 

 trade, particularly in tobacco, of which the Spaniards are exceedingly 

 fond. The garrison is, however, confined within very narrow limits : 

 and, as the ground produces scarcely any thing, all their provisions 

 are brought them either from England, or from Ceuta on the oppo- 

 site coast of Barbary. Formerly Gibraltar was entirely under military 

 government ; but that power producing those abuses which are natu- 

 rally attendant on it, the parliament thought proper to erect it into a 

 body corporate, and the civil power is now lodged in its magistrates. 



The other towns of importance are, Murcia, on the Segura, con- 

 taining 44,000 inhabitants ; Sarragossa, on the Ebro, with 42,000 in- 

 habitants ; Ferrol, on the Bay of Corunna, 30,000; Ecija, in Andalu- 

 sia, 28,000 ; Jaen, in Andalusia, 27,000 ; Valladolid, in Leon, 24,000 ; 

 Lorca, in Murcia, 22,000 ; St. Jago di Compostella, the chief town of 

 Gallicia, 21,000; Orihuela, in Valencia, on the Segura, 21,000; Ali- 

 cant, in Valencia, on the Mediterranean, 17,000; Elche, 20 miles 

 south-west of Alicant, 17,000; Lerida, in Catalonia, 16,000; Pampe- 

 luna, in Upper Navarre, 14,000 ; St. Sebastian, on the Bay of Biscay, 

 12,000; Oviedo, the capital of Asturias, 10,000; Badajoz, on the 

 Guadiana, in Estremadura, 10,000 ; and Leon, the capital of Leon, 

 10,000. 



The Chief islands belonging to Spain in Europe are Minorca, Ma- 

 jorca, and Yvica, pronounced Eviza. Minorca which was taken by 

 the English, in 1780, under general Stanhope, and confirmed to Great 

 Britain by the treaty of Utrecht in 1713, was retaken by the Spaniards, 

 February 15, 1782, and is now a Spanish island again, containing about 

 27,000 inhabitants. 



Commerce and manufactures. ...The Spaniards, unhappily for 

 themselves, make gold and silver the chief branches both of their ex- 

 ports and imports. They import these metals from America, and af- 

 terwards export them to other countries of Europe. Cadiz is the 

 chief emporium of this commerce. ''Hither," says Mr. Anderson, 

 in his history of Commerce, " other European nations send their mer- 

 chandise to be shipped off in Spanish bottoms for America, sheltered 

 (or, as our old English pm*ase has it, coloured) under the name of the 

 Spanish factors. Those foreign nations have here their agents and 

 correspondents, and the consuls of those nations make a considerable 

 figure. Cadiz has been said to have the finest store-houses and ma- 

 gazines for commerce of any city in Europe ; and to it the flota and 

 galleons regularly import the treasures of Spanish America. The 

 proper Spanish merchandises exported from Cadiz to America, are 



