CADIZ. other to ward off the attacks. The animal springs forward, directing his blow at the flag; and passing under the left arm of the matador, who with his right hand plunges his sword into his withers, and separating the vertebra, dispatches the victim at a stroke. The victor is hailed with the applauses of the whole assembly, and if he have the address not to lose his hold on the sword until he can withdraw it from the animal and present it to the spectators, the ladies crown him with flowers, and the gentlemen load him with dollars. But if the animal does not die near the matador, or reaches any other spot before his death, than that which is prescribed by the rules of the exhibition, hissess and groans are the reward of the combatant. If one matador is killed, the spectators shout bravo, until the bull is dispatched by another. The people are not satisfied until ten or twelve bulls, and about as many horses are killed; and if a combatant loses his life, it adds to the zest of the entertainment. Such is a bull fight in its highest perfection in the capital of Spain, where the royal family, and the ministers and grandees attend. It is imitated in other cities with more or less of its disgusting scenes, according to their population and means. CADIZ. Cadiz is the principal seaport, and one of the handsomest cities in Spain. It is situated at the extremity of a tongue of land projecting from the isle of Leon into the sea. Its SHEEP. and the last from which the Moors were driven in 1492; it is pleasantly situated, partly on hills, and partly on a plain at their base, the seat of a great central court of justice for the south of Spain, and of a university. Spain is a country of mountains and valleys, peculiarly adapted to the pasturage of sheep. The Pyrenees extend the whole length of its northern border. Catalonia, a northern province of the kingdom, contains Montserrat, rising 3000 feet above the level of the sea, and 24 miles in circumference, the favorite residence of hermits and monks. Montserrat. SHEEP. Spain has but two important staples for exportation, wool, and the produce of the vine. She has long been in possession of an excellent breed of fine woolled sheep; and until the war of the French revolution, exclusively so, their exportation being prohibited by severe penalties. Since that period they have spread over large portions of Europe and the United States; and are found to adapt themselves to a considerable variety of climate. The finest wool is now raised in Saxony, and other parts of the north of Germany. The little profit which Spain now derives from her wool, affords a striking contrast to what it was when she possessed the monopoly; at the same time the world at large is receiving great benefits from the extended production of this important staple. The number of sheep in Spain is 20,000,000; of these one half are migratory, consisting of large flocks belonging to the clergy, the nobility, and persons connected with the court. Two shepherds are allowed to a flock of a thousand, and in that proportion. The SHEEP SHEARING. CUBA. whole number of persons attached to these flocks is 16,000, almost as ignorant, and not as innocent as the animals they have in charge. They leave the heights of old Castile in the month of October, and from that time until May, lay waste the plains of Estramadura and Andalusia. On the return of summer, they are driven back to the mountains. The length of their stay in any particular place is determined by the quantity of pasturage which they find, without regard to the convenience or wishes of the owners of the soil. A space of sixteen rods in breadth is allowed for the passage of each flock. Arrived at the end of their journey, the sheep are put into pastures, the rent of which is regulated, not by contract with the proprietors, but by the laws of the Mesta. This is a society composed of the owners of the migratory flocks. One of the counsellors of state is the president. The society holds an annual meeting to make laws relating to their flocks, and to regulate the terms on which the pasturage shall be furnished. These laws being sanctioned by a royal decree, are carried into effect to the great injury of all kinds of agriculture within the district affected by them. SHEEP SHEARING. The sheep are shorn early in May, immediately before the return to their summer quarters. One hundred and twenty five persons are allotted to a thousand sheep; some to clip the wool, and others to sort, and pack it for market. It is divided into four sorts according to its fineness. The work is done in large sheds, holding from forty to sixty thousand sheep. The sheep shearing is a busy and joyous season, employing for the time all the laborers in the neighborhood, and is usually terminated by a feast. CUBA. At the commencement of the nineteenth century, Spain held one half of the American continent in a state of colo níal subjection, and in the course of twenty years she became divested of the whole. In 1801 France wrested Louisiana from her, and in 1821, the United States purchased her Florida colonies. In the intervening period, her southern colonies made themselves independent. In the West Indies, she retains the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico. The former is one of the largest and most productive of the Antilles, situated between 20 and 23° north latitude. It has a population of Whites, Total, 311,051 106,494 286,942 704,487 The whole amount of productions of the islands annually, is estimated at $45,634,343, principally from the sugar cane and coffee tree. Havanna is the principal city and port. It has a very convenient and strongly fortified harbor, and is considered TORTO RICO. CANARIES. ANDORRA. PORTUGAL. the key of the West Indies, and of the Mississippi, as all vessels bound to either must pass within a few leagues of the port. In the hands of Spain it excites no fears; in those of Great Britain it would subject the trade of both to her control. Havanna has a population of 112,000, including citizens, soldiers and strangers. Its imports amount to $15,000,000 annually, one half of which is under the American flag. The uninhabited parts of the coast having numerous inlets, furnish a convenient rendezvous for pirates; and during the war between Spain and her colonies, they were made use of for that purpose, to the great annoyance of the West India trade. . PORTO RICO. Porto Rico, the only other Spanish possession in America, is situated between latitude 18° and 19° north, is 110 miles in length, and thirty-six in breadth. It has a population of 130,000, of which 25,000 are slaves. These possessions of Spain have remained quiet, and attached to their parent state in all its revolutions, and during the whole period of the contest with its revolted colonies. Spain having adopted a liberal policy in allowing other nations to trade with these islands, it has rendered them prosperous, and preserved their allegiance. CANARIES. The Canary islands, a possession of Spain, are considered as attached to the continent of Africa; the nearest point being 150 miles distant, but nearer than to any other continent. They are thirteen in number, situated between latitude 27° and 29° north, and contain an area of 3,000 square miles, and 180,000 inhabitants. Teneriffe and Grand Canary are the principal, and contain two thirds of the whole population. production of the vine is the only staple of these islands. The ANDORRA. On the northeast of Spain is the little republic of Andorra, bounded on the east, south, and west, by Catalonia, and on the north by the department of Arriege, twenty-one miles in length, and eighteen in breadth, containing a population of 20,000. It is seldom noticed by geographers, and is remarkable only for being suffered to exist as an independent republic, surrounded by powerful monarchies, and undisturbed. by the tumults and revolutions which have shaken them. Its affairs are managed by two Syndics, chosen by a general council of twenty-four members. PORTUGAL. The kingdom of Portugal, in the south-western corner of Europe, and in the western section of the Spanish peninsula, lies between latitude 37° and 43° north, and is bounded west and south by the Atlantic, and east and north by Spain. Its population is 3,500,000. Before the late civil war its navy consisted of four ships of the line, and eleven frigates. The army amounted to 50,000 men, and the militia to 27,000. Its revenue amounted to $8,500,000, and its expenditures to $8,110,000, and public debt to $41,000,000. ITS RELIGIOUS ESTABLISHMENTS. The religion of Portugal is the Roman Catholic, of the same general features with that of Spain. The inquisition existed here until 1820, when it was abolished by the cortes. The whole number of ecclesiastics is 30,000, being about one to a hundred souls. The king appoints the patriarch of Portugal, who resides at Lisbon, and has under his immediate direction, nine bishops; five European and four foreign. There are ten other bishops subject to the jurisdiction of the archbishops of Braga and Evora. The bishops are nominated by the king as head of the church under the pope. Portugal is the land of convents and nunneries; there are 360 of the former, inhabited by 5760 monks, with revenues to the amount of seven hundred thousand dollars; and of the latter, 138, inhabited by 5903 sisters, with a revenue of four hundred thousand dollars. CONVENTS. These institutions, of which Spain and Portugal have the greater number in proportion to their inhabitants, are common to all Roman Catholic countries. Though the monastic order is not absolutely enjoined, it is recommended as highly meritorious. The principles common to all who attach themselves to the order, are poverty, chastity, and obedience to their rules. Each individual on joining the society, divests himself of all his property and puts it into common stock. Though each member by this operation becomes poor, the societies become rich, and are remarkably tenacious of property. In addition to motives resulting from religious considerations, a fondness for ease, disappointment in love, or in the pursuits of ambition, contributed often to the peopling of the monasteries and nunneries. The term convent was applied indifferently to these establishments, whether designed for males or females; those for males were distinguished by the terms monasteries, and the residents, monks; and those for females, nunneries, and the residents, nuns. The nunneries were neither so rich nor so numerous as the monasteries. Nuns are under the direction of a superior called an abbess, and are not allowed to go beyond the precincts of their nunnery. No male visiters, except ecclesiastics, (not even parents,) are admitted. The first period of residence is called a noviciate, and the resident, a novice. After a sufficient length of probation, she is admitted to take the black veil, after which she cannot retract, and is considered as dead to the world and its concerns. The system pervaded the whole of Christian Europe for a thousand years, and still prevails in all Roman Catholic countries, embracing two thirds of the Christian world. It is encour |