378 villages, 562 parishes, 171 monasteries, 54 nunneries, and 39 establishments of charity in this province.

Chief Towns.] Valencia is the chief town. Antillon assigns 100,000 inhabitants to this city, Fischer and Cavanilles 105,000; Cortambert 80,000, and Balbi only 66,000. It is situated upon the Gaudalaviar, which is here about 100 yards broad. The adjoining country is in the highest state of cultivation. It is surrounded with ramparts, whose walls are entire and well-preserved; but the citadel is useless, being very poorly fortified, and not even commanding the town, It has eight gates, and five fauxbourgs or suburbs; and is the see of an archbishop, whose revenue amounts to £34,375 sterling annually. The number of regular and secular clergy is very great, being no less than 2,610 persons. The cathedral is of great antiquity, and has undergone many changes, having been a pagan temple under the Romans,-a church under the Goths,—a mosque under the Moors,-being re-converted into a Christian temple dedicated to St Paul after Valencia was conquered by the Cid in 1094;-again turned into a Mohammedan mosque upon its re-capture by the Moors in 1100; and again converted into a Romish cathedral by Jayme, king of Arragon, in 1230, the era of its final conquest by the Christians.-The commerce of this city was recently very extensive; the value of its foreign and interior commerce amounting annually to £773,416 sterling, besides its exportation of silk, wrought and raw, amounting to £1,875,000 sterling, at a moderate calculation, and employing 22,000 hands. The royal palace, the exchange, and the theatre are fine public buildings; and no town in Spain has so many fondas and neverias, bottellarias and coffee-houses, so many theatres, concerts, balls, rifrescos and tertullias. The environs form a delicious garden, the air of which is continually loaded with perfumes. Valencia was the birth place of the lawyer Mayans, of the celebrated Ant. Jos. Cavanilles, and of several renowned painters, as Espinosa, and Francisco Bibalta.-Murviedro with 6,810 inhabitants is celebrated for its wine manufactories.-San Felipe, or Xativa, on the Albayda, was the birth place of the celebrated painter Ribeiro commonly called Spannoletto. -Gandia is a neat town with 6,300 inhabitants, in the finest, mildest, and most fertile part of the province.-Alcoy on the river of the same name with 14,600 inhabitants, possesses a considerable paper manufactory, occupying 48 mills.-Alicant, on a bay formed by the promontories De las Huertas and San Pola, is a fortified town, forming a crescent around the citadel, which lies on a calcareous rock 1000 feet high. Balbi states its population at 25,000, Fischer at 20,000, and Cortambert at 17,500. It is a very animated commercial town; and the influx of foreigners here would be still greater if epidemical fevers were not so very common in Autumn. Most of the foreign powers have consuls here, and a great deal of business is carried on. The environs are covered with country houses. -Buzot in a romantic country, is celebrated for its bath of the temperature of 32° R. Orihuela with 20,000 inhabitants, is a wealthy town in a charming country, the seat of the bishop of Alicant.--At Elche, in latitude 38° 29', we find the phenix dactilifera, and chamaerops humilis, flourishing well. It is calculated that there are 35,000 fertile palm trees in the environs of the town, which produce 140,000 arrobes of dates annually. There are fine marble quarries on the little island of Plana, to the S.É. of the Cabo San Pola. The Columbretes are a group of islands off the Cabo de Oropesa.

3d. The Province of Mallorca or Majorca.] This province is an archipelago of three large and several small islands in the Mediterranean, opposite Valencia. The surface of the whole is about 1,860 square miles. The islanders are of middle size, but well-formed, with a clear complexion and dark hair. The women are not handsome, but upon the whole very pleasing. Their general character is very like that of their neighbours the Catalonians, whose dialect they speak, except at Minorca where Italian words are mixed with it. They no longer use the sling for which they were so famous in ancient times, but most of them are dexterous riflemen. Their dress is somewhat different from that generally used in Spain. There are only 3 cividades, 37 villas, 31 villages, 66 parishes, 32 monasteries, 19 nunneries, and 14 establishments of charity in the whole group. In very ancient times these islands were divided into two groups: namely the Baleares, by the Greeks also called Gymnesia: the first name indicating the skill of the inhabitants in managing the sling, and the latter their being naked, and the Pithyusæ which took their name from the number of fir-trees which grew upon them. Both groups of islands were consecutively in possession of the Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Goths, and Arabs, till Jacob I., who reigned from 1229 to 1254, united them to the crown of Arragon.

Majorca.] Majorca or Mallorca, the principal of the Balearic isles, is about 100 miles from the coast of Spain, and 150 from Algiers. Its length is about 40 miles, and its breadth nearly the same; its population nearly 136,000, of whom 3,700 are priests, monks, or nuns Its figure is that of an irregular rhomboid, the angles being formed by the four principal capes, of Formentor to the N.; Pera to the E.; Salinas to the S.; and Dragonera to the W. It is almost surrounded by a chain of mountains, a branch of which penetrates towards the centre of the island. Its climate is in general temperate, the sea-breezes moderating the heat of summer, and the high grounds affording shelter in winter. There are a number of large brooks, which descend from the mountains, and two small rivers, one of which flows into the sea below the walls of Palma, the chief town of the island. Palma is a considerable city with a popu-' lation of 30,000 inhabitants.-Alcudia has fallen into decay in consequence of its unwholesome air.-Pollenza is a town of 6000 inhabitants; Soller has 5000; San Marcial, 5000; Andrache 4000; and Bunnola 2,600. Agriculture is very unskilfully conducted, though the climate is mild and the soil fertile. Orange-trees produce fruit which rivals that of Portugal and Malta: the vines are loaded with grapes towards the end of June, and by the end of July the carob-tree produces a beautiful red fruit, forming a delightful landscape when mixed with the palm and plane-tree of the Indies. The exports consist of olive oil, wine, spirits, oranges, lemons, almonds, cheese, capers, and beans: amounting in all to about half-a-million sterling.-The island of Cabrera on the S. of Majorca has a good harbour.-Conejera, Foradade, and Plannas are small uninhabited islands to the N. of Cabrera.

Minorca.] Minorca, or Menorca, the second of the Balearic isles, is situated 37 miles E. of Majorca. Its form is oblong, extending from W.N.W. to E.S. E., but somewhat concave on the south side. It is intersected by the parallel of 40° N. Lat. Its area is 240 square miles. Its population 31,000. It is divided into four districts called Terminos, the chief towns of which, are Cuidadela the capital, Port Mahon, and Merca

dal. The importance of the island is entirely owing to the valuable harbour of Port Mahon, in 39° 52′ 20′′. Its surface is uneven; and the

climate the least propitious of any of the Balearic islands.

Ivica.] Ivica, or Ibica, situated to the S. W. of Majorca, and the principal of the group called the Pithyuse, contains 190 square miles, and 15,200 inhabitants. It is of considerable elevation, and full of mountains which present at sea a grand and agreeable picture. The climate is uncommonly mild. The soil highly fertile. Ivica, the capital, is well-fortified, and has an excellent harbour. The dialect is here intermixed with many Arabian words.-Formentera is a small island with 1,500 inhabitants. Espalmador, Trocados, and Espuntel are uninhabited islands.

4th. The Province of Catalonia.] The Pyrenees here run along the French boundaries, and spread their branches through the whole province. The best of the five roads leading into France here crosses the Pyrenees from Gerona by Junquera to Bellegarde and Perpignan; there are several other passes for mules and foot-passengers. All the branches of the principal mountains run from the N. to the S. of the province, under different denominations; in the E. is the Monseny; and in the S.W., along the Ebro, the Sierra de la Llena. In the centre between these rises Montserrat. No fewer than 26 rivers rise in these different mountains. The principal river is the Ebro which falls into the sea at Amposta. The subsidiary rivers are the Segre, the Noguera, the Palleresa, the Francoli, the Toldera, and the Ter. In the highlands the heat and cold are equally severe in their respective seasons; in the valleys, the summer and winter are temperate. In the interior of the country the air is dry, and near the coast it is damp; there the sky is clear, here it is clouded; there the weather is steady, here it is variable. The inhabitants have used every exertion to fertilize their soil which in some places is sterile, and irrigation is carefully attended to; nevertheless sufficient corn for the consumption of the province is not produced. Wine is a principal production. Catalonia is very rich in wines. It produces annually upwards of 600,000 pipes; from this quantity are made about 30,000 pipes of brandy, the rest is shipped off or consumed in the country. The Spaniards are excelled by their French neighbours in the distillation of wines into brandy, as much as in the making of wines. Spanish brandies are often foul, acrid, and taste of aniseed, which is liked in Spain and cannot be eradicated from their stills and casks. The exports are made from Barcelona, Salon, Tarragona, and Mataro. The red wines are very coarse, being most carelessly made and shipped off. These are the government contract-wines, well-known to the sailors of the British navy as black strap. The white wines of Catalonia are less exceptionable. The Malmsey of Sitges is highly spoken of. Fruit is excellent; but the climate is not warm enough for the general production of the finer kinds. Chesnuts and nuts are produced in great quantity, and oil in the warmer districts along the coast. There is wood in abundance in the northern mountains which also harbour bears and wolves. No province in Spain is equal in industry to Catalonia, which, before the war, possessed several manufactures in a state of prosperity unknown to the rest of Spain; but no Spanish province has suffered so much by the war,-none has been longer the theatre of the most destructive struggles, and in none has the loss of the American colonies been more severely felt. The chief productions of industry here were cotton, paper, leather, and silk; but

these were not calculated for Spain, and still less for the rest of Europe: they were principally destined for the colonies. The Catalonians are distinguished by a degree of rudeness and violence of temper not common among their countrymen. They are enthusiastically attached to their country; and are an active, laborious, and enterprising race. Catalonia was one of the first provinces of Spain conquered by the Romans; and one of the last they lost. The Goths were expelled by the Moors; and these in their turn conquered by the Franks under Charlemagne; after which the province taking the name of Godolaunia, from the Goths and Alans its ancient inhabitants, preserved its laws, customs, and prerogatives, even when its rulers had mounted the throne of Arragon, and Ferdinand the Catholic had become master of the whole of Spain. It was only in 1714, when Catalonia ranked itself with the Austrian party, that most of its privileges were lost. There are 14 cividades, 283 towns, 1,683 villages, 1682 parishes, 201 monasteries, 54 nunneries, 81 establishments of charity, and 304 ruined places in this province.

City of Barcelona.] Barcelona, in Latin Barcino, is the capital of Catalonia, and one of the principal cities in Spain. It was founded by the Carthaginians who gave it the name of their renowned general, Annibal Barca; and it successively passed under the dominion of the Romans, Goths, Saracens, and French. It contains at present 10,000 houses, 1 cathedral, 82 churches, 50 convents of monks, 30 fountains, 6 hospitals, 1 seminary, 4 academies supported by voluntary contribution, 2 public libraries, a valuable cabinet of natural history and antiquities, a noble exchange 230 feet long by 77 broad, a theatre, a great many handsome promenades or walks, and with the suburb of Barcellonetta upwards of 140,000 inhabitants. It is the seat of an episcopal see, which contains in its diocese 26 chapels and 253 parishes. The streets of the old town are in general dirty, narrow, and crooked; those of the new town are regularly built and elegant. The city is fortified, and is impregnable on the sea-side, the water being too shallow to permit the approach of large ships. On the land-side it is guarded with bastions, the approaches to which are defended by many advanced works, and principally by a citadel situated at the N. E. point, and by the fort of Mont Jouy; which commands the town, port, citadel, neighbouring country, and sea to a great extent. The ancient port of Barcelona was on the other side of Mont Jouy, behind that mountain, which separated it from the sea, and was formed and sheltered by a mole built in 1477; but this port was choked up and the mole destroyed by storms in the 16th century. The present port is nothing more than a great basin formed by piers and kept up by solid quays. The depth is insensibly declining in spite of every endeavour to clear out the accumulating sand. Large ships cannot enter, and frigates cannot approach within half-a-league's distance; however, in spite of such inconveniencies, the harbour is always full of shipping. The manufactures are silk, cotton, wool, fire-arms, cutlery, and glass-ware. The principal exports are wine, brandy, cloth, and leather. The imports corn, fish, and woollen goods.

City of Gerona.] Gerona, in French Girone, in Latin Gerunda, is a fortified town of Catalonia, situated on both banks of the river Ter; and upon the side; and at the foot of a steep mountain. It is of a triangular form; and its population amounts to 14,000 persons. This city is very ancient, having existed in the time of the Romans, from whom it

was taken by the Goths; the Moors seized it, in 715; and it was re-taken by Louis of Aquitania in 802 when all the Moors were put to death. It afterwards became subject to the crown of Arragon, and gave the title of prince to the king's eldest son. It was taken by the French in 1656, and lost again in 1694. In the Succession war, it was seized by the French, but recovered from them in 1705, by the Miquelets or Catalonian mountaineers. It was again taken by the French in 1711; and in the year following was besieged by the Asturians and Catalonians who were compelled to abandon the enterprise after a blockade of eight months. During the late glorious struggle for Spanish independence, it made one of the noblest defences recorded in history. The garrison consisted of 3,400 men; the besieging army of 17,000. Another army of 18,000 men covered the siege, which commenced on the 6th of May 1809, and continued till the 10th of December, when the garrison, reduced to a mere handful, obtained an honourable capitulation.

City of Tarragona.] Tarragona, the ancient Tarraco and capital of Hispania Tarraconensis under the Romans, is said to have been once the most considerable city in Spain, but has vastly declined from its ancient grandeur, containing only 9000 inhabitants at the commencement of the late war. It was besieged and taken, after a siege of two months, and an obstinate defence, by marshal Suchet, who perpetrated the most atrocious cruelties upon the wretched inhabitants ever recorded in history. The harbour is one of the best in Catalonia; and the environs are very charming and fertile. There are here the ruins of a palace of Augustus, an amphitheatre, a magnificent aqueduct and catacombs.

Chief Towns.] Reuss a town created in the last quarter of the 18th century, has already 30,000 inhabitants, and maintains some very animated silk-manufactories, and numerous distilleries.-Tortosa with 10,700 inhabitants, is strongly fortified; the neighbourhood is rich in alabaster and marble, of which the beautiful species called Jaspir of Tortosa is found here.-Lerida is a fortified town on the Segre with 16,800 inhabitants. It was here that Cæsar fought for the dominion of the world with Pompey's generals Afranius and Petreius.-Cervera with 5000 inhabitants, contains a university founded in 1717 with a magnificent library.-Montserrat, a convent of Benedictines, built on a calcareous rock 3,937 feet high, is remarkable for its celebrated image of the Virgin. Above the convent are 14 hermitages built above each other on the mountain. Numerous pilgrims visit the image of the virgin which is said to have been found here in 880. The Virgin of Montserrat has also churches at Madrid, Rome, and Vienna,

REPUBLIC OF ANDORRA.] The Valle de Andorra at the foot of the Pyrenees in this province, has always been considered as a neutral territory, acknowledging the bishop of Urgel as spiritual chief, and paying him annually 480 franks; but since very ancient times it has stood under the protection of France, having sworn allegiance to him by deputies. The king of France and the bishop of Urgel name alternately the supreme judge of Andorra ; but otherwise this little territory, not exceeding 180 square miles of surface, is an independent republic, in which the legislative and executive powers are exercised by a council. It has its particular laws, and pays no taxes. The population is about 10,500.