The ancient manufacturing industry of the country can hardly be said to exist any longer, but mining is still carried on. Strabo exaggerates the mineral wealth of the country, which is nevertheless very great. Nearly all the productive mining districts of Southern Spain are in the hills. The Sierra de Gádor is said to contain “more metal than rock.” Hundreds of argentiferous lead, copper, and iron mines have been opened there, and in the sierras of Guadix, Baza, and Almería. Near Linares, on the Upper Guadalquivir, there are lead mines yielding about 210,000 tons annually. The silver mines of Constantina and Guadalcanal, in the Sierra Morena, are being worked only at intervals. The coal basins of Bélmez and Espiel, to the north of Córdova, promise to become of great importance, although the output at present hardly exceeds 200,000 tons a year. Deposits of iron and copper exist near them.

But of all the mines of Spain those situated in the province of Huelva are the most productive. The Silurian rocks there are wonderfully rich in pyrites of copper. The mines of Rio Tinto strike the beholder by their stupendous extent; and the existence of ancient galleries, buildings, and inscriptions proves that they have been worked since the most remote time. The invasion of the Vandals temporarily put a stop to the work, which was only resumed in 1730. The two principal deposits have been computed to contain no less than 300,000,000 tons of ore. The deposits at Tharsis are much less extensive, but within easier reach of Huelva. They contain 14,000,000 tons of iron and copper pyrites, and are worked like an open quarry. The deposit is no less than 450 feet in thickness, and some of the ores yield twenty per cent. of copper. Immense heaps of scoriæ have accumulated near the mine, where they are bedded in regular strata dating back to the time of the Carthaginians. The sulphurous vapours rising from hundreds of furnaces poison the air and destroy the vegetation. The rivers Odiel and Rio Tinto run with ferruginous water which kills the fish; yellow ochre is thrown up along their banks; and in their estuary is precipitated a blackish mud consisting of the metal mixed with the sulphur of decomposed marine animals.[144] {406}

Andalusia, though a desert in comparison with what it might be, rivals Italy in the fame and beauty of its cities. The names of Granada, Córdova, Seville, and Cádiz awaken in our mind the most pleasing memories, for these old Moorish towns have become identified with a great advance in arts and science.

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Fig. 154.—THE MINES OF HUELVA.

Scale 1 : 487,300.

PEASANTS OF CORDOVA, ANDALUSIA.

Their advantageous geographical position accounts for their prosperity, past and present. Córdova and Seville command the fertile plain of the Guadalquivir, and the roads crossing the gaps of the neighbouring mountains converge upon them; Granada has its plentiful supply of water and rich fields; Huelva, Cádiz, {407} Málaga, and Almería are considerable seaports; and Gibraltar occupies a commanding position between two seas. There are other towns less populous, but of great strategical importance, as they command the roads joining the valleys of the Genil and Guadalquivir to the sea.