GIBRALTAR, AS SEEN FROM THE “LINES.”

The spurs from the Sierra Nevada, which approach the coast to the north of the Cabo de Gata, are separated by ramblas, or torrent beds, and gradually decrease in height as we proceed north. The torrent of Almanzora separates the Sierra de los Filabros from its northern continuation, the Sierra de Almenara, which for a considerable distance runs parallel with the coast. It sends out a spur in the direction of Cartagena, which terminates in Cabo de Palos. The inland ranges run almost parallel with this coast range, and are separated by longitudinal valleys opening out into the great transverse one of the Segura. These ranges are the Sierra de María, “el Gigante” (4,918 feet), with the Sierra de Espuña (5,190 feet), the Sierra de Taibilla, the Calar del Mundo (5,440 feet), and the Sierra de Alcaraz {415} (5,910 feet). The ranges to the north and east of the Segura must be looked upon as continuations of those mentioned. They attain their greatest altitude in the Moncabrer (4,543 feet), and their spurs form several notable promontories, amongst which are the volcanic Peñon de Ifach and the Cabos de la Nao and San António. Near the latter rises the Mongo (2,337 feet), which has become known as a crucial trigonometrical station.

The mountains which dominate the valley of the Júcar present the feature of a denuded plateau, above which rise a few isolated summits. The aspect of the basin of the Guadalaviar is far more mountainous. On the west it is bounded by the sierras having their nucleus in the Muela de San Juan (5,280 feet), and to the east rise the imposing mountain masses of the Javalambre (6,569 feet) and Peña Golosa (5,942 feet). The summits of the range which extends from the latter to the great bend of the Lower Ebro, such as the Muela de Ares (4,332 feet), the Tosal de Encanades (4,565 feet), and Bosch de la Espina (3,868 feet), bear Catalan names. A range of inferior heights runs parallel with it along the coast, the interval between the two forming a strath, or vale. This coast range terminates abruptly in the Sierra de Montsia (2,500 feet), close to the delta of the Ebro, and before the pent-up waters of the river had excavated themselves a path to the sea it extended right to the Pyrenees.

All these mountains are for the most part naked, and shrubs appear like black patches upon their whitish slopes. They stand out clearly against the blue and limpid sky, whose transparency has won Murcia the title of the “most serene kingdom.” The climate in the valley of the Segura is even more African in its character than that of Andalusia. There are only two seasons, summer and winter, the latter lasting from October to January, but the temperature throughout the year is equable, owing to the mistral which blows from the cool plateau and the sea breezes.

The flora, especially along the coast of Murcia, is a mixture of tropical and temperate plants. There are trees which shed their leaves in winter, others which retain their foliage throughout the year, and by the side of wheat, rice, maize, olives, oranges, and grapes are grown cotton, sugar-cane, sweet potatoes, nopals, agaves, and dates. Tropical diseases have found a congenial soil in this country. Yellow fever has been imported occasionally from America. The putrefying substances left upon the fields after floods poison the air, and the brackish waters of the lagoons, or albuferas, are the breeding-places of fever. The salt lakes to the south of the Segura, however, exercise no deleterious influence upon the climate.

Nowhere else in Spain is the rainfall so inconsiderable. Between Almería and Cartagena only eight inches fall during the year; in the environs of Alicante and Elche the rains are, perhaps, a trifle more copious; and at Murcia and Valencia, which lie at the foot of mountains that intercept the moisture-laden winds, they are more abundant still, though even there they do not exceed eighteen inches. Moreover, most of the rain is immediately absorbed by the thirsty air, and only a very small quantity finds its way through ramblas to the sea. The quantity is altogether insufficient for agricultural purposes, and if it were not for the rivers the {416} country would be a desert. Cultivation is carried on only along the rivers and in a few other favoured spots. Veritable steppes extend on both banks of the Segura. The campos between Almería and Villajoyosa, for a distance of 300 miles, are sterile and bare. The brine and magnesia springs, which rise at the foot of the saliferous triassic rocks, fill small lakes, which dry up in summer, and in August the lagoons near Orihuela become covered with a thick crust of salt.

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Fig. 158.—STEPPES OF MURCIA.

Scale 1 : 992,000.