The inhabitants of the valley of the Ebro are offensively haughty, of sluggish minds, given to old customs and superstitions, but they are at the same time singularly persistent, and their bravery does credit to their Celtiberian ancestors. These fine broad-shouldered men, who follow their donkeys along the high-roads, the head enveloped in a silken kerchief, and the waist confined by a violet-coloured belt, are at all times ready for a fight. Up to the close of last century it was customary to get up fights between villages in mere wantonness, and the rondallas, a term now employed for open-air concerts, scarcely ever terminated without bloodshed. In trifles the Aragonese are as stubborn as in matters of importance, and they are said to “drive in nails with their head.” For several centuries the Aragonese struggled with the Moors, and the kings, dependent as they were upon the support of the people, felt constrained to submit to a considerable limitation of their power. It was Philip II. of Castile who suppressed these ancient provincial privileges, and condemned Aragon to lead a life of intellectual stagnation.

The Catalans are as self-opinionated as their neighbours the Aragonese; noisy quarrels frequently take place amongst them; but they rarely come to blows. They {434} are said to be less firm of character than the Aragonese, yet they succeeded in maintaining their provincial independence much longer. Few towns have stood more sieges than Barcelona, and fewer still have offered a more valiant defence. The Catalans are undoubtedly industrious. They have not only converted the irrigable valleys facing the sea into gardens, but have likewise attacked the arid mountains, and, by triturating the rocks and carrying thither soil from the plain, have made them produce grapes, olives, and corn. Hence the proverb, “A Catalan can turn stones into bread.” Agriculture, however, does not wholly supply the wants of so dense a population, and Barcelona with its suburbs has become a huge manufacturing centre, where cottons, woollens, and other textile fabrics, hardware, chemical preparations, glass, paper, and various articles are produced. The province of Barcelona is the chief seat of the cotton industry in Spain, and fully deserves to be called the Spanish Lancashire.[156] The Catalans are a migratory race. They are met with not only in every other province of Spain, but in all the Spanish colonies. Everywhere they are reputed for their thrift, and in Cuba are hated as rivals or masters by creoles and blacks.

The towns of Aragon and Catalonia present the same contrasts as do the inhabitants of the two provinces. Those of the former are of solemn and even gloomy aspect, whilst the picturesque cities of the maritime province are full of bustle and mirth. The former represent the Middle Age, the latter our modern era.

Zaragoza (Saragossa) is most favourably situated in the very centre of the plain of Aragon. It has its Moorish alcázar (the Aljaferia), now used as a barrack; a curious leaning tower similar to that of Pisa; and fine promenades, including the Coso and shaded walks. But prouder than of all these attractions are the inhabitants of the epithet “heroic,” which was bestowed upon their city in consequence of the valiant resistance it offered in 1808 and 1809, when they not only defended their homes, but also their patron saint, the Virgen del Pilar.

At Zaragoza a few wide avenues have been cut through the labyrinth of tortuous streets, but the other towns of the province have preserved their physiognomy of former days. Jaca, in the upper valley of the Aragon, between the Pyrenees and the Sierra de la Peña, with its grey houses, still retains its turreted walls and ancient citadel. It is the old capital of the kingdom of Sobrarbe, but would hardly be mentioned now if it were not for its position at the foot of the Pass of Canfranc, and the neighbouring monastery of La Peña. Huesca, at the base of the hills, the Osca of the Romans, recalls the dominion of the Ausks, or Euskarians. Standing in the midst of an irrigated plain, it still enjoys a certain importance. It boasts of a richly decorated cathedral, deserted monasteries, an old royal palace now occupied by the university, and the remains of a turreted wall. Barbastro, near the river Cinca, occupies a position similar to that of Huesca. The carriage road over the Somport connects it with France.

The Arab city of Calatayud, on the river Jalon, is commercially the second city of Aragon, and replaces Bilbilis of the Iberians, which stood on a hill near it. {435} One of its most nauseous suburbs is wholly inhabited by mendicants. Teruel, on the Guadalaviar, the chief town of the Maeztrazgo, with its crenellated walls and turrets, resembles a mediæval fortress. The Arab tower of its church is one of the curiosities of “untrodden” Spain, and its aqueduct, which crosses a valley on 140 arches, is a remarkable work of the sixteenth century.

Several towns of the interior of Catalonia are equally venerable in their aspect. “Proud” Puigcerda (Puycerda), close to the French frontier, on the Upper Segre, is hardly more than a collection of hovels surrounded by a rampart. Seo de Urgel, in a fertile portion of the same valley, is no doubt of some importance as a fortress, but its streets are dirty, its houses mean, and its mud walls dilapidated.

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Fig. 169.—THE DELTA OF THE EBRO.

Scale 1 : 375,000.