Still lower down the Segre we meet with the ancient city of Lérida, whose origin dates back to prehistoric times, and which, owing to its strategical position, has at all times played a prominent part in military history. The gardens of Lérida supply much produce for exportation, but the place cannot rise into importance until the Franco-Spanish coast railway shall have been completed.

Tortosa, a picturesque city just above the delta of the Ebro, and formerly the capital of an Arab kingdom, commands one of the passages over the Ebro, {436} and its commerce would increase if the river offered greater facilities for navigation.

Tarragona in the time of the Romans was the great maritime outlet of the valley of the Ebro. The city was then nearly forty miles in circumference, with arenas, amphitheatres, palaces, temples, and aqueducts, and a population of hundreds of thousands. The ruins of this ancient Tarraco have been made use of in the construction of the modern city, with its clumsy cathedral, towers, decayed ramparts, and Roman aqueduct intersecting the suburban orange groves. The manufacturing town of Reus may almost be looked upon as a suburb of it, and is rapidly increasing in population. Near it is the monastery of Poblet, in which are deposited the remains of the Kings of Aragon.

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Fig. 170.—THE STEPPES OF ARAGON.

According to Willkomm. Scale 1 : 2,000,000.

BARCELONA, SEEN FROM THE CASTLE OF MONJUL.