Scale 1 : 200,000.

Immediately to the east of this pass the aspect of the mountains changes. They rise to a great height, piercing the zone of perennial snow, and their southern escarpments are of great steepness. The Peña Labra (8,295 feet) dominates the first of these mountain masses. Rivers descend from it in all directions: the Ebro in the east, the Pisuerga in the south, and the Nansa, or Tinamenor, in the north-west. Farther west the Peña Prieta rises to a height of 8,295 feet, its snows feeding the Carrion and Esla. It is joined in the north to a mountain mass even more considerable, which bears the curious name of Peñas de Europa, or “rocks {450} of Europe,” and culminates in the Torre de Cerredo (8,784 feet), covered with snow throughout the year, and boasting even of a few glaciers, due to the excessive amount of precipitation.

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Fig. 177.—ST. SEBASTIAN.

Scale 1 : 30,000.

The valley of La Liébana, at the eastern foot of the Peñas de Europa, resembles a vast caldron of extraordinary depth. Shut in on the west, south, and east by huge precipices rising to a height of 6,500 feet, it is closed in on the north by a transversal chain, through which the waters of the Liébana have excavated for themselves a narrow passage. The village of Potes, in the centre of this valley, lies at an elevation of only 981 feet above the level of the sea. In Santander and the Asturias, even more frequently than in the Basque country, we meet with secondary chains running parallel with the coast. These are composed of triassic, Jurassic, and cretaceous rocks, and rise like advanced walls of defence in front of the main range of the mountains, which consist of Silurian slates upheaved by granite. It results from this that the course of the rivers is most erratic. On leaving their upper valleys, where they frequently form cascades, their farther progress is arrested by these parallel ranges, and they twist about to the east and west until they find an outlet through which they may escape.

The two funnel-shaped valleys of Valdeon (1,529 feet) and Sajambre are enclosed between spurs of the Peñas de Europa. Their torrents drain into the Bay of Biscay, but they are most readily accessible from the plateau. Farther west the mountains decrease in height, and their main crest gradually recedes from the coast. They are crossed here by the Pass of Pajares (4,471 feet), which connects Leon with Oviedo. {451}

The Asturian Mountains are objects of veneration to every patriotic Spaniard. Beautiful as they are, their lower slopes being covered with chestnut-trees, walnut-trees, and oaks, whilst higher up forests of beeches and hazel alternate with meadows, their beauty is enhanced by the fact of their having afforded a refuge to the Christians whilst the Moors held the rest of the country. Mount Ansena sheltered St. Pelagius and his flock, and at Covadonga he built himself an abbey. These “illustrious mountains” do not, however, merely boast of historical associations, delightful villages, herds, and pastures; they hide within their bowels a rich store of coal, one of the principal sources of wealth to the Asturias.