AFRICA BEGINS AT THE PYRENEES - UNLIKE THE REST OF EUROPE -

LITTLE VISITED GENERAL ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY RIVERS

WITHOUT WATER AFRICAN VEGETATION MOORISH MANNERS AND

CUSTOMS - RAILWAYS AND DILIGENCES - STAGNATION AND DECAY -

CAUSES OF DEGENERACY AND ITS REMEDY .

13

PARIS TO MADRID.

VARIOUS ROUTES ΤΟ MADRID THROUGH FRANCE BORDEAUX THE

LANDES THE PYRENEES BAYONNE BIARRITZ - SAN SEBASTIAN

BILBAO CORUÑA THE SPANISH ARMADA SANTIAGO DE COMPOS-

MADRID SITUATION CLIMATE NOT ALTOGETHER WANTING IN PIC-

TURESQUENESS STREET *CRIES THE PRADO --- CHURCH OF THE

ATOCHA THE QUEMADERO BULL-FIGHTS PICTURE GALLERY

WORK OF EVANGELISATION THE ESCORIAL SEGOVIA

75

THROUGH CORDOVA TO GRANADA.

GENERAL ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY — ARANJUEZ— THE TAGUS— TOLEDO —

LA MANCHA AND DON QUIXOTE CORDOVA THE KINGDOM OF

GRANADA-LOJA — THE VEGA- THE ALHAMBRA AND GENERALLIFFE-

CITY OF GRANADA

109

PAGE

ROMAN ORIGIN ITALICA AND TRIANA MOORISH CHARACTER THE

GIRALDA · THE ALCAZAR TORRE DEL ORO — TRADE OF SEVILLE
CASA DEL AYUNTAMIENTO AND LONJA GIPSY MUSICIANS AND
DANCERS— MURILLO-CATHEDRAL — THE INQUISITION

153

HOMEWARD BY THE EAST COAST.

CADIZ TRAFALGAR GIBRALTAR RONDA MALAGA CARTHAGENA

MURCIA ELCHE VALENCIA ROMAN SETTLEMENTS ALONG THE
COAST — BARCELONA — LERIDA — SARAGOSSA — CONCLUSION

187

FIRST IMPRESSIONS.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS.

66

AFRICA BEGINS AT THE PYRENEES -UNLIKE THE REST OF EUROPE-LITTLE
VISITED—GENERAL ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY-RIVERS WITHOUT WATER-AFRICAN
VEGETATION-MOORISH MANNERS AND CUSTOMS— RAILWAYS AND DILIGENCES-
STAGNATION AND DECAY-CAUSES OF DEGENERACY AND ITS REMEDY.

The “ ”

FRICA begins at the Pyrenees.” * AFRICA

proverb is a French one, and must therefore be taken with some modifications. For our sprightly neighbours are apt to claim a monopoly of culture and refinement for themselves, and, like the Chinese, to regard other nations as "outer barbarians.” Fixing the southern limits of civilisation at the Pyrenees, they would proceed to define it as bounded by the English Channel on the north, the Rhine on the east, and the Bay of Biscay on the west. But, after making all due allowance for national prejudice and self-conceit, the epigram contains a large measure of truth. It expresses with tolerable accuracy the first impressions of the traveller in Spain.

For on crossing the Pyrenees everything is so new and strange that the

tourist seems to have passed into a new continent rather than a new country. Elsewhere the characteristic differences of neighbouring nations melt into one another by almost imperceptible degrees. The frontier between France and Belgium, Germany or Switzerland may be crossed with little or nothing to remind the traveller that he