Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 19, Scripture-SUG

SPA [ 436 1 SPA
Spain, horfes have probably originated from the Barbs of the
u—0£ Africa, fuppofed to be the immediate oifspring
of the Arabian breed* The Spanifh mules are alio ex¬
cellent, and the afs is here no ignoble animal, though
not equal to thofe of Arabia. There is little remark¬
able in the breed of cattle} but the Merino iheep have
long been diltinguifhed, and are perhaps fuperior to any
in the world for the beauty of the fleece, if not for the
delicacy of the mutton. The flocks of Merino fheep
are fometimes extremely large, and Mr Townfend men¬
tions one nobleman who poffefled not fewer than 40,000.
The whole number in the kingdom may be eflimated
at about c,000,000. Thefe animals were, by a fpecial
code, called the Mejia, authorifed to travel from one
province to another, according as the feafon prefented
the bell palfurage in the mountains or the plains. The
fleece of the Merino (beep is efteemed double in value
to that of any other breed.
Of the birds more peculiarly found in Spain, the vul-
tur perenopterus, the cucuhis glandarius, cuculus tri-
daSIyla, motacil/a hifpanica, hirundo me Ilia, and hirun-
do rupejlris, are the moll remarkable.
Frelh-water filhes are very plentiful in the Spanilh
rivers ; but thofe in moft elteem are frorp the fmall
river Tormes in Old Callile, where have been taken
trout of 20 lbs. weight. The tench of the lakes near
Tobar in New Callile, are remarkably fine and deli¬
cate, and are taken in great abundance every year, dur¬
ing the months of May and June. The fiflr taken on
the coalls are much the fame as thofe of the other coun¬
tries bordering on the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.
The tunny wTas formerly taken on the eallern coall,
where it formed a particular branch of the filhery, but
is now, we believe, little regarded.
Among the Spanifh infebls, the moll remarkable are,
the cantharides, {meloe vcjicaiorius'), and the kermes in-
fecl {coccus ilicis'). The latter infect is much cultivated
as an article of dyeing, efpecially in the territory of
Bujalance, and of Fernan Nunes in the kingdom of
Cordova, as alfo in the vicinity of the town of De las
Aguas, four leagues from Alicant, and near the river
Ht nares, in New Callile. The evergreen oaks on
which thefe animals feed, prefent in the fpring, a molt
lingular appearance, from the red nidi of the kermes,
14 with which their leaves are covered.
Vegetables. No country of Europe of the fame extent, furnilhes
fuch an ample field for the refearches of the botanill, as
Spain j and indeed its botany conllitutes a very impor¬
tant part of its natural hiltory. The mountainous dif-
tridls are clothed with the evergreen oak, the common
oak, the chefnut, and in fome places various fpecies of
pine ; but their moll ufeful produftion is the cork tree.
The fmaller heights produce the wild olive, the almond,
the fliumac, the laurel, the bay, the cyprefs, Canary
and Portugal broom, the yellow jeffamine, and the
Provence rofe. The vine, the palm tree, the orange,
the lemon and the olive, are fo nearly naturalized as to
require but little cultivation ; and the fame may be faid
of the kali (falfo/afoda'), which is produced in large
quantities on the coalls, and furnilhes the bell kind of
kelp, commonly called barilla, ufed in the manufadlure
of foap and glafs. The plains and valleys are covered
with many of thofe plants which form fome of the
greateft ornaments of our flower gardens, as the tulip,
feveral fpecies of iris, the paeony, the pallion flower, the
5
orange and martagon lily, the jonquil, feveral fpecies of Spa®
narcilfus and hyacinth, and above all the rhododendron.
The mountains, however, exhibit the greatelt variety
of botanical riches. Thofe moll worthy of the vifits and
refearches of the enterprifing botanill, are, the Sierra de
Guadalupe in Ellremadura j the mountains of Moncayo
in Aragon *, of Pineda, Guadarama, and Cuenca, in
New Callile ; of Carofcoy, in the kingdom of Murcia ;
of Pena-Colofa, Mongi, Aytona, and Mariola, in the
kingdom of Valencia, and the Pyrenees.
The fugar-cane, was, before the difeovery of the Well
India illands, one of the moll important objedls of Spa¬
nifh cultivation, and numerous fugar mills were ella-
blilhed along the coall of the Mediterranean, efpecially
in the kingdom of Granada. At the conquell of that
Moorilh kingdom, not fewer than fourteen fugar plan¬
tations and two mills, were found within the province.
Some fugar canes are llill cultivated in the kingdom of
Valencia, but the manufacture of fugar is dilcontinued,
and the canes are ufed only for dillillation. There is,
we believe, Hill a manufactory for fugar from Spanilh
canes in Granada. ^
Spain has long been celebrated for the riches of its Mineral?
mineral kingdom, and it may llill be confidered as the
Mexico and Peru of Europe. There are few metals
which may not be found in this kingdom j and, till the
difeovery of America put the Spaniards in poffeflion of
mines which far furpafs their own in produce, the gold
and filver mines of Spain were thought to be nearly the
richelt in the world. At prefent, no gold mines are
wrought, but grains of that metal are found diflemina-
ted in ferruginous quartz, forming a vein that pafies
through a mountain near the village of San Ildefonfo in
Old Callile. Spangles of gold are found intermixed
with emery, in a mine near Alocer in Ellremadura,
and in the territory of Molena in Aragon *, and this
metal is occalionally found in the land of two rivers;
the Agneda, in the kingdom of Leon, which rifes from
the mountains of Xalamo, and the Tagus in New Caf-
tile, efpecially in the vicinity of Toledo.
Silver is much more abundant, but moll of its mines
have alfo been abandoned. We believe the only filver
mine now in work is that of the Sierra de Guadalupe,
near the village of Logrozen, where the filver is found
mixed with micaceous fchillus. The molt remarkable
filver mines formerly worked are thofe of Alrodoval del
Campo; of Zalamea on the road to Alocer in Ellrema¬
dura ; of Aimazaron near Carthagena; three in the
Sierra Morena, about a league from Guadalcanal, in
the kingdom of Seville, and another about two leagues
from Linarez, in the kingdom of Jaen. I his lall mine
was well known both to the Carthaginians and the
Romans ; while Spain was under the dominion of the
former it belonged to Himilca, the wife of Afdrubal.
After having been long abandoned, it was again wrought
in the 17th century, when a vein of ore five feet in dia¬
meter was difeovered •, at prefent, however, it is no lon¬
ger in a Hate of aftivity.
Mines of copper are found near Pampeluna in Na¬
varre, near Salva Tierra in Alava ; near Efcarray, and
at the foot of the mountains of Guadarama in Old Caf-
tile near Lorea in Murcia •, near the Chartreufe of the
Val de Chrillo in Valencia j in the Sierra de Guadalupe
in Ellremadura •, in the mountains near Cordova •, near
Riotinto, and at la Canada de los Conejos in Seville;