Page:A Handbook for Travellers in Spain - Vol 1.djvu/403

Estremad. 11$1⁄2$ m. Matanegra Stat.

4$3⁄4$ m. Usagre y Bienvenida Stat. Pop. 2126.

6 m. Villagarcia Stat. Pop. 2266.

5$1⁄2$ m. Llerena Stat. Pop. 5583.

The railway is in construction from Llerena to Pedroso—at present there is no manner of continuing the journey but on horseback. The road is very bad. Jan. 1882. The train is again joined at Pedroso, passing by the following stations:—

Pedroso Stat.

Minas Stat.

Villa de las Minas Stat.

Tocina Stat. where it joins the main line to Seville. See “ Indicador.”

. (see Rte. 86).

This rough excursion is most interesting to the geologist, the artist, and the naturalist. Take a local guide and attend to the provend.

Trujillo. Pop. 7085. (See Rte. 74.) N.B. There may be some difficulty in obtaining horses or mules here.

The road traverses a lonely and but partially-cultivated country. La Conquista is a ruined cortijo with a fine-sounding name, situated upon an estate granted to the Pizarro family.

So proceed to the Ermita, where there is a clear fresh stream.

Passing through Zurita (Pop. 3192) the road to Almaden branches S.E. through Madrigalejo (Pop. 1648), the village where Ferdinand, the husband of Isabella, died, Jan. 23, 1516, aged 64 (see the inscription in the Casa Santa Maria).

26 m. Logrosan. Inn: Posada, bad. Pop. 3468. This town stands in the narrow valley of the Pollares, at the beginning of the Guadalupe range. The presence of phosphate of lime, in its clay-slate quartzite strata, is almost a solitary instance in Europe. The vein, or rather deposit, lies about half a mile to the N.N.E. and S.S.W., and occurs amid clay and slate, except in the centre, where it is intermixed with quartz: made out for about two miles, sometimes it occurs emerging above the loamy soil, and at other times below it, in a bed in some places from 5 to 10 ft. wide. It may be traced by its general light straw colour, but the finer parts have a purple and white laminated reniform structure, likesome depositions of carbonate of lime: it is extremely phosphorescent when pulverised and thrown on lighted charcoal; as no ingredient of organic life is to be found, it is presumed to be of primitive formation. It contains about 14 per cent. of fluoride of calcium.

Logrosan, chiefly built out of a mass of very hard and compact black schist, with veins of quartz, is placed, like Trujillo, on a granite knoll, with an extensive view. The protruding slates add to the inconvenience of this wretched poverty-stricken hamlet, which, however, has a fine unfinished church, rising like a cathedral, with a beautiful apsis and a pointed retablo.

Proceeding onward, the picturesque village of

7 m. Cañamero (Pop. 1534) is reached. It stands at the entrance to a rocky gorge through which the beautiful Ruecas flows.

Soon the defiles of the Sierra de Guadalupe are entered, amidst exquisite scenery, and Scotch-like hills clothed with fine timber and aromatic herbs. Then a lofty table-land is ascended, from whence a sweeping panoramic view is obtained.

9 m. Guadalupe. Pop. 2756. The Posadas are iniquitous, but the muleteer can obtain clean lodgings in some private house.

The Geronimite convent of Guada-