Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/344

 HISPANU. tbe termiiiation of the Mediterranean coast of Spain.* The W. entrance of the Straits is formed by a head- land, named, like most of those which have been mentioned, after a temple which stood upon it, JuNONU Pr., doubtless an object of deep reverence from the time of the Phoenicians downwards ; its ancient sanctity has been long fbi^tten, but, even in a work like this, a tribute must be paid to the (glories of Cape TrafcUgar, Proceeding, MW. past the island and city oif Gades, we come to one of the minor headlands, that which lies outside of the month of the Baetis (^GtUMdaiqvivir)^ marked by the Caepionis Turius (^Chipiona). Hence the coast sweeps round a bay which has no name, NW. and W. to the mouth of the Anas ((TuodSiafia), where the coast of Baetica terminates, and that of LusiTAKiA begins. The first object on the S. coast of Lusitania is the projection called CuNBUS (C de 8. Maria); and about l^^' W. of this, the S. side of tjie peninsula terminates at the frequently men- tioned Sacrum Pr. (C S. Vineent)j where, as at Trafalgar J ancient sanctity is eclipsed by modem glofy. The W. coast of Lusitania is so straight as to ibnn no large bays, and it has only three headUnds worth mentioning; namely, the long and sharp pro- montoiy S. of the estuary of the Taous, named Barbarium pR.t of Strabo (C Espicket) ; then the W. point both of the estuary of the Tagus and of the whole coast, the Maonum Pr.* of Mela and Pliny {Cda Boca) ; and lastly, about 40' N. of this, the LuNAE or Lunarium Pr. of Ptolemy (C Cartoeiro: but see note just above). At the mouth ot the Ddrius (^Douro) the coast of Lusitania ends, and that of Gallaecia begins. It preserves the same character of straightness as far M. as the Minius (iftnAo), beyond which it is broken into a series of estuaries of river (enumerated under Gallaecia), the points of land between which require no specific notice, till we oome to the extreme NW. comer of the peninsula. Hera the W. coast terminates at the headland called Celti- CUM or Nerium {C. de Fimeterre), which lies almost at the intersection of two lines, each of which may be taken as a " datum line" for the W. and N. sides of the peninsula. These lines are the meridian of 9^ W. long, and the parallel of 43<> N. lat The former mns through the W. side of the Sacred Gape (C. S. Vincent) f just outtide of the W. coast, except for the portion which projects westward about the mouth of the Tagus: while the latter keeps from about 50 to about 20 miles within (i. e. S. of) the N. coast, and coincides very nearly with the chain of mountains which form the W. continuation of the Pyrenees.^ The greatest rise of the N. coast Straits, deserves notice as the southernmost point of the peninsula, though it has no specific name in ancient geography. f Possibly these two names may be meant to denote one and the same headland, viz. the C. Ee- pichel ; and the next, Pr. Lukab, may be the C. da Roca. X For the sake of those who find such modes of reference useful, anotlier pair of co-ordinate axes may be given for the peninsula in general. Taking ToLBTUM {Toledo), as a centre, it will be found that the meridian of 1^ W. long, and the parallel of 40° N. lat. intersect a very little N. of it, dividing the peninsula into four quarters, the lengths and HISPANIA. lOSfl above the datum line of 43^ N. lat is made at once from the Pr. Nerium, whence the coast rans N£. up to the CoRU or Trilbucum Pr. (C Ortegal which forms the extreme N. point of the whole peninsula. Hence the N. coast proceeds nearly straight to the £., but with a gradual declination to the Sb, having no large bays, and no promontories worth naming till we reach that of Oeaso (C. dd Hiffuer), at its E. extremity, which is formed by a spur of the Pyrenees. In this outline, the statements of Strabo, Mela, Pliny, Ptolemy, and other ancient writers have been arranged in their several phices, according to the trae figure of the coast : further details are given under the respective articles. One matter which re- quires especial notice, namely, Pliny*s great error in making the W. coast end, and the N. coast begin, inuneditUehf above the ettuarg of the Tagm^ b more fully referred to under Artabri. Before proceeding to the interior, it should be men- tioned that, besides the lesser ishinds near the coast, the great group now known as the Balearic Islands, £. of C. S. Martin (Pr. Dianium), were always con- sidered to belong to Hispania. [Baleares, Pity- USAB.] 5. The Interior, taUk its Motmiains and JUvert. — Few maps present to the eye a more striking pic- ture than that of Spain ; and yet, clearly as the phy- sical features stand forth, an unpractised eye may easily misunderstand them. A single glance suffices to show that the country is intersected, through the greatest portion of its breadth, by five great chains of mountains, the two outermost of which fall off at once, on the N. and S. respectively, to the bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean, whUe between them and the other three there are inclosed four great valleys, forming the river-basins of the Douro, Tagus, Guadiana, and Guadalquivir; and that another chain, though less regular, mnning across, and, to some extent uniting, the E. extremities of these five, divides the sources of the rivers just named from another great river-basin, that of the Ebro ; and, lastly, that, on the £. side of this basin, a great branch of the Pyrenees, running to the &, forms on its £. declivity another maritime border along the entire N£. coast of the peninsula. All this is very obvious ; but it is quite insufficient for a clear outline of the stractnre of the peninsuU. There is another element : one not quite so obvious on the map; but one which makes Spain so entirely unlike every other country of Europe, and which has so materially influenced its climate, its population, the foreign settlements in its several parts, the commerce of other nations with it, the campaigns carried on within its boundaries by oontenduig empires, and its own intestine strogglcs, both in ancient and in modem times, that a right knowledge of it is of the fi»t consequence to the whole study of the histoiy of the country. This peculiar feature of the peninsula is well described by Arnold:— " Spun rises from the Atlantic on one side, and the Mediterranean on the other, not into one or two thin lines of mountains divided by vast tracts of valleys or low plains, but into a huge tower of table-land, from which the mountains themselves rise again, like the battlements on the summit. The plains of Castile are mountain plains, raised nearly 2000 feet above the level of tbe sea, and the eleva- tion of the city of Madrid is nearly double that of breadths of which along the axes (though not their aieas) are nearly equal.
 * The Cape of Tarifa, in the middle of the