Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/699

Rh and well-built, with open central courts, surmounted by turrets and flat roofs in the Moorish style. The principal public buildings are the two cathedrals (one built in the 13th century, the other begun in 1720, but not completed till 1840) ; the Hospicio or Casa de Misericordia, adorned with a marble portico, and having an interior court with Doric colonnades; the bull-ring, with room for 12,000 spectators ; the two theatres, the prison, the custom-house, and the lighthouse of San Sebastian on the western side, rising 172 feet from the rock on which it stands. Besides the Hospicio already mentioned, which sometimes contains 1000 inmates, there are numerous other charitable institu tions, such as the women s hospital, the foundling institu tion, the admirable Hospicio de San Juan de Dios for men, and the lunatic, asylum. Gratuitous instruction is given to a large number of children, and there are several mathematical and commercial academies, maintained by different commercial corporations, a nautical school, a school of design, a theological seminary, a flourishing medical school, an Academia de Nobles Artes (founded in 1789, principally by the exertions of Governor O Reilly), an excellent -observatory, and a hydrographic depot. There are several public libraries attached to the various educa tional establishments, but none of any note. The museum is filled for the most part with wretched copies of ancient masterpieces, but in the church of the Capuchinos, which was formerly a&quot; monastery, is an unfinished picture of the marriage of St Catherine by Murillo, the last effort of his pencil, as he met his death by falling from the scaffold on which he was painting. Plan of Cadiz and its environs. A, Fort San Sebastian. 3. Custom-House. B, Fort Santa Catalina, C, The Alameda. 1. Hospital. 2. Academy of Fine Arts. 4. Capucliinos. 5. Old and New Cathedrals. 6. Sta. Marta. Cadiz is the see of a bishop, who is suffragan to the archbishop of Seville, but its chief conventual and monastic institutions have been suppressed. Its noble bay, more than 30 miles in circuit and almost entirely land-locked by the isthmus and the headlands which lie to the N.E., has principally contributed to its commercial importance. The outer bay stretches from the promontory and town of Rota to the mouth of the Guadalete ; and the inner bay, protected by the forts of Matagorda and Puntales, affords generally good anchorage, and contains a harbour formed by a projecting mole, where vessels of small burden may discharge. The entrance to the bays is rendered somewhat dangerous by the low shelving rocks (Cochinos and Las Puercas), which encumber the passage, and by the shifting banks of mud deposited by the Guadalete and the Rio Santi Petri. On the mainland, at the mouth of the latter river, is the village of Caracca, which contains about 6000 inhabitants, and possesses a naval arsenal and dockyard ; and on the isthmus are situated the well- frequented sea-bathing establishments. The commercial greatness of Cadiz is no longer what it was in the 17th and 18th centuries. At one time it was the great focus of intercourse between Spain and the Spanish colonies; and from 1720 to 1765 it enjoyed a monopoly of the traffic with Spanish America, which had previously been in the hands of Seville. Its pro sperity began to decline when the trade of San Domingo, Cuba, Porto Rico, and the other islands was opened up to the greater ports of Spain, and decayed almost entirely in the beginning of the present century, when the colonies achieved their independence. An attempt was made by the Spanish Government in 1828 to restore its former greatness, by making it a free warehousing port, but this valuable privilege was withdrawn in 1832. Since the opening of the railway to Seville and the improvements effected in the harbour, the commercial activity has greatly increased; and in spite of the disturbing influences of political revolutions, Cadiz is still one of the most important ports in Spain. It is the European terminus of many of the principal mail-lines from the colonies both in the east and west. Besides the Xeres wine, for which it received in 1872 no less than 2,458,487 from Britain alone, it exports quicksilver, brandy, oil, provisions, flour, and wool. The salt trade, which was formerly of considerable extent, is almost extinct. The imports consist chiefly of sugar and coffee from Havana and Porto Rico, English coal from Cardiff, cocoa, hemp, flax, linens, dried fish, hides, cotton and woollen manufactures, rice, spices, indigo, staves, and timber. The total number of vessels that entered in 1872 was 1140, of which 494 were steamships; and the total tonnage was 287,850. Of the sailing vessels 179 were British and 136 Italian, of the steamships 127 British and 281 Spanish. The manufactures of Cadiz are unimportant, though a considerable stimulus to industry is given by the Sociedad economica de Amigos del Pais, which introduced the cochineal plant, and grants medals for improvements in manufactures. Cadiz is strongly fortified with ramparts and bastions, and defended by the forts of San Sebastian, Santa Catalina, Matagorda, and Puntales Castle. On the neighbouring coast the isthmus is protected by an intrenchment called the Cortadura, or Fort San Fernando. From its almost insular position it enjoys a mild and serene climate, the mean annual temperature being about 64 Fahr., while the mean summer and winter temperatures vary only about 10 above and below this point. From the same cause it labours under a great deficiency of water, which must either be collected in cisterns from the tops of the houses or brought at great expense from Santa Maria on the opposite coast. Population in 1845, 53,922, and in 1860, 71,521.

