Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/398

 386 MENDOZA are some of the highest in the Andes, in- cluding Aconcagua, the culminating point of America; and at the extreme south are the Nevada and Payen systems, the former attain- ing to a height of 15,000 ft. Nearly all the mountains here referred to are volcanoes, some of which are in continual eruption. The prin- cipal rivers are the Mendoza and the Tunuyan, the first descending from Aconcagua, and each forming several lagoons from which extend natural canals very useful for irrigation. Agates, amethysts, carnelians, and sapphires are found. Several gold mines were formerly worked ; in the Uspallata valley are mines of argentiferous lead; copper, iron, lime, chalk, pumice stone, coal, pitch, petroleum, and beau- tiful marbles are very abundant. Mineral springs are common in the west; and there are thermal springs celebrated for their me- dicinal properties, and for a copious yield of boracic acid. The climate is salubrious, and the soil is generally fertile, save in the south, where it is naturally sterile, but improved by irrigation and manuring. The chief products of the forests are white and black poplar ; ce- reals of all kinds are abundant, as are also the grape and a great variety of other fruits ; and cotton, tobacco, and hemp grow well. Cotton and woollen stuffs are manufactured, and several sorts of fruit are preserved ; but there is great lack of means of transport to the sea. Most of the products are sent across the Andes by the paso del Portillo into Chili. There are numer- ous schools; but of 17,216 children between 6 and 14 years in 1869, only 2,132 attended school^ and 55,395 persons out of the whole population could neither read nor write. Men- doza is divided into twelve departments. It formed a part of the captaincy general of Chili till 1776, when it was annexed to the viceroy- alty of La Plata. II. A city, capital of the prov- ince, 610 m. W. N. W. of Buenos Ayres; pop. in 1869, 8,124. It is surrounded by several canals, one of which traverses the town, and the banks of all of which are fringed with poplars. Every available spot of land in the vicinity is highly cultivated. The chief occupations are agriculture, wine making, and fruit preserving. It was almost totally destroyed by an earth- quake in 1861, but is in rapid course of recon- struction. In 1776 Mendoza was made the seat of government of the viceroyalty of La Plata. MENDOZA, a family of Spain, several of whose members have been distinguished. I. Ifilgo Lopez de, marquis de Santillana, born at Carrion de los Condes in 1398, died in Guadalajara, March 26, 1458. He inherited vast estates from his father, the grand admiral of Castile. He was successful against the Aragonese in the battle of Araviana and the defence of Alcala, and as commander of the army sent against the Moors, whom he repeatedly overthrew ; for all which exploits he obtained the titles of count and marquis. He afterward went to court, and took part in the internecine struggles of the kingdom. He cultivated letters, and was the friend and protector of the learned of his time. The peculiarly Italian form of the son- net was introduced by him into Spain. His chief production is the Comedieta de Ponza, founded on the story of a naval combat near the island of Ponza in 1435 ; his most popular is the Refranes, "Proverbs," sometimes called the Centiloquio, as it comprises 100 rhymed sentences. His other productions embrace sonnets, a Canto funebre on the death of En- rique de Villena, critical and historical disser- tations, and poems. II. Pedro Gonzales de, son of the preceding, born in Castile in May, 1428, died in Guadalajara, Jan. 11, 1495. Before 1473 he was archbishop of Seville, and in that year he became cardinal of Spain. He distin- guished himself in the battle of Toro, March 1, 1476, and shortly afterward accompanied Queen Isabella to put down the rebellion at Segovia. In 1479 he showed much favor to the persecuted Jews. He was translated to the archbishopric of Toledo in 1482, and ap- pointed grand guardian of the Alhambra in 1492. From his great influence at the court of Ferdinand and Isabella, he was usually called rex tertim, " the third king." III. Diego Hnrtado de, son of the count Tendilla, and grandnephew of the marquis de Santillana, born in Granada about 1503, died in Madrid in April, 1575. He was educated at the univer- sity of Salamanca, and learned Arabic at Gra- nada, where he wrote his Lazarlllo de Tormes (Antwerp and Burgos, 1554). This is a satiri- cal romance, and became the foundation for the whole class of Spanish fictions in the genera picaresco, which the Gil Bias of Le Sage sub- sequently made famous throughout Europe. The Lazarillo was attributed by a conscien- tious authority to Jose de Sigiienza. (See Nicolas Antonio's Bibliotheca Nova, vol. i., p. 291.) A Paris edition was published in 1620, and a French translation (including a second part from another pen, very inferior to Men- doza's) in the same year. The first part was prohibited by the inquisition. After leaving the university he served in the Spanish armies in Italy, where he profited by the teaching of the professors at Bologna, Padua, and Rome. Charles V. sent him as ambassador to the re- public of Venice in 1538, and there he exerted himself for the collection of Greek manu- scripts. He was charged with the imperial in- terests in the council of Trent, whence he was withdrawn in 1547, to command the Spanish garrison at Siena. Having been expelled from Siena by the inhabitants, he set out immediate- ly as special plenipotentiary to Rome. For six years he was regarded as the head of the im- perial party throughout Italy. He returned to Spain when the emperor changed his policy before abdication. Philip II. banished him from court in 1567, and he retired to Granada. Toward the end of 1574 he was permitted to return to Madrid; but he soon died. His poems display the old Castilian national tone of sentiment and reflection, modified by his