Page:The Burton Holmes lectures; (IA burtonholmeslect04holm).pdf/247



Southern Spain

It is a remarkable fact that Spain, the proud land under whose flag the first ships sailed across the broad Atlantic to our shores, should now lie almost untouched by the great tide of travel from America. Spain dared and did the most to transform the mysterious western ocean from a place of vague terrors into a mighty highway for the commerce of two worlds, and yet her seaports now play no important parts as termini for transatlantic steamship lines, nor is it possible to reach them save by circuitous voyages or in inferior ships.