COMMUNICATIONS OF THE IBERIAN PENINSULA.—Madrid, which is the natural meeting-place of routes across the Meseta, may be regarded as the centre of the railway system of the Iberian Peninsula. It is connected with the French railways by a line which crosses the Sierra de Guadarrama, and, after passing through Valladolid and Burgos, descends from the Meseta by the Pass of Pancorbo, crosses the Ebro at Miranda de Ebro, and runs to San Sebastian on the frontier. From this line there are connections with the ports of Bilbao, Santander, and Gijon, and from Leon on the last of these a branch breaks off and goes by the valleys of the Sil and the Minho to Vigo, while near the confluence of these rivers a second branch strikes off to the north-west for Corunna. Another route from the capital descends into the valley of the Ebro at Saragossa where it meets a line which follows the valley of that river for the greater part of the way from Miranda de Ebro to Tarragona on the Mediterranean seaboard. The south-east sea board is connected with the capital by lines to Valencia ; by Albacete to Alicante, Cartagena, and Aguilas ; and to Almeria. From near
Linares on the last of these a railway makes use of the valley of the Guadalquivir to go to Cordoba (connected with Malaga and Gibraltar) and Seville (connected with Cadiz and Huelva). The ports on the Mediterranean from Perpignan as far south as Aguilas are linked up by' a line to the coast for the greater part of the way. To Portugalthere are several lines. One runs westwards, south of the Sierra de Gredos, to Plasencia where it bifurcates ; one branch going northwards to Salamanca, and then crossing over into the valley of the Douro which it follows to Oporto, and the other going westwards into the valley of the Tagus which it follows to Lisbon. From Salamanca a line runs north to meet that from Leon to Vigo, and from a junction near Caceres (on the route to Lisbon) another runs south to Huelva. Lisbon is connected with Faro in the south, and through Oporto and Vigo with Santiago in the north.