The eastern declivity of the table-land, from the mouth of the Ebro to Cabo de Palos, contains four regions, which differ in their natural features and productive powers. The most northern extends from the Ebro to Murviedro. Along the sea-shore there is a narrow strip of level ground, hardly more than two or three miles wide, which in a few places is interrupted by low hills. It is generally fertile, and iu some places highly fertile. The hills which lie at the back of it, and the valleys between them, are also tolerably fertile and well cul tivated, but where the country approaches the high table-land of Cuenca the toil is dry and leas productive.
South of this billy country is the plain of Valencia, which extends on the sea-shore from Murviedro to Gaudin, a distance of more than 40 miles, and in its widest part, at the back of the town of Valencia, It extends about twenty miles inland. It Is abundantly irrigated, and the whole is under cultivation. It is no leas noted for the great variety of its fruits, and rich crops of rice, wheat, and other grain, than for the mildness of the climate, which never experiences frost, but yet is not considered healthy.
The country which lies south of the plain of Valencia, and extends along the seashore from Candle to the vicinity of Alicante and Elche, Is extremely broken. It may be considered the most eastern offset of the great table-land, for its central districts are at a great elevation above the sea-level, as may be Inferred from the severe cold which is experienced in the winter months, and from the circumstance that the most elevated ridges south of Aleoy, for some months of the year, ere covered with snow. The valleys are usually narrow, and the level tracts between the mountains are of small extent, and their fertility not much above mediocrity, but all the arable land is cultivated with great industry, and the crops of maize and corn are tolerably abundant. (VALENCIA.] South of this mountainous region the eastern declivity of the table land extends much farther inland. On the wed it reaches to the Sierra de Segura, and on the south it extends to 37° 20' N. lat. The western portion of this region (west of 2° W. long.) is almost entirely filled up with mountains which rise to between 4000 and 5000 feet above the sea-level. It is probable that the general elevation of the valleys is not less than 2000 feet, and that this tract uuitea the great table-land with the mountain region of the Sierra Nevada. Tho long narrow valleys are not fertile, and they are badly cultivated. East of 2° W. long. the mountains recede and leave wide valleys between them, which are distinguished by considerable fertility, and are covered with corn-fields and plantations of fruit-trees. [11lums.] The bask of the river Guadalquivir lies between the great table land and tho mountain region of the Sierra Nei-ada. On the north is the Sierra Morena, and on the east the Sierra de Segura and the Sierra de Sagra. The mountains which constitute the southern boundary
line run along 37° 35' N. lat., cast of 4° 30' W. long., but west of that meridian they decline to the south-west and terminate on the Atlantic in Cape Trafalgar. The lower level of this country is about 1500 feet below the high countries which lie north and south of it. The source of the river Guadalquivir is only 526 feet above the sea-level. Such a difference in the level of tho country must of course be attended by a corresponding difference in vegetation and productions. (Atinatucte.) Myrna—Spain is drained by a great number of rivers, and some of them rim for several hundred miles; but only a very few are navigable for small boats, and that only towards their mouths. Most of the rivers have only a very small quantity of water. This is mainly to be ascribed to the small amount of rain which falls on the table-land and the adjacent tracts, in which almost all the rivers rise; and this small quantity is very soon evaporated, as the highest parts of the interior are destitute of trees. Though the number of mountain ranges is very great, most of them are only for a few months of the year covered with a thin layer of snow, which dissolves very rapidly. It is remarkable that those rivers which are navigable become so only at places where they are joined by tributaries which originate in such mountains as rise above the snow-line. The Ebro becomes navigable at Tudela, after having been joined by the Aragon, which originates with numerous branches in the snow-covered mountains which sur round the Pie du Midi. The Tagus is not navigable even for small boats above Alcantara, a town situated near the boundary of Portugal, and where it is joined by the Alagon, which river is supplied during the whole year with water from the snow-covered summit of the Sierra de Credos. The Guadalquivir can only be navigated by small boats from the town of Palma downwards, fur at that place it receives the Jenil, which derives the great supply of water that it brings down from the Sierra Nevada. The Duero begins to be navigable at the confluence of the Saber, and after having received the Esla, which originates in the Asturian Mountains. But though the rivers of Spain are nearly useless for the transport of its productions, they are of great importance for fertilising the ground by irrigation. This practice is nearly general in all the countries which extend along tho Mediter ranean, and in the basin of the Guadalquivir. It cannot be intro duced on tho table-land, as the rivers which water it generally run in so deep a bed, and so mach below the general surface of the country, that their waters cannot be made available fur that purpose. In the northern and north-western maritime countries the rains are sufficiently abundant for the growth of corn without such artificial means.