But besides these greater chains of mountains Spain is traversed by numerous offshoots and lateral ranges, and a great portion of her territory is more or less of a mountainous character. In districts where rain is unfrequent these hills are absolutely bare of verdure for a great part of the year, and remain untenanted and uncultivated. Among the more elevated of these lesser chains are those of Monseni, Monserrat, and Montagut, in Catalonia, which attain respectively 5500, 4000, and 3000 feet in height. On the borders of Leon and Galicia, and in the latter province, there are numerous mountains and smaller ranges, which vary from 3000 to 5000 feet. The whole frontier of Portugal is covered by lower ranges, connecting the great chains of which we have already spoken with hills of from 2000 to 3000 feet. From the great eastern buttress two spurs, or rolling plateaux, run down to the Mediterranean, and terminate in the different headlands--such as Cape Gata in the south-east, Cape Palos near Carthagena, Capes de la Nao and San Antonio near Denia, Peniscola, and others. Some of these smaller ranges are exceedingly rich in minerals, and as they approach the sea form sites of picturesque and enchanting beauty, such as can be surpassed only by the better-known and historic glories of the coasts of Italy or of Greece. _Rivers of Spain._ Of the five great rivers of Spain only one, the Ebro, pours its waters into the Mediterranean; the other four, the Douro, Tagus, Guadiana, and Guadalquiver, discharge theirs into the Atlantic; but of these last the Guadalquiver alone is wholly a Spanish stream. In the lower and more valuable part of their course the Douro, Tagus, and Gaudiana, belong to Portugal--a fact which must always be remembered when treating of the internal commerce of Spain. But besides these larger streams there are several of slightly smaller dimensions, of which we will treat in order. Few countries present within so short a distance so great a difference in rainfall and moisture as does Spain. In some parts of the Asturias and Galicia the rainfall is probably as heavy as that of any part of Europe--as much as 147-1/2 inches are said to have been measured in a single year; and the average fall on the northern slopes of the Cantabrian mountains is said to be sixty inches annually. Yet the average of the whole basin of the Ebro--which rises from the southern slopes of the Picos de Europa, one of the most rainy of the rainy districts--is only eighteen inches annually, the last 300 miles of its course being through almost barren districts, where rain seldom falls.