The mineral springs of Spain are very numerous, as might be expected in a mountainous country, at the junction of different strata in the metamorphic fissures, and in the neighbourhood of extinct volcanoes. Many of them were known and used by the Romans, and possibly by other races before their time. The Moors made use of many, more especially in the south. The majority of these springs are much neglected, and the bathing establishments in their roughness are a striking contrast to those of Germany and of France; there is, however, no reason to suppose that the waters themselves are less efficacious. The best known springs lie along the line of the Pyrenees, in Catalonia, Navarre, and especially in the Basque provinces and Santander. Another noted group are in the neighbourhood of Granada, and on the northern slopes of the Sierra Nevada. Those in the Guadarrama range are more frequented, from their vicinity to Madrid. Many of the Salados and Salinas in the higher parts of the eastern range, as well as the springs in the neighbourhood of Valencia, might be utilized with advantage. In this, as in many other things, Spain has not yet recovered the threads of a lost civilization, and in many points of material comfort and well-being is behind the Spain of Roman and of Moorish times. CHAPTER II. CLIMATE AND PRODUCTIONS. Spain may be roughly divided into five climates: (1) that of the north and of the Pyrenees, where rain is abundant; (2) the west or Atlantic climate, including Portugal; (3) the north-east or Mediterranean; (4) the east and south, or African climate; and (5) lastly, the climate of the great Central Plateau, or the Continental. All these are well marked, and differ greatly in their temperature, in elevation, in exposure, in rainfall, and in prevailing winds. To speak of an average temperature, or of an average rainfall in Spain, is only to mislead. The temperature of the south and south-east is higher than that of the opposite coast of Africa, while the winters in Castile recall those of Scandinavia in their bitterness. In some of the Asturian valleys there is, perhaps, the heaviest rainfall in Europe; while the lower valley of the Ebro is almost a desert, from want of rain; and in parts of Valencia and Murcia, and even in Andalusia, not a drop will fall for years; yet at times these provinces, and their driest portions, are visited--as in 1802, 1879, and 1881--by overwhelming and destructive floods. To strike an average, then, even for the same spot, through several years, is often merely deceptive.