tribes in Spain which it may be worth while to notice, such as the Gipsies, who seem still to keep themselves tolerably distinct in Andalusia and in the south, but who in more than one instance have completely coalesced with the Basques in the north. The Maragatos, the trusted _Arrieros_ or muleteers of Leon, a remnant apparently of a wild Berber tribe, left behind when the more civilized Moors retreated southwards before the advance of the Christian conquerors; the Passiegos near Bilbao, the men of the Sayago, the Hurdes of the Batuecas, the Chuetas of Majorca, these and several minor tribes, remnants, perhaps, of older populations whose ethnic affinities have never been made out, are too few in numbers to affect the general population; but are of interest to the ethnologist from the survivals of ancient laws and customs which are still observed among them. One class, not a tribe, the wretched commercial policy of Spain has developed to a greater extent than in any other country, that of the smuggler or contrabandista. He differs greatly in different districts, and even on the same line of frontier. In some parts contrabandista is almost synonymous with bandit, in others he is honest in his illegal trade, and more to be trusted with immense sums than the officials who arrest him. In a small way he is a type of the many contradictions of Spanish character and of "the things of Spain." [Illustration: CABALLEROS. _Page 86._] [Illustration: DOMINIQUE, THE ESPADA.] [Illustration: GIPSIES AT GRANADA. _Page 90._] CHAPTER V. DESCRIPTION OF PROVINCES. Spain was formerly divided into some fourteen separate provinces or kingdoms, once ruled by distinct and independent sovereigns, and under very different political conditions. It was not until the taking of Granada, in 1492, that the whole nation became, even nominally, subject to the joint sovereigns Ferdinand and Isabella; and for long afterwards Aragon and Catalonia preserved a semi-independence, while, even to our own day, the Basque Provinces and Navarre were really an independent republic united to the Spanish crown. Since 1841, however, the whole country has been divided for administrative purposes into forty-eight provinces, including the Balearic Isles.