MURCIA contains the two provinces, _Murcia_ and _Albacete_. The first faces the Mediterranean; the second, besides comprising the Sierras of Alcazar and Segura, climbs those boundary mountains, and advances far into the plateau of La Mancha, and thus contains within its limits the sources of the Guadiana as well as those of the Mundo and the Segura. _Murcia_, in its higher parts, is very thinly peopled, and in spite of the fertile plains in the lower course of the Segura and the Sangonera, and the rich mining district round Cartagena, has only two-thirds as many inhabitants to the square mile as Valencia. Murcia is perhaps the driest province of Spain, and the one in which the want of water is the most generally felt, yet it is in this province that the floods are the most pernicious and destructive. Year by year the irrigation works become less effective. Ancient dams broken down by the floods are not restored. Since 1856, however, a new source of wealth has been opened to this province by the export of the esparto grass, which grows on all the low hills, and which, in addition to its use in the country for numerous native fabrics, is now largely exported for paper-making. The export began only in 1856. In 1873 it had reached 67,000 tons for England alone; in 1875 the money value of the whole export was 400,000_l._, but it declined to 30,000_l._ in 1877, and 284,000_l._ in 1878, since which date it has gradually lessened. Murcia, the chief city, is an irrigated plain on the Segura, has a population of 91,000. It is one of the chief seats of silk cultivation in Spain. Lorca (52,000), on the Sangonera, offers another example of the extreme fertility that can be obtained by irrigation in a suitable climate. Cartagena (75,000), with its grand harbour and docks, is one of the three naval arsenals in Spain; but has greatly fallen from its ancient wealth and importance. Like Barcelona and Valencia it has distinguished itself by its extreme democratic and cantonalist opinions, and has revolted against the republic equally as against the monarchy. In its neighbourhood are some of the richest lead and silver mines in Spain, and which have been worked since Carthaginian and Roman times. The coal imported from England for smelting purposes amounts to 80,000 tons yearly. The tonnage of British vessels employed was over 200,000 in 1877. Along the coast are various lagoons and salt-lakes (salinas), where salt is made on a considerable scale; it is exported chiefly to the Baltic. The Barilla plant, for making soda, is also cultivated along the coast; and, of the plants in the salinas, it is computed that at least one-sixth of the species are African. _Albacete_ (16,000), situated at the junction both of road and railway from Murcia and Valencia to Madrid, is chiefly celebrated for its trade in common cutlery. It is here that the large stabbing knives (navajas) are made, and for the use of which both Valencians and Murcians have an unenviable notoriety.