_Cordova._--The interior provinces of Andalusia are _Cordova_ and _Jaen_, both on the Guadalquiver, the latter embracing the sources and upper part of the course, the former the central portion before it enters the province of Seville. The northern part of the province of Cordova is covered by parallel ranges of low mountains running east and west--the Sierras de Cordova and de Pedroches within the province, and the Sierras de Almaden and Morena, which form the boundary of Castile. _Cordova_, the capital, contains now but 49,000 inhabitants in place of the 1,000,000 who dwelt there when it was the seat of the western khalifat. Its mosque, almost the sole remnant of its former splendour, with its 1200 columns, is to Islam what the temple of Karnac at Thebes, and that of Karnac in Brittany, with their 100 pillars, are to the religions of Egypt and of prehistoric Europe. It is perhaps the grandest building for worship ever raised by Moslem hands; its materials were pillaged without scruple from shrines of older civilizations, but were wrought into new and fairer forms of beauty by the magic of Arabian art. As a Christian city, Cordova is of only second rank. It is chiefly noted for its leather work, and for its commerce in wines and fruits. It is to Cordova that the Amontillada sherry--the most prized of Spanish wines--comes, from the vineyards round Montilla (15,000). The only other town of importance in the province is Lucena (16,000), to the south. _Jaen_, like Huelva, at the opposite extremity of Andalusia, is a mining province, and like those of Huelva its mines are chiefly in the hands of Englishmen and of foreigners. Linares (36,000), north of the Guadalquiver, is the centre of the mining district, and is far the most populous town in the province. Nearly 11,000 men, women, and boys were employed in the lead-mines in 1877, and the ore raised amounted to 70,000 tons. It has been calculated that the production of the world is about 300,000 tons of lead, of which Spain furnishes 100,000 tons and the United Kingdom 100,000 tons. The capital, Jaen, south of the great river, has only 24,000 inhabitants; Ubeda and Baza, close together, a little south of Jaen, have each 15,000. Andujar (11,000), with its old bridge over the Guadalquiver, is noted for its porous pottery, the cooling water-jars used throughout the whole of Southern Spain. In the north of this province is the celebrated Pass of Despena-perros, through the Sierra Morena, one of the wildest gorges through which the traveller passes in any part of Europe; a few miles to the south of it is Las Navas de Tolosa, the field of the battle in 1212 which first proved how fast the power of the Moors was waning in Southern Spain.