“ Towards the west, where the land is higher, there are considerable tracts of forest.
The climate is oppressively hot in summer, and in winter the plains are exposed to violent and bitterly cold winds; while the cultivation of grain, the vine and the olive is further impeded by the want of proper irrigation, and the general barrenness of the soil. Large flocks of sheep and goats find pasture in the plains ”

“ Coal is mined chiefly at Puertollano, lead in various districts, mercury at Almadén. There are no great manufacturing towns. The roads are insufficient and ill-kept, especially in the north-east where they form the sole means of communication ”