“ The rocky and bare highland of Cuenca on the north and east includes the upper valley of the Jucar and its tributary streams, but in the north-west the province is watered by tributaries of the Tagus. The forests are proverbial for their pine timber, and rival those of Soria; considerable quantities of timber are floated down the Tagus to Aranjuez and thence taken to Madrid for building purposes. Excessive droughts prevail; the climate of the hills and of the high plateaus is harsh and cold, but the valleys are excessively hot in summer. ”

“ The roads are in such a backward condition that they cripple not only the mining interests but also the exports of timber, and at the beginning of the 20th century there was no railway except a branch line which passed westwards from Aranjuez through Tarancon to Cuenca, the capital (pop. 1900, 10,756) . No other town has as many as 6000 inhabitants, and no other Spanish province is so thinly populated as Cuenca. In 1900 there were only 37.6 inhabitants per sq. m. Education is backward, and extreme poverty almost universal among the peasantry. ”

“ The soil, where well watered, is fertile, but little attention is paid to agriculture, and three-fourths of the area is left under pasture. The rearing of cattle, asses, mules and sheep is the principal employment of the people ”