Guadiana

“ The soil appeared rich enough in some parts, but it lay untended and untilled, for the roll of the drum and the glitter of arms had scared away the husbandman and vine-dresser, making the once peaceful peasantry either prowling plunderers, or fierce and savage guerillas, turning the plough-share into a sword, and a fertile country into a neglected wilderness.
As the wood of La Nava lessened in the rear, the city of Merida, situated on a high hill, around the base of which the Guadiana wandered amid groves of cork-wood, laurel, and olive, presented itself to view. ”

“ FRENCH SIEGE OF BADAJOS.
This city stands on a tongue of land at the confluence of the Guadiana with the Rivillas; the first is a noble river five hundred yards broad, the second a trifling stream. A rock, one hundred feet high, and crowned by an old castle, overhangs the meeting of the waters, and the town, spreading out like a fan as the land opens between the rivers, is protected by eight regular curtains and bastions, from twenty-three to thirty feet in height, with good counterscarps, covered way, and glacis. On the left bank of the Guadiana the outworks were, 1o. ”

“ In the confluence of the two rivers mentioned it is the Guadiana that chiefly lends its serpentine course to the formation of a vast series of lagoons, with islands and islets, cane-brakes and shallows overgrown by reeds, sedge, and marsh-plants, all traversed in every direction by open channels (called trochas) , the whole constituting a complication so extensive that none save experienced boatmen can thread a way through its labyrinths. ”

“ This celebrated city, of which so much has been said and written, stands on an extended plain equidistant three leagues from Elvas and Campo Mayor. The Guadiana which hereabouts forms the boundary between Spain and Portugal, flows on one side of the fortification, and connects with them by a bridge over its surface, one or two forts on the opposite banks. The fortress on all sides is surrounded by strong bastions to the number of thirteen or fourteen, which with trenches and other forts and outworks rendered it almost impregnable. ”

“ Leaving the barren basin of the Guadiana to proceed southward, we find across our path a range of first-rate importance, the southern boundary of the central plateaux of Spain: dropping down from its crest we are no longer among high uplands, but in the broad low-lying semi-tropical plain of Andalusia, the richest region of Spain. The chain between the fertile valley of the Guadalquivir and the barren plateau of La Mancha is known for the greater part of its course as the Sierra Morena, but in its western section it takes the name of Sierra de Constantino. ”

“ About twelve in the afternoon of the 6th of January 1836, I crossed the bridge of the Guadiana, a boundary river between Portugal and Spain, and entered Badajoz, a strong town in the latter kingdom, containing about eight thousand inhabitants, supposed to have been founded by the Romans. ”

“ Below, in the Campo de Montiel, beside the bare shores of a chain of lakes bordering the course of the river Guadiana, Don Enrique and Du Guesclin are watching in their tents. How can they seize the king? ”

“ The Tagus and Guadiana flow from east to west through a monotonous country, level or slightly undulating, often almost uninhabited, and covered with a thin growth of shrubs and grass. Perhaps the most characteristic feature of this tableland is the vast heaths of gum-cistus, which in spring colour the whole landscape with leagues of yellow blossom, and in summer change to a brown and arid wilderness.
The climate in summer is hot but not unhealthy, except in the swamps which occur along the Guadiana. The rainfall is scanty; dew, however, is abundant and the nights are cool. ”

“ The retreat of Marshal Soult from Cadiz, in the direction of Valencia, and that of the Count D'Erlon from the banks of the Guadiana to join him, having rendered our stay in Estremadura no longer necessary, [Pg 182] we bade adieu to Don Benito on the 13th of September, crossed the Guadiana at a ford about a mile from the town, and marched to Majaides. Next morning our brigade occupied Villa-Macia, and on the 15th Truxillo. ”

“ Local prosperity was greatly enhanced during the period 1875–1905 by the improvement of communications, which enabled the grain, fruit and wine of the Guadiana valley, on the north, and of the upland known as the Tierra de Barros, on the south, to be readily exported by the Merida-Seville railway. Brandy is produced in large quantities. ”

“ Taking at this time no part in the intrigues of the court, he crossed the Guadiana into Andalusia on 8 Jan. 1666, and captured Algueria de la Puebla, but, being compelled by lack of provisions to return to Estremos, he joined the court at Salvaterra. He was for some time laid up by illness, but, recovering, he quitted Lisbon about the middle of April, and, having furnished his troops with fifteen days' provisions, he again crossed the Guadiana. His action was not approved by the government, and, returning to Estremos in June, he shortly afterwards proceeded to Lisbon. ”

“ By this Well there runs a little Rivulet, which gives head to that famous River call'd the Guadiana; which running for some Leagues under Ground, affords a pretence for the Natives to boast of a Bridge on which they feed many Thousands of Sheep. When it rises again, it is a fine large River, and after a Currency of many Leagues, empties it self into the Atlantick Ocean.
As to military Affairs, Almanar and Saragosa were Victories so compleat, that no Body made the least doubt of their settling the Crown of Spain upon the Head of Charles the Third, without a Rival. ”

“ On retiring behind the Guadiana, Cuesta took up an excellent position between Medellin, and Don Benito, with his right resting on the Guadiana, and his left on an almost inaccessible mountain. In fact, it was so well chosen, that Victor was compelled to use stratagem, before he could [Pg 140] with prudence make any attempt to drive his opponent from his stronghold. ”

“ NEW CASTILE and LA MANCHA comprise the five modern provinces of Ciudad Real, Toledo, Madrid, Cuenca, and Guadalajara, which all take their names from their chief towns. The province of Ciudad Real, which lies between the Sierra de Morena and the mountains of Toledo, is traversed by the Guadiana. It is the most thinly populated of all the provinces of Spain, having only thirteen inhabitants to the square kilometre; but it is by no means the least wealthy. ”

“ Guadeloupe (168) , a French island among the Lesser Antilles, in the W. Indies; is subject to earthquakes; produces sugar and coffee; has belonged to France since 1816.
Guadiana, an important river of Spain, has its source in the E. of the plateau of Mancha, and for a short distance is known as the Zancara, flows in a westerly direction as far as Badajoz, where it bends to the S., then forms the border between Portugal and Spain for a short distance, bends into Alemtejo, and again, ere reaching the Gulf of Cadiz, divides the two countries ”

“ In the whole valley there are only two towns of any size, Ciudad Real, the capital of La Mancha, and Badajoz, the frontier fortress against Portugal. The mountains north of the Guadiana are called first the Sierra de Toledo, then the Sierra de Guadalupe, lastly on the Portuguese frontier the Sierra de San Mamed. Their peculiarity, as opposed to the other cross-ranges of the Peninsula, is that at their eastern end they do not unite directly with the mountains of Valencia, but leave a broad gap of upland, through which the roads from Madrid to Murcia and Madrid to Valencia take their way. ”

“ East of the Guadiana the outliers of the Spanish Sierra Morena enter Portuguese territory. The Serra Grandola and Monte Cercal, two low ranges stretching from north to south, skirt the coast of southern Estremadura. In the extreme south the ranges are more closely massed together. They include Monchique, with the peak of Foya or Foia (2963 ft.) , and various lower ranges. There are numerous large expanses of level country, the most notable of these being the plains (campos) of the Tagus valley, and of Aviz or Benavilla, Beja and Ourique, in Alemtejo ”

“ The Bastetani whom I have mentioned, together with the people on the other side the Guadiana, and many of the places adjacent, belong to Turdetania. The size of this country in its length and breadth does not exceed two thousand stadia, still it contains a vast number of towns; two hundred, it is said. Those best known are situated on the rivers, estuaries, and sea; but the two which have acquired the greatest name and importance are, Corduba, founded by Marcellus,1022 and the city of the Gaditanians.1023 The latter for its naval importance, and its alliance with the Romans ”

“ Toledo is well watered by the Tagus and its affluents, the Tajuna, Jarama, Guadarrama, Alberche, and Tietar on the north, and the Algodor, Torcon, Pusa, Sangrera, and Cedron on the south. The Guadiana forms for a short distance the south-western frontier, and its tributary the Giguela waters the eastern part of the province. The country is rich in minerals, as yet almost entirely unworked, containing veins of gold, silver, lead, iron, quicksilver, copper, and tin. ”

“ The northern districts (Los Pedroches) are drained by several small tributaries of the Guadiana. The climate is much varied. Snow is to be found for months on the highest peaks of the mountains; mild temperature in the plains, except in the few torrid summer months, when rain seldom falls. ”

“ It would be useless, Rima; they are all savages, and live widely scattered in the forests, hunting with bow and arrow and the zabatana. Consider, then, how large Guayana is!"
"Guayana—Guayana! Do I not know all this is Guayana? But beyond, and beyond, and beyond? Is there no end to Guayana?"
"Yes; there northwards it ends at the Orinoco, a mighty river, coming from mighty mountains, compared with which Ytaioa is like a stone on the ground on which we have sat down to rest. You must know that Guayana is only a portion, a half, of our country, Venezuela. ”

“ Even the Guadaljorce does not approach within a mile of the city, which depends upon its fountains for water; for though a fine rivulet flows down from the mountains at the back of the city, washing the eastern base of the castle hill, and sweeping round to the westward, where it unites with the Guadaljorce, yet it merely serves to render the valley fruitful, and to turn the wheels of the mills which supply the city with flour and oil. ”

“ La Guayra is the chief seaport of Venezuela. It lies at the edge of a chain of great mountains, where they come down to wet their feet in the ocean, and Caracas, the capital, is stowed away three thousand feet higher up behind these mountains, and could only be bombarded in time of war by shells that would rise like rockets and drop on the other side of the mountains, and so cover a distance quite nine miles away from the vessel that fired them. Above La Guayra, on the hill, is a little fortress which was once the residence of the Spanish governor when Venezuela was a colony of Spain. ”

“ Sugar-cane and coffee are cultivated in the vicinity, and fruits of various kinds are produced in great abundance. The elevation of the town is 3353 ft. above the sea, and it has a remarkably uniform temperature throughout the whole year. Guaduas has a pretty church facing upon its plaza, and an old monastery now used for secular purposes. The importance of the town sprang from its position on the old camino real between Bogotá and Honda, an importance that has passed away with the completion of the railway from Girardot to the Bogotá plateau. ”

“ The alternative suggestion that Guayaná is an Indian word signifying ’wild coast,’ I also think untenable. This term, applied to the north-east frontage of South America between the Orinoco and the Amazon, is found on the old Dutch map of Hartsinck, who calls it ’Guiana Caribania of de Wilde Kust,’ a name which must have well described it when, in 1580, some Zealanders, of the Netherlands, sent a ship to cruise along it, from the mouth of the Amazon to that of the Orinoco, and formed the first settlement near the river Pomeroon. ”

“ From Rio the Hercule called in succession at Guiana, Martinique and Guadaloupe. The low shores of Guiana are clothed with mangrove swamps, the trees of which seemed scarlet, so covered were they with red ibises! Nothing more gay-looking can be imagined than the Cayenne River, and the pretty town standing on its banks—the wooden houses all separated from each other by gardens in which the tropical vegetation displays an unexampled luxuriance and variety. ”

“ We know that the Supreme cannot Himself be everywhere, attending to each little trick-track that arises in the world—matters altogether beneath His notice; and that He must, like the President of Venezuela or the Emperor of Brazil, appoint men—angels if you like—to conduct His affairs and watch over each district. And it is manifest that for this country of Guayana the proper person has not been appointed. Every evil is done and there is no remedy, and the Christian has no more consideration shown him than the infidel. ”

“ My speech was long, lasting at least half an hour, delivered in a profound silence; it was chiefly occupied with an account of my wanderings in Guayana; and being little more than a catalogue of names of all the places I had visited, and the tribes and chief or head men with whom I had come in contact, I was able to speak continuously, and so to hide my ignorance of a dialect which was still new to me. The Guayana savage judges a man for his staying powers. To stand as motionless as a bronze statue for one or two hours watching for a bird; to sit or lie still for half a day ”