the island. The people are industrious and hospitable, and pique themselves on their loyalty and orthodoxy. They are often but poorly educated, and their superstition is great ; crime, however, is rare. Vaccination is common throughout the island, except in the cities, the women of ten "performing the operation themselves when medical assistance cannot be got. Castilian is spoken by the upper and commercial classes ; the lower and agricultural employ a dialect resembling that of the Catalans, with whom, also, their general appearance and manners connect them. Besides the towns already mentioned, Lluchmayor and Campos are places of considerable size ; and the castle of Belbez near Palma, which was the former residence of the kings, is worthy of notice. Population of the island,
204,000.
Minorca, the second of the group in size, is situated 27 miles E.N.E. of Majorca. It has an area of 260 square miles, and extends about 35 miles in length. The coast is deeply indented, especially on the north, with numerous creeks and bays, that of Port Mahon being one of the finest in the Mediterranean, if not the best of them all, as the couplet of Andrea Doria quaintly puts it—
" Junio, Julio, Agosto, y puerto Mahon Los mejores puertos del Mediterraneo son "
" June, July, August, and Port Mahon are the best har bours of the Mediterranean." The ports Addaya, Fornelle, Ciudadela, and Nitja may also be mentioned. The surface of the island is uneven, flat in the south and rising irregularly towards the centre, where the mountain El Toro probably so called from the Arabic Tor, a height, though the natives have a legend of a toro or bull has an altitude of 5250 feet. Owing to want of shelter from mountains, the climate is not so equable as that of Majorca, and the island is exposed in autumn and winter to the violence of the north winds. The soil of the island is of very unequal quality ; that of the higher districts being light, fine, and fertile, and producing regular harvests without much labour or cultivation, while that of the plains is chalky, scanty, and alike unfit for pasture and the plough. Some of the valleys have a good alluvial soil; and where the hills have been terraced, they are cultivated to the summit. The wheat and barley raised in the island are sometimes sufficient for home consumption ; there is rarely a surplus. The Hedysarum coronarium, or zulla, as it is called by the Spaniards, is largely cultivated for fodder. Wine, oil, potatoes, legumes, hemp, and flax are produced in moderate quantities ; fruit of all kinds, including melons, pomegranates, figs, and almonds, is abundant. The moniato, or sweet potato, is grown and exported to Algeria. The caper plant is common through out the island, growing on ruined walls. Horned cattle, sheep, goats, &c., are reared, and the island abounds with small game. Stone of various kinds is plentiful ; a soft stone, easily quarried, and acquiring hardness by exposure, is used for building. In the district of Mercaclal and in Mount Santa Agueda are found marbles and porphyries superior to those of Italy, and lime and slate are also abundant. Lead, copper, and iron might be worked were it not for the scarcity of fuel. There are manufactures of the wool, hemp, and flax of the island ; and formerly there was a , good deal of boat-building; but, with the exception of agriculture, all branches of industry are comparatively neglected. The principal exports are wheat, cattle, cotton- stuffs, and shoes. A n excellent road, constructed in 1 7 1 3-1 5 by Brigadier Kane, to whose memory a monument was erected at the first milestone, runs through the island from S.E. to N.W., and connects Port Mahon with Ciudadela, passing by Alayor, Mercadal, and Ferrerias. Ciudadela, which was the capital of the island till Mahon was raised to that position by the English during their occupancy of the island, still possesses considerable remains of its former importance. Population of the island, 39,000.
Iviga, Iviza, or, in Spanish, Ibiza, the Ebusus of the ancients, lies 50 miles S.W. of Majorca, and about 60 from Cape San Martin on the coast of Spain, between 38 50 and 39 8 N. lat, and between 1 14 and 1 38 E. long. Its greatest length from N.E. to S.W. is about 25 miles, and its greatest breadth about 13. The coast is indented by numerous small bays, the principal of which are those of San Antonio on the N.W., and of Iviza on the S.E. coast. Of all the Balearic group, Iviza is the most varied in its scenery and the most fruitful. The hilly parts are richly wooded. It was on one of the summits called Campsey that one of the stations in the celebrated measure ment of an arc of the meridian was placed. The climate is for the most part mild and agreeable, though the hot winds from the African coast are sometimes troublesome. Oil, corn, and fruits (of which the most important are the common fig, the prickly pear, the almond, and the carob- bean) are the principal productions of the island ; but the inhabitants are rather indolent, and their modes of culture are very primitive. Hemp and flax are also grown. There are numerous salt-pans along the coast, which were formerly worked by the Spanish Government, but are now in the hands of a joint-stock company. Carob-beans, almonds, charcoal, and lead are the other articles of export, to which may be added stockings of native manufacture The imports are rice, flour, and sugar, woollen goods, and cotton. The capital of the island, and, indeed, the only town of much importance, for the population is remarkably scattered, is Iviza or La Ciudad, a fortified town on the S.E. coast, con sisting of a lower and upper portion, and possessing a good harbour. The population of the island is about 21,000, o whom-5500 are resident in the capital.
South of Iviza lies the smaller and more irregular island of Formentera, which is said to derive its name from the production of wheat. It is situated between 1 22 and 1 37 E. long. With Iviza it agrees both in general appearance and in the character of its productions, but it is altogether destitute of streams. Goats and sheep are found in the mountains, and the coasts are greatly frequented by flamingoes. The last station in the measurement of the arc of the meridian was in this island.
There are several smaller islands in the Balearic group, such as Cabrera, or Goat Island, and Conejera, or Babbit Island, south of Majorca, but none of them are of any size or importance except Cabrera, which is full of caverns, and is used as a place of banishment. In 1808 it was the scene of a deed of gross barbarity a large number of Frenchmen being landed on the island, and almost allowed to perish for want of food.
Of the origin of the early inhabitants of the Balearic Islands nothing is certainly known, though Greek and Roman writers refer to Boeotian and Rhodian settlements. According to general tradi tion the natives, from whatever quarter derived, were a strange and savage people till they received some tincture of civilisation from the Carthaginians, who early took possession of the islands, and built themselves cities on their coasts. Of these cities, Mahon, the most important, still retains the name which it derived from the family of Mago. About twenty-three years after the destruc tion of Carthage the Romans accused the people of the islands of piracy, and sent against them Q. Csecilius Metellus, who soon reduced them to obedience, settled amongst them 3000 Roman and Spanish colonists, founded the cities of Talma and Pollentia, and introduced the cultivation of the olive. Besides valuable contin gents of the celebrated Balearic slingers the Romans derived from their new conquest mules (from Minorca), edible snails, sinope, and pitch. Of their occupation numerous traces still exist, the most remarkable being the aqueduct at Pollentia,
In 423 A.D. the islands were taken possession of by the Vandals, and in 798 by the Moors. They became a separate Moorish king dom in 1009, which, becoming extremely obnoxious for piracy, waa the object of a crusade directed against it by Pope Pascal II., ia
