rched chalky soil remains saturated with
salt, while many of the smaller streams run brackish. As the mountains
of Valencia and Catalonia effectually bar out the fertilizing moisture
of the sea-winds, much of the province is a sheer wilderness, stony,
ash-coloured, scarred with dry watercourses, and destitute of any
vegetation except thin grass and heaths. In contrast with the splendid
fertility of Valencia or the south of France, the landscape of this
region, like the rest of central Spain, seems almost a continuation of
the north African desert area. There are, however, extensive oak, pine
and beech forests in the highlands, and many beautiful oases in the
deeply sunk valleys, and along the rivers, especially beside the Ebro,
which is, therefore, often called the "Nile of Aragon." In such oases
the flora is exceedingly rich. Wheat, maize, rice, oil, flax and hemp,
of fine quality, are grown in considerable quantities; as well as
saffron, madder, liquorice, sumach, and a variety of fruits. Merino wool
is one of the chief products.

In purity of race the Aragonese are probably equal to the Castilians, to
whom, rather than to the Catalans or Valencians, they are also allied in
character. The dress of the women is less distinctive than that of the
men, who wear a picturesque black and white costume, with knee-breeches,
a brilliantly coloured sash, black hempen sandals, and a handkerchief
wound round the head.

Three counties--Sobrarbe, situated near the headwaters of the Cinca,
Aragon, to the west, and Ribagorza or Ribagorca, to the east--are
indicated by tradition and the earliest chronicles as the cradle of the
Aragonese monarchy. These districts were never wholly subdued when the
Moors overran the country (711-713). Sobrarbe especially was for a time
the headquarters of the Christian defence in eastern Spain. About 1035,
Sancho III. the Great, ruler of the newly established kingdom of
Navarre, which included the three counties above mentioned, bequeathed
them to Gonzalez and Ramiro, his sons. Ramiro soon rid himself of his
rival, and welded Sobrarbe, Ribagorza and Aragon into a single kingdom,
which thenceforward grew rapidly in size and power and shared with
Castile the chief part in the struggle against the Moors. The history of
this period, which was terminated by the union of Castile and Aragon
under Ferdinand and Isabella in 1479, is given, along with a full
account of the very interesting constitution of Aragon,