Arizona weekly citizen., 1883-08-04
THE BASQUEs.
An Interesting Paper on the Biseay Pro
 Ninces.

At the meeting of the Geographical Society of the Pacific, last evening, T. l. Steven, the Vice-President read an in- terestin- paper on the Basque or Blscay provinces. The Basque provinces are three n number-Nisca!a, Gulpuzcoa and Alava-and are located III the north eastern part of Spain, being separated from France by the Pyrenees. Their area is about the sIze of Rhode Island. Their surface IS for the most part moun- tainous, but the soil IS fruitful and be- tween the hills are many fertile valleys. The inhabitants are sturdy and inde- pendent, hberty-loying, frank, generous and hospitable. The houses are built of stone and not much pretense Of style IS made, the ground floor generally serving as a stable. There are also great num- Der of castles, the speaker having count ed as many as seven III the same horizon. The population of Alava IS lOOOOO, and maintains 32l primary and two normal schools, besides university and a school of fine arts Tn the city of Nittoria. Guip- uzcoa maintains a population ot only | lSO,OOO souls on an area ofl2S,UOO square miles. 1t Is very mountainous and pic- turesque. This province has slxty-tiye villages and many hamlets. The cereals | produced are hardly sufficient for the in- ! habItants. The principal business m ! the province at the present time is iron mining, there being about one hundred mines. Formerly shipbuildIng was one of the chief occupations, but of late years It has not been engaged in much. Wis caya, the third province, Is smaller than
 the others. Its capital Is Bilbao, called "rhe Unconquered," founded toward
 the end of the twelfth century. The city | is kept in excellent order by the lnhab- | itants and no wheeled vehicles are sl-
 lowed in the streets. BilbaO IS the chief
 seaport of Northern Spain. Women as
 well as men are employed in unloading
 freight from vessels. The city has 8
 public promenade, upon which the citi-
 zens congregate every evening. Schools
 are numerous in this province. In the
 iron mines 5000 men are employed. | The customs of the Basques or Blscay
 ans are very peculiar. One IS as follows: Notice Is gwen throughout the province | that upon certain day literary com petition will be held. Judges are se- | lected and subject chosen, and he who can make the best extempore verses on
 the subject takes the prize.
 The Basque language IS entirely differ ent from the SpanIsh and Is one of the eldest in Europe. In enumerating they count as We do up to twenty and then di- vide with periods of tweniies instead of tens. Formerly the Basqnes had three codes of laws called the Fueros. The municipal Government was managed by a Council, and unless the edicts of the King of Spain were satisfied by those Councils they were not Obeyed. The Fueros forbade the entrance of any ne- gro, mulatto or Moor into the province, and all strangers had to prove the purity of their blood within sixty days, or leave the province
 During the wars of the eighteenth century these provinces acted almost as independent nations and made treaties with foreign Powers. The Fueros pro- yIded that . Biscayan could not be ar- rested for debt and an officer of the law could not approach within certain dis tance of citizens house without the latter's permission. In 1926 the provin- ces were subjected to a military con scriptiOn for the first tine and since then the Fueros have fallen into disuse and now the Basques can claim none of their ancient privileges. In the cities the Spanish language Is now generally spoken and 1t IS also taught in the shools, SO that the language of the ancient Basques will probably soon fall into disuse and be entirely forgotten.-I Chronicle.