MURCIA, one of the provinces into which Spain is divided, and usually, on account of its ancient independence, denominated a kingdom. Its extent is 659 square leagues, and its population, at the census in 1804, amounted to 383,226 souls. It is bounded on the north by Valencia, on the east by the Mediterranean Sea, on the south by Granada, and on the west by New Castille. It produces wheat and barley, but not in quantities sufficient to feed its population. It has abundance of cattle on its pastures. Its rivers and coasts are well stored with every kind offish, and it produces the most delicious fruits. It has more of the articles of commerce to spare than are required to barter in exchange for corn. It produces wines, oil, silk, hemp, barilla, kelp, and esparto, which are sent in considerable quantities to the other provinces of the Peninsula, or to foreign ports. The mountainous parts of the district are covered with trees, which furnish the different kinds of timber fit for ship-building, and for constructions on shore. In a very considerable part to the south, called El Campo, the evil of excessive drought is often experienced. In the whole of Murcia, indeed, in ordinary years, there is a scarcity of rain, which induces the cultivation of kelp and barilla, for which a very small portion of moisture is requisite. In those years in which the showers are copious, the produce of the fields is most profuse, and then the grain sown has been known to yield an increase of a hundred for one.

The principal river, and that to which Murcia is indebted for its fertility, is the Segura, which in the first part of its course crosses the sterile and rocky district of Catas-parra, and then receiving the stream of the Munda, fertilizes the fruit-gardens and orange-groves of Hellin. It then passes through the delicious valley of Ricoi, which is a continued garden of oranges, lemons, citrons, pomegranates, and other fruits, the abundant crops of which exceed those of every other part of Spain. The natural productions of this province are a species of fine red earth, without any mixture of sand, which is used to polish crystals, and is mixed with the snuff in the royal manufactories. There is a large lake of salt water in the north-east part of Murcia, from which salt is refined for the use of the province. There are some very extensive manufactories of silk, though not sufficient to consume the whole quantity which the worms of the province yield. The hemp and flax grown are converted within the province into cordage and sail-cloth. Murcia has not much foreign commerce; the little which it has being carried on either by the vessels of other nations, or by those of the neighbouring provinces, particularly of Catalonia.

Though all Spanish writers describe Murcia as a most luxuriant and delightful country, their descriptions must be received with considerable abatement. Near the river Segura their representations are accurate; but when advancing on either side beyond its influence, the country presents a barren and almost uninhabited tract of land up to the mountains, scarcely a tree being anywhere to be seen. The climate is mild and warm, and, like the whole coast of the Mediterranean, has been frequently visited with epidemic fevers, which have thinned the population.

Murcia, a city in Spain, the capital of the province or kingdom of the same name. It is an inland place, and has the muddy but fertilizing river Segura passing through it. Near the city the Segura takes a turn to the north, and then to the eastward, in its way to the sea, thus enclosing a rich plain on whose produce the prosperity of the city depends. Though Murcia is on elevated ground, being 450 feet above the level of the sea, yet it is by no means free from agues, which are supposed to be brought on by the miasmata from the marshes. The city contains a population of 34,000 souls, who depend principally on the agriculture of the surrounding province, though the manufactories of silk afford employment and yield subsistence to a considerable portion of them. It is the see of a bishop, who has a splendid palace. The cathedral is a massive pile of building, and the steeple lofty, commanding an extensive prospect over a luxuriant country. The ascent to the top, like that of some other towers in Spain, is not by steps, but by an inclined plane winding round it, which allows the visitor, if disposed, to ascend on horseback to the top. In this church are preserved, without any remorse or reprobation, the names of the different Jews who have been executed here by the Inquisition. These are inscribed on banners, and hung up as trophies, as if the exercise of inhumanity were honourable to religion. Some other buildings deserve notice. The seminary of St Fulgentius, destined to prepare youth for the ecclesiastical profession, is a pile of considerable magnitude, and of some taste; but the most striking is the edifice belonging to the gre-mios mayores of Madrid, which is filled with very ingenious machinery for throwing, spinning, and dyeing the silk. The most important of all the works of man are, however, the numerous canals cut from the river, by which its fertilizing waters are distributed to the gardens and plantations surrounding the city. It contains two colleges and two open libraries. It is situated in lat. 37. 58. 42. N.

Murcia, the Pagan goddess of idleness. The name is taken from murcus, or murcidus, an obsolete word, signifying a dull, slothful, or lazy person. The statues of this goddess were always covered with dust and moss, to express idleness and negligence. She had a temple at Rome, at the foot of the Aventine Mount.