214 STRABO. CASAUB. 142. The eye is also delighted with groves and gardens, which in this district are met with in the highest perfection. As far as Ispalis, which is a distance of not less than 500 stadia, the river^is navigable for ships l of considerable size; buTlor the cities higher up, as far as Ilipas, smaller vessels are employed, and thence to Corduba river-boats. These are now con- structed of _plan.ks joined together, but they were formerly niade out of a single jrunk. Above this to Castlon the river is no longer navigable. A chain of mountains, rich jn metal, runs parallel to the Guadalquiver, 2 approaching the river some- times more, sometimes less, towards the north. There is much silver found in the parts about Ilipas and Sisapo, boj;h in that which is called the old town and the new. There are copper and gold about the CotinaB. 3 These moun- tains are on the left as you sail up the river ; on the right there is a vast and elevated plain^Jertile, full of large trees, and containing excellent pasturage. The Guadiana 4 is likewise navigable, but not for vessels equally large, nor yet so far up. It is also bordered by mountains containing metal, and ex- tends as far as the Tagus. Districts which contain metals must, of necessity, be rugged and poor T 5 as indeed are those ad- joining Carpetania, and still more those next the jelti- berians. The same is the case with Baeturia, the plains of "which, bordering on the Guadiana, are arid. 4. Turdetania, on the other hand, is marvellously fertile, and abounds in every species of produce. The value of its productions is doubled by means of exportation, the sur- plus products finding a ready sale amongst the numerous ship-owners. This results from its rivers and estuaries, which, as we have said, resemble rivers, and by which you may sail from the sea to the inland towns, not only in small, but even in large-sized skiifs. For the whole country above the coast, and situated between the Sacred Promontory 6 and the Pillars, consists of an extended plain. Here in many places anTliollowls running inland Irom the sea, which resemble moderately-sized ravines or the beds of rivers, and extend 1 Strabo uses oicdffiv atoyoi, but the English hulk would not bear the same import in this place as the Greek. 2 Bcetis. 3 Cotillas, or perhaps Constantina near Almaden. * Anas. 5 Experience does not seem to warrant this conclusion. 8 Cape St. Vincent.
