Majorca is the largest island of the group, having an area of 1430 square miles. Its shape is that of a trapezoid, with the angles directed to the cardinal points; and its diagonal, from Cape Grozer in the W. to Cape Pera in the E., is about sixty miles. On the N.W. the coast is highly precipitous, but on the other sides it is low and sloping. On the N.E. there are several considerable bays, of which the chief are those of Alcudia and Pollenza; while on the S.W. is the Stillmore important bay of Palma. No fewer than twelve ports or harbours are enumerated round the island, of which may be mentioned Andraix, Soller, and Porto Colom. In the N.W. Majorca is traversed by a chain of mountains running parallel with the coast, and attaining its highest elevation in Silla de Torillas, 4600 feet above the sea. Towards the south and east the surface is comparatively level, though broken by isolated peaks of considerable height. The northern mountains afford great protection to the rest of the island from the violent gales to which it is exposed, and render the climate remarkably mild and pleasant, while the heats of summer are tempered by the sea-breezes. The scenery of Majorca is varied and beautiful, with all the picturesqueness of outline that usually belongs to a limestone formation. Some of the valleys, such as those of Valdemoza and Soller, with their luxuriant vegetation, are delightful resorts. There are quarries of marble, of various grains and colours—those of Santagny, in the partido of Manacor, being especially celebrated; while lead, iron, and cinnabar have also been obtained. Coal of a jet-like character is found at Benisalem, where works were commenced in 1836, at Selva, where it has been mined since 1851, near Santa Maria, and elsewhere. It is used in the industrial establishments of Palma, and in the manufacture of lime, plaster, and bricks, in the neighbourhood of the mines,—a considerable quantity being also exported to Barcelona. The inhabitants are principally devoted to agriculture, and most of the arable land of the islands is under cultivation. The mountains are terraced; and the old pine woods have in many places given place to the olive, the vine, and the almond tree, to fields of wheat and flax, or to orchards of figs and oranges. For the last-mentioned fruits the valley of Soller is one of the most important districts, the produce being largely transmitted to France, and realising about £25,000 per annum. The oil harvest is very considerable, and Inca is the centre of the oil district. The wines are light but excellent, especially the Muscadel and Montona. The agricultural methods of the islands are still somewhat primitive, but the introduction of machinery indicates improvement, as well as the drainage, by an English company, of a marsh and lake, 8000 acres in extent, near the town of Alcudia. During the summer there is often great scarcity of water; but, according to a system handed down by the Moors, the rains of autumn and winter are collected in enormous reservoirs, which contain sufficient water to last through the dry season; and on the payment of a certain rate, each landholder in turn has his fields flooded at certain intervals. Mules are used in the agriculture and traffic of the island. The cattle are small, but the sheep are large and well fleeced. Pigs are largely reared, and exported to Barcelona. There is abundance of poultry and of small game. A good deal of brandy is made and exported. Excellent woollen and linen cloths are woven. The silkworm is reared, and its produce manufactured; and canvas, rope, and cord are largely made, from both native and foreign materials. The average value of the imports of the island is £550,000, and the exports amount to rather more. The roads are excellent, the four principal being those from Alcudia, Manacor, Soller, and Andraix to the capital. A railway is in course of construction from Palma by Inca to Alcudia, and the stock is all held by Mallorquins. A telegraphic line passes from Palma to Valcenia, and there is regular steam communication with Barcelona and Alicante. A Majorcan bank has been established, and a credit association for the development of the resources of 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 often 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 harbours 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 throughout the island, growing on ruined walls. Horned cattle, sheep, goats, <fcc,, 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 Mercadal 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 1713-15 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.

Iviça, 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 l o 14' and l 0 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 measurement 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, consisting of a lower and upper portion, and possessing a good harbour. The population of the island is about 21,000, ci 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 l o 22' and l o 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. Goatsand 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 tradition 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 ft derived from the family of Mago. About twenty-three years after the destruction of Carthage the Romans accused the people of the islands of piracy, and sent against them Q. Caecilius Metellus, who soon reduced them to obedience, settled amongst them 3000 Roman and Spanish colonists, founded the cities of Palma and Pollentia, and introduced the cultivation of the olive. Besides valuable contingents of the celebrated Balearic slingers the Romans derived from their new conquest mules (from Minorca), edible snails, sinopc, 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 kingdom in 1009, which, becoming extremely obnoxious for piracy, was the object of a crusade directed against it by Pope Pascal IL, in which the Catalans took the lead. This expedition was frustrated at the time, but was resumed by Don Jaime, king of Aragon, and the Moors expelled in 1232. During their occupation the island was populous and productive, and an active commerce was carried on with Spain and Africa. Don Jaime conferred the sovereignty of the isles on his third son, under whom and his successors they formed an independent kingdom up to 1349, from which time their history merges in that of Spain. In 1521 an insurrection of the peasantry against the nobility, whom they massacred, took place in Majorca, and was not suppressed without much bloodshed. In the war of the Spanish Succession all the islands declared for Charles; the duke of Anjou had no footing anywhere save in the citadel of Mahon. Minorca was reduced by Count Villars in 1707; but it was not till June 1715 that Majorca was subjugated, and meanwhile Port Mahon was captured by the English under General Stanhope in 1708. In 1713 theisland was securedtothembythe peace of Utrecht; but in 1756 it was invaded by a force of 12,000 French, who, after defeating the unfortunate Admiral Byng, captured’ Port Mahon. Restored to England in 1769 by the peace of Versailles the island remained in our possession till 1782, when it was retaken by the Spaniards. Again seized by the English in 1798, it was finally cided to Spain by the peace of Amiens in 1803. When the French invaded Spain in 1808, the Mallorquins did not remain indifferent; the governor, D. Juan Miguel de Vives, announced, amid universal acclamation, his resolution to adhere to Ferdinand VII. At first the Junta would take no active part in the war, retaining the corps of volunteers that were formed for the defence of the island; but finding it quite secure, they transferred a succession of them to the Peninsula to reinforce the allies. Such was the animosity excited against the French when their excesses were known to the Mallorquins, that some of the French prisoners, conducted thither in 1810, had to be transferred with all speed to the island of Cabrera, a transference which was not effected before some of them had been killed.

Armstrong’s Hist, of Minorca, 1756; Dameto’s Hist, del reyno Balearico o de Mallorca; Hist, of Balearic Islands, London, 1716; Vincente Mut’s Historia ; Cleghorn’s Diseases of Minorca, 1751; Wernsdorf, Antiquitates Balearicae; Clayton’s Sunny South, 1869; George Sand, in Revue des Deux Mondes, 1841; DΗermilly, Hist, du Royaume de Minorque, Maestricht, 1777; “Balearic Islands,” in Bates’s Illustrated Travels, vol. i.; Die Balearen in Wort und Bild geschildert, Leipsic, 1871; “Klima der Balearen” in the Zeit, der Oesterr. Gesell, für Meteorologie, 1874; Juan Ramis, Antiguedadcs Celticas de la Isla de Menorca, Mahon, 1818; Pauli, “Ein Monat auf den Balearen” in Das Ausland, 1873; Arago, De ma jeunesse, Oeuvres, vol. i.; Biot, Recueil d'Observations géodésiques, Ac., 1821.