Douro (durius), Guadiana (anas, with the Arabic prefix Wady), and the Guadalquivir (batis). The southern portion is of a sub-tropical character, with little rain, except in the winter, and is cut off from the rocky and arid tableland of Castile, which rises in places to feet, by the lofty range of the Sierra Morena (mons Marianus). The western seaboard has a plentiful rainfall and luxuriant vegetation, but the soil of the south-west corner, though rich in metals, is poor and stony. Almost everywhere the coast district is bordered by lines of mountains falling away in short slopes, and, except for the plateau in the interior, the landscape is diversified by valleys and isolated moun tains rising above narrow plains.
