tanding that an agreed sum
should be paid annually to the state, subject to an increase whenever the
national taxation of other provinces was augmented. In December 1906, after
long discussion, the contribution of the Basque Provinces to the state,
according to the law of the 21st of July 1876, was fixed for the next
twenty years; for the first ten years at 8,500,000 pesetas, for the next
ten an additional 500,000 pesetas, from 31st December 1916 to 31st December
1926, the province of Guipuzcoa paying in addition 700,000 pesetas to the
treasury. These pacts have hitherto been scrupulously observed, and as the
local authorities levy the contribution after their own local customs,
landed property and the industrial and commercial classes are less heavily
taxed in these territories than in the rest of Spain. Enough is raised,
however, besides the amount handed over to the government, to enable the
schools, roads, harbours and public works of every kind to be maintained at
a standard which compares very favourably with other parts of Spain. When
the three provinces sent in their first contingent of conscripts in 1877,
it was found that all but about sixty knew how to read and write, and
succeeding contingents have kept up this high standard.

In agriculture the Basque Provinces and the Pays Basque were great cider
countries, but during the 19th century this was gradually replaced by
wine-growing. The chief industries of the Basque Provinces are the sea
fisheries and iron mining. Some of the mines round Bilbao have been worked
from prehistoric times. In 1905 the Basque Provinces produced 5,302,344
tons of iron, over five millions of which came from Biscay, out of a total
of 9,395,314 tons for the whole of Spain. More than the half of this total
5,845,895 tons, was exported to England. The swords of Mondragon in
Guipuzcoa were renowned before those of Toledo. Eibar in the same province
has long been a small-arms factory. There in the 19th century Senor Zuloaga
successfully revived the artistic inlaying of gold and silver in steel and
iron.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Of older works, though often uncritical, R. P. Henao's
_Averiguaciones de las Antiguedades de Cantabria_ (Salamanca, 1688) is
still valuable (new edition, 1894). For all that relates to the manners and
customs of the people, _Corografia de Guipuzcoa_, by R. P. M. de
Larramendi, S.J., is indispensable. Written about 1750, it was first
printed in Barcelona in 1882 (later editi