a town of Spain, in the province of Murcia, containing about 30,000 inhabitants. It is divided into the upper and lower towns. The streets in the former are narrow, crooked, and steep; and the houses poor and ill-built; but the lower town is better laid out and built. The town has a collegiate chapter, eight parish churches, seven monasteries, two nunneries, two hospitals, and a college. There is also a saltpetre manufactory here. On the 30th April 1802, the bursting of an artificial basin of water above the town, swept away 600 houses, two hospitals, two convents, mills, &c., and destroyed 6000 people in the town and the adjacent country, over which its ravages extended for the space of 16 leagues. The total loss was estimated at more than two millions sterling.