but the royal line continued through Jaume II and Jaume III, the latter being killed in battle in 1349. The reign of independent kings ended, and Aragon took direct control of the island.
Mallorca’s chequered history continued with invasions, rebellions and natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and outbreaks of cholera and bubonic plague. Watchtowers, or talaies, were built between 1550 and 1650 on high vantage points, so that invaders and pirates could be spotted in good time. In 1716 Mallorca finally lost the title of kingdom and became a province of Spain. Neighbouring islands had similarly convoluted histories, with Menorca spending the best part of the 18th century as a British possession. In the 20th century, the Catalan language was suppressed under Franco’s dictatorship, but has since flourished and is now very evident throughout Mallorca.
Mountain heritage
Most of the mountainous terrain in Mallorca is made of limestone. The built heritage of the mountains often uses nothing more basic than roughly hewn lumps of limestone. On the lower cultivated slopes, terraces are held in place by massive drystone buttresses (marges) and watered by stone-lined channels (canaletes). Water may be stored in tanks (cisternes) or small underground reservoirs (aljubs), all built of stone.
On the lower wooded slopes, where fuel was readily available, are large stone-lined pits which are former limekilns (forns de calç). On the highest mountainsides, larger and deeper stone-lined snow-pits (cases de neu) were used for storing snow and ice. In dense holm oak woodland there are dark, flat, circular, moss-grown remains of charcoal-burning platforms (sitges). Trekkers sometimes use these as wild-camp sites, but it is very difficult to get pegs into the hard-baked ground. Somewhere nearby will be the low remains of the circular huts of the charcoal burner (barraca de carboner). Stone-built outdoor bread ovens (forns de pa) are also likely to be spotted nearby. Drystone walls and cairns abound almost everywhere.
Snow collecting
The highest paths on Mallorca were built by snow collectors (nevaters). Snow was collected to make ice for use in the summer and conserved in snow-pits. These are found scattered around Puig Major, Puig de Massanella, Puig Tomir, Puig des Teix and Serra d’Alfàbia, mostly above 900m (2950ft). The pits were usually circular, oval, or occasionally rectangular, partly or wholly below ground level. When the mountains were covered with snow, groups of men went up to gather it into baskets. Flat platforms were made and cleared of vegetation, where the snow was arranged in layers and trampled down hard to pack it into ice.
Snow used to be collected and stored in pits on the mountains
The packed snow was put into the pit and each layer was covered with càrritx, a tall pampas-like grass, to make it easier to split the blocks later. When the pit was full it was covered with ashes, branches and more càrritx, then carefully guarded. On summer nights blocks of ice were taken down on mules to the villages and towns. It was not only used for ice creams and cooling drinks, but also for medicinal preparations. The local authority controlled the price and a tax was fixed on it. Sometimes ice had to be imported from the mainland, but in glut years it was exported to neighbouring Menorca. The last time a snow-pit was used was in 1925 on Puig de Massanella. The industry was killed stone-dead by the advent of modern refrigeration techniques.
Charcoal burning
Complex networks of paths were made by charcoal burners (carboners). Almost every evergreen oakwood was once used for the production of charcoal. Charcoal-burning hearths are flat circular areas, often ringed by stones and now covered with bright green moss. They often serve as landmarks in the route descriptions in this guidebook. They are referred to as ‘sitges’ (singular sitja). Charcoal burning lasted until butane gas became popular in the 1920s, although in some areas production lasted a while longer. Charcoal was used specifically for cooking, being preferred over wood because it was cleaner and gave a steadier heat.
Carboners started work in April, living and working all summer in the woods with their families. They had to watch their hearths carefully, as charcoal burning was a delicate operation and everything could be ruined in a moment of neglect. The idea was to carbonise the wood, not burn it to ash. Carboners lived in simple, circular stone huts, roofed with branches and grass. The remains of huts, as well as modern reconstructions, are often seen in the woods, along with beehive-like stone bread ovens nearby.
Axes and enormous two-handed saws were used to fell large oaks, of a diameter stipulated by the landowner. Each carboner had his own area, or ranxo. A circular site was prepared, with stones carefully arranged so that the air intake was limited, causing the wood to carbonise without igniting it. Logs and branches were arranged in a dome, leaving a narrow central chimney. Gravel and clay were heaped over it, and a ladder was used to reach the chimney, so that the carboner could start the firing process.
The weight of the wood was reduced by 75–80% and each firing lasted up to 12 days. Sieved earth was used for quenching and the covering was then removed. The hot charcoal was extracted with a shovel and rake, and an average burn could produce around 2800 kilos (2¾ tons) of produce. Once cool, the charcoal pieces were graded, loaded onto mules and taken to towns and villages for sale. Bark from the oak trees was also collected and used for tanning.
A simple, restored hut used by a carboner, or charcoal-burner; a sitja is a circular stone structure once used for burning charcoal
Lime burning
Limekilns are seen throughout the woodlands in the mountains. They are quite different from those seen in Britain, as they lack a draw-hole at the bottom, and are simply deep, stone-lined pits. Great heat was needed to split the calcium carbonate (CaCO³) into calcium oxide (CaO) and carbon dioxide (CO²), so a plentiful supply of wood was necessary. Although a vast amount of limestone is available, the stones used to produce lime were always chosen very carefully, and were referred to as pedra viva or ‘living stones’.
At the base of the pit, a dome was built of large stones with gaps left between them for aeration. Above the dome, more stones were built up, and the spaces around the sides of the kiln were filled with the actual stones that were to be converted into lime. The interior was filled with wood and the top of the kiln was covered with earth. The fire was lit and kept burning for up to two weeks, with more wood added continually. Huge quantities of wood were needed – up to 155,000 kilos (150 tons) – leading to devastation of the forests and producing as little as 10,000 kilos (10 tons) of lime. It was very hard work and it brought little financial reward. According to an old proverb, ‘qui fa calç, va descalç’, or ‘he who makes lime goes barefoot’. Lime was used for the annual whitewashing of houses and also for making mortar.
Wildlife
Trees, shrubs and flowers
Trees on Mallorca come in four main types – pines, oaks, olives and palms – but there are also several minor types. Overall, the forests and woodlands are green and leafy throughout the year owing to the predominance of evergreen species. Abundant Aleppo pines can grow almost anywhere from sea level to 1000m (3280ft). They usually grow tall and straight, but can be twisted in exposed locations. Holm oaks are the commonest of the evergreen oaks. They grow in dense woodlands and were exploited for the production of charcoal. Olives may have grown wild on Mallorca before being cultivated. Some of the thickest and most gnarled specimens are over 1000 years old. Dwarf fan palms grow mostly at lower elevations, but some thrive in the mountains.
Other common trees include the strawberry tree, with its strange edible fruit, and the carob which produces distinctive pods that are high in sugar but contain tooth-breaking seeds. Citrus fruits, oranges and lemons, are picked around January and are most abundant
