L E T T E R II.
Itinerary from Bayonne to Pamplona, and from thence to Madrid.
A mine of fal gem at Valtierra defcribed.
QUITTING Bayonne I proceeded on my journey
, towards Spain [a), and travelling through an uneven
country, I began to perceive a fpecies o f flaty ftone
which announced the vicinity of the Pyrenees about half
a league diftant. The environs- of Anoa are moun-
tainous. The farmers manure the ground with lime to
Sow maiz or Indian corn, laying on a greater quantity for
wheat* without which it yields nothing, which proves the
neceffity of this method to cherifh and expand the tough
and cold.foil in mountainous countries.
Half a league from Anoa a rivulet forms the boundary
between France and Spain. The country is covered
with fern, which they cut and heap in piles, till it rots
and ferves for manure. In the arable land, and where
cattle have grazed, there are two kinds of mint, ground
ivy, and other ufual plants. You next pafs a Carthufian
{a) The itiqter<\i|y o f Mr. Bowles is fupported in this letter, with refpe& to natural hiftory,
and further iilu ft rated with the hift'orical part not mentioned by that writer.
convent
convent at thè foot o f a-high mountain chiefly of
quartz (a), wbofe fummit is a rock of purplifh fand, and
from thence defcend to the firft village in Spain called
Maya, feated in a valley where they have good crops of
maiz and tumeps, and whofe foil though not calcareous
produces equally the fame kind o f plants. Such as the
elder, henbane, nightfhade, fwallow wort, figwort, thorn-
apple, hawthorn and bullace tree. After paffing the village
of Elizondo and traverfing the vale, I afcended a;
mountain of blueifh lime rock with fine beech towards
the top, its fides lined with many other trees, fuch as elder,
hawthorn, and holm. This mountain is one o f the
bigheft in this country ; but in fpeaking of the plants
found here, I only mean fuch as are feen in that part ftill
uncultivated, for where the ground has been opened,
and near the inn called Venta de Belate, not far from
the top of the mountain, being acceffible to animals, the
following plants are to be feen, celandine, mint, cuckow-
flower, crowfoot, plantain, fowthiftle, figwort, archangel,
dock, arfmart, and two forts of maidenhair on the
walls, from whence I judge that if a houfe was built on
the higheft and molt barren mountain, and the ground
manured with the dung of animals, we fhould foon perceive
the fame plants that are obferved in the neigh-
(a) Quartz is a hard v-itrifiable ftone, fomelhing intermediate betwixt rock cryjlals and flints
or opake vitrifiable ftones, well known to metallurgills, mineralo gifts, and miners. According
to Cronfted, it is .eafier to be known than-deCcribed.
bourhood