L E T T E R IV.
Of the barren and wretched iiftriSt of Batuecas, in Eflremadwa.
THE territory o f Batuecas, fituated on the confines-
‘ o f Caftile and Eftremadura, near Portugal, has
given ample fcope to the fanciful conceits of different
writers,, relating to its imaginary difcovery, and whether
or not as fuppofed, it was an unknown land, inhabited:
by Pagans, blindcd by ignorance, withoutthe leaft knowledge
o f the Chriftian religion. This diftrict we are now
going to explore, js fourteen leagues to the fouth weft of;
Salamanca, about eight leagues eaftward o f Cuidad Rodrigo,
and twelve to the north weft of Plafcncia, forming
a plain, or more properly, a moft difinal and horrid gully
at the foot of that famous mountain, where Hands-the noted
convent called La Pena cle Francia.. The fituationof
this place infpires every idea of gloom and melancholy,
clofed in by jagged mountains, where hardly a tree is to-
be feen, or the leaft appearance o f vegetation : on the
contrary, numberlefs precipices, occafionally choaked up
by broken maffes of ftone, detached infenfibly from the
rocks, form the moft frightful fcene the mind can conceive
i
ceive. Such is the true ftate o f Batuecas, horrid by nature
; rendered ftill more fo, by ignorance and folly.
The itinerary from Plafencia to the convent of Batuecas,
is as follows : Plafencia to Aigal four leagues ; Mohedas
one; Cafar de Palomero one; Cambroncino two; Vegas
de Coria two ; Las Meftas one ; and to the convent o f
Batuecas half a league.
Between Plafencia and Aigal, the hamlets o f Oliva
and Gijo de Granadilla, appear on the right, and Santi-
banez el Baxo, on the left, with woods o f oak and cork
trees. You crofs the river Ambroz, or de Caparfa, and
pafs by the Puerto del Gamo, before you reach Cafar de
Palomero. Then enter the melancholy diftrict o f the
Jurdes, being a divifion o f what is generally called Batuecas
; but in any part o f this wretched country, i f you
afk whereabout is the Jurdes, fome will tell you, a little
further on, and when you proceed, another informs you,
it is at a fmall diftance behind ; nobody being willing to
acknowledge himfelf an inhabitant o f the unhappy country
of the Jurdes. '
The valley of Batuecas, was idly confidered as an unknown
part of the world, by thofe who gave into the fabulous
accounts invented in the reign of Philip the lid .
though an enlightened age in the annals o f Spain. As
a further proof o f the ideas o f the times, we have only to
look