further inveftigation o f this produ&ion ; thefe were
Don Jofeph Minuart, and Don Chriftoval Velez, the
former went into the mountains o f Avila, and the latter,
into feveral diftri<fls of Andalulia; it was found
that Spain alone could procure manna fufficient to
fupply all Europe, equal in goodnefs to that of Calabria,
in the kingdom of Naples ; for not only an incredible
quantity o f it, was gathered in the parts abovemen-
tioned, where it is formed about the dog days, but
likewife in the mountains o f Afturias, Galicia, Cuenca,
Aragon, and Catalonia, though no ufe had hitherto been
made of it{<*).
The defcent to Monafterio leads to a valley fertile in
corn, foon after the . diftrid o f Bureba begins/which
is a champaign country, and populous, with.numerous
gardens, well flocked with fruit trees. Near Bribiefca
they manure their land with a fort of white marl, of a
Ifl) Manna is a inèditi nil driig, ofgireàt ufe in the modem prtfàice,.às a'gentle jmrgative,.
and cleadfef of the fi iff paffages,' and is now become a- qonfiderable Srticte of trade. It may.
b e r e c k o n e d among the number o f g-ums which ,exfuding.from the juice o f a tree, and mixing
with fome Ialine particle's of air, is condbn'fed into thóle flakes, in which it is brought to
England. The manna o f Calabria . is not gathered from the ciftus, but from the branches at
the afli tree ; and we are affbred by Robert More, E%; of Lindley.-in.the county of Salop,,
that the Neapolitans have many ways o f counterfeiting the feveral appearances óf màiinà, and
that the mot common, is with Glauber’s fait, and fugar, with, a fmall mixture o f Aiannai
It yields to his Sicilian majefly folarge a revenue, and he is fo jealous of it, that during the
feafon, the woods are guarded by foldiers, who even fire upon people, that come into them,
and the dealing of the liquor is death. “ See the method of gathering the manna in the
• kingdom of Naples, in Roll’s diflohary ó f commerce.”
blueifli
blueifh caft ; marl, being in its nature, a compound o f
different properties of argillaceous, and calcareous earths,
is of great ufe in agriculture ; it is fometimes foft, at
other times hard, like ftone, or flate, but generally
crumbles by expofure to the air. The ftrortgéft fort,
which abounds with clay, cannot be fo proper for the
argillaceous, and ftônÿ land o f Bifcay ; but when
the foil is light, calcareous, and fpüngy, not retaining
the water, or too much worn out by cultivation, then,
a clayiih marl will be o f fervice, to procure the additional
fubftance required ; and if the land is' ftiff
clay, a calcareous quality is mofl proper, as it always
contains fome fand, which helps to loôfèn the foil, and
will give it fertility for a number o f years.- i
The road to Pancorvo traverfes calcareous mountains,
forming part o f thofe called “ Los Montes de Oca,” by
which the Pyrenees are joined to the northern mountains
o f Spain. The town o f Pancorvo lies in the narroweft
part of a Valley, clofed in by thefe high hills, having a
brook where there is excellent trout. The new road
has been cut through the rock, which formerly offered,
the mofl horrid afpect to the traveller, threatening, as it
were, every moment, to fall on his head, but now is fafe
and commodious, the paffage having been eoniiderably
’widened. The new road from Bilboa reaches as far as
R Pancorvop