1808.] 
leads to the southward for eight miles 
across a fine flat, but little cultivated, 
to another town of modern date, called 
Centruenigo, seated in the centre of a 
circle, four miles in diameter, occupied 
towards the circumference by fine vine= 
yards, and round the town by valuable 
olive-grounds, laid out and kept with 
perfect order; the trees are planted in 
rows, quincunx-fashion, with channels 
between them for conveying water to 
their roots, from a small river rising in 
the hills to the southward, and carried 
round the town, in various ramifications, 
for the purposes of cultivation. ‘These 
vineyards and olive-grounds give ‘an air 
of prosperity to the town, and present 
a most agreeable ehject to the eye, 
fatigued with beholding scorched open 
plains extending in all directions, alinost 
destitute of trees or verdure. 
From Centruenigo, the road continues 
south-west across the cultivated circle, 
and entering a narrow vale between low 
hills, covered with good natural pasture, 
at the end of a league and a half, brings 
the traveller to the boundary between 
Navarre and Old Castille. Here the hills 
begin to increase in height with a rug- 
ged barren appearance ; “the road was 
now rough and disagreeable, whereas to 
this boundary, ali the way from Pampelo- 
na, it had been perfectly well made, and 
kept in excellent condition. It has been 
measured, and stones have been erected 
at the end of every league, reckoned 
from Pampelona. The league used in 
measuring this road, differs from those 
generally employed in Spain, and seems 
to have been capriciously ee from 
France; for each contained 3,200 toises 
of 2 varas, or 6 feet Spanish; wheyeas, 
those used in Spain are the common 
league of an hour’s journey, of which 20, 
are a degree of the equator, or nearly 
equal to 33 English miles; and the legal 
league of “Castille of 5,000 varas or 
yards, each, of which 26% are a degree. 
After travelling on very indilferent 
roads over a high barren. tract, thinly 
inhabited by a mean-looking dispirited 
race of people, and in some parts culti- 
vated in a rude and toyeuly manner, 
(the whole forming a striking contrast 
with the lively and industrious appea- 
rance of Navarre), the day’s journey 
ended in Agreda. 
This is a decayed town, seated in a 
hollow on a small river running north- 
east to the Ebro, on the. west skirt of 
Moncayo, anciently Mons Caunus, a 
high conical mountain, soaring far above 
MontHLy Mas., No. 164, 
Account of a Tour through Spaine 
17 
all the surrounding summits, and eovsied 
with snow a great part of the year: its 
lower parts are clothed with fine pasture 
for sheep, the middle with’ woods, and 
the top is rocky and bare. 
As there were a couple of hours of 
day-light to spare, they were employed 
In an excursion to Muro, a village about 
four miles south-west from Agr eda, sup 
posed to stand on the site of the an- 
cient Augustobriga. It is placed on the 
flat summit of a small eminence, sepa- 
rated by a narrow gully from athier simi- 
lar eminences on the north, but sub- 
siding easily, on the other quarters, into 
a valley and plaine The only vestiges 
of antiquity now to be observed at Muro, 
are foundations of walls, hewn stones, 
bricks, coins, Roman and old Spanish; 
and, on the highest part of the eminence, 
is a large square tower of the architec 
{ure of the middle ages. On each side, 
east and west, of Muro, are to be seen 
vestiges of an old road, called here, a 
in general over Spain, the Military Way, 
(La via Militar), by which is meant 
the ancient Roman road. It is raised 
above the surface of the ground, and on 
account of the very uneven country over: 
which it passes, is seldom traced out: 
in straight lines, (as was the practice of 
the Romans, where such a hne could 
be followed) but winds along agreeably 
to the natural bendings and acclivitics 
of the hills. ‘This is part of the great 
road, extending from Tarragona on the 
Mediterranean, through Saragossa, Nu- 
mantia, &e. to ‘the Atlantic on the coast 
of Portugal. 
Corvalan, in his History of the Bishoprie. 
of Osma, published in 1788, says he 
measured many portions of this Via, 
and found the breadth to be 5 varas, or 
about 13 feet, 9 inches, English; that 
it was composed of smail stones, vravel, 
and mortar, being rounded into the seg= 
ment of a large circle on the surface, 
to throw off the rain water, and bor- 
dered on each side by a row of large 
stones ; he discovered in several places, 
between Agreda, and the supposed si- 
tuation of Numantia, several‘round mile- 
stones, but without any inscription ; 
some still in their original situations 
along the Way. 
From Agreda, to arrive at Numantia, 
the road leads in general, to the north- 
ward of west, over a_hilly tract, much 
wooded, toa smal vill ave, called Aldea 
del Pozo, a name compounded of one 
Latin“and two Arabic words; Ad, the, 
deah, village, and pyteus, well, The dis 
D tance 
- 
