18 
tance is called four leagues, but they 
required five hours travelling. Here are 
more vestiges of the Roman Way, and 
sepulchral and other inscriptions have 
been found in the villages. Hence, for 
two leagues more, the same hilly un- 
cultivated country extends, until the 
read begins to descend towards a plain 
tract, well peopled and in general cul- 
ture, but open and without wood, about 
two leagues broad to the river Duero, 
rushing briskly in a straight channel, 
from north to south, between steep 
banks on the east side, and a range of 
low hills on the west. 
Over the Duero, is a stone bridge of 
fourteen spacious arches, on the middle 
of which stands a lofty tower to com- 
mand the passage, all of ancient and ex- 
cellent workmanship: at the end of the 
bridge is a small valley, which, with the 
high ground on each hand, contains the 
town of Soria. This town consists, at 
present, of a long street running up this 
hollow, or valley, and a few other short 
streets at the upper end. The town 
has been surrounded with strong lofty 
stone walls carried along the summits 
of the high ground, on the north, west, 
and south sides; the east side being co- 
vered by the rivers At the east end of 
the south walls are considerable remains 
of the caftle, completely commanding 
the bridge and the river, which can no 
where be forded near the town frem its 
body of water and its rapidity, excepting 
after a long course of dry weather in 
autumn, and even then with difficulty. 
It appears, by papers preserved im 
Soria, that these walls and towers were 
not finished in 1290; and, the founda- 
tion of the town itself can be traced 
back only to the time of Alphonso the 
warrior, king of Arragon, in 1122. 
The walls are still very entire, and 
are fortified with towers at proper dis- 
tances, battlements, loop-holes, and other 
contrivances suited to the art of war, 
prior to the use of fire-arms. The cir- 
cuit of the walls is above two English 
miles, and might contain towards thirty 
thousand inhabitants; but the present 
population does not, perhaps, amount to 
one third of that number; the greater 
part of the inclosed space, being, either 
filled with ruins, or converted into 
gardens. 
' About three miles north from Soria, 
up the west or right bank of the Duero, 
is the bridge of Garray, leading over to 
a village of that name, situated close to 
the river, and on the skit of an emi- 
Account of a Tour through Spain. 
[Feb. 1, 
nence, or low hill, extending down along 
the east side of the Duero, to a small 
river, called the Merdacho, flowing 
through a flat marshy plain. On the 
east side, the hill is separated by a nar- 
row valley, from another eminence of 
much less extent; and on the north, 
the slope disappears gradually in a piain, 
extending for several miles to the north- 
east, north, and north-west. This hill 
is of an oval form, its length being frum 
north to south. The circuit of the level 
on the top is about four hundred yards ; 
but, that of the whole summit, including 
a portion of the gently sloping sides, to- 
_ wards the north and east, is about three 
thousand five hundred yards. ‘The dis- 
tance up from the Duero, on the middle 
f the west side, which is both steep and 
recky, to the center of the top, is about 
feur hundred and fifty yards. The Due- 
ro renders this position quite inacces- 
sible along its length, or’ west side, and 
the little river falling into the Duero at 
the south end of the hill, equally cuts 
off all access on that side, as it flows” 
through a flat vailey where it stagnates; 
and, were it nut for the pains taken by 
the neighbouring farmers, to clear its 
channel, would soon render the whole 
valley an impracticable marsh, or lake.. 
The slope is not very steep, down to 
the valley separating this hill from that 
on the east; and, on the north end the 
fall down to the great plain, is very gra 
dual and on a considerable front. The 
ground on the west side of the Duero, 
and the south of the Merdacho, is at 
furst lower than the hill in question, but 
within a mile of it, rises to an equal 
height. 
On the hill, or eminence, now describ- 
ed, Numantia is, with great reason, 
believed to have stood. 
The first notice we find, of Numantia, 
is about the year 575 of Rome, or 179 
years A. C. when Tiberius Sempronius 
Gracchus subdued the Celtiberians, and 
made a treaty with the Numantines 
(although comprehended under the ge- 
neral name of Celtiberians) by which 
they retained their independence on the 
Romans. This treaty was neither ac- 
ceptable to, nor observed by, the suc- 
cessors ef Gracchus; the Numantines 
nevertheless, for the space of forty-seven 
years, not only maintained themselves 
against mighty Roman armies, come 
manded by the most experienced gene- 
rals, but often inflicted the severest 
disasters on their unrelenting foes; un- 
til the year of Rome, 620, when the 
great 
