but adds his discredit of the fact. A strange convulsion of nature must have occasioned such a mass of bones to be thus imbedded in the solid rock, some sixty feet deep, others not a yard from the surface.
The vegetable productions of Arragon have hitherto been less attended to than the minerals. There are whole woods of Spanish oak, the trees frequently four feet in diameter. The juniper, cistus, poplar, and ma ny other plants, are indigenous here; and also the arbu tus uva ursi, or perennial leaved strawoerry tree, on the medicinal properties of which Dr Josepn Ker, a Spa nish physician, has written a learned treatise. Woods of pines cover some of the bids, and the plants with which they abound are reputed to possess many virtues.
Several ferocious animals still infest the mountains of Arragon. The black bear inhabits the tops of the Py renees and the valley of Gistau : wolves are not uncom mon, and the lynx still cl mbs the trees in the woods abounding on the adjacent rocks and hills, where it lies in wait for its prey. The pine martin, and two species of the ermine, are likewise found here, the stag, ibex, various species of goats, and the polecat, which is said to have anciently been trained to catch rabbits. The qualities of the Celtiberian horses are celebrated by Di odorus, Strabo, and Martial ; but the particular race spoken of by those authors, is thought to be now extinct. By a law passed in 1283, the exportation of horses was prohibited. The ass is a native of Arragon ; and Pliny seems to allude to the breed of mules. Of the domes tic animals, the sheep is extremely valuable. Large flocks are sent out of the kingdom to winter in Murcia and Valencia, and are brought back in summer to the pastures of Loba and Albarazin.
Among the birds are enumerated the vulture, which is common in the whole kingdom, and the golden eagle, which is not rare among the Pyrenees. The ptarmi gan is also found here, and a rare bird of the same spe cies, not well defined, with a black head and bill, which is supposed the same as the kittaviah of Arabia. The barbel, carp, blenny, salmon, tench, and eel, inhabit the waters. The tortoise is found about Alcanniz and other places ; and several snakes, as likewise the scorpion, breed in Arragon. Sometimes the whole country has been laid waste by a smaller, though more destructive animal, the locust, and that from periods of remote an tiquity. In the year 1489, the territory of Zaragoza was
eaten up and destroyed by these insects, and a dreadful pestilence, fatal to many of the inhabitants, ensued. For no less than six years, between 1682 and 1688, the tract called Monegros was completely devastated, and the in habitants reduced to a state of poverty : and even so late as 1782, different parts of the kingdom were so grievously ravaged by those noxious animals, that years were required to repair the loss.
This extensive country is far from being populous according to its size. Added to the natural barrenness of extensive tracts, its frequently having been the thea tre of sanguinary wars, the numbers of ecclesiastics, and the feebleness (41 the civil administration, have all conspired to check the progress of population. How deplorable is the picture of a nation, where, at the pre sent day, the traveller finds 149 villages entirely desert ed, and 385 with few houses and few inhabitants ! It is said that the population has been infinitely greater in former times than now ; and that it has undergone a re gular and progressive diminution. But setting aside the period previous to the expulsion of the Moors, we find considerable difficulty in admitting this to be the fact: In the year 1402, there are said to have been 42,683 milies, and somewhat above 50,000 nearly a la ter. In 1650, there were 70,729 : in 1712, 75,244 : by a royal census in 1776, there were 117,112 families ; and by another royal census in 1787 and 1788, the ber of inhabitants was 623,308. We believe that there has been none more recent. It is not easy to speak of the accuracy with which these surveys have been made ; but, according to the usual mode of computing popula tion, the last two seem to coincide. In that of 1787, 1788, there appear 10,000 priests, monks, and nuns, and above 9000 nobles. Yet, notwithstanuing we have rea son to suppose a gradual increase, it is not uncommon to travel six or eight leagues without seeing a single vil lage, owing to the scanty population. In the warmer parts, the people are of middling stature, but taller in the mountainous districts, particularly about Aliso and lie cho.