Travels Through France And Italy - Tobias Smollett (diy ebook reader .TXT) 📗

No Person Capable Of Giving Me The Least

Information Or Assistance; And I Am Strangely Puzzled By The

Barbarous Names They Give To Many Different Species, The

Descriptions Of Which I Have Read Under Other Appelations; And

Which, As I Have Never Seen Them Before, I Cannot Pretend To

Distinguish By The Eye. You Must Therefore Be Contented With Such

Imperfect Intelligence As My Opportunities Can Afford.

 

 

 

The Useful Arts Practised At Nice, Are These, Gardening And

Agriculture, With Their Consequences, The Making Of Wine, Oil,

And Cordage; The Rearing Of Silk-Worms, With The Subsequent

Management And Manufacture Of That Production; And The Fishing,

Which I Have Already Described.

 

 

 

Nothing Can Be More Unpromising Than The Natural Soil Of This

Territory, Except In A Very Few Narrow Bottoms, Where There Is A

Stiff Clay, Which When Carefully Watered, Yields Tolerable

Pasturage. In Every Other Part, The Soil Consists Of A Light Sand

Mingled With Pebbles, Which Serves Well Enough For The Culture Of

Vines And Olives: But The Ground Laid Out For Kitchen Herbs, As

Well As For Other Fruit Must Be Manured With Great Care And

Attention. They Have No Black Cattle To Afford Such Compost As

Our Farmers Use In England. The Dung Of Mules And Asses, Which

Are Their Only Beasts Of Burthen, Is Of Very Little Value For

This Purpose; And The Natural Sterility Of Their Ground Requires

Something Highly Impregnated With Nitre And Volatile Salts. They

Have Recourse Therefore To Pigeons' Dung And Ordure, Which Fully

Answer Their Expectations. Every Peasant Opens, At One Corner Of

His Wall, A Public House Of Office For The Reception Of

Passengers; And In The Town Of Nice, Every  Tenement Is Provided

With One Of These Receptacles, The Contents Of Which Are

Carefully Preserved For Sale. The Peasant Comes With His Asses

And Casks To Carry It Off Before Day, And Pays For It According

To Its Quality, Which He Examines And Investigates, By The Taste

And Flavour. The Jakes Of A Protestant Family, Who Eat Gras Every

Day, Bears A Much Higher Price Than The Privy Of A Good Catholic

Who Lives Maigre One Half Of The Year. The Vaults Belonging To The

Convent Of Minims Are Not Worth Emptying.

 

 

 

The Ground Here Is Not Delved With Spades As In England, But

Laboured With A Broad, Sharp Hough, Having A Short Horizontal

Handle; And The Climate Is So Hot And Dry In The Summer, That The 

Part 7 Letter 22 (Nice, November 10, 1764.) Pg 190

Plants Must Be Watered Every Morning And Evening, Especially

Where It Is Not Shaded By Trees. It Is Surprising To See How The

Productions Of The Earth Are Crouded Together. One Would Imagine

They Would Rob One Another Of Nourishment; And Moreover Be

Stifled For Want Of Air; And Doubtless This Is In Some Measure

The Case. Olive And Other Fruit Trees Are Planted In Rows Very

Close To Each Other. These Are Connected By Vines, And The

Interstices, Between The Rows, Are Filled With Corn. The Gardens

That Supply The Town With Sallad And Pot-Herbs, Lye All On The

Side Of Provence, By The Highway. They Are Surrounded With High

Stone-Walls, Or Ditches, Planted With A Kind Of Cane Or Large

Reed, Which Answers Many Purposes In This Country. The Leaves Of

It Afford Sustenance To The Asses, And The Canes Not Only Serve

As Fences To The Inclosures; But Are Used To Prop The Vines And

Pease, And To Build Habitations For The Silkworms: They Are

Formed Into Arbours, And Wore As Walking-Staves. All These

Gardens Are Watered By Little Rills That Come From The Mountains,

Particularly, By The Small Branches Of The Two Sources Which I

Have Described In A Former Letter, As Issuing From The Two Sides

Of A Mountain, Under The Names Of Fontaine De Muraille, And

Fontaine Du Temple.

 

 

 

In The Neighbourhood Of Nice, They Raise A Considerable Quantity

Of Hemp, The Largest And Strongest I Ever Saw. Part Of This, When

Dressed, Is Exported To Other Countries; And Part Is Manufactured

Into Cordage. However Profitable It May Be To The Grower, It Is

Certainly A Great Nuisance In The Summer. When Taken Out Of The

Pits, Where It Has Been Put To Rot, The Stench It Raises Is Quite

Insupportable; And Must Undoubtedly Be Unwholesome.

 

 

 

There Is Such A Want Of Land In This Neighbourhood, That Terraces

Are Built Over One Another With Loose Stones, On The Faces Of

Bare Rocks, And These Being Covered With Earth And Manured, Are

Planted With Olives, Vines, And Corn. The Same Shift Was

Practised All Over Palestine, Which Was Rocky And Barren, And

Much More Populous Than The County Of Nice.

 

 

 

Notwithstanding The Small Extent Of This Territory, There Are

Some Pleasant Meadows In The Skirts Of Nice, That Produce

Excellent Clover; And The Corn Which Is Sown In Open Fields,

Where It Has The Full Benefit Of The Soil, Sun, And Air, Grows To

A Surprizing Height. I Have Seen Rye Seven Or Eight Feet High.

All Vegetables Have A Wonderful Growth In This Climate. Besides

Wheat, Rye, Barley, And Oats, This Country Produces A Good Deal

Of Meliga, Or Turkish Wheat, Which Is What We Call Indian Corn. I

Have, In A Former Letter, Observed That The Meal Of This Grain

Goes By The Name Polenta, And Makes Excellent Hasty-Pudding,

Being Very Nourishing, And Counted An Admirable Pectoral. The 

Part 7 Letter 22 (Nice, November 10, 1764.) Pg 191

Pods And Stalks Are Used For Fuel: And The Leaves Are Much

Preferable To Common Straw, For Making Paillasses.

 

 

 

The Pease And Beans In The Garden Appear In The Winter Like

Beautiful Plantations Of Young Trees In Blossom; And Perfume The

Air. Myrtle, Sweet-Briar, Sweet-Marjoram, Sage, Thyme, Lavender,

Rosemary, With Many Other Aromatic Herbs And Flowers, Which With

Us Require The Most Careful Cultivation, Are Here Found Wild In

The Mountains.

 

 

 

It Is Not Many Years Since The Nissards Learned The Culture Of

Silk-Worms, Of Their Neighbours The Piedmontese; And Hitherto The

Progress They Have Made Is Not Very Considerable: The Whole

County Of Nice Produces About One Hundred And Thirty-Three Bales

Of Three Hundred Pounds Each, Amounting In Value To Four Hundred

Thousand Livres.

 

 

 

In The Beginning Of April, When The Mulberry-Leaves, Begin To Put

Forth, The Eggs Or Grains That Produce The Silk-Worm, Are

Hatched. The Grains Are Washed In Wine, And Those That Swim On

The Top, Are Thrown Away As Good For Nothing. The Rest Being

Deposited In Small Bags Of Linen, Are Worn By Women In Their

Bosoms, Until The Worms Begin To Appear: Then They Are Placed In

Shallow Wooden Boxes, Covered With A Piece Of White Paper, Cut

Into Little Holes, Through Which The Worms Ascend As They Are

Hatched, To Feed On The Young Mulberry-Leaves, Of Which There Is

A Layer Above The Paper. These Boxes Are Kept For Warmth Between

Two Mattrasses, And Visited Every Day. Fresh Leaves Are Laid In,

And The Worms That Feed Are Removed Successively To The Other

Place Prepared For Their Reception. This Is An Habitation,

Consisting Of Two Or Three Stories, About Twenty Inches From Each

Other, Raised Upon Four Wooden Posts. The Floors Are Made Of

Canes, And Strewed With Fresh Mulberry-Leaves: The Corner Posts,

And Other Occasional Props, For Sustaining The Different Floors,

Are Covered With A Coat Of Loose Heath, Which Is Twisted Round

The Wood. The Worms When Hatched Are Laid Upon The Floors; And

Here You May See Them In All The Different Stages (If Moulting Or

Casting The Slough, A Change Which They Undergo Three Times

Successively Before They Begin To Work. The Silk-Worm Is An

Animal Of Such Acute And Delicate Sensations, That Too Much Care

Cannot Be Taken To Keep Its Habitation Clean, And To Refresh It

From Time To Time With Pure Air. I Have Seen Them Languish And

Die In Scores, In Consequence Of An Accidental Bad Smell. The

Soiled Leaves, And The Filth Which They Necessarily Produce,

Should Be Carefully Shifted Every Day; And It Would Not Be Amiss

To Purify The Air Sometimes With Fumes Of Vinegar, Rose, Or

Orange-Flower Water. These Niceties, However, Are But Little

Observed. They Commonly Lie In Heaps As Thick As Shrimps In A 

Part 7 Letter 22 (Nice, November 10, 1764.) Pg 192

Plate, Some Feeding On The Leaves, Some New Hatched, Some

Intranced In The Agonies Of Casting Their Skin, Sonic

Languishing, And Some Actually Dead, With A Litter Of Half-Eaten

Faded Leaves About Them, In A Close Room, Crouded With Women And

Children, Not At All Remarkable For Their Cleanliness. I Am

Assured By Some Persons Of Credit, That If They Are Touched, Or

Even Approached, By A Woman In Her Catamenia, They Infallibly

Expire. This, However, Must Be Understood Of Those Females Whose

Skins Have Naturally A Very Rank Flavour, Which Is Generally

Heightened At Such Periods. The Mulberry-Leaves Used In This

Country Are Of The Tree Which Bears A Small White Fruit Not

Larger Than A Damascene. They Are Planted On Purpose, And The

Leaves Are Sold At So Much A Pound. By The Middle Of June All The

Mulberry-Trees Are Stripped; But New Leaves Succeed, And In A Few

Weeks, They Are Cloathed Again With Fresh Verdure. In About Ten

Days After The Last Moulting, The Silk-Worm Climbs Upon The Props

Of His House, And Choosing A Situation Among The Heath, Begins To

Spin In A Most Curious Manner, Until He Is Quite Inclosed,   And

The Cocon Or Pod Of Silk, About The Size Of A Pigeon's Egg, Which

He Has Produced Remains Suspended By Several Filaments. It Is No

Unusual To See Double Cocons, Spun By Two Worms Included Under A

Common Cover. There Must Be An Infinite Number Of Worms To Yield

Any Considerable Quantity Of Silk. One Ounce Of Eggs Or Grains

Produces, Four Rup, Or One Hundred Nice Pounds Of Cocons; And One

Rup, Or Twenty-Five Pounds Of Cocons, If They Are Rich, Gives

Three Pounds Of Raw Silk; That Is, Twelve Pounds Of Silk Are Got

From One Ounce Of Grains, Which Ounce Of Grains Its Produced By

As Many Worms As Are Inclosed In One Pound, Or Twelve Ounces Of

Cocons. In Preserving The Cocons For Breed, You Must Choose An

Equal Number Of Males And Females; And These Are Very Easily

Distinguished By The Shape Of The Cocons; That Which Contains The

Male Is Sharp, And The Other Obtuse, At The Two Ends. In Ten Or

Twelve Days After The Cocon Is Finished, The Worm Makes Its Way

Through It, In The Form Of A Very Ugly, Unwieldy, Aukward

Butterfly, And As The Different Sexes Are Placed By One Another

On