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

An Occasional Sledge Made Of Two Pieces Of Wood,

Carried Up By The Coulants For This Purpose. I Did Not Much

Relish This Kind Of Carriage, Especially As The Mountain Was Very

Steep, And Covered With Such A Thick Fog That We Could Hardly See

Two Or Three Yards Before Us. Nevertheless, Our Guides Were So

Confident, And My Companion, Who Had Passed The Same Way On Other

Occasions, Was So Secure, That I Ventured To Place Myself On This

Machine, One Of The Coulants Standing Behind Me, And The Other

Sitting Before, As The Conductor, With His Feet Paddling Among

The Snow, In Order To Moderate The Velocity Of Its Descent. Thus

Accommodated, We Descended The Mountain With Such Rapidity, That

In An Hour We Reached Limon, Which Is The Native Place Of Almost

All The Muleteers Who Transport Merchandize From Nice To Coni And

Turin. Here We Waited Full Two Hours For The Mules, Which

Travelled With The Servants By The Common Road. To Each Of The

Coulants We Paid Forty Sols, Which Are Nearly Equal To Two

Shillings Sterling. Leaving Limon, We Were In Two Hours Quite

Disengaged From The Gorges Of The Mountains, Which Are Partly

Covered With Wood And Pasturage, Though Altogether Inaccessible,

Except In Summer; But From The Foot Of The Col De Tende, The Road

Lies Through A Plain All The Way To Turin. We Took Six Hours To

Travel From The Inn Where We Had Lodged Over The Mountain To

Limon, And Five Hours From Thence To Coni. Here We Found Our

Baggage, Which We Had Sent Off By The Carriers One Day Before We

Departed From Nice; And Here We Dismissed Our Guides, Together

With The Mules. In Winter, You Have A Mule For This Whole Journey

At The Rate Of Twenty Livres; And The

Guides Are Payed At The Rate Of Two Livres A Day, Reckoning Six

Days, Three For The Journey To Coni, And Three For Their Return

To Nice. We Set Out So Early In The Morning In Order To Avoid The

Inconveniencies And Dangers That Attend The Passage Of This

Mountain. The First Of These Arises From Your Meeting With Long

Strings Of Loaded Mules In A Slippery Road, The Breadth Of Which

Does Not Exceed A Foot And An Half. As It Is Altogether

Impossible For Two Mules To Pass Each Other In Such A Narrow

Path, The Muleteers Have Made Doublings Or Elbows In Different

Parts, And When The Troops Of Mules Meet, The Least Numerous Is

Obliged To Turn Off Into One Of These Doublings, And There Halt

Until The Others Are Past. Travellers, In Order To Avoid This

Disagreeable Delay, Which Is The More Vexatious, Considering The

Excessive Cold, Begin The Ascent Of The Mountain Early In The

Morning Before The Mules Quit Their Inns. But The Great Danger Of 

Part 7 Letter 36 ( To Dr. S-- At Nice) Pg 294

Travelling Here When The Sun Is Up, Proceeds From What They Call

The Valanches. These Are Balls Of Snow Detached From The

Mountains Which Over-Top The Road, Either By The Heat Of The Sun,

Or The Humidity Of The Weather. A Piece Of Snow Thus Loosened

From The Rock, Though Perhaps Not Above Three Or Four Feet In

Diameter, Increases Sometimes In Its Descent To Such A Degree, As

To Become Two Hundred Paces In Length, And Rolls Down With Such

Rapidity, That The Traveller Is Crushed To Death Before He Can

Make Three Steps On The Road. These Dreadful Heaps Drag Every

Thing Along With Them In Their Descent. They Tear Up Huge Trees

By The Roots, And If They Chance To Fall Upon A House, Demolish

It To The Foundation. Accidents Of This Nature Seldom Happen In

The Winter While The Weather Is Dry; And Yet Scarce A Year Passes

In Which Some Mules And Their Drivers Do Not Perish By The

Valanches. At Coni We Found The Countess C-- From Nice, Who Had

Made The Same Journey In A Chair, Carried By Porters. This Is No

Other Than A Common Elbow-Chair Of Wood, With A Straw Bottom,

Covered Above With Waxed Cloth, To Protect The Traveller From The

Rain Or Snow, And Provided With A Foot-Board Upon Which The Feet

Rest.

 

 

 

It Is Carried Like A Sedan-Chair; And For This Purpose Six Or

Eight Porters Are Employed At The Rate Of Three Or Four Livres A

Head Per Day, According To The Season, Allowing Three Days For

Their Return. Of These Six Men, Two Are Between The Poles

Carrying Like Common Chairmen, And Each Of These Is Supported By

The Other Two, One At Each Hand: But As Those In The Middle

Sustain The Greatest Burthen, They Are Relieved By The Others In

A Regular Rotation. In Descending The Mountain, They Carry The

Poles On Their Shoulders, And In That Case, Four Men Are

Employed, One At Each End.

 

 

 

At Coni, You May Have A Chaise To Go With The Same Horses To

Turin, For Which You Pay Fifteen Livres, And Are A Day And A Half

On The Way. You May Post It, However, In One Day, And Then The

Price Is Seven Livres Ten Sols Per Post, And Ten Sols To The

Postilion. The Method We Took Was That Of Cambiatura. This Is A

Chaise With Horses Shifted At The Same Stages That Are Used In

Posting: But As It Is Supposed To Move Slower, We Pay But Five

Livres Per Post, And Ten Sols To The Postilion. In Order To

Quicken Its Pace, We Gave Ten Sols Extraordinary To Each

Postilion, And For This Gratification, He Drove Us Even Faster

Than The Post. The Chaises Are Like Those Of Italy, And Will Take

On Near Two Hundred Weight Of Baggage.

 

 

 

Coni Is Situated Between Two Small Streams, And Though Neither

Very Large Nor Populous, Is Considerable For The Strength Of Its

Fortifications. It Is Honoured With The Title Of The Maiden-Fortress, 

Part 7 Letter 36 ( To Dr. S-- At Nice) Pg 295

Because Though Several Times Besieged, It Was Never

Taken. The Prince Of Conti Invested It In The War Of 1744; But He

Was Obliged To Raise The Siege, After Having Given Battle To The

King Of Sardinia. The Place Was Gallantly Defended By The Baron

Leutrum, A German Protestant, The Best General In The Sardinian

Service: But What Contributed Most To The Miscarriage Of The

Enemy, Was A Long Tract Of Heavy Rains, Which Destroyed All Their

Works, And Rendered Their Advances Impracticable.

 

 

 

I Need Not Tell You That Piedmont Is One Of The Most Fertile And

Agreeable Countries In Europe, And This The Most Agreeable Part

Of All Piedmont, Though It Now Appeared To Disadvantage From The

Rigorous Season Of The Year: I Shall Only Observe That We Passed

Through Sabellian, Which Is A Considerable Town, And Arrived In

The Evening At Turin. We Entered This Fine City By The Gate Of

Nice, And Passing Through The Elegant Piazza Di San Carlo, Took

Up Our Quarters At The Bona Fama, Which Stands At One Corner Of

The Great Square, Called La Piazza Castel.

 

 

 

Were I Even Disposed To Give A Description Of Turin, I Should Be

Obliged To Postpone It Till Another Opportunity, Having No Room

At Present To Say Any Thing More, But That I Am Always--Yours.

Part 7 Letter 38 ( Aix En Provence, May 10, 1765.) Pg 296

Dear Sir,--I Am Thus Far On My Way To England. I Had Resolved To

Leave Nice, Without Having The Least Dispute With Any One Native

Of The Place; But I Found It Impossible To Keep This Resolution.

My Landlord, Mr. C--, A Man Of Fashion, With Whose Family We Had

Always Lived In Friendship, Was So Reasonable As To Expect I

Should Give Him Up The House And Garden, Though They Were To Be

Paid For Till Michaelmas, And Peremptorily Declared I Should Not

Be Permitted To Sub-Let Them To Any Other Person. He Had Of His

Own Accord Assured Me More Than Once That He Would Take My

Furniture Off My Hands, And Trusting To This Assurance, I Had

Lost The Opportunity, Of Disposing It To Advantage: But, When The

Time Of My Departure Drew Near, He Refused To Take It, At The

Same Time Insisting Upon Having The Key Of The House And Garden,

As Well As On Being Paid The Whole Rent Directly, Though It Would

Not Be Due Till The Middle Of September. I Was So Exasperated At

This Treatment From A Man Whom I Had Cultivated With Particular

Respect, That I Determined To Contest It At Law: But The Affair 

Part 7 Letter 38 ( Aix En Provence, May 10, 1765.) Pg 297

Was Accommodated By The Mediation Of A Father Of The Minims, A

Friend To Both, And A Merchant Of Nice, Who Charged Himself With

The Care Of The House And Furniture. A Stranger Must Conduct

Himself With The Utmost Circumspection To Be Able To Live Among

These People Without Being The Dupe Of Imposition.

 

 

 

I Had Sent To Aix For A Coach And Four Horses, Which I Hired At

The Rate Of Eighteen French Livres A Day, Being Equal To Fifteen

Shillings And Nine-Pence Sterling. The River Var Was So Swelled

By The Melting Of The Snow On The Mountains, As To Be Impassable

By Any Wheel-Carriage; And, Therefore, The Coach Remained At

Antibes, To Which We Went By Water, The Distance Being About Nine

Or Ten Miles. This Is The Antipolis Of The Antients, Said To Have

Been Built Like Nice, By A Colony From Marseilles. In All

Probability, However, It Was Later Than The Foundation Of Nice,

And Took Its Name From Its Being Situated Directly Opposite To

That City. Pliny Says It Was Famous For Its Tunny-Fishery; And