. They searched rigidly, but promptly, carefully and like
gentlemen. In half an hour we were pronounced all right; our diligence
was reloaded, and, our passports having been returned, we rattled out of
the village and on our way, in the sunshine of as bright a June morning
as I ever hope to enjoy.

France is a land of plains, and glades, and gentle acclivities; Savoy is
a country of mountains. They rose before and around us from the moment
of our crossing the boundary--grim, rugged and precipitous, they formed
a striking contrast to all of Europe I had hitherto seen. Throughout the
day and night following, we were rarely or never out of sight of
snow-covered peaks; nay, I have not yet lost sight of them, since they
are distinctly visible in the clear Italian atmosphere from the streets
of this sunny metropolis, at a distance of some thirty miles north. Our
route lay through Savoy for about a hundred miles, and not one acre in
thirty within sight of it can ever be plowed. Yet the mountains are in
good part composed of limestone, so that the narrow, sheltered valleys
are decidedly fertile; and the Vine is often made to thrive on the
steep, rocky hill sides, where the plow could not be forced below the
surface, and where an ox could not keep his footing. Every inch of
ground that can be, is cultivated; little patches of Wheat, or Grass, or
Vines are got in wherever there is a speck of soil, though no larger
than a cart-body; and far up the sides of steep mountains, wherever a
spot is found so moderately inclined that soil will lie on it, there
Grass at least is grown.

Human Labor, in such a region, fully peopled, is very cheap and not very
efficient. The grape is the chief staple and Wine must be the principal
and probably is the only export, at least one third of the arable soil
being devoted to the Vine. Wheat is pretty extensively sown and is now
heading very thriftily, but I suspect the average size of the patches is
not above a quarter of an acre each. The Grass is good; and not much of
it cut yet. Indian Corn and Potatoes are generally cultivated, but in
deplorable ignorance of their nature. At least four times the proper
quantity of seed is put in the ground, neither Corn nor Potatoes being
allowed more than eighteen inches between the rows, making the labor of
cultivation very great and the chance of a good yield none at all.

I think I saw quite as many women as men at work in the fields
throughout Savoy. A gir