hot situation. There is so little white made in proportion to the
red, that it is difficult to buy it separate. They make the white sell
the red. If bought separately, it is from fifteen to sixteen louis the
piece, new, and three livres the bottle, old. To give quality to
the red, they mix one eighth of white grapes. Portage to Paris is
seventy-two livres the piece, weighing six hundred pounds. There are but
about one thousand _pieces_ of both red and white, of the first quality,
made annually. Vineyards are never rented here, nor are laborers in the
vineyard hired by the year. They leave buds proportioned to the strength
of the vine, sometimes as much as fifteen inches. The last hermit died
in 1751.
In the neighborhood of Montelimart, and below that, they plant vines in
rows, six, eight, or ten feet apart, and two feet asunder in the row,
filling the intervals with corn. Sometimes the vines are in double rows,
two feet apart. I saw single asses in ploughs proportioned to their
strength. There are few chateaux in this province. The people, too,
are mostly gathered into villages. There are, however, some scattering
farm-houses. These are made either of mud, or of round stone and mud.
They make enclosures also, in both those ways. Day-laborers receive,
sixteen or eighteen sous the day, and feed themselves. Those by the year
receive, men three louis, women half that, and are fed. They rarely eat
meat; a single hog, salted, being the year's stock for a family. But
they have plenty of cheese, eggs, potatoes, and other vegetables, and
walnut oil with their salad. It is a trade here, to gather dung along
the road for their vines. This proves they have few cattle. I have seen
neither hares nor partridges since I left Paris, nor wild fowl on any
of the rivers. The roads from Lyons to St. Rambert are neither paved
nor gravelled. After that, they are coated with broken flint. The
ferry-boats on the Rhone and the Isere, are moved by the stream, and
very rapidly. On each side of the river is a moveable stage, one end of
which is on an axle and two wheels, which, according to the tide, can
be advanced or withdrawn, so as to apply to the gunwale of the boat. The
Praetorian Palace at Vienne, is forty-four feet wide, of the Corinthian
order, four columns in front, and four in flank. It was begun in the
year 400, and finished by Charlemagne.
The sepulchral Pyramid, a little way out of the town, has an order for
its basement, the pede
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