very
inconsiderable village, in which they have not yet the luxury of glass
windows: nor in any of the villages on this passage have they yet
the fashion of powdering the hair. Common stone and limestone are so
abundant, that the apartments of every story are vaulted with stone to
save wood.

April 15. _Limone. Coni_. I see abundance of lime-stone as far as the
earth is uncovered with snow; i.e. within half or three quarters of an
hour's walk of the top. The snows descend much lower on the eastern
than western side. Wherever there is soil, there is corn quite to the
commencement of the snows, and I suppose under them also. The waste
parts are in two-leaved pine, lavender, and thyme. From the foot of
the mountain to Coni the road follows a branch of the Po, the plains of
which begin narrow, and widen at length into a general plain country,
bounded on one side by the Alps. They are good, dark-colored, sometimes
tinged with red, and in pasture, corn, mulberries, and some almonds. The
hill-sides bordering these plains are reddish, and where they admit of
it are in corn; but this is seldom. They are mostly in chestnut, and
often absolutely barren. The whole of the plains are plentifully watered
from the river, as is much of the hill-side. A great deal of golden
willow all along the rivers on the whole of this passage through the
Alps. The southern parts of France, but still more the passage through
the Alps, enable one to form a scale of the tenderer plants, arranging
them according to their several powers of resisting cold. Ascending
three different mountains, Braus, Brois, and Tende, they disappear one
after another: and descending on the other side, they show themselves
again one after another. This is their order, from the tenderest to the
hardiest. Caper, orange, palm, aloe, olive, pomegranate, walnut, fig,
almond. But this must be understood of the plant; for as to the
fruit, the order is somewhat different. The caper, for example, is the
tenderest plant, yet being so easily protected, it is the most certain
in its fruit. The almond, the hardiest plant, loses its fruit the
oftenest on account of its forwardness. The palm, hardier than the caper
and the orange, never produces perfect fruit in these parts. Coni is a
considerable town, and pretty well built. It is walled.

April 16. _Centale. Savigliano. Racconigi. Poirino. Turin_. The Alps,
as far as they are in view from north to south, show the gradation of
climate b