evolution, it
was undoubtedly one of the most populous.

There are only two roads in the whole country: one of them runs from
Nantes to la Rochelle, and the other from Bordeaux to Tours, through
Poitou: all the rest of this district is a complete labyrinth: there
are indeed numerous pathways, so very winding and narrow, that they
are much more calculated to harass and mislead, than to assist a
traveller in his journey: these pathways are flanked by wide and deep
ditches, and almost rendered completely dark by lofty hedges on each
side of them, the trees of which meet at top, and thus form an arch:
hence they are rough and uneven in summer, besides being intolerably
hot, and deep and miry in winter. To add to these inconveniences, the
bed of a rivulet flowing along them frequently constitutes the only
passage. Even when the traveller, after toiling along these dreadful
pathways, comes near a town or village, he generally finds that the
approach to it is practicable only by ascending irregular steps,
cut out of the solid rock, on which they are built. The inhabitants
themselves even are frequently puzzled by these pathways; and, after
wandering for a considerable length of time, at last find out that
they have been travelling in a wrong direction.

The whole country bears the appearance of an extensive and thick
forest: this arises from the nature of the enclosures; they are
extremely small, often not more than fifty or sixty perches,
surrounded with strong hedges planted in the banks. These
circumstances alone would give the appearance just noticed; but the
effect is much increased from other causes. On each side of the banks,
on which the trees are planted, there are ditches and drains, and the
moisture which they constantly supply to their roots, renders their
growth very rapid and luxuriant; so that when we consider the number
of the trees and their great size, we shall not be surprised that
the country looks like an immense forest. Sometimes the trees are so
disposed as to answer the purpose of a palisade; and this purpose they
answer most effectually, not only from the great size and strength of
the trees themselves, but also from the intervening spaces between
them being filled up with strong and impassable underwood [10].

[Footnote 10: A tract of about 150 miles square, at the mouth and
on the southern bank of the Loire, comprehends the scene of those
deplorable hostilities. The most inland part of the distric