374 STUDIES OF nature' 



was decreed that the prifoners of war fliould be 

 <ifarmed, and reduced to llavery. 



I was the caufe, therefore, of the abolition of the 

 Law which condemned them to the flames. I 

 likewife proved the occafion of abrogating the cuf- 

 tom of facrificing innocents to Mars, and of re- 

 ducing the fhipwrecked to fervitude. Thus was I 

 thrice ufeful to Mankind in the Gauls j once by 

 my fuccefs, and twice by my misfortunes : fo true it 

 is that the Gods can, when they pleafe, bring good 

 out of evil. 



We returned to Lutetia, loaded with the accla- 

 mations and applaufe of the People. The firil 

 anxiety exprefled by the King, on his arrival, was 

 to carry us with him to vifit his garden. The 

 greateft part of our trees were in great forvvardnefs. 

 He admired, firft, how Nature had preferved their 

 fruits from the attack of the birds. The cheftnut, 

 flill in a milky flate, was covered with leather, and 

 with a prickly (liell. The tender walnut was pro- 

 teâ:ed by a hard fliell, and a bitter outward cafe. 

 The foft fruits were defended, previous to their 

 maturity, by their roughnefs, their acidity, or 

 their verdure. Thofe which were ripe invited the 

 hand to gather them. The gold-coloured apricot, 

 the velvet peach, and the cottony quince, exhaled 



the 



