Bakewell’s Travels in the Tarentaise, &c. 
i bad little donbt that the strata were 
vertical; but when I came in front of it, 
I perceived the truestrata-scams forming 
curves, which were intersected at one 
end by a vertical cleavage. 
Sometimes it happens that the strata- 
seams are entirely concealed in a per- 
pendicular escarp2ment of rock, by a 
caleareous incrustation deposited over 
the face of the rock, and, in such in- 
stances, the cleavages often project and 
resemble strata so much that it requires 
great care to avoid error in tracing the 
true line of dip in the: stratification. 
PEASANTRY OF SAVOY. 
Though the peasants in this part of 
Savoy are generally poor, yet, the land 
being much divided, most of them pos- 
sess a little portion of ground, sufficient 
to supply their families with potatoes, 
which is their principal food. This 
gives them,a feeling of equality and in- 
dependence among themselves, and they 
are very courteous to strangers. Un- 
like the inhabitants of Chamouny, who 
have been spoilt by the influx of visi- 
tors, and who are continually following 
you wherever you go, and begging un- 
der the specious pretence of offering 
fruits, flowers, or milk, the peasantry 
here greet you civilly as you pass, but 
rarely obtrude themselves further on 
your notice, though they are very ready 
to answer any enquiries you may wish 
to make. 
The numerous little flocks, consisting 
of a few sheep and goats, and one or 
two cows, returning home in the even- 
ing, winding down among the rocks, 
form the most picturesque pastoral 
groups imaginable. The women or 
girls who conduct them are always bu- 
sily employed, either knitting, platting 
straw, or spinning wool or flax with the 
distaff. 
The distaff, the first of all spinning 
machines, was used, in its present form, 
in the remotest antiquity, and has been 
the only instrument employed in many 
countries for some thousand years ; even 
a few years since it was used in the 
counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, by the 
country people, for spinning worsted 
for the manufacturers of Norwich. Its 
execution is susceptible of greater per- 
fection than might have been expected 
from the extreme simplicity of the ope- 
ration; and it has this advantage, that 
it may be used by the spinster in the 
ficlds. From the distaff to the cotton- 
mill of Arkwright, the progress of me- 
chanical improvement appears almost 
immeasurable; but the distance be- 
58k 
tween these two extremes is less than 
might be imagined on the first view. 
Almost every article of dress worn 
by the peasants in Savoy, is of domestic. 
manufacture.. The wool of their little 
flocks is dressed and spun by them- 
selves, and wove by the village weaver. 
Black sheep are very general in Savoy 5 
and. by mixing the black and white 
wool together, a sort of greyish brown 
cloth is produced, which saves the ex- 
pense of dying. The flax is also dressed 
aud spun by themselves, and wove in 
the neighbourhood. Itinerant tailors 
and shoemakers make the clothes and 
shoes of the peasantry under their own 
roofs, as was the case among the far- 
mers in England half a century ago, 
when the tailor was the travelling ga- 
zette of the village, and brought to the 
good house-wives of those days all the 
important histories and anecdotes that 
were known concerning the king and 
he queen upon the throne, or the vicar 
and the vicar’s wife of the adjoining 
parish. 
WALNUT HARVEST. 
[ have frequently mentioned the im- 
mense number of large walnut-irees 
that grow around the Lake of Annecy, 
and in the valleys of this part of Savoy. 
The walnut is the natural olive of this 
country, supplying the inbabitants with 
oil for their own consumpiion, and also 
a considerable quantity for exportation 
to France and Geneva. The walnut 
harvest at Chateau Duing commences 
in September: they are beaten off the 
trees with long poles; the green husks 
are taken off as soon as they begin to 
decay} the walnuts are then laid in a 
chamber to dry, where they remain till 
November, when the process of making 
the oil commences. The first operation 
is to crack the nuts, and take out the 
kernel: for this purpose several of the 
neighbouring peasants, with their wives 
and elder children, assembled at the 
chateau of an evening, after their work 
was done. The party generally consisted 
of about thirty persons, who were placed 
around a Jong table in the kitchen; one 
man sat at each end of the table, with a 
small mallet to crack the nuts by hitting 
them on the point: as fast as they are 
cracked they are distributed to the 
other persons around the table, who take 
the kernels out of the shell, and remove 
the inner part ; but they are uot peeled. 
The peasants of Savoy are naturally 
lively and loquacious; and they enliven 
their labour with facetious stories, jokes, 
and noisy mirth, About ten oles 
the 
