582 
the table is cleared to make room for 
the gouté, or supper, consisting of dried 
fruit, vegetables, and wine; and the re- 
mainder of the evening is spent in sing- 
ing and dancing, which is sometimes 
centinued till midnight. 
WALNUT, OIL. 
In a fevourable season the number of 
walnuts from Mr. B.’s estate is so great, 
that the party assemble in this manner 
every evening fora fortnight, before all 
the walnuts are cracked; and the poor 
people look forward to these meetings, 
from year to year, as a kind of festival. 
They do not receive any pay; but the 
zouté and the amusemeuts of the even- 
ing are their only reward. 
The kernels are laid on cloths to dry, 
and in about a fortnight are carried to 
the crughing- mill, where they are ground 
into a paste ; this is put into cloths, and 
undergoes the operation of pressing, to 
«xtraet the oil. The best oil, which is 
used for salads and cooking, is pressed 
cold; but an inferior oil, for lamps, is 
extracted by heating the paste, ‘Thirty 
people, in one evening, will crack as 
many walnuts as will produce sixty 
pounds of paste ; this yiclds about fifteen 
wine-quarts of oil. ‘The walnut-shells 
are not lost among so frugal a people as 
the Savoyards, but are burned for the 
ashes, which are used in washing. Two 
pounds of these ashes are equal in 
strength to three of wood-ashes; but 
the alkali is so caustic that it frequently 
injures ihe linen. The paste, after it is 
pressed, is dried in cakes, called pain 
comer ; this is eaten by children and poor 
people, and it is sold in the shops in 
Savoy and Geneva. 
The best walnut oil, pressed cold, has 
but very little of the kernelly taste; but 
it may be easily distinguished from the 
best olive oil, which it resembles in 
colour. If the peel were taken off the 
walnuts, the oil would probably be quite 
free from any peculiar flavour; but this 
operation would be too tedious. 
RELIGION. 
The Savoyards are more religious than 
their: neighbours the French; and if a 
Catholic wished to show his religion 
under its most attractive form, he should 
lead us to the remote villages of Savoy. 
The curés, or parish priests, have a house 
and garden, and from seventy to a hun- 
dred Napoleons per annum, which is paid 
hy the government out of taxes raised for 
the purpose, tithes having been abolished 
since the French Revolution. As the 
priests have no families, this income is 
sufficient to provide them with all the 
Bakewell’s Travels in the Tarentaise, &c. 
comforts of life. They are seldom trans- 
Jated or removed from one parish to an- 
other, and have no temptation to be 
cringing to the great, and hunting after 
preferment; but being once fixed in the 
cure, where they expect to spend the 
remainder of their days, they generally 
devote themselves to the instruction and 
edification of their flocks, or to visiting 
the sick, and offering advice and consola- 
tion to the afflicted. On many of their 
countenances, benevolence and simpli- 
city of character were strongly marked ; 
and the conversation I had with some 
of the Savoyard cnrés tended to confirm 
the fayourable opinion I had formed of 
them. Their influence and authority is, 
however, very great. It is necessary to 
obtain permission of Monsieur le Curé, 
before a Savoyard can have a little dance, 
even in his own house; and in many parts 
of Savoy, daneing is entirely prohibited. 
The religious fétes and processions, 
which are more strictly observed here 
than in France, form au innocent amuse-" 
ment and an. agreeable variety to so 
simple a people as the Savoyards: these 
{étes must also tend to civilise them and 
soften their manners’; perhaps there may 
not be much religious feeling connected 
with such observances, but this may be 
said of ceremonial worship. of all kinds, 
in cvery.age and country, , 
But it is not from their public proees- 
sions that we can judge of the religions 
feelings of the Sayoyards. The churches 
here, as in other Catholic countries, are 
left open for private worship. The Sa- 
voyard, before going to his labour, ge- 
nerally visits the church, if it be near, to 
offer up hisorisons. Often, when Ihave 
entered one of these retired: churches, 
either from curiosity or to rest myself 
after a walk, and supposed I was alone, 
as my eyes became accustomed to the 
gloom, I have discovered a peasant on 
his knees, absorbed in scrious meditation 
or prayer, after which he would rise, 
cross himself, and retire. 
EMIGRATION. 
The young men in these valleys emi- 
grate into various parts of Europe to 
find employment, in the winter months. 
The migration takes place at the end of 
October. Mons. Grillet, a Savoyard cler- 
gyman, has given the following interest~ 
ing description of the migration from the 
vicinity of Faverge and Marlens, which 
he witnessed when residing in that 
neighbourhood. 
“ An old trader from St. Ferrol, who, 
by the frequent journics he hac made, 
had acquired an exact knowledge of the 
country 
