606 
vicinity of an opulent city, than. the 
eountry round either Paris, Dublin, or 
Edinburgb. 
NAPOLEON. 
An elderly respectable-looking woman 
rowed us on the Saone ; she was plainly 
but neatly dressed: she told us she had 
followed that occupation from ten years 
of age, which hadalso been the oecupa- 
tion of her mother... She said she very 
much wished to ask me one question, 
for she knew, as an Englishman, that 
I could tell-her the truth. On desiring 
her to state her question, she enquired 
with much earnestness, “Is the em- 
peror really dead? We have been told 
it,” she said, *‘many months, but we 
know not how far we may believe what 
is published by the present government.” 
On assuring her that the emperor, was 
dead, the tears rolled down her cheeks, 
and. she rested on her oars to give vent 
to her grief. 
to sec him once more in France, for he 
was the; man best suited to promote our 
prosperity.””. She bad Jost two. sons, in 
the army. On passing a fort, placed on 
a rock, she exclaimed, *‘ Ah! there I 
saw the emperor for the last/time ; he 
mounted the rock, on his. white horse, 
and none of his officers had the courage 
to follow him.’ . This feeling of attach- 
ment to Napoleon, or rather of aversion 
to the present government, appears to 
be general through that part of France 
which I passed.. In all the coffee- 
houses which I entered, the liberal 
journals. were read exclusively, (That 
this feeling shonld be general need ex- 
cite no surprise. ‘The French have little 
eonfidence in the present government ; 
and they are fully aware that it is a 
settled design of the ultras to take 
away every remains of a free consti- 
tniion, and to restore the old regime, 
with tithes, and feudal privileges. 
VOL@ANOES IN AUVERGNE. 
. Two naturalists, who were returning 
in 1751 from: Vesuvius, stopped to bo- 
tanise on the mountains in Auvergne, 
and were’ surprised at the resemblance 
which these mountains presented to that 
eelebrated volcano. ‘They were parti- 
cularly struck with the similarity of the 
lavas and minerals in both. M. Guettard, 
one of these naturalists, published an 
account of this discovery; but it ap- 
peared so extraordinary that it was not 
generally believed. ‘Future observers, 
however, confirmed the truth of M. 
Guettard’s statement, and. proved in a 
satisfactory manner the oxistence of an- 
cient volcanoes in Auvergne; yet the 
She said, “ We had hoped | 
Bakewell’s Travels in the Tarentaise, &c. 
attachment to particular. theories in- 
duced certain, goologists;in this, country 
to withhold their assent,.and. even to 
question the yeracity. of the, accounts 
which had been, published. Nature 
fortunately remains moye stable than 
prejudice, and the volcAnic characters 
of the rocks in Auvergue are so clearly 
and indelibly impressed, that they can- 
not be called in question by any one 
who has examined them, 
The road from la Barraque to the 
Puy de Pariou, passes near a great cur- 
rent of lava, which has flowed from that 
mountain; this lava rises to the height 
of from thirty to sixty feet above. the 
plain ; from the surface there are nume- 
rous projecting ridges, which seemed 
like the fractured: portions of enormous 
waves, that had been congealed and 
then broken by the progressive motion 
of the current. We. passed, over this 
current twice; itis covered with scoria, 
and masses of basaltic lava... The, era- 
ter, which is the best preserved of any. 
in Auvergne, is nearfy circular... £ 
walked round it, and estimate its cir- 
cumlerence at about eight hundred 
yards, Its shape is that of an inverted 
cone or funnel, quite perfect, aris 
The present state of the crater of 
Pariou, and of the bed of lava. that.di- 
vides into two branches, and may be 
traced for several miles into the yalley 
of Clermont, leave no room for doubt 
respecting the former activity of voleanic 
fire in this part of Auvergne. We bave 
here a crater as perfeet as that of any 
recent volcano, and most of the mi- 
nerals of which the mountain and, the 
lava from it are composed, are the same 
as those found in the lavas of Etma and 
Vesuvius, or those of the volcanoes in 
the Lipari islands, or im Iceland... . ~ 
CLERMONT. 
Clermont, called Clermont. Ferrand, 
is a city containing more than 30,000 
inhabitants. There are seyeral spa- 
cious streets and market-places, and 
halls for cloth and corn, and the public 
buildings are respectable; but many of 
the streets in the interior of the city are 
narrow and gloomy. The, cathedral is 
the finest Gothic building I saw south 
of Paris, its. external appearance is 
sombre, being built of the dark lava 
from Volvic. $ 
The plain in which Clermont is situ- 
ated, called the Limagne d’ Auvergne, is 
the richest soil in. France: provisions 
are good and plentiful. ‘The seasons 
are later than at Lyons, but the beans: 
were in flower onthe 30th of aM 
an 
