230 Account of the Climate, fyc. of' the North of France. 



country, indeed, the water is sufficiently bad ; but that of the 

 Colme and the canals is even worse than that of the Aa. In 

 general it has a muddy brown colour, and deposits a green- 

 ish yellow slime in great abundance. Many of the inhabi- 

 tants are nevertheless under the necessity of using water from 

 the watergangs and ditches however unwholesome. It is very 

 dangerous to make use of these waters as drink, but their of- 

 fensive taste commonly prevents their use in that form, the 

 drink of the inhabitants being always a kind of tea or beer. 

 Much use is made of water from draw-wells, though the qua- 

 lity of this is also very bad, being strongly impregnated with 

 saline and other substances. It is more discoloured, and of 

 greater specific gravity, than the water of the rivers and ca- 

 nals, and is unfit for culinary purposes, animal and vegetable 

 substances when concocted in it, acquiring a horny consistence. 

 The principal use to which the water of draw-wells is applied 

 is the washing of the houses, a practice to which the inhabi- 

 tants are, to appearance, excessively addicted. But, perhaps, 

 if their houses were not thus kept proportionably damp, the 

 inmates would be less able to resist the excessive dampness of 

 the external air, to which they are liable to be exposed in all 

 variety of circumstances. 



It is much to be regretted that cisterns, from which so 

 much advantage has long been derived in Holland, are here 

 almost unknown. 



The soil seems to be of the same description over the whole 

 of this tract of country. It is very moist, and is composed of 

 a mixture of clay, siliceous earth, peat-moss, and a considerable 

 proportion of animal and vegetable substances in a stale of de- 

 composition. So much do the latter substances abound, that, 

 when it is examined in the hand, it has that over-rich, or ra- 

 ther greasy appearance of the soil that is to be found in the 

 vicinity of old dunghills. Hence it is, that ashes are in such 

 great repute as a manure, and are sold at a high price. The 

 cultivated fields are highly productive, and the pastures and 

 meadows, especially those on the banks of the canals, around 

 the villages and large farm-houses, are rich even to luxuriance. 

 There are also considerable plantations, the vegetation of 

 which is strikingly rapid, many trees acquiring large dimen- 



