Account of the Climate, $c. of the North of France. 237 



In the country, the houses are built of mud or brick, and 

 roofed with thatch. In the towns, they are built of brick, and 

 roofed with flat tiles, which at least have a better appearance 

 than those used in Scotland, but they require the roof to be 

 covered with deal, the same as in the case of slates. Nothing 

 is more agreeable than the internal appearance of these houses ; 

 every where there is exhibited, as in Holland, an exact atten- 

 tion to cleanliness ; but the means employed for attaining this 

 is far from being agreeable to strangers. Several large tubs 

 of cold water are emptied in each apartment, and when every 

 part has been well scrubbed with a birchen broom, the re- 

 maining water is swept out by the door, and in this state it is 

 left to dry, which, in this climate, is a very slow process. 

 This deluging operation is of perpetual recurrence, and hence 

 those who are not completely accustomed to this moist manner 

 of life, are continually exposed to attacks of rheumatism, 

 toothache, &c. 



Occasional inundations from heavy falls of rain are liable 

 to take place, and when the water is nearly evaporated, there 

 are elicited vapours of a very noxious quality. Notwithstand- 

 ing the numerous canals, &c. there still exist some marshes, 

 and in hot weather their effluvia are very pernicious. Some 

 of these marshes are formed by digging peat, and clay to 

 make bricks ; others have existed from time immemorial. 

 At each farm-house there is a pond of no small extent, to re- 

 ceive the fluid part of the dunghills, &c. These are of a 

 greenish or reddish brown colour, and in autumn give out a 

 most abominable odour. Strange as it may appear, however, 

 almost every farmer sends his cattle to drink out of these 

 ponds, and even the animals themselves seem to prefer this 

 fluid (for water it cannot be called) to the water of the canals 

 and ditches. It must be admitted, that there are no direct 

 proofs of the use of this fluid as drink being prejudicial, and 

 one thing is certain, that these ponds must be almost, if not 

 altogether free of insects and animalcula, which literally 

 swarm everywhere else, whether air, earth, or water. 



The immense quantity of small animals of one kind and 

 another, that arc to be seen in and about the canals, ditches, 

 and fields, enables us to account for no small portion of the 



