THE EMIGRANT'S HAND-BOOK. 77 



dujomtions by means of fresco paintings, which are easily 

 put on, and resist the vicissitudes of the seasons ; it will 

 be seen also, that they can be of very great solidity. 



The rich proprietors and merchants of Lyons, who have 

 delightful villas in the environs of this city, build them 

 exclusively of pise, plastered over and painted in fresco 

 in the best taste, and at very moderate expense. 



This plastering ought not to be put on until the pise* is 

 completely dry, unless it be done in quick-lime, or lime 

 very freshly slaked. 



A pise* house has the double advantage of being soon 

 finished and habitable, and of costing much less than an- 

 other. It also furnishes, when it is pulled down, an ex- 

 cellent manure for moist soils. I repeat, it is the true 

 rural and rustic building, for the rich as well as for the 

 poor, and that can be adopted in every country. It can 

 also last centuries if it be well done. Not only many 

 modern authors, and among others Rosier, affirm these 

 advantages, but all the ancients have proved it, and Pliny 

 the younger mentions, that Hannibal had built in Spain 

 lanterns and towers upon the summits of mountains, 

 which still were in existence in his day which supposes 

 at least three hundred years preservation. There is 

 neither cement nor mortar, says he, which is harder 

 than this earth, which resists rain, wind and fire. Cadet 

 de Vaux mentions that the younger Baily, a French 

 physician who went into Spain to study the yellow fever, 

 visited some years since the ruins of Saguntum, dismant- 

 led more than two thousand years since, and could not 

 detach a small sample of the pise" of which they were 

 originally formed, without the assistance of a chisel and 

 mallet ; and in our days the siege of Lyons has proved 

 the solidity of this species of construction, in resisting 

 the efforts of the most formidable artillery : in truth, the 



