POLITICS AND HOME LIFE (1781-92) 349 



De Saussuro comments on the bareness of the surrounding 

 region, caused by the destruction of the forests, and he is at pains 

 to argue that this has produced, on the one hand, a failure in the 

 average rainfall, and, on the other, from time to time violent floods. 

 It is only of recent years that any practical steps have been taken 

 in this region in the direction he pointed out. He was delighted 

 with the view of the coast, its capes, bays, and shores, and the 

 town of Toulon at his feet. He must have been wrong, however, 

 in fancying he identified Mont Blanc. The peaks of Dauphine 

 stand in the way, and one of these may have caught his eyes. 



On the descent he came, hungry and thirsty, to a farm. Hia 

 guide assured him that their only chance of finding food or 

 drink was to appeal for it either for payment or in charity. 



' We knocked, a young and good-looking woman came to the 

 window, and, in answer to our humble petition, said she would willingly 

 give us what she had, eggs, bread, and wine, if we would give our word 

 of honour not to set foot in the house, but to eat in the shade of a 

 mulberry close by what she sent out by the servant. We gave our 

 word and she kept hers, and came to her doorstep and entertained us 

 with lively conversation while we drank her health in the wine she 

 provided. We separated with an air of mutual satisfaction, but with- 

 out any question of breaking the restraint imposed.' [ Voyages, 1494.] 



On the return journey the future home of Tartarin did not fail 

 to attract the de Saussures by its southern gaiety. Their visit 

 was on a Sunday : 



' The little town of Tarascon, or at least the faubourg, was charm- 

 ingly gay ; despite the violent mistral, a crowd was dancing in the 

 middle of a square to the sound of the fife and the tambourine. All 

 the women in red corsets, short petticoats, with red stockings and 

 polished shoes, and kerchiefs of coloured muslin on their heads and 

 necks, with blue eyes and very lively countenances, formed a charm- 

 ing spectacle. We stayed a long time to watch them, and the pleasure 

 we had in doing so seemed to add to theirs.' [Voyages, 1603.] 



At Chateaubourg, on the Rhone, de Saussure had a curious 

 encounter. 1 He went down to the river bank to test the tempera- 

 ture at which water would boil for the purpose of comparison with 



1 The date is given in the Voyages as 1781, but de Saussure was not in the 

 south of France in that year, and the reference to what might have been the 

 issue two years later shows that 1787 must be the true date. 



