26 Travels in France 



and has something of a savage aspect; yet houses are seen 

 everywhere, and one-third of it under vines. 



That town is bad; the streets neither wide nor straight, but 

 the new road is an improvement. The chief object of its trade 

 and resource are vines and brandies. The true Vin de Cahors, 

 which has a great reputation, is the produce of a range of vine- 

 yards, very rocky, on a ridge of hills full to the south, and is 

 called Vin de Grave, because growing on a gravelly soil. In 

 plentiful years the price of good wine here does not exceed that 

 of the cask; last year it was sold at los. 6d. a barique, or 8d. a 

 dozen. We drank it at the Trois Rois from three to ten years 

 old, the latter at 30 sous (is. 3d.) the bottle; both excellent, 

 full-bodied, great spirit, without being fiery, and to my palate 

 much better than our ports. I liked it so well that I established 

 a correspondence with Monsieur Andoury, the innkeeper.^ The 

 heat of this country is equal to the production of strong wine. 

 This was the most burning day we had experienced. 



On leaving Cahors, the mountain of rock rises so immediately 

 that it seems as if it would tumble into the to"wn. The leaves 

 of walnuts are now black with frosts that happened within a 

 fortnight. On inquiry, I found they are subject to these frosts 

 all through the spring months; and though rye is sometimes 

 killed by them, the mildew in wheat is hardly known; — a fact 

 sufficiently destructive of the theory of frosts being the cause of 

 that distemper. It is very rare that any snow falls here. Sleep 

 at Ventillac. — 22 miles. 



12th. The shape and colour of the peasants' houses here add 

 a beauty to the country; they are square, white, and with 

 rather flat roofs, but few windows. The peasants are for the 

 most part land proprietors. Immense view of the Pyrenees 

 before us, of an extent and height truly sublime: near Perges, 

 the view of a rich vale that seems to reach uninterruptedly to 

 those mountains is a glorious scenery; one vast sheet of culti- 

 vation; everywhere chequered with these well-built white 

 houses; — the eye losing itself in the vapour, which ends only 

 with that stupendous ridge, whose snow-capped heads are broken 

 into the boldest outline. The road to Caussade leads through a 

 very fine avenue of six rows of trees, two of them mulberries, 

 which are the first we have seen. Thus we have travelled almost 

 to the Pyrenees before we met with an article of culture which 



^ I since had a barique of him ; but whether he sent bad wine, which I 

 am not willing to believe, or that it came through bad hands, I know not. 

 It is however so bad as to be item for folly. — Author's note. 



