THE EUROPEAN JOURNALS 305 



word American suggested that all the natives of our 

 country were aborigines. We then entered the diligence, 

 a vehicle ugly and clumsy in the extreme, but tolerably 

 comfortable unless over-crowded, and it travelled from six 

 to seven miles an hour, drawn generally by five horses, two 

 next the coach, and three abreast before those ; the driver 

 rides on the near wheel-horse dressed precisely like the 

 monkeys in shows of animals. Calais is a decaying fortified 

 town ; the ditches are partly filled with earth, and I cannot 

 tell why there should exist at this time a drawbridge. As 

 we proceeded it did not take much time to see already 

 many differences between France and England. I will 

 draw no parallel between these countries, I will merely tell 

 thee what I saw. The country is poorly cultivated, al- 

 though the land is good. No divisions exist to the 

 eye, no cleanly trimmed hedges, no gates, no fences ; all 

 appeared to me like one of the old abandoned cotton 

 plantations of the South. I remarked that there were more 

 and taller trees than in England, and nearly the whole 

 road was planted like the avenue to a gentleman's house. 

 The road itself was better than I had expected, being 

 broad, partly macadamized, and partly paved with square 

 stones ; I found it much alike during the whole journey. 

 Night coming on we lost the means of observation for a 

 time, and stopped soon after dark for refreshment, and had 

 some excellent coffee. I assure thee, Lucy, that coffee in 

 France is certainly better than anywhere else. We passed 

 through St. Omer, and a little farther on saw the lights of 

 the fires from an encampment of twelve thousand soldiers. 

 Breakfast was had at another small village, where we were 

 sadly annoyed by beggars. The country seems very poor ; 

 the cottages of the peasants are wretched mud huts. We 

 passed through the Departments of Artois and Picardy, 

 the country giving now and then agreeable views. We 

 dined at Amiens, where the cathedral externally is magnif- 

 icent. After travelling all night again, we found our- 



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