120 GRAPE CULTURE AND WINE-MAKING. 



Sejjtemher 21. — TVe traveled the whole night in the same way 

 as above-mentioned. The morning brought to our view a mount- 

 ainous and unimproved country. It was as wild as the Eocky 

 Mountains. The ravines were the only part of the country which 

 was cultivated, and they were planted wifh Indian corn and chest- 

 nut-trees. 



The houses of the villages are all of stone, but they have a most 

 wretched and miserable appearance. Poverty, dirt, and laziness 

 are every where to be seen. The fields are not cultivated with 

 the same care as in Switzerland. Here and there you meet patch- 

 es of turnips, some of which are hoed by women, but this must be 

 considered so much work thrown away, as they generally are not 

 hoed at all. 



At eight o'clock we arrived in a village where we expected to 

 have a good breakfast, and, after such a ride, by all means a good 

 wash. To our great disappointment, we had neither the one nor 

 the other. Water there was plenty in the well ; and as for the 

 good breakfast, it reduced itself down to a cup of chocolate and 

 something which we were told was coffee. We did not choose to 

 experiment, so we chose the chocolate, which was in a little cup, 

 two inches in diameter and three deep. These measures were 

 reckoned on the outside of the cup, not on the inside. For this 

 they charged us the moderate sum of ten reals. It is such an un- 

 accustomed thing, without doubt, to see persons wash in this coun- 

 try, that they thought if we could wash we could pay. 



After this sumptuous breakfast we went on again, and about 

 eleven o'clock we reached the valley. It is large, extensive roll- 

 ing ground, having no trees and looking like a desert. There is 

 some grain grown, which consists of oats, barley, and a little wheat, 

 but no corn. The grain is all planted in rows, and hilled up, like 

 corn out West, only on two sides, not all around. The planting 

 is done by dropping the seed after the plow has raised wp the 

 ground. I could not ascertain what an acre yielded, for no one 

 either in the stage or in the village could inform me. 



At one o'clock we arrived at Vittoria, where we got a kind of 

 dinner. We even had the luxury of getting one towel for eight 

 of us. Happy was he who found a clean corner ! Thirty min- 

 utes after, we were again on the way through this dreary, dcscrt- 

 looking country. It is uninteresting, altogether without trees, and 

 has not even a sign of cultivation. There are no houses on the 

 plains ; the villages are small, dirty, and miserable-looking ; the 



