of a recent Conti?iental Tour. 275 



when our guide Giuseppe, who had loitered a little, overtook 

 us, running and out of breath, to say that the douaniers of 

 the king of Sai'dinia had seized his mule, and a pair of 

 pistols of ours (which he carried for the purpose of awaken- 

 ing the echoes), in consequence of our carrying arms 

 through his majesty's territories without paying duty. We 

 had to ride Isack, and in about a quarter of an hour overtook 

 Giuseppe's mule, laden with our carpet bags, &c., led by the 

 douanier, but not towards their caserne ; and we had some 

 difficulty in persuading the fellow to conduct us direct to his 

 commanding officer. We retraced our steps, and soon 

 arrived at a miserable hut, and were introduced to Monsieur 

 ie Capitain, a filthy, unshaven, unsoldierly-looking villain, 

 that had fully as much the appearance of a robber as of a 

 revenue officer: indeed, I believe, in remote districts, these 

 gentry occasionally practise in both capacities. Our amiable 

 captor spoke something to him in patois^ and he demanded 

 thirty francs for our carrying arms, &c. : we insisted on see- 

 ing the tariff; and, in short, after for a long time refusing to 

 show it, after the most disgraceful attempts at imposition 

 and vexatious delays, we reduced their demand Jrom thirty 

 francs to ftoo, and it appeared very questionable whether they 

 had any right to even the latter sum. I am particular in 

 relating this trifling incident, as a general caution against the 

 douaniers of the south of Europe (the Austrian states in 

 particular), whom I have invariably found on the watch for 

 any species of mean exaction and peculation. They will 

 open letters, not a syllable of which they can decipher. 

 They seized a volume of Lord Byron's poetry from a 

 Hanoverian student, that we travelled with in Lombardy, as 

 an unconstitutional hook. These are things that make us feel 

 the value of our own free institutions. 



We shook ourselves clear of these extortioners, and soon 

 passed some very large pines. What a noble tree is a 

 mighty pine ! when growing in the situation it is intended 

 for, on the mountain side ; based on the solid rock, which its 

 huge roots enfold, and, stretching deep, bind to the parent 

 earth : its enormous trunk, unbent by storm or time, reaches 

 towards heaven, " lythe by degrees and beautifully less;" 

 its dependent limbs, laden with persistent verdure, shake icy 

 winter proudly from their crest. Truly the pine is the 

 mountain forest king, as the oak is that of the plain. Ma- 

 jestic as is a large and matured pine, no tree looks more 

 ungraceful when young, and to my eye none seems so out of 

 place when planted in masses in the plain. The habit of 



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