84 



MONTPELIER. 



when under 12 months, the youngest of the two being 

 expected to produce a kid in four months. After they 

 are three years old, the shepherd said (if I understood 

 him right, which was no easy matter, from his Catalan 

 dialect), that they produce four kids annually. The fine 

 Cashmere wool is produced under the hair, and is combed 

 out in the month of May. The large male, they said, 

 yielded from five to six ounces, and the females only two 

 ounces a piece. The government, the shepherd informed 

 me, possess 150 of these animals, which were formerly all 

 here, but, with the exception of the three which I saw, 

 they were removed to the interior. — They were brought 

 from Persia by a gentleman of Paris, who started with a 

 flock of 1,600, only 150 of which he succeeded in bring- 

 ing to France. They were purchased by the government 

 at the price of 3,000 francs a head, and their produce w^ere 

 for some time offered for sale in this department, but 

 found no purchasers. The price I either did not hear, 

 or do not recollect. 



Wednesday, 2Srd. — Last evening, at seven o'clock, I 

 took my place in the diligence, the director having freely 

 agreed to take me without any additional charge, and at 

 seven this evening I arrived at Montpelier. In going 

 into Beziers about nine o'clock this morning, I observed 

 hoar frost upon the grass where the sun's rays had not 

 penetrated. The whole country from Beziers to Mont- 

 pelier, on both sides of the road, is covered with vineyards. 

 Between the former town and Penzenas the country is 

 extremely beautiful even at this season. The hills are 

 covered with olive trees, intermixed with vines, but the 

 plains with vines only. Detached habitations are every 

 where thickly scattered over the country. The vine is 

 cultivated even in the alluvial plains, and the immense 



