TRAVELS IN 
off in full gallop the same way they had approached, and were 
out of sight in a few minutes. This manoeuvre was intended 
as a salute in honour of the landrost ; and such a welcome re- 
ception, so very different from that he had experienced on a 
former occasion, from the inhabitants of the first division of 
his district, was no bad omen of the change of sentiments, or 
of conduct at least, that had taken place since his expulsion. 
After a journey of nine days over a dreary and barren desert, 
the traces of human industry, though in a wild sequestered 
corner, hemmed in by huge barren mountains, had no less 
charms than the discovery of land, after a long sea-voj^age, 
to the weary passenger. We found here not only a most 
friendly reception, but also such refreshments as we began to 
be in want of. Two kinds of wine, the produce of the place, 
were very tolerable. Various sorts of fruits, all of good qua- 
lity. The oranges were already ripe and gathered, and the 
peach and almond trees were in fidl blossom. Vegetables 
were unusually luxuriant in their growth : some of the cauli- 
flowers measured eighteen inches in diameter. The rapidity 
of vegetation, at this place, appeared the more remarkable 
on account of its situation at tiie feet of mountains whose 
summits were buried in snow. It Avas, however, exposed only 
to the warm north, and completely screened from all other 
winds. The thermometer, during the three days we remained 
here, was never lower than 46°, at the same time that the 
appearance of the weather indicated a severe frost every night 
at the distance of a very few miles on the desert. 
The mistress of the mansion, at the age of sixty, and tjie 
mother of sixteen children, was a tall, straight, well-looking, 
2 
