I 10 ] 
and some not at all. Bot as Brittany, of which this 
makes a part, has suffered more than any other de¬ 
partment of France by the war, perhaps this want 
of cultiYation may be derived from the same source, 
and yet the abundance of villages and their appa^ 
rent population, speak a different language. 
As the route to Nantz runs along the sea coast, 
which in all countries exhibits the worst lands, we 
passed over several barrens though of no great ex-, 
tent, covered with heath. We found them pai% 
ing it in some places—for the common husbandry is 
to mix it with stable dung, and when rotted applying 
it to their grain. I afterwads found that it is also 
burnt, and the ashes applied to that use, more par¬ 
ticularly upon the downs in Flanders and Holland. 
We passed on this route through a great number of 
villages and some very considerable towns; in none 
of which, contrary to our expectation, we found 
the beggary we had left at L’Orient. The villa¬ 
ges are all built of stones. The streets so extreme¬ 
ly narrow that in many of them two carriages can¬ 
not pass. The stable forms the front of the far¬ 
mer’s house, and you generally go through this to 
his own habitation—though some few have courts, 
the stables forming the sides. This gives the vil¬ 
lages a gloomy appearance, and contributes to ren¬ 
der them extremely dirty. As you leave the sea 
coast the soil improves, and no land is to be seen, 
except such as is left in wood, that is uncultivated. 
