1802. ] 
For the Moathly Magazine. 
ORIGINAL LETTERS of a# AMERICAN 
TRAVELLER fo his FRIEND i” LON- 
DON, coutaining a CIRCUMSTANTIAL 
ACCOUNT of @ RECENT TOUR from 
BOURDEAUX f0 PARIS, 
LEETER. J. 
Sir; Bourdeaux, May 23,1798. 
I Foca promifed to give you fome 
defcription of whatever I fhould 
meet with in my. travels, that was. in- 
terefting or new, I fhall begin by men- 
tioning to you the firft circumftance that 
attracted my attention, on the arrival of 
our veffel off the mouth of the River Ga- 
ronne. No fooner had wea diftinét view 
of the land, than we perceived a number 
of wherries coming out to meet us. There 
was no fimall competition amongft them to 
be the firft to come along-fide of us. 
Some of thofe wherries belonged to pilots, 
but a greater number to brokers of the 
City of Bourdeaux, who all folicited, in 
their very beft Englifh, to be honoured 
with the brokerage of our veffel. This 
was. the object of their vifit. In thee 
times, when the commerce of this once 
flourifhing city is nearly extiné&, and the 
American veflels are the richeft of thofe 
which vifit this port, to obtain the bro- 
kerage of an American veffel is confidered 
a capital prize, and fufficient to indemnify 
’ the broker for the expence of keeping his 
wherry, and his lo{s of time in waiting 
perhaps a fortnight or a month for the ar- 
rival of fuch a vefiel. After our captain 
had felected one from the number of thofe 
who applied, taken a pilot, and obtained 
permiflion to pals, from the frigate which 
Jies at the mouth of the river as a guard- 
fhin, we proceeded up the ‘river. The 
Garonne is one of the great rivers of 
France ; and being connetted:(by the ce- 
lebrated canal of Languedoc, or Royal 
Canal) with the entire South of France 
and the Mediterranean, and having on its 
banks the fineft wine-countries in Europe, 
is perhaps, in a commercial point of view, 
the firlt river in the Republic. It is 
broader than- the Thames, extremely ra- 
pid, and its water fo muddy, that it is 
impoffible to drink it, until it has under- 
gone the procefs of filtratien. Every 
houie, therefore, on the banks of the Ga- 
ronne is provided with a filtering-ma- 
chine. The paflage up the river is, at 
this feafon of the year, delightful in the 
extreme. On one fide are the plains of 
Chateau-Morgeau, whofe wine is’ the 
pride of the French vintage; on the 
ether, the diltri& of Cogniac, no lefs cee 
MontTuLy Mag, No. 915 ‘ 
‘Oviginal Letters by an American Traveller. 
195 
lebrated for its brandy. The views on 
both fides of the river cannot fail to make 
a ftrong impreffion on the mind of any 
one pofieffed of tafte to enjoy the beauties 
of nature; or feelings to appreciate the 
value of human.induftry, in improving 
even on the prodigalities of nature, and 
giving life and animation to her beft fce- 
nery- Itmuft be fuppofed that thofe rich 
and produétive diftriéts {warm with that 
population neceflary to cal] forth the trea- 
{ures of their fertile foil. The banks of 
the river, and the country, as far as one 
can fee from it, are ftudded with houfes 
which befpeak comfort, but jot opulence s 
but when we were arrived within twenty 
miles of Bourdeaux, we began to meet 
with the elegant and tafty country-feats and 
villas of the rich Bourdeaux merchants. 
ITamtold, nocity in France (Paris not 
excepted) is furrounded by fo many beau- 
tiful villas as Bourdeaux. It has long 
been, what Paris never was, a preat com-_ 
mercial city; and the merchants have 
long fince acquired a tatte for having their 
country-feats on the banks of the Ga- 
ronne. Fhe river is fo full of fhoalsy 
that it was neceflary to anchor every 
night, and wait for the tide in the morn- 
ing; and the wind being quite contrary, 
we were near four days aicending the river 
to Bourdeaux: I had therefore many op- 
portunities of going on-fhore. The great 
{cenes that have taken place in France, 
the aftonifhing exertions fhe has made in 
defeating the coalition of Europe, toge- 
ther with the high rank fhe now bears 
among the nations, give iuch a degree of 
intereft to this country, that it was with 
the frongeft feelings of impatient curiofity 
I firit fet my foot on .the foil ot the Re~ | 
public, and began to, obferve the country 
and its inhabitants. It was then the 
month of Floreal, which nearly corre- 
fponds with our month of May. In this 
country the word F loreal, or the Flower 
month, exorefles the feafon better than per= 
haps-any other word could do.. I.never 
faw fuch a profufion of flowers, particu- 
larly of rofes. Sailors and ceuntrymen 
had them in their hats, and many of the 
girls had literally garlands of rofes in 
their hair. However this delcription may 
appear trefpaffing on Arcadian ground 
and poetic regions, one has only to vifit 
the South of France to be convinced of 
its reality. It is in warm countries that 
{pring dilplays all her charms ; and it is 
from the warm countries of France and 
Italy that Englifh poets have borrowed 
their defcriptions of it. Every boufe that 
is at all fuperior to the peahepwacestage, 
. - Ras 
