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638 Retrofpeet of French Literature.—Topography. ' 
2 €dit.) ;—Fichtel (Beytr. Miner. von 
Siebenburgen) ;—Defauflure (Voyage 
dans les Alpes, tom. 1. p. 336. etc.) ;— 
Bruguiére (Encyclop. Method. 2z vol. 
Hift. Nat. des Vers) ;—-G. A. Deluc 
(Journ. de Phys. Venrofe, An 7.);— 
Stavorinus (Voyage par le Cap de 
Bonne-Efpérance a Batavia, etc. 
TOPOGRAPHY, &c. 
«¢ L’Itinéraire des Francais dans la 
Louifiane,” &c.—The French Itinerary 
for Louiiiana, by Dusproca, 1 vol. 
y2mo. with a Plate. i. 
The cefiion of Louifiana to France 
has already given birth to a number of 
fpeculations, both commercial and po- ~ 
litical, as well as the little volume now 
before us. 
This work is the production of Du- 
broca, a Parifian bookfeller, who ap- 
pears alfo to be, literally, a book-maker ;- 
for he has copied, not only the opinions 
and fentiments of Raynal, but his very 
language; and, in refpect to the few 
pages, which may be firiétly termed his 
own production, he has unfortunately 
committed a variety of errors, both 
topographical and geographical, being 
ignorant of the very boundaries of the 
province he cdefcribes. 
When this colony was firft ceded to 
Spain, a French hiftorian wifhed to ex- 
prefs his difiatisfa¢tion, by perfonifying 
the country, on purpofe to enable her 
to utter her complaints :—** What have 
I done,” fays he, ** that you thould fur- 
rencer me to a ftranger? Did I not 
iffue from your own bofom? Have I 
not been fown, planted, cultivated, and 
reaped by you alone?” Here Spain 
was permitted to {peak in her turn; fhe 
alfo would not be much pleafed, per- 
haps, at the recent furrender of this 
province: an event which has already 
produced a fenfation among the inha- 
bitants of North’ America, but little 
favourable to ther new republican 
neighbours. 
‘* Detcription du Département de 
lPAveiron, par ARMANS ALEXIS Mon- 
Tsu, Profefleur d’Hiftoire et Geogra- 
phie 2 VEcole Centrale du Meme Dé- 
partement,avec cartes et Planches,Parts, 
2 vols. 8vo.—Defcription of the Avei- 
ren, by Armans Alexis Monteil, &c. 
The French have already begun to 
give departmental deicriptions of their 
territories, by means of writers refident 
on the {pot; and -not only minutely 
acquainted with, but capable of detail- 
ing their «produftions ia a fcientific 
manner. Aveiron coaflituies one of 
the moft elevated: portions of France: 
ic is furrounded on all fides by the 
mountains of Cantal, Cevennes, and 
la Caune, except towards the weit, 
where it is open. No lefs than five 
large rivers water it, viz.—The Avei- 
ron, the Viaur, the Truyére, the Lot, 
and the Tarn. The climate appears to 
be fine, and the air pure; but the tem- 
perature varies in the courfe of every 
league. The winds are fo impetuous, 
that from the fouth in particular, that 
it forces the branches of a great num- 
ber of the trees to aifume a northerly 
direction. 
«© The mountains which ‘furround 
this department,” fays the author, 
‘¢ areal) volcanic; but it is. more ef- 
pecially from the little town of Guiole 
to Naves, fituated within two leagues 
of the Abbey of Aubrac, that we be- 
hold the moft evident traces of thofe. 
ancient conflagrations, The {pectacle 
is calculated, no doubt, to intereft the 
Naturalift; but the icene always ren- 
ders the mind of the common traveller 
melancholy, by prefenting him witha 
fombre and repulfive fcenc. Is it the 
café,” adds he, ‘* with Nature as with 
Empires, that fhe is always doomed to 
appear with a forrowful countenance 
after her revolutions ? ay 
“© Te is in the midft of thefe ruins 
which appear to have become black 
with the iapfe of ages, and {urrounded 
by immenfe meadows, exbibitmg a 
true picture of folitude, that the Abbey 
of Aubrac, the revenues of which once 
amounted tomore than 100,000 francs 
yearly rent, is fituated. In this fpot, 
where joy once prevailed, where good 
cheer attraGted good company, and thé 
pots boiled unceafingly, now prevails 
the frozen filence of the tomb. ‘The 
beautiful apartments, defpoiled of their 
pictures and furniture, are abandoned 
to birds andbats.”” -° 
After ftating that this place is ad- 
mirably adapted to become the centre 
of acolony, formed out of the furplus 
population of other portions of the de~ 
partment, and that 4ooo familjes might 
ealily fubiift, by means of 35,000 acres 
of land that fill retains allits primi- 
tive fecundity ;, the author informs us, 
that fruit-trees do not flourifh amidft 
thefe mountains; and that even ‘the 
preduétions of the kitchen-garden are 
very iimited. : 
- The buildings confit of only one 
ftory, and nearly all of them covered 
with thatch. Glafs 1s unknown ; and 
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