36 
univerfally retains through Poland. Hav 
198 defcribed, therefore, the appearances 
pf an extent of thirty or forty miles, I 
‘may be confidered as having defcribed 
~ the whole region. 
The furface is flightly uneven, but not 
fuficiently to interrupt the view towards 
the fartheft pollible horizon. Hence, 
though Poland is a flat country, it is not 
a perfect plain, as has been fometimes: 
reprefented.- Its furface undulates, but 
never rifes into hills, except in a few 
places. | The Carpathian mountains, 
which Rparate it from Hungary, do not 
form a proper exception to this general 
appearance. The town of Lemberg, 
however, is fituated in a hilly diftriét ; 
though the hills are too fioney, too little 
wooded and covered with grafs, to ex- 
hibit a fingle {pecimen of the picturefque. - 
There are a few pretty fcenes; and I was 
informed that the vicinity of Cracow 
prefents others 1till more worthy of at- 
tention; but it may be remarked, that 
neither of thefe towns’ is many miles 
diftant from the above mountains. 
The traveller fometimes finds himfelf 
in an expanfe of furface, almott without 
a houfe, a tree, or any fingle object large 
enoush to attraét his notice. Soon, 
however, are defcried the fkirts of: fome 
vait foreft fringing the diftant horizon; 
and on entering it, we preceed for eight 
or ten miles (more or lefs) winding with 
the road through lofty pines, &c. &c. 
precluded from the fight of all objects 
but trees and fhrubs. Sometimes, in the 
midit of a foreft we meet with a {mall 
{pot of cround (for example, of ten or- 
twenty acres) cleared and cultivated ; 
its fides prettily fenced by the green fur- 
rounding woods. Sometimes a {mall 
lake is found thus fituated, its bordess 
ornamented in a fimilar manner: and 
thefe, generally fpeaking, are the pret- 
tieft ifcenes which Poland furnithes. 
Thefe forefts in fome places are fifteen, 
and even twenty, miles in all dire¢tions ; 
an aflertion which will appear the more 
credible, when I obferve that of an ef- 
tate belonging to a certain nobleman, 
containing about fifty: fquare miles, 
nearly one half is computed to be foreit. 
It is not eafy to traverfe thefe vatt wil- 
dernefles, without being filled with a 
fentiment of awful admiration! ‘Their 
frequent and deep fhade, confpires with 
their never-ending extent, to fugecft an 
idea of infinity which approaches the 
imblime; and fublime indeed would be 
the profpect, if only a folitary mount 
peered above the taps of the. trees, that 
Partgculars of the prefent State of Poland, - 
more frequent in Lithuania. 
[Feb, 15. 
the eye might be permitted to rove un" 
impeded over a hemifphere of green and.. 
delightful foliage, 3 
During the fummer-heat, the foreits 
afford a very grateful fhelter to the tras 
veller.. In winter, the fcene is. totally 
changed. Every bough and branch 12 
heavily laden with congealed fnow, and 
the ever-greens are completely hid be~ 
neath this white and univerfal covermg.: 
The pines-lift their lofty heads m thie. 
cold, clear air, huge and fiil] as giants 
enchanted imto pillars of falt. There 
are fome lakes far more extenfive thay 
thofe juft mentioned. The Vittula itielf, 
from the great increafe of its waters: in 
the tpring, is expanded, in certain places 
into a fort of lake. There are alfo oe- 
cational bogs, and. impafizble morafes, °° 
At very diftant intervals are found 
plains of fome extent, affording rich pai 
turage. The richeft | have -had an ep= 
portunity of feeing, -are thafe contiguous 
to the Viltula, and which are periedi-° 
cally overflowed by that river.- -Such-are 
thofe in the neighbourhood of Warfaw, - 
and which fupply that tawn with-goed- 
butcher’s meat. Thee pafture-landsy ins 
general fo thinly feattered, are-faid-to be 
On the fkirts of a foreft (more rarely 
in the midi) are commonly found the 
villages ; though they fometimes appear 
wholly untheltered in a wide extended” 
plain, as above deferibed. A Polifh vile” 
iave conifts of a collection of miferable 
huts, irom eight or ten ta forty or fifty, - 
all:of wood, and rudely covered with 
ftraw and turt. A collection of the very. 
wortt fpecies of huts found infome paris 
of Scotland, would be a favourable tpe- 
cimen. Thefe hovelsaford fo indifferent - 
a protection againft the rigours of the. 
winter, that them wretched inhabitants 
abtolutely fiop up the vents of the chim 
_ nies, preferring to. be half fmothered 
with fmoke, to expofing themfelves ta ~ 
the piercing cold. The villages are thinly: 
feattered: [ fhould not choofe to hazard 
anafleruen of the average ditignce. They 
are fituated moit frequeatiy” within about: 
four or five miles of each other, and 
are often lefs difiant; but I have fome- 
times travelled for ten, and even more 
miles, without feeinc a fngle houfe of 
any defeription, excluding the interven- 
tion of forefts, an which they feldom - 
appear. 
The firit remove, from.the extreme 
wretchednefs of the villages, are the lit- 
tletowns. Thefe are alio of wood; but _ 
the houics are larger, and better con-. 
tirucied ; 
