e of the _Bon Roi
Rene_, who held at Aix his court of shepherds and troubadours--the dark
Cathedral of St. Saveur--the ancient walls and battlements, and gazed
down the valley at the dark, precipitous mass of Mont St. Victor, at
whose base Marius obtained a splendid victory over the barbarians.

After leaving next morning, we saw at some distance to the south, the
enormous aqueduct now being erected for the canal from the Rhone to
Marseilles. The shallow, elevated valleys we passed in the forenoon's
walk were stony and barren, but covered with large orchards of almond
trees, the fruit of which forms a considerable article of export. This
district borders on the desert of the Crau, a vast plain of stones,
reaching to the mouth of the Rhone and almost entirely uninhabited. We
caught occasional glimpses of its sea-like waste, between the summits of
the hills. At length, after threading a high ascent, we saw the valley
of the Durance suddenly below us. The sun, breaking through the clouds,
shone on the mountain wall, which stood on the opposite side, touching
with his glow the bare and rocky precipices that frowned far above the
stream. Descending to the valley, we followed its course towards the
Rhone, with the ruins of feudal bourgs crowning the crags above us.

It was dusk, when we reached the village of Senas, tired with the day's
march. A landlord, standing in his door, on the lookout for customers,
invited us to enter, in a manner so polite and pressing, we could not
choose but do so. This is a universal custom with the country
innkeepers. In a little village which we passed towards evening, there
was a tavern, with the sign: "_The Mother of Soldiers_." A portly woman,
whose face beamed with kindness and cheerfulness, stood in the door and
invited us to stop there for the night. "No, mother!" I answered; "we
must go much further to-day." "Go, then," said she, "with good luck, my
children! a pleasant journey!" On entering the inn at Senas, two or
three bronzed soldiers were sitting by the table. My French vocabulary
happening to give out in the middle of a consultation about eggs and
onion-soup, one of them came to my assistance and addressed me in
German. He was from Fulda, in Hesse Cassel, and had served fifteen years
in Africa. Two other young soldiers, from the western border of Germany,
came during the evening, and one of them being partly intoxicated,
created such a tumult, that a quarrel arose, which ended in hi