he anvil, and work with
the hoe, and cows are yoked to labor. There are great numbers of cattle,
insomuch that butter is their staple. Neither asses nor mules: yet it
is said that the fine mules I have met with on my journey, are raised
in Poictou. There are but few _chateaux_ here. I observe mill-ponds, and
hoes with long handles. Have they not, in common with us, derived
these from England, of which Bretagne is probably a colony? L'Orient is
supposed to contain twenty-five thousand inhabitants. They tell me here,
that to make a reasonable profit on potash and pearlash, as bought in
America, the former should sell at thirty livres, the latter thirty-six
livres, the quintal. Of turpentine they make no use in their vessels.
Bayonne furnishes pitch enough; but tar is in demand, and ours sells
well. The tower of L'Orient is sixty-five _pieds_ above the level of
the sea, one hundred and twenty _pieds_ high, twenty-five _pieds_ in
diameter; the stairs four feet radius, and cost thirty thousand livres,
besides the materials of the old tower.

June 3, 4, 5. The country and productions from L'Orient to Rennes, and
from Rennes to Nantes, are precisely similar to those from Nantes to
L'Orient. About Rennes, it is somewhat leveller, perhaps less poor, and
almost entirely in pasture. The soil always gray. Some small, separate
houses, which seem to be the residence of laborers, or very small
farmers; the walls frequently of mud, and the roofs generally covered
with slate. Great plantations of walnut, and frequently of pine. Some
apple trees and sweet-briar still in bloom, and broom generally so. I
have heard no nightingale since the last day of May. There are gates
in this country made in such a manner, that the top rail of the gate
overshoots backwards the hind post, so as to counterpoise the gate, and
prevent its swagging.

_Nantes_. Vessels of eight feet draught only can come to Nantes. Those
which are larger, lie at Painboeuf, ten leagues below Nantes, and five
leagues above the mouth of the river. There is a continued navigation
from Nantes to Paris, through the Loire, the canal de Briare and the
Seine. Carolina rice is preferred to that of Lombardy for the Guinea
trade, because it requires less water to boil it.

June 6, 7, 8. _Nantes. Ancenis. Angers. Tours_. Ascending the Loire
from Nantes, the road, as far as Angers, leads over the hills, which are
gray, oftener below than above mediocrity, and in corn, pasture, vines,
s