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time, lie added—“That a quantity of pebbles taken from the adjacent rivulets, were then mixed,with it, which, from his description, formed a kind of amalgam not unlike pudding-stone, andthen thrown into wooden encaissemens or cases, placed where the walls of the house were to beerected; that those cases being only six feet in length, three in height, and one and a half inwidth, they were under the necessity of removing them as the building extended—which, whenfinished, gave it the appearance of free stone; that they again beat or mixed the clay when put intocases, in order to bring it to-a consistency, and to accelerate its drying; that likewise, prior to thewalls being quite dry, it was customary to lay on two or three coatings of quick lime and plaster,with a few handfuls of salt mixed together; but if they ivere desirous of giving a yellowish orgreyish hue to the outside, a small quantity of ochre, or burnt straw reduced to powder, andmixed with water, was then addeda simple manner of painting al fresco, which not onlyserves as an admirable deception, but delights the eye.

The peasantry of this province, being mostly proprietors, each possessing a small piece ofland, which they can call their own, these chaumibres are numerous, and are profusely scatteredon this wide surface, which extends for miles, sometimes on the edge of a forest, at other timeson the side of a meadow, or at the foot of a rivulet; whilst the green turf, variegated with aro-matic flowers, and the bright tints of aquatic herbs, diversify the scene, and give the wholeplain an appearance on which the eye delights to repose.

I did not remark that the soil, though rich and well manured, had that tenacity which is ob-served in marly land, or terres franches; for, in many places through which I passed, I oftennoticed only an ox and a horse, and sometimes a cow and an ass, yoked to the plough insteadof horses.

The mutton is excellent, and much esteemed for flavour and taste; and their sheep are reckonedthe finest in France , next to those of the province of Berry, for the beauty of their wool. Thissuperiority of excellence with regard to their sheep is supposed to be, in great measure, dwing tothe rich pasturage on which they feed, and which is peculiar to this province.

The fanners, in general, confine their flocks in folds, in order to improve their land; andthey successively remove them, from place to place, till the fall of snow; at which time they feedthem in part with poplar leaves, dried for that purpose.

But as the wolves from the adjacent mountains, pushed on by hunger, frequently descend intothe plains, a shepherd regularly attends with dogs, having a hut so constructed as to run onwheels, which he draws after him when the fold is changed.

From the village of St. Denis I pursued my route six miles farther, to that of St. Jeanle Vieux,•where the hills which had before begun merely to show themselves, increase so rapidly, that fromhence to Cerdon, another village at about the same distance, they might be classed as mountainsof the second order. Indeed, so sudden and unexpected did this rise appear, the first time Ivisited that part of France , that I was led to suppose them to be a ramification of the mountainsof Jura, in Switzerland , which stretch towards the French frontier; but in consequence of having,some time after, explored them with attention, I was soon convinced that they were totally foreignto those, both as to structure and direction: these, with very little variation, tending from northto south; whereas the others extend from north-east to south-west. And though some of thesehills are calcareous, containing even fossils similar to those found in the Jura , yet the inclination,thickness, and colour of their strata, are so widely different, that I was perfectly satisfied therewas no apparent connexion between them, but that they formed two separate chains.

By way of strengthening or elucidating this assertion still farther, I soon after made an ex-cursion on purpose to explore them ; and observed, at about a mile and a half south-west ofthe public road, at the back of a castle which stands on the summit of a mountain some distancefrom Cerdon, that the basis of many of the hills belonging to the same range appeared to be ofgranite, if we judge by the immense pieces which projected from their sides; whereas others areentirely of a hard calcareous stone, containing no impressions whatever of shells or fossils.

These granites, of which there are likewise several huge pieces scattered on the surface ofmany of them, are so soft, that they seem to dissolve or crumble of themselves, being very likewhat I found near Auxerre in Burgundy.

May we not therefore be inclined to believe that the major part of this chain owes its origin toa more distant epocha than that which formed the mountains of the Jura , and that the other part