calm, and a light breeze carried them forward, at the rate of four knots an hour, to Toulon, where they anchored during the evening of the 11th of May.

They had now reached the port whence they had departed, but their voyage was not yet finished. There is no carriage by water, or by any other commodious means, for so heavy and cumbrous a mass as an Egyptian obelisk, from Toulon to Paris (a distance of above four hundred and fifty miles). To meet this difficulty, they must descend the rest of the Mediterranean, pass nearly the whole of the southern coast of France, and all the south of Spain, sail through the straits of Gibraltar, and traverse part of the Atlantic, as far as the mouth of the Seine, which river affords a communication between the French capital and the ocean.

Accordingly, on the 22d of June, they sailed from Toulon, the Louxor being again taken in tow by the Sphynx man-of-war, and, after experiencing some stormy weather, finally reached Cherbourg on the 5th of August, 1833. The whole distance performed in this voyage was upward of fourteen hundred leagues.

As the royal family of France was expected at Cherbourg by the 31st of August, the authorities detained the Louxor there. On the 2d of September, King Louis Philippe paid a visit to the vessel, and warmly expressed his satisfaction to the officers and crew. He was the first to inform M. Verninac, the commander, that he was promoted to the rank of captain of a sloop-of-war. On the following day, the king distributed decorations of the legion of honor to the officers, and entertained them at dinner.

The Louxor, again towed by the Sphynx, left Cherbourg on the 12th of September, and safely reached Havre de Grace, at the mouth of the Seine. Here her old companion, the Sphynx, which drew too much water to be able to ascend the river, left her, and she was taken in tow by the Héva steamboat. To conclude with the words of our author :

"At six o'clock (on the 13th) our vessel left the sea for ever, and entered the Seine. By noon we had cleared all the banks and impediments of the lower part of the river, and on the 14th of September, at noon, we arrived at Rouen, where the Louxor was made fast before the quay D'Harcourt. Here we must remain until the autumnal rains raise the waters of the Seine, and permit us to transport to Paris this. pyramid, the object of our expedition."

The obelisk was then raised to its present position without difficulty.

The Champ de Mars, Place des Victoires, Place de Grève, before the Hôtel-deVille, Place du Châtelet, Place des Vosges, &c., deserve mention.

The finest public monument in Paris is the column in the Place Vendôme, erected under the superintendence of Denon, in commemoration of the victories of the campaign of 1805. It is an imitation of Trajan's pillar, in Rome, one hundred and thirty-four feet high, and twelve feet in diameter. It is of brass, and the material was furnished by four hundred and twenty-five cannon taken from the Austrians and Prussians in that campaign. It is covered with an immense number of plates of brass, by Lepêre, skilfully united, containing bas-reliefs, representing events of the campaign.

The triumphal arch in the Place du Carousel is forty-five feet high, and was erected after the war of 1806. In 1815, the horses of St. Mark's, which had been placed on its summit, were claimed by the Austrians, and carried back to Venice. The gate of St. Denis, a triumphal arch erected by Louis XIV., is admired for its fine proportions and its execution. In the Place des Victoires, there is an equestrian statue of Louis XIV. In the new quarter, called Villa Trocadera, on the heights of Chai!lot, is an obelisk one hundred and twenty feet high, in commemoration of the campaign of 1823, in Spain. Some of the most celebrated prisons are the Conciergerie; La Force; St. Pelagie, in which are confined persons guilty of political offences; the Madelonnettes, for females; the Bicétre, where criminals condemned to death and perpetual imprisonment are confined temporarily. The population of Paris, in 1791, was 610,620; the revolution, the emigration, the reign of terror, and the long wars, diminished the number, and in 1804 it amounted to only 547,756; in 1817, it was 713,996; in 1827, 890,451; and in 1830, nearly 1,000,000.

Paris is divided into twelve arrondissements, over each of which presides a mayor; each arrondissement is divided into four quarters; in each quarter is a commissary of the police, and in each arrondissement a justice of the peace. The municipal council of Paris is the council-general of the department of the Seine, at the head of which is the prefect of the department, who, previous to the late revolution, was

appointed by the crown. A prefect of the police, whose jurisdiction extends over the whole department, has the charge of the public safety and of the health department; he has under him a municipal guard, and a corps of sapeurs-pompeurs, or firemen. The national guard maintains the public peace of the city, preserves order, and defends the national liberties; their number is about 80,000. Since the beginning of the present century, the manufactures of Paris have rapidly increased, and it is now the principal manufacturing city in the kingdom. All sorts of articles of luxury and fashion are made with the greatest elegance and taste. It is estimated that 40,000 letters leave Paris daily, and 30,000 arrive during the same period. Numerous diligences run to all quarters of the kingdom, and a ready communication between all parts of the city is kept up by the fiacres, omnibuses, favorites, cabriolets, &c., &c. Those who suppose Paris to be merely a theatre of frivolity and amusement, will find themselves much mistaken. That, in a population of nearly 1,000,000, of which above 50,000 are strangers, who resort to Paris merely for pleasure, there should be a great number of licentious individuals, is to be expected; but who would judge of the character of the Parisians from the public promenades of the Palais Royal? The truth is, that in these haunts of vice, the greatest number of the visiters are strangers. In the higher classes, there is little difference in the character of society throughout Europe. In Paris, however, it is distinguished for delicacy, polish, refinement, and ease. The middling class in Paris, as in all France, is strongly characterized by the strictness and elevated tone of its manners. The lower class is industrious, but improvident, and shows none of that ferocity which the excesses of the revolution of 1789 might have led some people to expect; and the events of the revolution of July, 1830, exhibit the Parisian populace in a very favorable light. They then fought the great battle of freedom for Europe, and exhibited to the surrounding nations a striking example of the moral regeneration that had been effected by the sanguinary revolution of the previous century, and the diffusion of knowledge which had succeeded it.

Paris is situated about ninety-six leagues southeast of London, two hundred and fifty leagues south west of Copenhagen, three hundred and eighty leagues southwest of Stockholm, five hundred leagues southwest of St. Petersburg, and six hundred leagues southwest of Moscow.

CHAPTER IV.-FRANCE.

NORMANDY is a country which, in its general features, has often been compared to England; and certainly there are sufficient points of resemblance to justify the comparison. The comparison holds in respect of climate, in the extent of undulating plains with few mountains, in the excellence of the pasture, and in common vegetable products. The climate of Normandy is a little drier, and has a little more warmth and steadiness of atmosphere, than that of England; but the same winds prevail, and produce the same effects, and the seasons are nearly similar. Agriculture is, however, in a comparatively backward condition, from the want of capital and the absence of improving example, rather than from any lack of ingenuity in the cultivator. The farms are small, and a much larger proportion of the population is dispersed over the country in small villages and petty places, than in England.

The villages are mostly situated in bottoms, the cottages being built with mud and covered with thatch. In the great towns most of the houses are of wood and plaster. A great deal of timber runs upward, downward, and crosswise; the first story of the building projecting over the ground-floor, and the second floor over the first, the roof being pointed with large stacks of brick chimneys at each end. A traveller, who was in Normandy about ninety years since, makes a remark upon these houses, which is worth transcribing: "Many of their old houses, when they are pulled down, have a great deal of chestnut-wood about them; and as there are no forests of chestnut-trees in Normandy, the inhabitants have a tradition that this wood was brought from England, and there are some circumstances which, when rightly considered, add strength to this tradition. Many of the old houses in England contain a great deal of this kind of timber. Several of the old houses in Lon

don, particularly the Black Swan Inn in Holborn, situated near Fetter Lane end (which exceedingly resembles the houses in Normandy), and many others in the neighborhood, and most of the ancient houses in Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire, so named, as some etymologists tell us, from the quantity of chestnut-trees in that place, are built of this wood. There are also some woods and woody places in England called Chestnut-wood, particularly one near Sittingbourne, in Kent, although no wood is now growing there. Many houses in Hertfordshire, Rutlandshire, and other counties in England, are of the same kind in figure and materials; and, indeed, Normandy does so nearly resemble Old England, that the English traveller could scarce believe himself to be in France." A variety of the same species of house is mentioned by Mr. Dawson Turner. It consists of a frame-work of wood, with the interstices filled up with clay, in which are imbedded small pieces of glass, disposed in rows, for windows. The wooden sheds are preserved from the weather by slates, laid one over the other like the scales of a fish, along their whole surface, or occasionally by wood over wood in the same manner. At one end the roof

projects four or five feet beyond the gable, in order to protect a doorway and ladder, or staircase, that leads to it; and this elevation has a very picturesque effect. A series of villages, composed of cottages of this description, occur on the road from Yvetot to Rouen, and may be seen in other parts. The gentry usually occupy houses of stone in the town, such things as country-seats being rarely seen.

The farms, as already intimated, are rarely large, scarcely ever exceeding one hundred acres. The buildings attached to the dwelling-houses on a farm are very extensive, as neither corn nor hay are ever stacked out of doors; but they are very indifferently built. The implements of agriculture are in a very primitive state; the ploughs are heavy, the harrows continue to have wooden teeth, the thrashingmachine is not known, and the fan for winnowing corn has only partially been introduced. Nothing can be more simple than the mode of life at these farm-houses, and among the laboring population at large. Their food is bread, a few vegetables, and cider. Animal-food is never, or very rarely, used; but coffee and treacle are among the articles which they consume. The dress of the rural population is exceedingly plain, and has an antiquated appearance. This is true, also, of the various classes of the population, except the gentry and affluent citizens, who live and dress much in the same way as Parisians of the same rank in life.

Having mentioned cider as a common beverage, we may add that apple-trees are extensively planted in this province, both sides of the road being frequently lined with orchards for miles together. The plantations are generally in large open fields, in which the trees grow about fifteen feet apart. "The apple-tree and peartree in Normandy," says Mr. Turner, "far from being ugly, and distorted, and stunted, in their growth, as is commonly seen in England, are trees of great beauty, and of extreme luxuriance, both in foliage and ramification. The coccus, too, which has caused so much destruction among our orchards, is still fortunately unknown here." The cider of Normandy is famous throughout France. It is chiefly produced in the western portion of the province, where scarcely any other beverage is used by the lower classes of the inhabitants. The cider of the first pressing is of a strong quality, but that of the second pressing is much inferior. The cider does not seem to be much relished by the English travellers, who, however, are by no means agreed in the grounds of their distaste.

Another common object of cultivation in Normandy is flax. There are few farmers who do not raise more or less of it upon their grounds; and they get it carried through the different processes of manufacture by their family, on their own premises. A stock of linen thus manufactured in general forms the chief portion, if not the whole, of a young woman's dowry; and it is therefore a great object with unmarried girls to accumulate as large a stock of it as they possibly can. This linen is of a coarse and strong quality, and forms the most general branch of manufacture in Normandy. Lace, also, is an important object of manufacture, and gives employment to a great proportion of the female population in different parts of the province. Men and women in Normandy generally marry young; but they never do so till they are in some regular employment. A laborer earns, on an average, one hundred and twenty dollars a year, on which he can subsist comfortably, according to his own ideas of comfort. If he has a wife and two children (about fourteen and eleven years of age respectively) able to work, he may get about two

hundred dollars a year, these sums being understood to include every advantage and opportunity for making money which his situation affords.

Normandy is celebrated in France for its cattle, which is no doubt owing to the superiority of its pasture. The horses are of small size, with long tails, which are never docked; their strength is much greater than might be expected from their size. The asses and mules are larger than ours. The cows are small, but give a good supply of milk. Oxen are generally employed in ploughing. Sheep are abundant, and their flesh is good. Turner says, "Throughout this part of France, large flocks of sheep are seen in the vicinity of the sea, and as the pastures are unenclosed, they are all regularly guarded by a shepherd and his black dog, whose activity can not fail to be a subject of admiration. He is always on the alert, and attentive to his business, skirting his flock to keep them from straggling, and that, apparently, without any directions from his master. In the night they are folded upon the ploughed land, and the shepherd lodges, like a Tartar in his kibitka, in a small cart, roofed and fitted up with doors."

Normandy supplies Paris with great quantities of cattle, corn, butter, and cider, as well as with its manufactures. Its extensive communications with the capital are carried on exclusively by land-carriage. The high roads, being kept in repair at the expense of the government, are broad and in good condition, being paved wherever the boggy character of the ground renders it expedient; but the by-roads are here, as in other parts of France, in a very wretched condition, being very seldom repaired. The extensive fisheries on the coast not only supply the wants of the province in fish, but leave a large surplus, which is constantly transmitted to Paris in light carts that travel night and day.

THE WOODCUTTERS AND FORESTS OF NORMANDY.-In passing through the great forests which lie upon or near the banks of the Seine, between Havre and Paris, in Normandy, many a group like that shown in our engraving attracts the eye of the traveller, and gives a human interest to the otherwise solitary grandeur of the scene. The poor woodcutter, his wife, and boy, are going, probably to some neighboring village or town, to sell to the retail-venders the fagots piled up upon that very curious and ingeniously-shaped saddle into which the horse's back fits so exactly, and with the money thus obtained they will purchase the necessaries required for their humble household, and which are to last them until the next journey. The persons engaged in this most primitive of occupations are a quiet, simple-hearted people, very ignorant, but at the same time very contented; their chief wants, food and clothes, are generally well supplied, and their principal desire, amusement, seldom lacks opportunities for its gratification. They are very superstitious, and on the festival of Corpus Christi will walk miles to touch a headless statue of St. Louis, or to count a rosary at the foot of an equally-mutilated semblance, whether in stone or in waxwork, of their celebrated St. Mein. The females of this class, like those of most others in Normandy, are fond of bright, showy colors in their apparel, particularly red, which they use in every variety of tint. The petticoat is perhaps of intense red, the neckerchief pink, the apron striped with orange, and not unfrequently "bends over all," not exactly the "blue sky," but the much less poetical canopy of an immensely large scarlet umbrella, which is used as a defence from the overpowering heat of the sun. Seen among the depths of the green forests, such forms give a richness and harmony to the picture which would otherwise be wanting.

The forests, composed chiefly of beech-trees, are mountainous, picturesque, and wonderfully luxuriant. The exquisite greenness of their foliage, a characteristic we have been accustomed to consider as peculiarly belonging to our own woods and fields, is most remarkable; and no less so is the variety, profusion, and beauty, of their wild flowers, which are the same as those found in England, only more developed, and nowhere perhaps could the student of English botany better examine the generic details of the plants of his own country. The wild columbine there grows to a larger size than the cultivated species of our gardens, and the common orchide rival in size and color the hyacinths of our parlor windows. Nor is the ear less delighted than the eye. The birds sing with a greater volubility, and with a more sustained song than ours; the mingling voices of countless myriads of crickets are everywhere heard; in fact, the entire forests seem to ring and tremble with their incessant gratulations. We have spoken of the effect upon forest scenery of the brilliant colored dresses of the woodcutters' wives; but another and still more picturesque class of individuals is frequently met with in the woods, namely, the hunters.