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266 M I L L E R O F B R ID A .
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labour of many months; when this was
done, by the aid of his wife, his mother,
and his servant-boy, and with some miserable
pullies procured from Moutiers, he
contrived, by great labour, to raise it by
little and little, and then, for several successive
weeks, he continued to move it a few
inches or a few yards a day, according to
the nature of the ground. At length he
brought it safely within his mill, and placed
it in its present situation. The date on the
stone is 1796. The millstone is about nine
feet in diameter, and three feet in depth,
with a circular groove for a roller to work in,
to crush the kernels of the walnuts, and form
them into a paste, before pressing out the oil.
The present weight of the stone cannot be
less than fourteen tons, as it contains about
189 cubic feet of marble, and the specific
gravity is at least 2.70. The removal of
this stone with the very slender means by
which it was accomplished, is one of the
most striking instances I am acquainted
with, of the great objects which manual
labour can effect by unremitted perseverance.
It has procured the man a great reputation
in the country, as it is considered
almost miraculous; he bears, beside, an
excellent character. In some of my geological
excursions, I took him with me, and
he related various circumstances in his life,
that were sufficiently interesting to have
formed the subject of an instructive moral
tale.A
s his wife discovered the mineral
springs, I was desirous that he should derive
some advantage from the discovery,
and recomniended his keeping mules to let
out to the company, and cows to supply
them with milk during the season. With
these suggestions he was much pleased,
and should he adopt them, he will be useful
to future visitors, as there is not a horse
or mule with a saddle to be hired in the
place. The only saddles are wooden ones
with ropes for stirrups, and in the summer
months, all the cattle are upon the
pastures in the mountains, and we could
only procure milk to our breakfasts once or
twice a week.
The valley of the Upper Doron lies
between the valleys of the Maurienne, and
the upper valley of the Isere. The mountains
on the east, separate it from the latter,
and those on the west from the former.
Beside the Pan de Sucre, (perhaps one of
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