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C O N T I N U A T I O N OF T H E PRECEDING CHAPTER,
INCLUOINO A DESCRIPTION I
TURBIA, MONACO, AND VINTIMIGLIA.
SinAKGEis, «110 fpend thcii winter, at Nice, rarely Ihinlc of quitting this country without
picvioufly vifiting Torbia, Monaco, and Vintiniiglia, time finall towns which lie along
the coaft. This exeurfion, which is gencraHy made partly by fea and partly by land,
gives an exacS and juf t idea of the profile, and form of the mountahis which border the coaft
of Nice; but, as owing to the extreme badnefs of the road, which is liiicwife fo mountainous
as to tender it impatfable for carriages, this (liort dittance muf t unavoidably bo
eiFeaed on mules, I (hall here add a few remarks made the laft time I vifited thofe places,
which I flatter inyfelf will not be deemed unacceptable to thofe who may in future be defirous
of taking a fimilar exeurfion.
I fet off fi-om Nice in the mont h of M a y 1786, early in the morning, by the gate eallcd
Perogliera, and continued the high road to Villa-Franca as far as flic top of Mont-Alban;
then taking the one on my left, which leads to Genoa, I afcendcd for about a mile and a
half from the above road, a fleep rugged mountain, which brought me to a large irregular
furface covered with heaps of huge pieces of ftones.
This fpot, or plateau of Villa-Franea, is i-emarkable for the lines or intrcnchmenls which
ferved, in I J.U, for the defence of the Sariinian troops, many of which are ftill entire.
Thcfe inlicnchraents were fo ingenioully confrruaed, that they baffled the tkill of the
combined armies of France and Spain, who found it impraaieable to force them, notwilhflandinglheir
great fuperiority in point of number, and their fueeeffivc but unfuccefsful
aflimlts given in one day, which coft them upwards of five aionfand men. Having traverfed
the whole length of the catnp, I afccnded by a >-ugged and Ilony road, a third calcareous
mountain, called Caftelet.
This mountain contains a variety of marine foffils, is ftupendous, of the fhapc of a truncated
cone, and appeared to be only the head of a continuation of others of fimilar comiMiEIII
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