to four hundred long, lined on both fides with i-ows of diffèrent forts of fmit-ti-ees, which
likewife ferve to prop or keep up the vines which are planted at their feet. Between ihefe
ranges peas and beans grow promifcuouily together in the midft of winter, and really appear
like beautiful plantations ; indeed I may with truth aiTert, that I have frequently ate of
both at tlie beginning of January.
Wheat, rye, barley, Turkiih wheat, or Indian com, and herap, of which there is vaft
quantities, alternately fucceed tlie firft harveil ; for as their land never lies idle, or without
fome crop on it, they manure it moil profufely.
The Niflards, and Picdmontefe in particular, make \ife of what they call pole:ita, or
flour made of the grain of Indian corn, for puddings and cakes, which is not only accounted
nourifliing, but extremely wholefome.
Befides olives, oranges, citrons, and a variety of other fruits,- the inhabitants cultivate
with great affiduity the mulberry-tree for the nouriihmcnt of filkworms. This branch of
commerce, by which they gain a confiderable profit, wonderfully fucceeds, owing to the
mildnefs of the climate, which appears to be congcnial to this animal.
It would be endlefs to enter minutely into the names of the different kinds of vegetables
in which this beautiful country abounds ; it muft fufiice me to fay, that all thofe wliich are
found in other countries, are to be met with at Nice in the higheft pcrfeition ; and what
in many places would require vaft care and attention, grow there wild in the mountains.
Beds of carnations, pinks, and hyacinths, are in full beauty in the months of January and
February. In ihort, the foil is fo prolific, and fo little to fpare by way of meadow land,
that a cow is a fight feldom feen in that neighbourhood, few people keeping them on account
of the expence ; fo that iheep's milk is generally ufed for half the year, when the
Ihepherds, who inhabit the upper chain of mountains, are forced, by the firft fall of fiiow,
to quit their peaceful retreat, and condu<ft their flock neai'er the coaft.
The poultry and butter, which are excellent, ufed to be brought tliree times a week
from Piedmont.
The county of Nice produces vaft quantities of partridges, woodcocks, quails, thruihes,
ortolans, and beccaficas ; but hares and pheafanls arc fcarce. I have, however, feen fome
hares towards the end of autumn, or beginning of winter, when the fall of fnow drives
them from the Alps ; but they are in general white.
Befides the advantages which this province derives from the happy and benign influence
of its dimate, the fea is not Icfs propitious in fupplying tlie inhabitants with a
variety of excellent filh. L'empcreur, or fwordfifli, is much efteemed, being accounted
extremely dclicatc, and from eighteen to twenty pounds in weight. There is alfo the
tunney, ' le loup,' the dory, mullets, whitings, mackarel, &c.; but the moft profitable
fiiheries were the anchovies and fardiiies, in which the NiflTards carried on a capital trade
for exportation, employing, in general, from three to four hundred men.
The climate and temperature of the atmofphere at Nice, and indeed along the coaft
from Antibes to Vintimiglia, is fuch, that there is not a province in Italy where the air is
fo pure and healthy; and though the heat is doubtlefs extreme in the middle of the day
during the fummer, yet the mornings and evenings are delightful, owing to the refrefliing
breeze or gende gale which blows from off the fea. With refpeft to the cold, it is feldom
that the thermometer falls to twenty-nine degrees, and then only for a few days.
I recollea that, in the winter of 17S5, when Reaumur's thermometer was for more
tlian ten days at Geneva, at fifteen degrees below zero, or at fevcntcen above zero, of Fahrcni
heit's fcale; at Nice it was only at two, or at thirty, of Fahrenheit, and but for tliree days.
It is certain that, at fome diftancc from the town, there is a confiderable difference in the
degree of heat, which is indeed confpicuous in fome parts of the city; for 1 here remarked,
that a barometer placed near the terrace, or pubUc walk, and another in the environs of La
Place Viitoire, fituated toward the north, the difference has generally been one degree oneeighth,
although turned towards the fame afpedt.
I fliall conclude this defcription by adding, that ftrangers could with the greateft cafe,
whilft I was there, procure houfcs completely furniihed, with a fmall but pleafaut garden,
from tNventy-fivc to two hmidred livres for fix months, accoixling to the fizc and elegance
of the apartments.
There was likewife a tolerable or deccnt theatre, where Italian and French dramas were
exhibited alternately, and which, during the carnival, ferved for balls and concerts. But
no fuch thing was there to be met with as public libraries, or fubfcribing bookfellcrs, as in
England, alUiough there was a tj^ographical fociety under the bifliop's jurlfdiaion, where
books of fcience in French and Italian might be purchafed. This is a circumftance which
muft furprife ftrangers in general, particularly when they rcfiea that tliis city boafts of
having given birth to the great and ingenious Caffini, who is fo well known by his aftronomical
refearchesi to Monldi alfo, who was a celebrated and excellent hiftorian and
judicious legiilator; and, finally, to the famous Charles Vanloo, hiftorical painter to Lewis