7/ D 919 .H176 Copy 1 /U^^ From the American Journal of Science and Arts, No. 1. Vol. xxxii. NOTES TOUR IN FRANCE, ITALY, AND ELBA^ It HE U8RARY OVOOVGRBtt IWAtHINOTOIlJ NOTICE OF ITS MINES OF IRON. ^/ By Prof. Fi HALL. /Q '/r3? , ^'^ ■»' NOTES, he. TO PROFESSOr. EILLIMAN. Dear Sir, — Being wind-bound, in the capital of this romantic island, and without occupation, I have concluded to spend an hour this morning in telling you something of what I have seen on this side of the Atlantic. You are aware that I embarked at New York for Havre ; eighteen days brought me there. From that port I trav- elled, in an elegant and commodious steamboat, up tlie serpentine Seine, through a country whose landscapes are enchanting, and not surpassed in richness and variety, by any in the United States, those of the Hudson, perhaps, excepted. The land, as you proceed up the stream, is first level, or slightly uneven, then more undulating — the waves growing larger and larger till you come into the neigh- borhood of Rouen, where I landed, and where the surface is hilly, and even mountainous. The geological structure of the banks is very apparent and curious. Most of the rock of which they are formed, seemed to me as seen from the boat, to be sandstone. At a considerable distance from Havre, however, the gray carbonate of lime appears, and still farther up, granular gypsum. The rocks all lie in strata nearly horizontal, but of very unequal thickness. I re- mained but a (ew hours in this ancient city, famous for its manufac- tures, its high houses, its narrow streets, and its cathedral, which is exceedingly splendid, and deserves attention from every traveller. After refreshing myself with a good dinner, and taking a bird's eye view of the wonders of Rouen, I posted off, moonlit, for the French capital. There I met some old friends, whom the grave had not yet claimed, and made a ^e\v new ones. Paris is not what it was when I saw it nearly thirty years ago. Improvement has made giant strides in every thing — in the pavements of the streets, in tbje private and public edifices, in the national gardens and squares, and in the royal palaces. I remained in that gay city twenty days only, and then took my place in the diligence for Chalons, on the Saone, passing through Sens, whose archbishop formerly assumed to him- self the modest title of " Primate of the Gauls and Germany," to Avallon. This small city stands on a plateau of granite, and it is the first granite I had observed in situ after leaving Paris. Indeed, Notes on a lour in France, Italy, and Elba. g the principal rocks which I saw between these two cities, are sand- stone, limestone, and gypsum. In the neighborhood of Avallon I picked up, near the road side, several good specimens of ammonite. I reached Chalons at noon, having been imprisoned in the diligence forty eight hours, without regular meals, and without much sleep. Chalons, you know, is the Gabilonum of the Romans — a place of business and bustle, being tlie great thoroughfare of the mer- chandize going from the south to the north of France, and to the United States. Steamboats ply daily on the Saone, between this city and Lyons. The river is about half as large as the Connecti- cut at Hartford. I took passage in one of these bateaux a vapeur, for Lyons. From the water, several ancient towns and cities were pointed out to me, the thrilling tales of the heroic deeds of whose inhabitants I had read in my youthful years, and wept while I read them ; savage however, they may be better called, than heroic. Macon drew my eye, and fixed it. Here the innocent Huguenots were drowned by hundreds, by order of the bigoted governor ; history tells more of this matter than I wish to remember. The entrance to Lyons on the river is exceedingly delightful ; this city rests on a tongue of land, formed by the confluence of the Saone and the Rhone — the Rhodanus of Ccesar, and, Paris excepted, acknowledges no superior in France ; its population is one hundred and sixty thousand. A Roman consul founded it forty years before the commencement of our era. Its silk fabrics are known over the whole earth — they are worn by all nations. 1 took my departure from Lyons in the twilight of the morning, in a steamboat which descends the river to Avignon ; an old city, walled up to heaven, and gloomy, as was the Bastile in 1750, con- taining the tombs of some of the popes, who once resided here, and the grave of Laura, or at least a monument to her memory, standing in a retired garden, and surrounded by the sepulchral cypress and willow. The scenery presented to the eye as we moved down the Rhone, could not be too much admired, and yet the country disappointed me. It is less fertile, and more broken, hilly, and mountainous than I anticipated finding it. Over thousands and thousands of acres sterility reigns, and will eternally reign unmolested. Nothing shows itself on the surface but naked, weather-worn rocks, thrown into all imaginable fantastic shapes. But every nook of earth that is tilla- 4 Notes on a Tour in France, Italy, and Elba. ble, is used to the best advantage ; not a yard, not a foot is lost. The sides of even the most precipitous mountains are terraced high up, exhibiting the appearance of a vast escalier, each step of which 3S set with the vine, then sending forth copious, verdant foliage, in- terspersed with fair promises of an abundant harvest. The Rhone is wonderfully tortuous in its course, and filled with islands, which materially embarrass its navigation. The water is shallow, and the current rapid, but not broad. In size and impor- tance it is surpassed by many of our New England rivers ; at Avig- non, it is perhaps half as wide as the Delaware at Philadelphia. " Does the country resemble ours ?" No, sir, not much ; it is more rocky than Maryland, or Vermont, or Massachusetts. " What is the nature of the rocks?" They are principally calcareous. " How do the mountains differ from the Blue Ridge of Virginia, or from the Green Mountains of New England ?" They are more angular, more irregular in their forms — have a much greater number of peaks. These peaks are more acuminated, run higher above the body of the mountain, stand nearer to each other, and seem to have been produced, as I have no doubt they were, by the ejection of earthy matter, partially fused, from a thousand little volcanic craters. " Is the country more interesting to the traveller than ours ?" I think it is. Not that it is wilder, or naturally more romantic, or pic- turesque ; nature has done more, far more, for America. But art, and old ao-e, and superstition, and feudal customs, and volcanic fires, have done every thing here. The ruins of ancient castles, and " de- serted chateaux and convents, placed on the pinnacles of craggy rocks," present themselves to you at every turn of the river, as you move down the Rhone. The falling tower, the crumbling statue, the moss-clad mouldering arch, the antique, costly tomb, all tell you, in lano-uage that cannot be misunderstood, that hundreds of genera- tions of men have been born here, have toiled and died ; that genius, and wealth, and power have dwelt here, and left monuments of their achievements for the admiration of all after ages. Yes, sir, it is the old age of the land — the antiqueness, the gloomy remembrancers of the deeds of days long ago past ; it is the granite column, which is uninjured by the wear and tear of a thousand winters — it is the sculptured marble chiselled by hands, centuries since, turned to dust. These, and a host of kindred objects, give the charm, the thrilling -charm, to the countries 1 have passed through, and this charm the new world does not possess. Notes on a Tour in France, Italy, and Elba. 5 At noon I left Avignon for Nismes, in the diligence. The ride was delightful — the country better cultivated, and more beautiful than any which my eye had yet rested on. The first two miles were on a gradually ascending plain, covered on all sides, and to a great extent, with mulberry and olive trees. The latter, at a little distance, bear some resemblance, both in size and foliage, to our common willow. They were innumerable ; 1 am confident, that be- tween Avignon and JXismes I passed millions of them ; they form, a great part of the way, an almost uninterrupted forest. Wherever the olive occurs, there you may expect to find the vine accompany- ing it ; they occupy the same ground, and flourish well together. This tree is long-lived ; some of the orchards I passed were said to be more than two hundred years old. It is not large, never reaching the size of our largest apple trees. The fig tree was seen in that region, here and there, and the almond tree in vast numbers, loaded with fruit, nearly mature. Nismes, called Nemausus when Hannibal was there, is one of the best built, and cleanliest cities of France. It has a population of forty thousand inhabitants, and is celebrated, as you well know, for its antiquities — its oval amphitheatre, four hundred and forty two feet in length, and seventy in height ; its Corinthian temple, and its Roman baths, all in a state of tolerable preservation. lean only say, that every traveller, who visits Italy to see its ancient monu- ments, ought first to visit Nismes. My next fifteen miles lay through an almost unbroken wheat field. Few mulberry, or almond, or olive trees were visible, and but little grass. This brought me to a canal, commenced by Napoleon. In a dirty boat, drawn by a single horse, I travelled fifteen or twenty miles ; the diligence then took me up, and brought me to jNIarseilles, where I embai-ked on board the new and splendid steamboat Pho- cion, now on her first voyage of pleasure around the Mediterranean. On the first of June we anchored in the bay of Genoa, or Genes, as it is there called, where the city exhibited itself in the most favora- ble point of light. Indeed, its situation, spread out on the sides of lofty, converging mountains, forming a magnificent semi-amphithea- tre, is more eminently beautiful than that of any city I have seen in either hemisphere. Its objects of curiosity are rich and multifari- ous; its palaces are sumptuously decorated with elegant columns, and statues, and paintings. I looked at them till my eyes were sat- isfied. This, you know, was the birth-place of Christopher Colum- 6 Notes on a Tour in France, Italy, and Elba. bus. die greatest navigator — perhaps I ought to say, the greatest man, the world has yet produced. I searched two hours for his house, but searched in vain. The spot, one told me, where he first saw the light, is on a small stream a mile or two distant from the city. At the close of the third of June we moved off for Leghorn, which contains little to attract the attention of a man whose object in going abroad is not commercial. I therefore took a trip of four- teen miles to Pisa, a city built soon after the overthrow of Troy ; and was nobly rewarded by a view of the Campanile, or Leaning Tower, the Duomo, or cliurch in the form of a Latin cross ; the Baptistery, or the edifice in which baptisms are performed, and the Campo Santo, or ancient burial ground. They fill the bosom of the gazer with astonishment ; the sight of each of them is worth a jour- ney from Moscow. The Leaning Tower I most admired ; it is of a circular form, one hundred and ninety feet in height, consisting of eight stories, and ornamented with two hundred and seven granite and marble columns. I mounted, by an easy, winding staircase to the eighth story, where I had a commanding prospect of Pisa, of a broad zone of land encompassing it, and of many conspicuous objects far distant, among which was Leghorn. It is believed that the tower was originally perpendicular, and that its present declining position was occasioned by an earthquake, or by some other physical phenom- enon. You will'not allow me to speak of the abode of the illustrious dead, and tell you that it is " a vast quadrangle, surrounded by sixty- light and elegant Gothic arches, composed of white marble, and paved with the same substance ;" that it contains sarcophagi innu- merable, of Parian and Luni marble, ancient vases and rich frescoes, cinerary urns of alabaster, and paintings of enormous size. I must leave the magnificence of the interior of the Duomo — its high altar, ornamented with lapis lazuli, verd antique, bronze gilt, &c. — its por- phyry columns, its group of angels, all must be left for you to ima- gine. The next pause the Phocion made, was at the little filthy city of Civita Vecchia, whose harbor was built by Trajan, who had a villa in its vicinity. Here she remained eight days, for the purpose of giv- ing her passengers an opportunity to visit the " Eternal City." This period being expired, she brought me to Naples, or Napoli in Ital- ian, which stands at the extremity of my voyage. I remained in that city of business and noise eight days, examining its merveiUes, and those of the region around it ; in treading the narrow streets of Notes on a Tour in France, Italy, and Elba. 7 Pompeii, and gazing at its untombed wonders, its edifices, its altars, and its gods ; in groping my way in the deep and dark theatre of Herculaneum ; visiting the lake of Tartarus, now Avernus; the old city of Puteoli, where St. Paul resided seven days ; the tomb of Virgil ; the Grotto del Cane ; the Monte Nuova, or New Mount, "formed in thirty six hours by a volcanic explosion of 1538 ;" the Stygian Lake, the Elysian Fields, &c. &c., or inhaling the sul- phurous odors of the still smoking Solfaterra, or in clambering up the lofty, ashes-clad Vesuvius. This being accomplished, and more, I came to Rome by land, travelling on the Via Appia, much of whose ancient pavement is yet visible, consisting of stones a foot or more in length, six or eight inches in width, and perhaps as many in depth, and passing near the spot of ground on which the second orator the world has produced was basely murdered, and over the Pontine marshes, of which our company felt no dread. I shall say nothing of Rome, except to remark, en passant, that it is far the most interesting city I ever entered. I do not mean modern Rome. Burn St. Peter's, and what adjoins it, and young Rome would be infinitely inferior to London, to Paris, to Edin- burgh, and to many other cities in Europe. No, sir, it is the old Rome, with which I was enraptured ; where Horace was, and Cicero, and St. Paul ; where Cato lived, and Virgil sung, and Cae- sar bled ; where are monuments still visible, which tell the tales of other times, the Via Sacra, the Tarpeian rock, the triumphal arches, the aqueducts, the Coliseum ! What a luxury it would be to you, sir, who are an admirer of the Latin classsics, to plunge into this ocean of speaking ruins, and spend weeks and months in it ! A voiturin conveyed me to Florence, over a country of hills and dales, of mountains and valleys, overspread with the best of earth's blessings — corn, wine and oil ; a land of figs, and almonds, and pomegranates and olives. I did not sojourn long in this splendid city. The heat was oppressive, and yet not more oppressive than it often is at Washington or Philadelphia. Indeed, the summer heat of Italy is, I am persuaded, quite as tolerable as that of Maryland or Virginia, and the climate not a whit more unhealthy. My stay in Florence was, however, long enough to give me an opportunity to examine most of its curiosities. I early betook myself to the church called " Santa Croce," where repose the ashes of Italy's noblest sons. On one of the walls is placed a simple epitaph over the tomb of that wonderful man, Gahleo. On the opposite side are the chaste 8 Notes on a Tour in France, Italy, and Elba. and beautiful sepulchral monuments of Dante and Michael Angelo. The chisel has here done its best to perpetuate many illustrious names which I cannot now enumerate. The museum is rich in ob- jects of art, and of the natural sciences. I have seen no collection of minerals so large, and so valuable, except that of the Jardin des Plantes at Paris. The galleries in the ducal palace are bewitch- ingly attractive, adorned with the finest paintings and statues, glit- tering with the richest articles of furniture, with sumptuous vases, and tables, composed of the most costly and splendid minerals, in- laid, such as malachite, amber, lazulite and many of the gems. Florence is sometimes termed " the city of palaces," and is right- ly named. The palaces are numerous, and many of them exceed- ingly elegant and capacious. Eleven of them were for sale when I was in the city. Would you know the value of a palace in Flor- ence ? At my request, our consul took me to the man, who had the disposal of one of them. It was finely situated, was four stories high ; had fourteen apartments, and some of them very spacious, on €ach floor, or fifty six rooms in all. The price demanded for the entire palace was seven thousand and three hundred dollars, or it might be rented for any length of time, for three hundred and sev- enty Jive dollars a year ! I left that noble and lovely city with deep regret, and made my way to Leghorn by land. Unwilling to prosecute my journey into Switzerland, without see- ing Elba, that singular island, celebrated the world over for its min- eral productions, and scarcely less celebrated as having been the place of Bonaparte's temporary confinement, I engaged a passage to it in an open crazy boat, as no other could be obtained at the time. The distance is forty five miles. She set off from Leg- horn at noon. I spent a sleepless night on the waters of the " Great Sea," having the heavens for my canopy, and a plank for my bed. At six, the follovying morning, I rejoiced to arrive in this city, Porto Ferrajo, which is finely situated on a broad and safe bay, capable of affording good anchorage for five hundred ships of war, and strongly fortified, containing about seven thousand inhabit- ants, three churches, one theatre, the hotel de ville, and the gov- ernmental palace, in which I am writing this communication. This last edifice was in part erected, and was inhabited by Napoleon. The American consul at Leghorn, Mr. Appleton, very politely gave me a letter of recommendation from the governor of Leghorn to the governor of the island of Elba. It procured me the kindest recep- Notes on a Tour in France, Italy, and Elba. 9 tion, both from the governor and all the ofiicers of the government. I was received into the governor's family, and requested to occupy a chamber in the palace while I remained on the island. This offi- cer is a gentleman of unaffected politeness, of great simplicity of manners, and is much loved and respected by the islanders. Elba is about sixty miles in circumference, of an irregular oblong figure, its longer diameter running from west to east. Its surface is exceedingly uneven, being thrown into every imaginable shape ; there, rising into mountains two or three thousand feet in elevation ; here, sinking into deep vallies. Some of the high lands are covered with vegetation, but most of the summits of the mountains are na- ked, and exhibit nothing but rocks, which a hundred centuries have rendered almost as white as Parian marble. The vallies are pro- ductive, yielding grapes in vast abundance, and grain of various kinds, the fig, the orange, the watermelon, (which is here called en- cumber,) pears, apples, plumbs, &;c. he. The number of inhabit- ants in the island is about fifteen thousand. They are principally in Porto Ferrajo, and the villages of Longone, Capoleon, Marinna and Campo. There is little wood on the island, and what there is, is a small growth. Jackasses, loaded with faggots, and pieces of wood two or three inches in diameter, are constantly seen coming into Porto Ferrajo from the country. The oak grows here, and the ma- ple, and several other trees, which are common in America : but there is one here that 1 have not met with before ; it is the cork tree, whose bark is thick, and is used for stoppers of bottles, to make lines float on water, he. I have cut a stick of it, which I shall have converted into a cane when I arrive in Paris. The geological structure of Elba is different from any other part of Italy. I saw no decidedly primitive country between Avallon in France, and Naples. There may be land of this character in Italy, and the south of France, which I did not see. I infer from what I saw, that the whole country of which I speak, was of volcanic ori- gin : in some places the lava is old, and in others young, but always bearing evident marks of igneous fusion. I have crossed the Ap- penines twice ; once over Mount Somma, one of the liighest, where I expected to find primitive rocks, but found nothing but secondary limestone, full of pores, once, doubtless, filled with gas, and a combination of other materials, which nothing but intense heat could have generated. This island presents a curious mixture of primitive and volcanic formations. The rugged mountain which 2 10 Notes on a Tour in France, Italy, and Elba. you see at the right hand as you enter the harbor of Porto Ferrajo, has all the appearance of having been ejected from the earth by an internal energy ; whereas those massy piles which stand on the south and east of the island, bear no obvious marks of fire, although they, too, may have been raised, at a more remote period, by that agent. I have spent a week here, and seen many of the mineral productions. I shall enumerate some of those which I have seen, without any re- gard to system. There are probably others which have not come under my observation. 1 . Rock crystals, of various sizes, from a line in diameter to two inches ; all in the form of the hexagonal pyramid at one extremity, and some at both ; some diaphanous, as the purest water, and oth- ers entirely opaque. 2. Feldspar, crystaUized and massive. 3. Tourmaline. It often occurs in the feldspar. I found a vast quantity of it in rolled fragments, lying along the northern shore of the island, and it must have been brought there by the waves of the sea. Some of the balls were nothing but black tourmaline, (schorl ;) others were a mixture of this substance with feldspar. 4. Rubellite, in beautiful crystals, but not enveloped, like those of Chesterfield, in green tourmaline. 5. Aqua-marine, not plentiful, but sometimes found. 6. Epidote, crystallized, and in irregular masses. 7. Jasper, red, green, and brown ; very abundant. 8. Porcelain earth, or decomposed feldspar, in different parts of the island. The manufacture of this article into porcelain, or China ware, might be made a source of revenue to the government, were fuel more plentiful. 9. Limestone, primitive and secondary, red, white, and sky- colored. The white is capable of being converted into a marble, little, if at all, inferior to that of Carrara. . The red, too, when pol- ished, strongly resembles the best of the Rouge Antique of Rome. 10. Arragonite, in the shape of calcareous stalactites. 11. Mica, silver white, green and black. 12. Yenite, jet black and brown, crystallized and massive. The crystals usually occur in groups, which are, occasionally, large and splendid. Formerly, yenite was abundant here, but at present good crystals are rarely to be met with, and when bought of the inhabit- ants, they are purchased at a high price. I have obtained, by dis- covery and by purchase, a good number of specimens. A large group Notes on a Tour in France^ Italy, and Elba. 11 of crystals of yenite was offered to me by a gentleman of this city, who estimated its value at the moderate sum of three hundred -pias- tres or dollars. I have made several mineralogical excursions, on different parts of fhe island. In one of them only, I will ask you to accompany me. Having provided myself with a guide, the only practical min- eralogist on the island, and being furnished with little horses, accus- tomed to climb mountains — by the way, I had the same pony, as the guide told me, which Napoleon had rode, with a rope bridle, over the same grounds — we first pass^ the bay, which is two or three miles across. We then ascended a ragged mountain, probably three thousand feet in height, composed chiefly of micaceous schist and jaspery ironstone. On the almost inaccessible summit of this moun- tain, stand, frowning on the world below, an old tower and fort, built at an unknown period. Descending, we found on the eastern slope the ancient village of Rio, consisting of about one hundred houses. It is placed on a succession of serpentine rocks, both precious and common. We descended into a narrow valley, where the walls, along the sides of the road, were formed principally of serpentine and common jasper. After travelling a few miles further, we came to another mean and filthy village, called also Rio, but to distinguish it from the other village of the same name, and because it is situated on the margin of the sea, it is denominated Rio Marina. There was yet another lofty elevation to climb, before I could gain a view of the famous mine of specular oxide of iron, to see which was the main object of my visit to Elba. All this part of the island seemed Httle else but a vast ore bed, made up of the sulphuret, the sulphate, the specular and the magnetic oxides of iron. Winding our way up the mountain by a most zigzag path, we met hundreds of donkies, almost crushed to the ground by the astonishing loads of the ore, in baskets, two tied together and slung across their backs, which they were bringing down to the vessels lying in the harbor ready to receive it. I pitied the poor animals, imo pectore, as I have •often done before. Indeed, the ass is the animal the most used and the most abused in Italy, always toiling from break of day to dusky eve. willing to eat any thing, and yet always starved ; if among the slippery ledges he makes a misstep, he is sure to be lashed for it; and yet is patient and uncomplaining, under all his hardships and cruel treatment. " "20 678 738 7 12 iYo^es on a Tour in France, Italy, and Elba. The surface of the ground, in many places, exhibits a very curious appearance. The sides of the ravines, produced by the force of the water, rushing down from the highlands, look as if they were covered with a thick green moss ; but, on approaching, I discovered that the substance was copperas, or the sulphate of iron crystallized.* In other places, it is carpeted by nearly pure sulphur. The summit of the mountain is taken off. The removal of an immense amount of the ore, has converted a large area of the highest land into an hori- zontal plain. On this plain is situated a round building, called the Coliseum, in which visitors take i;epose, and in which, 1 believe, an account is kept of the labor performed by the workmen. Near to this edifice is a grotto, in the mine, made by the ancients, in which have /been found hammers, wedges, arid other instruments, used by them m digging out the ore. The ore is obtained in the same man- ner here, that it is in America, by blasting, wedges and pounding. I was a little surprised, on learning that no metallic iron has been obtained in modern times, from this excellent ore, in the island of Elba. The work is done elsewhere, in Sicily, Turke)?-, and Spain. It is all conveyed to foreign countries in the ore. It was smelted here in old times, but has not been in modern days, nor can it be, for there is no fuel here which can be spared for this purpose, no mineral coal, and next to no wood. After procuring a large variety of specimens of the different substances found in this neighborhood, I returned to Porto Ferrajo, well satisfied with my day's work, but not a little fatigued. To-morrow I trust a good wind will carry me back to Leghorn, whence I shall, as soon as possible, pursue my course to the snow- capped Alps. You will, I hope, my dear sir, excuse me for troubling you with a much longer communication than I at first intended. Yours, most respectfully. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 020 678 738 7 HoUinger Corp.