Having spent all this Time without putting our Hands to any thing, we gave our Patron to understand that we should be glad of some Business. At first they pretended not to give ear to it, but seeing that we insisted on being employ'd, they gave us Wool to cleanse, wash, beat, and card, as thinking that we were fit for nothing else. We were soon weary of this Work. La Foret, who was by Profession a Watchmaker, wanted to take a File in his Hand, and to work on the Movement of a Watch; but there were no such Machines in those Parts, and it would have been difficult to have given them a Notion of such presently. When they perceiv'd our Dissatisfaction, they were willing to make use of us for the Rigging of a little Fleet.
There being Twenty-two Houses in our Canton or Village, of which I shall give a Description hereafter, the Number of Vessels to be equipp'd was the same. Every Master of a Family caus'd his Vessel to be fitted, and the necessary Provisions to be put on Board, to serve four Persons for three Weeks. In these Vessels they put all manner of Provisions or Merchandise which they knew to be proper for a Voyage; as for Instance, Cordage, Pullies, Wheelbarrows, Hatchets, Spades, Mattocks, Pick-Axes, and other Tools fit to turn up the Ground; but especially Robes, and other Habits, Woollen and Linen. It was then the Month of December, and by consequence in the Heart of Summer, and in the finest Season of the Year. As the Goats are extremely large in that Country, and as strong as our Horses, they are generally made use of for Carriages. There were four of 'em to every Boat, of which two drew for two Hours, while the others eat, and relied in the Vessel. Thus they work'd alternately for fifteen or sixteen Hours every Day, which was in a manner from Sun-rise to Sun-set, but at Night there was a Halt, and a general Rest.
My Comrade and I could never see enough of the Beauties of this inchanting Country, and the Riches of its Soil. Their Orchards were adorn'd with fine Trees, some in Blossom, and others with ripe Fruit, the most excellent in the World; their Arable Lands were cover'd with Wheat, Barley, and other Grain; their Pastures were full of Goats and Sheep, of an extraordinary Size (for as to Horses and Cows, I never saw any there) and every thing was in such Elegance, Order, and Regularity, that it perfectly charm'd us.
The whole Country, which, as we were afterwards inform'd, extends 130 French Leagues from East to West, and 80 at least from North to South, is divided into Cantons or Villages. These Cantons are exactly of the Form of a Quadrangle, each Side being 1500 Paces, or an Italian Mile and Half in length, incompass'd all round, and separated from one another by a Canal 20 Paces broad, and a Royal Road on each side of it of 25 Paces, with two Rows of Trees in the middle, which form a Walk of 25 Foot, or five Geometrical Paces, that there may be free and commodious Passage for the Creatures employed to draw the Boats.
Every Canton is also divided in the middle by a Ditch of 20 Paces, and by a Road on both sides, of 25; with Trees planted after the same manner. Every one of these Roads contains 11 Habitations in length, each being 130 Geometrical Paces in Front, and about 700 in Depth, which are also separated by little Ditches five Foot over. At the Head of every one of these Habitations, on the Side of the Ditch which divides the Village into two equal Parts, there's a House only one Story high, but 60 Foot wide, with a Passage in the middle, which leads to all the Apartments, Stables, Barns, and other Offices. The Reason why they have no Upper Rooms is, because sometimes, tho' very seldom, they are subject to violent high Winds, which throw down their Houses to the Ground, for their Buildings are but slight.
From this Disposition that I have now describ'd, tis plain that in one Canton there are 22 Habitations; or Houses, opposite to one another, and all of the same Height and Breadth, 11 on one side of the Canal, and 11 on the other. At each End of this Water, on both Sides, there are Bridges to pass from one Village to the other, besides some in the middle of each Canton, which are all built of Free-Stone of fine Architecture, and kept in very good Repair. In these Twenty-two Families, there were always two of Distinction; one, that of the Papɤ or Priest; and the other, that of the Kini, or Judge of the Canton, which face the middle Bridge, and are opposite to one another; and behind these Houses there's an Apartment the breadth of the whole House, which serve the one for the Church, the other for the Court or Senate. But we shall have occasion to treat more of this perhaps elsewhere, and therefore we return now to our Journey.
We stay'd nine Days upon the Road, and when we came within seven or eight Leagues from the Place to which we were bound, we began to discover the Highlands, where we saw nothing scarce but Mountains, whose Tops seem'd to touch the Clouds, and dazzled our Eyes with the Whiteness of the Snow, with which they are cover'd all the Year round. The Canal where we were, ended about two short Leagues from those Hills, so that there we were oblig'd to halt. Part of our Company stay'd there in the Boats, and the rest of us made our way to the Mountains. But before we came to them, we were fain to pass thro' a very beautiful Forest.
The perpetual Din and Clatter, which we heard as we went on, made me think more than once, of Vulcan and his Cyclops. The Air resounded with great Strokes of Hammers, and one would actually have sworn that we were but three Paces from the Forges of Mount Gibel, or the Anvils of Brontes, Pyracmon, and Steropes. We were not vastly mistaken in our Conjecture, for the Men whom we discover'd soon after were not much unlike Giants and Dæmons; some of them were monstrously tall, others as shagged as Bears, and not one but was blacker than a Newcastle Collier.
Some of our Company immediately apply'd to a Director, and told him what Canton we were come from, what sort of Merchandise we had brought, and what we came for in exchange. Then they presented me and my Comrade to him, which we believed was to desire him to conduct us to all those Places which he thought worth seeing by People who had never been there; for he presently gave Orders to one of his Footmen to accompany us wherever we went, and five of our Companions join'd us.
The first thing he shew'd us was a large Pit, of a prodigious Depth, where was an Iron Mine which had been work'd for thousands of Years, and from whence so much Earth, &c. had been dug as form'd several other Mountains near it. On the left side of this Pit was a Descent of Steps, which the Workmen had made in the Rock as they dug downwards, but tho' they were broad and easy, I did not care to go down them. Over it they had erected a wooden Machine, and a great Windlass, with a Pulley fasten'd to it three Foot in Diameter, which drew up the Oar, by means of Baskets that were fill'd by Men at the bottom, as often as they were let down. On the right side of the Pit there was not a Hand at work, but every thing seem'd in Disorder. Our Guide perceiving me stoop to view the confused State of it, made Signs to me, by which he gave me to understand, as well as he could, that not above five Months ago a great part of the Mountain; which had perhaps been undermin'd too far on that Side, broke away, and in the Fall crush'd 360 Labourers that were at work.