We Found A Very Considerable Number Of Persons In The Steam-Boat, Many
Of Whom Were English, And Amongst Them A Gentleman And His Wife, Who,
With Four Children, Were Travelling To Nice, Where They Proposed To
Spend The Winter.
The fine weather of the preceding day had deserted
us, and it rained in torrents during the first hours of the descent
of the Rhone.
The wet and cold became so difficult to bear, that I
was glad to take up a position under the funnel of the steamer,
where, protected a little from the rain, I speedily got dry and warm,
enjoying the scenery in despite of the very unfavourable state of the
weather. We missed our communicative boatman of the Seine, but
met with a very intelligent German, who gave us an account of the
remarkable places en route, pointing out a spot once exceedingly
dangerous to boats ascending or descending, in consequence of a
projecting rock, which, by the orders of the Emperor Napoleon, had
been blown up.
All the steamers which leave Lyons profess to go as far as Arles; but,
in order to ensure conveyance to that place the same evening, it is
necessary to ascertain whether they carry freight to Beaucaire, for in
that case they always stay the night to unlade, taking the boat on
at an early hour the following morning. We found ourselves in this
predicament; and perhaps, under all the circumstances to be related,
it would be advisable to leave the Lyons boat at Avignon and proceed
by land to Marseilles. Many of the passengers pursued this plan.
The weather cleared up in the middle of the day, and we passed Avignon
in a rich crimson sunset, which threw its roseate flush upon the ruins
of the Papal palace, and the walls and bastions of this far-famed
city. Experience had shown us the impossibility of taking more than a
cursory view of any place in which we could only sojourn for a single
day, and therefore we satisfied ourselves with the glimpses which we
caught of Avignon from the river. A half-finished bridge, apparently
of ancient date, projects rudely into the middle of the stream; we
passed through another more modern, though somewhat difficult to
shoot; our voyage the whole day having been made under a succession of
bridges, many upon the suspension principle, and extremely light and
elegant. The beauty and variety of the scenery which presented itself,
as we shot along the banks of the Rhone, were quite sufficient to
engage our attention, and to make the hours fly swiftly along; there
were few, however, of our fellow-travellers who did not resort to
other methods of amusement.
After the weather had cleared, the decks dried, and the sun-beams,
warming, without scorching, glanced through fleecy clouds, the greater
number of the passengers remained in the cabin below, whence, the
windows being small and high, there was literally nothing to be seen.
They employed themselves in reading, writing, or working; the French
ladies in particular being most industrious in plying the needle.
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