They Are Easily
Nourished, And Require No Other Respite From Their Labour, But
The Night's Repose.
They are the only carriage that can be used
in crossing the mountains, being very sure-footed:
And it is
observed that in choosing their steps, they always march upon the
brink of the precipice. You must let them take their own way,
otherwise you will be in danger of losing your life; for they are
obstinate, even to desperation. It is very dangerous for a person
on horseback to meet those animals: they have such an aversion to
horses, that they will attack them with incredible fury, so as
even to tear them and their riders in pieces; and the best method
for avoiding this fate, is to clap spurs to your beast, and seek
your safety in flight. I have been more than once obliged to fly
before them. They always give you warning, by raising a hideous
braying as soon as they perceive the horse at a distance. The
mules of Provence are not so mischievous, because they are more
used to the sight and society of horses: but those of Piedmont
are by far the largest and the strongest I have seen.
Some very feasible schemes for improving the commerce of Nice
have been presented to the ministry of Turin; but hitherto
without success. The English import annually between two and
three thousand bales of raw silk, the growth of Piedmont; and
this declaration would be held legal evidence. In some parts of
France, the cure of the parish, on All Souls' day, which is
called le jour des morts, says a libera domine for two sols, at
every grave in the burying-ground, for the release of the soul
whose body is there interred.
The artisans of Nice are very lazy, very needy, very aukward, and
void of all ingenuity. The price of their labour is very near as
high as at London or Paris. Rather than work for moderate profit,
arising from constant employment, which would comfortably
maintain them and their families, they choose to starve at home,
to lounge about the ramparts, bask themselves in the sun, or play
at bowls in the streets from morning 'till night.
The lowest class of people consists of fishermen, day labourers,
porters, and peasants: these last are distributed chiefly in the
small cassines in the neighbourhood of the city, and are said to
amount to twelve thousand. They are employed in labouring the
ground, and have all the outward signs of extreme misery. They
are all diminutive, meagre, withered, dirty, and half naked; in
their complexions, not barely swarthy, but as black as Moors; and
I believe many of them are descendants of that people. They are
very hard favoured; and their women in general have the coarsest
features I have ever seen: it must be owned, however, they have
the finest teeth in the world. The nourishment of those poor
creatures consists of the refuse of the garden, very coarse
bread, a kind of meal called polenta, made of Indian corn, which
is very nourishing and agreeable, and a little oil; but even in
these particulars, they seem to be stinted to very scanty meals.
I have known a peasant feed his family with the skins of boiled
beans. Their hogs are much better fed than their children. 'Tis
pity they have no cows, which would yield milk, butter, and
cheese, for the sustenance of their families. With all this
wretchedness, one of these peasants will not work in your garden
for less than eighteen sols, about eleven pence sterling, per
diem; and then he does not half the work of an English labourer.
If there is fruit in it, or any thing he can convey, he will
infallibly steal it, if you do not keep a very watchful eye over
him. All the common people are thieves and beggars; and I believe
this is always the case with people who are extremely indigent
and miserable. In other respects, they are seldom guilty of
excesses. They are remarkably respectful and submissive to their
superiors. The populace of Nice are very quiet and orderly. They
are little addicted to drunkenness. I have never heard of one
riot since I lived among them; and murder and robbery are
altogether unknown. A man may walk alone over the county of Nice,
at midnight, without danger of insult. The police is very well
regulated. No man is permitted to wear a pistol or dagger' on
pain of being sent to the gallies. I am informed, that both
murder and robbery are very frequent in some parts of Piedmont.
Even here, when the peasants quarrel in their cups, (which very
seldom happens) they draw their knives, and the one infallibly
stabs the other. To such extremities, however, they never
proceed, except when there is a woman in the case; and mutual
jealousy co-operates with the liquor they have drank, to inflame
their passions. In Nice, the common people retire to their
lodgings at eight o'clock in winter, and nine in summer. Every
person found in the streets after these hours, is apprehended by
the patrole; and, if he cannot give a good account of himself,
sent to prison. At nine in winter, and ten in summer, there is a
curfew-bell rung, warning the people to put out their lights, and
go to bed. This is a very necessary precaution in towns subject
to conflagrations; but of small use in Nice, where there is very
little combustible in the houses.
The punishments inflicted upon malefactors and delinquents at
Nice are hanging for capital crimes; slavery on board the gallies
for a limited term, or for life, according to the nature of the
transgression; flagellation, and the strappado. This last is
performed, by hoisting up the criminal by his hands tied behind
his back, on a pulley about two stories high; from whence, the
rope being suddenly slackened, he falls to within a yard or two
of the ground, where he is stopped with a violent shock arising
from the weight of his body, and the velocity of his descent,
which generally dislocates his shoulders, with incredible pain.
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