. Unfrequented France by river and mead and town. granatesand magnolias in full bloom out of doors, amidwhich he fancied himself in the south. The banksof the Erdre reminded me of my native Orwell,between Ipswich and Harwich, and in some placesof winding Winandermere, the river lake. Oneither side are picturesque chateaux and smilingvillas, standing in gardens, with richly-wooded hillsrising at the back, and emerald lawns and pasturesstretching to the waters edge. Firs and pinesmingle their dark foliage with birch and chestnut,oak and beech, now yellowing and purpling intoautumnal splendour. H
. Unfrequented France by river and mead and town. granatesand magnolias in full bloom out of doors, amidwhich he fancied himself in the south. The banksof the Erdre reminded me of my native Orwell,between Ipswich and Harwich, and in some placesof winding Winandermere, the river lake. Oneither side are picturesque chateaux and smilingvillas, standing in gardens, with richly-wooded hillsrising at the back, and emerald lawns and pasturesstretching to the waters edge. Firs and pinesmingle their dark foliage with birch and chestnut,oak and beech, now yellowing and purpling intoautumnal splendour. Here and there are quaintlittle villages, at each of which we stop and drop orpick up passengers—nuns, priests, peasant folk,and sportsmen; no English or American tourist, noalien but myself. As we approach Nort the scenery changes, andwe find ourselves in a narrow current with sedgybanks, suggestive of wild-fowl shooting, and to rightand left, wide solitary stretches of marsh and the village we alight and take the diligence to MMM*^Ha^. H < y. w 2 PAYS NANTAIS 185 Nozay, driving at a snails pace through an opencountry, with farm buildings sparsely scattered amidthe waste, and a landscape made up of alternatingpasture, wood, and heath, the frequent crucifixes atthe roadside reminding us that we are in the mostCatholic country in the world. Quitting the crazymail-coach at Nozay, we traverse an avenue ofchestnut-trees, and find ourselves at the handsomelodge of Grand Jouan, where we are most court-eously received by the sub-director and a , as in the former excursion, my errand wasscientific and economic; in other words, a visit to theState Agricultural College, long since transferred toRennes. The return from Nort to Nantes was made bymoonlight, a glittering yet not too glittering spec-tacle, the little waves scintillating with silvery light; an interminable smile, not of ocean, but of a softflowing, tranquil river. CHAPTER XVIII PAYS ANGEVIN In tropica
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