Avignon June 30th
My dear Constance
I stopped here a whole day to rest, at a very good inn my Courier knew of. For the last fortnight we have had nothing but the most burning sunshine all day, with the exception of yesterday afternoon and night when there fell a delicious rain. The whole country is much burnt up, but the vines & olives delight in such weather, and there is every promise of a most abundant Crop, so that the landowners are delighted. Another plant that likes the heat and drought is the Laurier Rose, wch we call the Oleander. There are magnificent bushes of it frequently to be seen. The pomegranate is also beautiful but seldom to be seen. The railway between Marseilles & this, crosses for several miles a desert plain called la Crau, a dead level, all pebbles, without a blade of grass, & nothing but a few stunted thorns. It is for geologists to explain this collection of pebbles. It realises the old idea of the great Sahara of Africa – but luckily only lasts 10 or 15 miles. It was always in this state & was known to the anct Greeks, who had a legend about it, which laid the blame on Hercules. This city of Avignon will always have a certain amount of interest attached to it, as having been for 60 or 80 years the residence of the Popes, when driven from Rome. And perhaps they will have to come back again! I hope you are all well the last letter I had from you was dated the 18th I think you must have had most enjoyable weather at Millburn1 but in these parts, the heat is so great that all the middle part of the day is lost – Travellers must be very energetic who go sight seeing before the cool of the evening. The days are much shorter than at Edinburgh; & the twilight very short. I forgot to mention that Nice is greatly changed & alter’d. Some of the Villas in the Country are I think well imagined the town is grown large, and hardly recognisable – On the whole it was better formerly. Cannes has become a collection of handsome villas, some very pretentious with tall minarets.
Your affte
Henry
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