434 FRANCE.

more than one shilling and six-pence the bushel, and potatoes proportionably low.

From St. Avold, the land was poor. and stony, till, on descending into a narrow but beautiful valley, we reached the convent of Loshvielle, which was confiscated and sold at the Revolution. The land, on the sides of the hill above it, is stony, but covered with vineyards. The poles used to prop the vines were collected in stacks, and carefully covered with straw. At this valley, the military road, constructed by Buonaparte, at an immense cost to the department, begins; it winds along the sides of the hill, with a very gentle acclivity, for about two miles, and presents the convent below, with the fruit-trees and vineyards that surround it, in a variety of striking points of view. On the summit of the hills, a tract of good wheat land, of a clayey loam, encumbered with surface- stones, and resting on a calcareous subsoil, was displayed, and continued till we reached the town of Courcelles, another miserable-looking small place.

There are three lines of custom-house officers, stationed at different places on this frontier. At Courcelles were the third set; the first had affected to examine my baggage, but, on receiving two francs, gave me no trouble; the second took no notice of any thing; but here[ was asked if I had any cari- catures, or foreign newspapers; and, not satisfied with my answers, my little baggage was opened, and searched with great vigilance: this, I was told, arose from some recent orders. From Courcelles to within a mile of Metz, the soil was of a very heavy clayey nature, covered with stones, requiring five or six strong horses to plough it, resting on a calcareous basis, and is, I was informed, the best land in the department for producing wheat, wine, and fruits of all kinds.