Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 17]
Chagny
27/3/16
The roads and lanes all avenued with bare poplars and elms. We pass small villages with Monsieur Le Curee upon his rounds. At one small station the people very kindly buy our men beer and wine and refuse payment but all ask for souvenirs, badges being most popular. Young soldiers upon the platform all in very neat blue uniforms and wearing the steel hat. Asked one to let me see his which he did. Fairly light these helmets should at least stop the force of a bullet or glance it off. This youth was dix-sept (17) and in the artillery. Another man on guard showed us his rifle which was very old, single loading and took a soft nosed dum-dum, which he said was not used on service.
Read La Vie Paresienne & La Fantasis – pictures would not be permitted in Melbourne.
All agriculture hereabout and pleasant open fields and vineyards running up to foothills. Paddocks planted out in small bare paplings. Ever since leaving the Rhone Valley upon the western side of the line we have had a range of hills running along parallel about 2 ½ miles distant. At their feet at frequent intervals cluster old villages.
About Beaune are very considerable plantations of elms &c and vineyards. Bundles of the stakes are cut in the adjoining woods which are not destroyed but thinned out. Orchards are very frequent and every inch of ground on the levels is cultivated. The hills seem barren and are not much touched. In the fields we see only very old and very young people. The hawthorn is in bloom. Poplars surround the high roofed moss grown dwellings.
The train travels slowly and is now two hours behind time. We hope it continues to lose ground to enable us to see Paris in daylight. Find it hard to understand the spoken language owing to access but can attemp it.