From Vercelli to
Novara the fields are all in rice, and now mostly under water. The
dams separating the several water-plats or ponds, are set in willow. At
Novara there are some figs in the gardens in situations well protected.
From Novara to the Ticino it is mostly stony and waste, grown up in
broom. From Ticino to Milan it is all in corn. Among the corn are
willows, principally, a good many mulberries, some walnuts, and here
and there an almond. The country still a plain, the soil black and rich,
except between Novara and the Ticino, as before mentioned. There is very
fine pasture round Vercelli and Novara to the distance of two miles,
within which rice is not permitted. We cross the Sisto on the same
kind of vibrating or pendulum boat as on the Po. The river is eighty
or ninety yards wide; the rope fastened to an island two hundred yards
above, and supported by five intermediate canoes. It is about one and a
half inches in diameter. On these rivers they use a short oar of twelve
feet long, the flat end of which is hooped with iron, shooting out
a prong at each corner, so that it may be used occasionally as a
setting-pole.
Pages:
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306