[89] The road lies through the bright cool green of wide
plantations of the silkworm mulberry,[90] with its trim stem and rounded
head; and, in the more open parts of the valley, walnut trees of size
and shape fit for an ornamental park in England relieve the monotony.
The nearer hills are covered to the top with vines, and the higher and
more distant ranges have a naked and thoroughly burned appearance,
which suggests the idea of volcanoes to a traveller ignorant of volcanic
facts. The villages which lie at the foot of these rocky hills are built
of stones taken from the beds of the streams, and are so completely of
one colour with the background of rock, that in many instances it is
difficult to determine whether a distant mass of grey is a village or
not. Ruined castles and towers abound; and these, and still more the
walls which surround many of the villages, point unmistakeably to times
of great disturbance. The valley of the Drome, up which the road after a
time turns, was an important locality in the religious wars; and the
town and fort of Crest especially, as its name might suggest, was a
famous stronghold, and resisted all the efforts of the Reformed party.
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