Pagina 908 de 1118

After having proceeded a short distance, our travellers beheld

melancholy traces of the destruction they had heard related.

Vineyards despoiled, not by the vintager, but as if by a tempest;

vines trampled under foot; trees wounded and lopped of their

branches; hedges destroyed; in the villages, doors broken open,

window-frames dashed in, and streets filled with different

articles of furniture and clothing, broken and torn to pieces. In

the midst of lamentations and tears, the peasants were occupied

in repairing, as well as they could, the damage done; while

others, overcome by their miseries, remained in a state of silent

despair. Having passed through these scenes of complicated woe,

they at last succeeded in reaching their own dwellings, where

they witnessed the same destruction.