One of their carts would weigh as much as three of ours, and all their carriages are equally heavy.
It was a bright, cool day on which we took the train for Toulouse, and we enjoyed the delightful run through the very heart of old Gascony and Languedoc.

It was evident that we were in the South, where the sun is strong, for, although summer had scarcely begun, the country already wore a brown hue.

But the narrow strips of growing grain, the acres of grape vines, looking like young currant bushes, and the fig trees scattered here and there, looked odd to the eye of a native of New York.
We passed many historical spots during that afternoon journey up the valley of the Garonne.

At Portets are the ruins of the Chateau of Langoiran, built before America was discovered, and, a few miles farther on, we came to the region of the famous wines of Sauterne and Chateau-Yquem.

Saint Macaire is a very ancient Gallo-Roman town, where they show one churches, walls, and houses built fifteen centuries ago.
One of the largest towns has a history typical of this part of France, where wars of religion and conquest were once the order of the day.