The following morning at nine o’clock a patache (a sort of two wheeled carriage) was in waiting to convey me the remainder of my journey; and I arrived at night at a large village or town called Thiers.  Halfway between Roanne and Thiers, on stopping at a small village to dine, I observed a dish of frogs at the kitchen fire at the inn; and as it was the first time I had observed them as an article of food in France, I was desirous to taste them.  They were dressed in a fricassee of white sauce, and I found them excellent.  The legs only are used.  They would be delicious as a curry.  The next morning we continued our journey; and crossing the river Allier at twelve o’clock, arrived at Clermont-Ferrand at 2 p.m., and dined with Col.  Wardle.  Clermont and Ferrand are two towns within a mile and half distant from each other and this Clermont is generally called Clermont-Ferrand to distinguish it from other towns of the same name.

CLERMONT, March 26th.

I have taken lodgings for a month, and board with a French family for 90 franks per month.  On the road hither the immense mountain called the Puy de Dome is discernible at a great distance; it is said to have been a volcano.

Clermont is a very ancient city and has an air of dullness; but the Place and promenades round the town are excellent.  It is the capital of this department (Puy de Dome).  There is a terrible custom here of emptying the aguas mayores y menores (as the Spaniards term those secretions) into the small streets that lie at the back of the houses.  The consequence is that they are clogged up with filth and there is always a most abominable stench.  One must be careful how one walks thro’ these streets at night, from the liability of being saluted by a golden shower.  The lower classes of the Auvergnats have the reputation of being dirty, slovenly and idle.

Here is a church built by the English in the time of Edward III, when the Black Prince commanded in this country; and it was in a chapel in this city, the remains of which still exist, that Peter the Hermit preached the first crusade.  These are almost the only things worthy of remark in the town itself, except that there is a good deal of commerce carried on, manufactures of crockery, cloth and silk stockings.  But in the natural curiosities of the environs of Clermont there is a great deal to interest the botanist and mineralogist and above all there is a remarkable petrifying well, very near the town, where by leaving pieces of wood, shell-fish and other articles exposed to the dropping of the water, they become petrified in a short time.  This water has the same effect on dead animals and rapidly converts them into stone.  I have myself seen a small basket filled with plovers’ eggs become in eight days a perfect petrifaction.

CLERMONT, April 2d.