August 13, 1834
We departed early at eight o’clock with the diligence [stagecoach]. We had seven relais until Abbeville or Lieneville. About three lieues are considered one stagecoach relay, or relais. The roads are good, but the area is very hilly, also fertile, with much forest and shrubbery, especially in the valleys. The fruit trees, particularly the apple trees, were heavily laden with fruit. [It] was harvest time for the summer grains, particularly oats; the rye had been harvested long ago. We saw wide expanses of clover. We stopped in the little town Monytreuil and had breakfast there. The heat and the dust were very troublesome. Large flocks of black turkeys grazed on the fields. The French like this fowl very much and eat much of it.
There were three postes [stations?] before Neufchatel. Beyond this place, the harvest was under way everywhere. All the farmers were in the fields; many were busy with bringing in the crops, and the countryside was very busy.
We reached Abbeville at twelve o’clock that night and stopped at the Hotel d’Angleterre.