August 15, 1834

We departed early from Abbeville [on] the diligence [stagecoach]. The area is pleasant and rather varying [in terrain, although] no longer mountainous, because we were approaching the ocean.

About ten o’clock we had breakfast at the little town of Montreuil and found the bill [to be] high because of the many Englishmen passing through [on] this road. On the fields, large flocks of black turkeys [were visible]. The harvest was completed or still ongoing.

After Montreuil, we saw to the left in the distance the dams of the Channel, and we reached Boulogne at about four o’clock. Boulogne sur mer [on the sea] is a pretty city that I reached today, exactly twenty years after I had been encamped here with the 3rd Regiment of Hussars (1814). Now the city has been beautified, and a nice natural history museum has been constructed—-about which I was told too late, unfortunately. The taxidermist is a paid position, all other expenses have been covered by the patriotism of the inhabitants, and there already are supposed to be very many interesting objects [in this museum]. Our stay was short, and we departed right away for Calais, where we arrived at about seven o’clock. After we had eaten dinner there, the journey continued at ten thirty to Dunkerque, and we arrived there at daybreak via Gravelines.

After we stopped at the Hotel de Flandres, we learned that the steamboat had left for Rotterdam the previous evening. We had arrived too late and had to stay here [for] five days, until 20 [August], when a Dutch steamboat, the Graaf Cancrin, sailed again. We first looked around in this rather charming city of [——] inhabitants that has regular, fairly wide streets; [there are] many old, but also some attractive new, buildings, and [——] churches, of which the cathedral [——] is interesting–in Gothic style with a blunt, high steeple. At the harbor, which has water only at low tide high tide, piers jut far out, and we saw ships (small ones) arrive there in the evening with a brisk wind. A few small three-masters were there, many brigs, an English steamboat (Waterloo), and the Dutch [vessel] Dunkerke.

The booksellers whom I visited all were very poor. The only natural history in- stitution here is Mr. Dutoit’s collection. [It is] quite nicely [and] daintily stuffed and exhibited, [and it] contains a few interesting pieces. He intends to sell this col- lection to the city and then oversee it as a conservator [curator].

The inhabitants of this city speak the Flemish language, which is a type of Dutch, but French is spoken everywhere too. Many foreigners are often here, especially many Englishmen, as well as Dutch and Germans. The garrison consists of infantry, [who wear] yellow lapels and collars. The vicinity of Dunkerque is not picturesque. It is very similar to the [area of] Ostende; all these areas on the Channel in France and Flanders are very similar to each other. In the sand dunes, the wheatear (le motteux) is very common, as [are] gulls and sea swallows, which [fly] around in numbers, particularly at low tide.

Current Location

Journal Location: Dunkirk, France