[11]
Gex, which is about three quarters of a league in breadth, and three and a half in length, in shape like a tongue, stretching across the country down to the Lake. – The moment we entered it, we were attacked by a harpy, commonly called a Commis of a Bureau, who extorted more duties upon our baggage for three quarters of a league, than the like charges for twenty-eight leagues had amounted to in Switzerland. – Our Commis was succeeded by a woman between seventy and eighty years old, who pursued us, clattering her wooden shoes, and demanding a trifling toll. The fifth time I have been rouge since I left France was on the shrivelled checks of this beldame. – As we were very curious to see the port of Versoix (the new town) we dispatched our courier to the commandant for his permission to that purpose, which was very obligingly granted, and he sent the commanding officer of the troops to be our guide. The commandant very politely excused himself from accompanying us, on account of illness, and being confined to his room. His name is s–re: he inhabits a poor cottage, just at the entrance of the bourg. We alighted then from our carriage, and walked about what is to be the town of Versoix, for there is not a house yet begun upon. The streets, squares, &c. are indeed distinguished by tall stakes fixed in the ground, and have all pompous names. Here are a few miserable hovels, or rather roofs of planks, which almost touch the ground, and appear at a distance like tents. In these
