ariondas/full_text_dataset · Datasets at Hugging Face

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consumption, and they give that overplus of which they make no use to
their neighbours. When they want anything in the country which it does
not produce, they fetch that from the town, without carrying anything in
exchange for it. And the magistrates of the town take care to see it
given them; for they meet generally in the town once a month, upon a
festival day. When the time of harvest comes, the magistrates in the
country send to those in the towns and let them know how many hands they
will need for reaping the harvest; and the number they call for being
sent to them, they commonly despatch it all in one day.






OF THEIR TOWNS, PARTICULARLY OF AMAUROT


"He that knows one of their towns knows them all--they are so like one
another, except where the situation makes some difference. I shall
therefore describe one of them, and none is so proper as Amaurot; for as
none is more eminent (all the rest yielding in precedence to this,
because it is the seat of their supreme council), so there was none of
them better known to me, I having lived five years all together in it.

"It lies upon the side of a hill, or, rather, a rising ground. Its
figure is almost square, for from the one side of it, which shoots up
almost to the top of the hill, it runs down, in a descent for two miles,
to the river Anider; but it is a little broader the other way that runs
along by the bank of that river. The Anider rises about eighty miles
above Amaurot, in a small spring at first. But other brooks falling into
it, of which two are more considerable than the rest, as it runs by
Amaurot it is grown half a mile broad; but, it still grows larger and
larger, till, after sixty miles' course below it, it is lost in the
ocean. Between the town and the sea, and for some miles above the town,
it ebbs and flows every six hours with a strong current. The tide comes
up about thirty miles so full that there is nothing but salt water in the
river, the fresh water being driven back with its force; and above that,
for some miles, the water is brackish; but a little higher, as it runs by
the town, it is quite fresh; and when the tide ebbs, it continues fresh
all along to the sea. There is a bridge cast over the river, not of
timber, but of fair stone, consisting of many stately arches; it lies at
that part of the town which is farthest from the sea, so that the ships,
without any hindrance, lie all along the side of the town. There is,
likewise, another river that runs by it, which, though it is not great,
yet it runs pleasantly, for it rises out of the same hill on which the
town stands, and so runs down through it and falls into the Anider. The
inhabitants have fortified the fountain-head of this river, which springs
a little without the towns; that so, if they should happen to be
besieged, the enemy might not be able to stop or divert the course of the
water, nor poison it; from thence it is carried, in earthen pipes, to the
lower streets. And for those places of the town to which the water of
that small river cannot be conveyed, they have great cisterns for
receiving the rain-water, which supplies the want of the other. The town
is compassed with a high and thick wall, in which there are many towers
and forts; there is also a broad and deep dry ditch, set thick with
thorns, cast round three sides of the town, and the river is instead of a
ditch on the fourth side. The streets are very convenient for all
carriage, and are well sheltered from the winds. Their buildings are
good, and are so uniform that a whole side of a street looks like one
house. The streets are twenty feet broad; there lie gardens behind all
their houses. These are large, but enclosed with buildings, that on all
hands face the streets, so that every house has both a door to the street
and a back door to the garden. Their doors have all two leaves, which,
as they are easily opened, so they shut of their own accord; and, there
being no property among them, every man may freely enter into any house
whatsoever. At every ten years' end they shift their houses by lots.
They cultivate their gardens with great care, so that they have both
vines, fruits, herbs, and flowers in them; and all is so well ordered and
so finely kept that I never saw gardens anywhere that were both so
fruitful and so beautiful as theirs. And this humour of ordering their
gardens so well is not only kept up by the pleasure they find in it, but
also by an emulation between the inhabitants of the several streets, who
vie with each other. And there is, indeed, nothing belonging to the
whole town that is both more useful and more pleasant. So that he who
founded the town seems to have taken care of nothing more than of their
gardens; for they say the whole scheme of the town was designed at first
by Utopus, but he left all that belonged to the ornament and improvement
of it to be added by those that should come after him, that being too
much for one man to bring to perfection. Their records, that contain the
history of their town and State, are preserved with an exact care, and
run backwards seventeen hundred and sixty years. From these it appears
that their houses were at first low and mean, like cottages, made of any
sort of timber, and were built with mud walls and thatched with straw.
But now their houses are three storeys high, the fronts of them are faced
either with stone, plastering, or brick, and between the facings of their
walls they throw in their rubbish. Their roofs are flat, and on them
they lay a sort of plaster, which costs very little, and yet is so
tempered that it is not apt to take fire, and yet resists the weather
more than lead. They have great quantities of glass among them, with
which they glaze their windows; they use also in their windows a thin
linen cloth, that is so oiled or gummed that it both keeps out the wind
and gives free admission to the light.






OF THEIR MAGISTRATES

consumption, and they give that overplus of which they make no use to

their neighbours. When they want anything in the country which it does

not produce, they fetch that from the town, without carrying anything in

exchange for it. And the magistrates of the town take care to see it

given them; for they meet generally in the town once a month, upon a

festival day. When the time of harvest comes, the magistrates in the

country send to those in the towns and let them know how many hands they

will need for reaping the harvest; and the number they call for being

sent to them, they commonly despatch it all in one day.

OF THEIR TOWNS, PARTICULARLY OF AMAUROT

"He that knows one of their towns knows them all--they are so like one

another, except where the situation makes some difference. I shall

therefore describe one of them, and none is so proper as Amaurot; for as

none is more eminent (all the rest yielding in precedence to this,

because it is the seat of their supreme council), so there was none of

them better known to me, I having lived five years all together in it.

"It lies upon the side of a hill, or, rather, a rising ground. Its

figure is almost square, for from the one side of it, which shoots up

almost to the top of the hill, it runs down, in a descent for two miles,

to the river Anider; but it is a little broader the other way that runs

along by the bank of that river. The Anider rises about eighty miles

above Amaurot, in a small spring at first. But other brooks falling into

it, of which two are more considerable than the rest, as it runs by

Amaurot it is grown half a mile broad; but, it still grows larger and

larger, till, after sixty miles' course below it, it is lost in the

ocean. Between the town and the sea, and for some miles above the town,

it ebbs and flows every six hours with a strong current. The tide comes

up about thirty miles so full that there is nothing but salt water in the

river, the fresh water being driven back with its force; and above that,

for some miles, the water is brackish; but a little higher, as it runs by

the town, it is quite fresh; and when the tide ebbs, it continues fresh

all along to the sea. There is a bridge cast over the river, not of

timber, but of fair stone, consisting of many stately arches; it lies at

that part of the town which is farthest from the sea, so that the ships,

without any hindrance, lie all along the side of the town. There is,

likewise, another river that runs by it, which, though it is not great,

yet it runs pleasantly, for it rises out of the same hill on which the

town stands, and so runs down through it and falls into the Anider. The

inhabitants have fortified the fountain-head of this river, which springs

a little without the towns; that so, if they should happen to be

besieged, the enemy might not be able to stop or divert the course of the

water, nor poison it; from thence it is carried, in earthen pipes, to the

lower streets. And for those places of the town to which the water of

that small river cannot be conveyed, they have great cisterns for

receiving the rain-water, which supplies the want of the other. The town

is compassed with a high and thick wall, in which there are many towers

and forts; there is also a broad and deep dry ditch, set thick with

thorns, cast round three sides of the town, and the river is instead of a

ditch on the fourth side. The streets are very convenient for all

carriage, and are well sheltered from the winds. Their buildings are

good, and are so uniform that a whole side of a street looks like one

house. The streets are twenty feet broad; there lie gardens behind all

their houses. These are large, but enclosed with buildings, that on all

hands face the streets, so that every house has both a door to the street

and a back door to the garden. Their doors have all two leaves, which,

as they are easily opened, so they shut of their own accord; and, there

being no property among them, every man may freely enter into any house

whatsoever. At every ten years' end they shift their houses by lots.

They cultivate their gardens with great care, so that they have both

vines, fruits, herbs, and flowers in them; and all is so well ordered and

so finely kept that I never saw gardens anywhere that were both so

fruitful and so beautiful as theirs. And this humour of ordering their

gardens so well is not only kept up by the pleasure they find in it, but

also by an emulation between the inhabitants of the several streets, who

vie with each other. And there is, indeed, nothing belonging to the

whole town that is both more useful and more pleasant. So that he who

founded the town seems to have taken care of nothing more than of their

gardens; for they say the whole scheme of the town was designed at first

by Utopus, but he left all that belonged to the ornament and improvement

of it to be added by those that should come after him, that being too

much for one man to bring to perfection. Their records, that contain the

history of their town and State, are preserved with an exact care, and

run backwards seventeen hundred and sixty years. From these it appears

that their houses were at first low and mean, like cottages, made of any

sort of timber, and were built with mud walls and thatched with straw.

But now their houses are three storeys high, the fronts of them are faced

either with stone, plastering, or brick, and between the facings of their

walls they throw in their rubbish. Their roofs are flat, and on them

they lay a sort of plaster, which costs very little, and yet is so

tempered that it is not apt to take fire, and yet resists the weather

more than lead. They have great quantities of glass among them, with

which they glaze their windows; they use also in their windows a thin

linen cloth, that is so oiled or gummed that it both keeps out the wind

and gives free admission to the light.

OF THEIR MAGISTRATES