India 2001 books

They had hardly heard this report, when the little village of Amaillou
was on fire; it was the first place that was utterly burnt down, and
laid in ashes by the republicans; not a house was left standing, or
hardly the ruined wall of a house. The church itself was set on fire and
burnt, with its pictures, its altars, and all its sacred treasures; the
peasants ran from the ruins, carrying with them their wives and
children, the old, the crippled, and infirm: hundreds were left dead and
dying among the smoking ashes. This feat having been accomplished,
Westerman continued on towards Bressuire, intending to burn the chateau
at Clisson, as he passed it on his way.
The district between Amaillou and Bressuire is thickly studded with
trees. The roads, or rather lanes, are all lined by avenues of limes and
beeches. The fields are small, and surrounded by lofty hedges, which are
also, in a great measure, composed of large trees, and the whole country
in July, when the foliage is at the thickest, has almost the aspect of
one continued forest.


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