I
believe neither men nor horses ever passed in some places where we
went, and for twenty hours we saw not a town nor a house, excepting
sometimes from the top of the mountains, at a vast distance. I am
persuaded we might have encamped here, if we had had provisions, till
the war had been over, and have met with no disturbance; and I have
often wondered since, how we got into such horrible places, as much
as how we got out. That which was worse to us than all the rest, was,
that we knew not where we were going, nor what part of the country we
should come into, when we came out of those desolate crags. At
last, after a terrible fatigue, we began to see the western parts of
Yorkshire, some few villages, and the country at a distance looked a
little like England, for I thought before it looked like old Brennus
Hill, which the Grisons call "the grandfather of the Alps." We got
some relief in the villages, which indeed some of us had so much need
of, that they were hardly able to sit their horses, and others were
forced to help them off, they were so faint. I never felt so much of
the power of hunger in my life, for having not eaten in thirty hours,
I was as ravenous as a hound; and if I had had a piece of horse-flesh,
I believe I should not have had patience to have staid dressing
it, but have fallen upon it raw, and have eaten it as greedily as a
Tartar.
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