Still unjustifiable greediness of gain, had tempted the
patron to commit the unseaman-like fault of overloading his vessel. The
decrease of speed was another and a graver consequence of his cupidity,
since it might prevent their arrival in port before the breeze had
expended itself.
The lake of Geneva lies nearly in the form of a crescent, stretching from
the south-west towards the north-east. Its northern, or the Swiss shore,
is chiefly what is called, in the language of the country, a _cote_, or a
declivity that admits of cultivation; and, with few exceptions, it has
been, since the earliest periods of history, planted with the generous
vine. Here the Romans had many stations and posts, vestiges of which are
still visible. The confusion and the mixture of interests that succeeded
the fall of the empire, gave rise, in the middle ages, to various baronial
castles, ecclesiastical towns, and towers of defence, which still stand on
the margin of this beautiful sheet of water, or ornament the eminences a
little inland. At the time of which we write, the whole coast of the
Leman, if so imposing a word may be applied to the shores of so small a
body of water, was in the possession of the three several states of
Geneva, Savoy, and Berne.
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