_ 175 _ north along the River Rhône. On the landward side, where the city goes up a slope, it is surrounded by a fine wall. Item: The Rhône is a musket-shot wide in summer, but it overflows its banks a great deal in winter. The river flows from north to south and rises in a small valley in Swiss lands from a mountain called Simplon, near Brig, which is at its foot, fifty leagues to the north of Lyon. It flows through many places before arriving in Lyon, and from there it flows to Avignon and Arles and enters the sea at Aigues-Mortes. Another river called the Saône flows through the middle of the city, smaller and with better water. It rises near Dijon, a city in Burgundy and flows through Chalon and Macon, cities in France, and in Lyon flows into the Rhone. Over the Rhone, there is a great stone bridge which divides the Dauphiné from France; and after this one crosses a smaller bridge over the Saône. Lyons is a place of great trade and it has four fairs every year. It has sumptuous buildings and houses of stonework. It has a governor appointed for lie by the King of France, who at the time was the Duke of Amiens, and he had a deputy there. The women are very fair-skinned and beautiful, but they have a bad reputation among the merchants. Even the married women go around alone or
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