French journeys 1: stuffed with babies

In 1779, provincial France was ordered to send its unwanted babies to Paris. This is what happened:

Long distance donkeys carrying panniers stuffed with babies came to the capital from as far away as Brittany, Lorraine and the Auvergne. The carters set out on their two hundred and fifty mile journeys with four or five babies to a basket, but in towns and villages along the route they struck deals with midwives and parents. For a small fee they would push in a few extra babies. To make the load more tractable and easier on the ears, the babies were given wine instead of milk. Thiose that died were dumped at the roadside like rotten apples. In Paris the carters were paid by the head upon delivery and evidently delivered wnough to make it worth their while. But for every ten living babies that reached the capital, only one survived more than three days.

From Graham Robb's The Discovery of France.

Comments

[Richard J]

Bloody good book, isn't it? Plenty of quotable stuff in it.