Note 220 — Chapter III · (continued 3)
Reading edition
In the days of the Roman empire the Durance was a navigable river, with a commerce so important that the boatmen upon it formed a distinct corporation.—Ladoucette, Histoire, etc., des Hautes Alpes, p. 354.
Even as early as 1789, the Durance was computed to have already covered with gravel and pebbles not less than 130,000 acres, "which, but for its inundations, would have been the finest land in the province."—Arthur Young, Travels in France, vol. i, ch. i.