parts extend over a magnificent plain, bounded by mountains, and commanded on the west by the snow covered peak of Canigou; in a different direction, several openings in the midst of fruitful hills, unfold the expanse of the Mediterranean. An inexhaustible spring flows at the base of a lofty citadel. The buildings worthy of notice are the barracks erected by Lewis the Fourteenth, they may contain about five thousand men, the church of St. John, the town-house, the court of justice and the exchange. The college, the library, the museum of natural history, and different seminaries are certainly creditable to the town. The royal sheep folds in the neighbourhood are perhaps the finest in France; it may be regretted that the improvements introduced into so important a branch of rural economy, have not been imitated in other parts of the country. BOOK CXLII. Vendre Elne on the left bank of the Tech, stands on the site of the ancient Helena, or the still more ancient Illiberis,a place of some celebrity, for Annibal encamped under its walls. Ceret, thinly peopled and encompassed with lofty walls, Ceret may be mentioned on account of a bridge perhaps more remarkable for boldness than any other in France; it rises to an extraordinary height, and consists of a single arch, in which the abutments are built on two rocks; the opening exceeds 150 feet. Port-Vendre near the frontier, a short Portway from Collioure, was a small harbour about the end of the eighteenth century, equal or rather inferior in point. of population to Collioure; it owes its present importance to the Marshal de Mailly, who was then governor of Roussilon. He foresaw the advantages it might derive from its position; the harbour was rebuilt, a basin was dug, which may contain five hundred vessels, and at present PortVendre is a flourishing and well-built town, in which the market place is adorned with fountains and a marble obelisk a hundred feet in height. It is necessary to cross some ravines near the sources of Departthe Tet, to arrive at the plains where the Ariege rises. The ment of the Ariege. department watered by the last river, is covered with mountains, forests and pastures; two distinct climates are perceptible within its limits. The southern part, from the elevation of the soil, is exposed to great cold and excessive BOOK CXLII. Foix. Saint Girons. Depart heat, while the vallies on the north are mild and temperate. Numerous herds are reared on the same vallies, and the soil, although ill adapted for the vine, is very fruitful in corn. The number of iron works, and the quality of the steel made in the department, prove that the industrious inhabitants have availed themselves of the mineral riches in their country. The small town of Foix rises in the valley watered by the Ariege, near an ancient castle surmounted by three Gothic towers. The counts that bore the name of the town, appear in the brightest pages of French history, but the monuments of these times are passing away. The streets are narrow, the ancient castle is wholly deserted and falling into ruins; trade and industry correspond with the insignificance of the population. Tarascon stands in a very picturesque situation at the confluence of the Ariege and a torrent which descends from the valley of Vic-d'Essos. Ax is famous for fifty-three mineral and thermal springs of which the temperature varies from 72° to 167° of Fahrenheit. Pamiers in the north of the department is surrounded with canals fed by the Ariege, they serve to move many machines; the streets are straight and broad, the houses are well built. Foix retains its ancient title, but Pamiers surpasses it in every respect; it has lately been raised into the seat of a diocess. The Puy du Till stands at no great distance from Mirepoix, a small and neat town; the mountain is remarkable for the cavities contained in it, from which fresh and sometimes very violent currents of air escape in every season of the year; the people call the phenomenon, the Vent du Pas. Saint Girons is the only other town worthy of notice in the department, it stands on the Salat, a small but rapid river, which sets in motion paper mills and different manufactories. Saint Lizier in the vicinity, formerly the seat of a diocess, claims vainly the rank of a town, it does not contain 1200 inhabitants, and, as if to afford an example of the vicissitudes in this lower world, the episcopal palace has been changed into an asylum for mendicants. The ancient country of Bigorre forms almost all the deHigh Pyre- partment, which derives its name from the highest part of ment of the nees. the Pyrenees. The plains are confined to the northern districts, the others are formed by thick forests and verdant vallies, mountains difficult of access, bold peaks, summits covered with glaciers, lakes fed by melted snows. The torrents or gaves, which fall in cataracts from the mountains, are the sources of the Adour, the Garonne and other rivers which water the department. He who travels from the confines of Gers to Mount Perda, the Mount Blanc of the department, passes through every climate in Europe; he may observe the vegetation changing gradually from the plants of temperate countries to those of hyperborean regions. No great quantity of corn is raised on the most fruitful lands, but they yield plenty of wine. An active race of men inhabit the mountains; their manner of life may recall the customs of pastoral tribes. The shepherds have their winter and summer residence; they choose the first in the low, and the other in the high vallies. Skilful in directing the course of the waters, they are thus enabled to enrich the meadows, which in the latter part of the year, afford nourishment to their cattle. "The same small stream," says Ramond," waters contiguous possessions, the one above the other. A few slates are the simple sluices by which the course of the water may be changed, and made to communicate with neighbouring canals, where, by the same means, they are directed from meadow to meadow, until they reach the lowest declivities which they are intended to fructify." While the different members of the family are engaged in cultivating the ground, one man conducts the flocks to the highest vallies, where natural pastures await them; if he cannot find any cave or shelter, he raises a rude cottage with stones and the branches of trees; in autumn, the sheep and cattle are brought down to the summer residence, which the family has left for the village. The shepherd passes the winter in solitude, and his flocks consume the food that has been prepared for them. He braves the rigours of the season,-snows, hurricanes and the overwhelming avalanche. His food consists principally of milk, but the cows are much inferior both in form and in size to those on the Alps. Voyages et observations faites dans les Pyrenees. BOOK CXLII. BOOK CXRII. Tarbes. Campan. Cauterets. We shall commence with the towns in the northern part of the country; Vic en Bigorre, a small town on the right bank of the Lechex, is peopled by 3500 inhabitants; it carries on a trade in brandy and leather. Rabastens near the banks of a canal is the small town whose inhabitants were massacred without distinction of age or sex by the troops of Charles the Ninth, after the battle of Montcontour. Tarbes is situated above these places, on the banks of the Adour; the streets are regular, the houses are built of brick and marble. A cloudless sky, fresh and limpid streams contribute to the salubrity for which it is famed. It is the chief town and the mart of all the commerce in the department; many Spaniards repair to it for the purpose of purchasing cattle. The prefect resides in the ancient bishop's palace; the cathedral rises on the ruins of the castle of Bigorra; Maubourguet, a public walk in the centre of the town, adorned with trees, and encircled with coffee-houses or places of amusement, cannot be compared with the Prado beyond the walls. Tarbes stands probably on the site of the ancient city of the Tarbelli. Bagneres de Bigorre is situated at five leagues to the south, and on the banks of the same river; it is the capital of a district, which many strangers visit every year on account of the mineral waters. It stands on the base of a hill covered with trees; walks extend from it along the fine valley of Campan and the banks of the Adour. Campan, a flourishing burgh, may contain about 4,500 inhabitants, it is a place of trade, the manufactures are paper and woollen stuffs. Extensive marble quarries and a grotto four hundred feet in depth, adorned with beautiful stalactites, are situated in the vicinity. Argeles, the chief town of a district, is only remarkable for its romantic position in a valley watered by the Gave d'Azum, which unites with the Gave de Pau. On the banks of the last river, and at the distance of five leagues below Argeles, Lourdes rises on a rock, commanded by a fortress, which was ceded to the English by the treaty of Bretigny, and afterwards changed into a state prison. Cauterets, not far from the summits of the Pyrences, is situated near roaring cataracts and foaming streams; it is mentioned in history as the residence of Margaret of Valois, its celebrity depends chiefly at present on the mineral waters. The village of Saint Sauveur is visited on account of the sulphureous springs in the neighbourhood. The church in the small town of Luz, was originally a convent of the templars. The thermal springs of Bareges, to which more than 600 strangers repair, vary in temperature from 106° to 122° of Fahrenheit. The village is formed by a single street, consisting of eighty houses, a chapel, an hospital built by Lewis the Fifteenth for disabled soldiers, and lastly, by large baths. Although a pleasant summer residence, it is hardly habitable in winter, most of the inhabitants then repair to Luz, where they remain until the beginning of spring. The famous cataract of Gavarnie, more remarkable than any other in Europe, may be observed in the neighbourhood, it falls from the height of 1270 feet. BOOK CXLII. ment of the Part of Navarre and the ancient principality of Bearn Departare included in the department of the Lower Pyrenees, Lower the only remains of the kingdom, which Rome took from Pyrenees. the grandfather of Henry the Fourth, and granted to Ferdinand king of Arragon. A new title, that of king of Navarre, was assumed by the French sovereigns, when a descendant of the house of Bearn mounted the throne of France. The territories of Soule and Labourd are situated in the same department. The Pyrenees do not occupy one half of the country, they have not the appearance of lofty mountains covered with eternal glaciers, but of heights crowned with forests, of fruitful and well peopled valleys. Hills planted with vineyards extend at their base, plains rich in corn line both the banks of the Gave de Pau, and the sandy lands on the north, still susceptible of much improvement, add to the varied products of the department. The Bidassoa bounds it on the west, and determines the line which separates the kingdoms of France and Spain. On the same river is situated the isle of Faisans or Conference, so called from the interview between Mazarin and Lewis de Haro, an interview that brought about the treaty by which Artois and Roussillon were ceded to France. Although the coasts watered by the Gulf of Gascony are not extensive, |