368 Account of a Journey to Ike 



scarcely suspect its existence. All these masses form dif- 

 ferent mixtures of similar matters : sand, lime, ftetid car- 

 bonate, argil, shells, united in all possible proportions, ac- 

 cording to accidents which modified in every point the in- 

 fluence of general causes. Such are the elements of all 

 these strata and veins arranged here in so capricious a man- 

 ner, and which succeed each other with so much irregula- 

 rity. 



From the top of Mont Perdu the eye beholds, at one 

 time, all this system of similar mountains : it is a long 

 series of summits with upright strata arranged in the same 

 line, and which divide the immense horizon of the spec- 

 tator into two parts, as different in level as distinct by the 

 form of the mountains with which they are filled. 



On the north, primitive mountains arise, the sharp and 

 torn summits of which are closely enchained, and form a 

 large band, the elevation of which totally intercepts a view 

 of the plains of France. 



On the south the spectacle is very different ; every thing 

 is suddenly depressed. It is a precipice of from a thousand 

 to eleven hundred metres, the bottom of which is the sum- 

 mit of the highest mountains of that part of Spain. None 

 of the summits have 2500 metres of absolute elevation, and? 

 they soon degenerate into low round hills, beyond which- 

 opens an immense prospect of the plains of Arragon. 



But what attracted my attention was the aspect of that 

 southern band of the Pyrenees, on which I looked down as 

 if from the clouds. It seemed to me to be divided into two 

 distinct parts. The nearest to the plains exhibited to my 

 view those long ridges and those hollow valleys which in 

 general form the calcareous hills on the borders of the large 

 chains. On the other hand, the band which adheres to 

 Mont Perdu, and which serves it as a base, retained that 

 Strange appearance which distinguishes every thing that, be- 

 longs to this singular mountain. It is an immense and long 

 plateau, the whole surface of which, seen from this height, 

 appears to be nearly on a level. Some paps only, and a few 

 sinall hills, separated by broad but shallow valleys, appear 

 on it. But in the midst of these superficial inequalities, 

 traced out by anticnt currents, there are four enormous 

 crevices with sides exactly vertical. They proceed diverging 

 from the bases of the peak, and are continued to the limits 

 of the plateau, the protuberances and valleys of which 

 they divide, and they even intersect it itself to its founda- 

 tions. They absorb also the waters of it, and conceal them 

 by thick forests observed in their hollows. These fissures, 



which 



