204 Foreign and Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



31. SINGULAR NATURAL SOUND. 



' In the autumn of 1828, when on a tour through Les Hautes 

 Pyrenees/ says a recent traveller, ' I quitted Bagneses de Luchon 

 at midnight, with an intention of reaching the heights of Porte de 

 Venasque one of the wildest and most romantic boundaries be- 

 tween the French and Spanish frontier, from the summit of which, 

 the spectator looks at once upon the inaccessible ridges of the 

 Maladetta, the most lofty point of the Pyrenean range. After wind- 

 ing our way through the deep woods and ravines, constantly as- 

 cending above the valley of Luchon, we gained the Hospice about 

 two in the morning, and after remaining there a short time, pro- 

 ceeded with the first blush of dawn, to encounter the very steep 

 gorge terminating in the pass itself, a narrow vertical fissure through 

 a wall of massive and perpendicular rock. It is not my intention 

 to detail the features of the magnificent scene which burst upon our 

 view, as we emerged from this splendid portal, and stood upon 

 Spanish ground neither to describe the feelings of awe which 

 riveted us to the spot, as we gazed, in speechless admiration, on 

 the lone, desolate, and (if the term may be applied to a mountain) 

 the ghastly form of the appropriately named Maladetta. I allude 

 to it solely for the purpose of observing, that we were most forcibly 

 struck with a dull, low, moaning, J3olian sound, which alone broke 

 upon the deathly silence, evidently proceeding from the body of 

 this mighty mass, though we in vain attempted to connect it with 

 any particular spot, or assign any adequate cause for these solemn 

 strains. The air was perfectly calm ; the sky was cloudless ; and 

 the atmosphere clear to that extraordinary degree, conceivable only 

 by those who are familiar with the elevated regions of southern 

 climates ; so clear, and pure indeed, that at noon a bright star 

 which had attracted our notice through the grey of the morning, 

 still remained visible in the zenith. By the naked eye, therefore, 

 and still more with the assistance of a telescope, any waterfalls of 

 sufficient magnitude would have been distinguishable on a front 

 base, and exposed before us ; but not a stream was to be detected, 

 and the bed of what gave evident tokens of being occasionally a 

 strong torrent, intersecting the valley at its foot, was then nearly 

 dry. I will not presume to assert, that the sun's rays, though at 

 that moment impinging in all their glory on every point and peak 

 of the snowy heights, had any share in vibrating these mountain 

 chords ; but on a subsequent visit, a few days afterwards, when I 

 went alone to explore this wild scenery, and at the same hour stood 

 on the same spot, I listened in vain for the moaning sounds : the 

 air was equally calm, but the sun was hidden by clouds, and a cap 

 of dense mist hung over the greater portion of the mountain*.' 



N.M.Mag, xxx. 341. 



