9QS Mr Arnott's Tmir to the South of France, ^c. 



" S'death, I suppose so," shouted he in his abominable Ca- 

 talonian tongue, and next morning he presented us with the fol- 

 lowing account : — One pound and a half of (black) bread, one 

 piecete* ; half a pound of rostesf, one piecete ; sopas\ for three 

 (of course for the liquid alone, as we had a separate charge for 

 the bread), one piecete ; three bottles of rancio § (for our sup- 

 per and next day's travelling), each one piecete : total, six pie- 

 cetes. " And then," added he, " as I do not charge you for the 

 bed, you can give something to the servants." No innkeeper 

 could have made up a more exorbitant account, for all we had 

 got was not worth more than one shilling ; but it was of no use 

 to remonstrate, his only answer to our objections being, that 

 withal we were very fortunate in procuring any kind of supper 

 in so wild a country. 



^' The 26th, having again crossed the Cueillade de Nouri, and 

 redescended the Vallee d'Eynes (instead of returning by the Val- 

 lee de Lhou, which we intended to have done had the weather 

 been fine), we arrived late in the afternoon at the cabanasse 

 loaded with plants. This excursion was the richest in our 

 whole tour, as much in the number of specimens as in the va- 

 riety of species. During the three days we gathered 5500 spe- 

 cimens. We were, no doubt, in the most favourable season ; 

 and this excursion being only the second we had yet made, 

 strictly called Pyrenean, it was to be expected that we should 

 find many species scattered throughout the chain ; but there 

 were also many very rare species.'^ — Benth. 

 ( To he continued.) 



* The piecete is precisely a shilling sterling 



-f* Rostes: ham usually very dry, and extremely salt, fried in olive-oil, 

 which, both in lioussillon and Catalonia, is almost always rancid. 



X Sopas a Vaigo, literally water-soup. In a pot containing about four bottles 

 of water, a head of garlic is boiled, with about two ounces of fat of bacon and a 

 little salt. This liquor is poured on slices of black bread. The happy pea- 

 santry prefer the addition of a few spoonfuls of rancid oil, and this constitutes 

 their sopas a roillL 



* Rancio., wine at first black and thick, made in the maritime districts of 

 Roussillon and Catalonia. At the end of ten or twelve years in the plain, or 

 of two or three in the mountains, it becomes clear, loses much of its colour, 

 and acquires a peculiar flavour, which is called ranee. It is then an ex- 

 cellent wine, and of great value ; but the honest curate of Nouri pocketed at 

 least 150 per cent, on what he provided us with. 



