DUBLIN UNIVERSITY ZOOLOGICAL AND BOTANICAL ASSOCIATION. 43 



not perhaps through the finest valley or deepest gorges of the range, 

 yields to none in many points of sublimity and interest, and, having 

 been the first seen, has left the deepest impressions of novelty and ad- 

 miration. 



Many of the French watering-places of the Pyrenees lie in the re- 

 cesses of deep mountain valleys, opening to the north, and formed by 

 torrents which are fed by the snows or glaciers of the highest peaks. 

 These valleys often contract into mere gorges, deeply cleft in the moun- 

 tain's sides, which only afford a scanty water-course for the rushing 

 stream. The construction of roads passable for carriages to^the higher part 

 of such gorges, and the sources of the mineral springs,has taxed the skill 

 of the most eminent engineers, and the result has been the formation of 

 paths, often cut as mere shelves in the overhanging rocks, and offering 

 all the charms of wonder, fear, and sublimity. 



The towns I have just mentioned lie in gorges of the Pic du Midi 

 d'Ossau, whose streams unite to form the Gave d'Ossau. The valley of 

 the Gave, up to the base of the mountain, is of considerable width, but 

 suddenly contracts at Laruns, near which is the confluence of the streams 

 which descend from Eaux Bonnes and Eaux Chaudes, and the ascent 

 from thence is only to be accomplished through the gorges leading to 

 these towns, each about three miles distant. Both gorges are fine, but 

 the features of the one leading to Eaux Chaudes are the more grand and 

 imposing, and the triumph of art and skill over the natural difficulties 

 of the route challenges the wonder of the most indifferent traveller. The 

 respective positions of the two towns render any direct intercourse 

 between them impossible, the crest of the intervening mountain being 

 only accessible on horseback or on foot. Carriage travellers must, there- 

 fore, retrace their way down one gorge, and ascend by the other, thus 

 more than doubling the distance to be traversed. This is the case with 

 many of the Pyrenean baths, the hardy pedestrian or bold horseman 

 being often able to save ten, fifteen, or even twenty miles, by passing 

 over the cols of the mountains ; while the more luxurious traveller has 

 to return to the plain, and make the circuit of their bases. 



"We first mounted to Eaux Bonnes, whose waters deservedly main- 

 tain a high repute for the arrest or cure of incipient cases of pulmonary 

 consumption. The village is small, but most beautifully situated in a 

 perfect cul de sac, completely imbedded in a mountain recess, which 

 affords scanty room, for the bathing establishment and some half dozen 

 large and pretentious hotels. The walks and cascades in the vicinity 

 are numerous and romantic, and the thickets well stored with flowers 

 and ferns. Saxifraga aizoides, Oxalis corniculata, and Meconopsis cam- 

 Irica, were among the number I observed ; and I here, for the first 

 time, gathered in a living state, and in great profusion, Polypodium 

 phegopteris, and P. dryopteris. "The rarity" of Eaux Bonnes, Litho- 

 spermum Gastoni, Adolphe D. C, named in honour of Gaston Saccaze, 

 a local guide, who first detected it, escaped my search. It is a plant 

 allied to L. purptiro-cceruhum, but said by M. de Candolle to be per- 



