DUBLIN UNIVERSITY ZOOLOGICAL AND BOTANICAL ASSOCIATION. 199 



over; but there still remained a few of great beauty and interest. The 

 Aconitum napellus, of a deeper blue than the variety usually cultivated in 

 our gardens, was everywhere abundant, and the Iris zyphioides coloured 

 vast spaces with its large cerulean blossoms ; the lovely Qentiana verna 

 grew at the very edge of the glacier, and the curious Soldanella Alpina, 

 not waiting for the melting of its winter covering, pushed its brilliant 

 buds through the snowy ridges. The botanist wishing to see thePyrenean 

 flowers in full variety and beauty should visit this locality in the be- 

 ginning of July, and take up his quarters at Gedre, or Gavarnie. At 

 either village he will find accommodation of a homely but sufficient 

 kind. 



***** 



A day's rest at St. Sauveur after the return from Gavarnie prepared 

 us for the comparatively easy excursion to Bareges, which, however, we 

 found more difficult than we had anticipated from the damage caused 

 by the storm that had deluged the hills around. A vast avalanche of 

 stones and soil had swept across the road from Luz to Bareges, and ren- 

 dered the route impassable for carriages. So great was the force of the 

 torrent that immense rocks were lodged in the middle of the highway, 

 and workmen were engaged in blasting them with gunpowder to effect 

 their removal. The waters had, however, partly subsided, and we ef- 

 fected our passage with the aid of guides, who led our ponies through 

 the stream. These accidents are so frequent on this route that it some- 

 times happens that Bareges and its numerous visitors are reduced to 

 considerable straits for fresh provisions by the interruption of all direct 

 communication with the villages of the plain from which they derive 

 supplies. Bareges itself is a mean street, principally of wooden houses, 

 inhabited during the summer and autumn, and abandoned in the winter 

 to the wolves and to a few peasants, who gather into the Bath-house, 

 and find shelter and warmth in the vacant baths and saloons of the esta- 

 blishment. 



Its situation is wild and desolate in the extreme, and nothing but 

 the great efficacy of its mineral waters could induce its numerous visitors 

 to tolerate its sombre and melancholy influence. Their sources, which, 

 owing to the civility of the superintendent, I had an opportunity of mi- 

 nutely examining, abound in Barregine, indicating the presence of 

 sulphur and other ingredients which confer upon them their wonderful 

 efficacy in cases of cutaneous and ulcerous affections. They are also 

 most abundant, affording a stream sufficient to supply 500 baths ; but 

 the edge of the Gave, near which they originate, allows room only for a 

 limited establishment and the necessary lodgings for patients, and every 

 winter numerous houses are swept into the flood by the violent inunda- 

 tions to which the stream is subject. 



The Government has an hospital here for soldiers suffering from 

 indolent sores produced by gunshot wounds, and at the time of our visit 

 this hospital was crowded with Crimean heroes, objects of great interest 

 and attention to the other visitors. 



