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IN AND AROUND BESANCON. 57 
two miles distant from Besancon are the Grottes Saint-Léonard, 
the main portion of which consists of a long narrow tunnel which 
enters the mountain side with the same dip as that of the strata, 
which at this point have a considerable inclination. Not having 
provided myself with candles, I was unable to penetrate very far. 
This fissure has to be approached from above by means of a 
rough footpath and a guiding chain, as the rocks rise with almost 
perpendicular steepness from the valley. A fine view is to be 
had of the Doubs Valley, and the forts encircling the town; 
one of these, a small one, a mile or so distant, was blown into 
the air two months later by the explosion of eighty tons of 
melinite. One could almost throw a stone into the river, yet on 
the steep slope were cut no fewer than three roads and a railway. 
A much more interesting cave exists in the neighbourhood 
of Arbois, the district far-famed for its wine, which is produced 
on the slopes of the lowest range of the mountains, and where 
the memory of the great Pasteur is held in reverence. The 
Lycée, or High School, has been named after him and _ his 
statue adorns the square, for it was here that he taught, as a 
young man, before he began those studies which were to so 
benefit the human race and render his name a household word 
throughout the civilised world. We visitors were invited by the 
members of the Natural History Society to accompany them on 
an all-day’s outing, one Sunday, to visit these caves. From the 
railway station a four miles’ walk through the well-tended valley 
of the Cuisance brings you to a spot hemmed in by a semi- 
circular rampart of limestone rocks rising some hundreds of feet 
from the valley, and after a short climb among the underwood 
you arrive at the mouth of the cave and are glad to take shelter 
from the broiling mid-day sun, when, even in the shade, the 
thermometer stands at 100 deg. Candles being lit, you descend 
the easy slope of this wide cavern, which is bedded with a coarse 
sand. At one point you have to climb by means of a rope to a 
higher level, and, if so inclined, to a still higher gallery. The 
lower gallery contains a large pond and is rather damp, while 
the upper one is comparatively dry, though every now 
and then you flounder about in a layer of thick black 
mud. Here and there the roof descends so low that 
you have to lie flat in order to squeeze through, at 
other times there is a clear height of forty feet. There were 
