I90I WM. BELLOWS — PYRENEES AND ANDORRA 293 



a richer vegetation and a denser foliage. It is in the 

 western Pyrenees, where the mountains are more exposed 

 to the Atlantic rains (according to the Encyclopedia 

 Britannica) that the foliage is seen at its best : on the 

 higher summits more snow falls than on the eastern peaks, 

 and hence g^laciers and protecting snow-fields exist in these 

 parts that are unknown at the Mediterranean end. 



Eaux-Chaudes, a little village with natural warm springs 

 strongly impregnated with sulphur, is lighted with electric 

 light. These Pyreneean villages make good use of the 

 wonderful mountain torrents that come so close to their 

 doors : many that we visited had electric installations, 

 however backward they might be in other matters. The 

 Val d'Ossau, in which the village stands, runs southward 

 for many miles towards the Spanish frontier, when it is 

 finally blocked by the huge Pic du Midi d'Ossau, less 

 known, but a mightier mass, than its sister further eastward, 

 the Pic du Midi de Bigorre. But the Pic du Midi d'Ossau 

 is well worth a visit, rising above the surrounding forests to 

 a height of over 9400 feet from sea level. My friend and I 

 walked many miles to see it : but the clouds hung round its 

 crags and we were disappointed. There were other things 

 of interest, however, to reward the traveller. At intervals 

 the loneliness of the forest road was relieved by some 

 passing native. Further down we had seen both men 

 and women working in the fields ; but here we were in 

 a lonely haunt not far from the Spanish frontier, and 

 doubtless in a happy land of smuggling. At very few 

 places can these mountains be crossed by road. The 

 passes (called " ports " in the Central Pyrenees) are at 

 lofty elevations, and only three or four of them, in the 

 whole length of the chain, would allow the passage of a 

 carriage. Certainly on the French side, in this Val d'Ossau, 

 the road was a good one ; but we did not see the corre- 

 sponding road in Spain. 



