294 PROC. COTTESWOLD CLUB vol. xiii. (4) 



The next valley visited was the one at Cauterets ; and 

 there is nothing more beautiful in all these mountains 

 than the valleys, though they are extremely warm in 

 summer. The Pyrenees run east and west : their greater 

 valleys run north and south. Standing in one of them 

 you are separated from the next by one of the huge spurs 

 that depend from the main chain ; and though by crossing 

 the subordinate ridge you may attain the adjoining valley 

 by direct route, it is often quicker to return to the plains 

 and re-enter the mountains further on. This would apply 

 principally to the French side of the range, the surround- 

 ing country being much more broken on the Spanish side. 



In this way we reached the town of Cauterets, only 17 

 miles away in direct line, but 71 miles round by coach 

 and train. The journey up the Cauterets valley was 

 typical, the road winding through one of those wonderful 

 and almost terrifying chasms that exist here. Far down 

 below could at times be seen the angry Gave, and above 

 our heads the huge walls of •-perpendicular rock that 

 seemed to close the valley from the outer world. We 

 saw more than one of these defiles in our wanderings, 

 portals as it were to the immense valleys they commanded, 

 and in some respects similar to the Aarschlucht at Meir- 

 ingen, in Switzerland. 



A little further on we passed the track of a huge and 

 recent avalanche, and found ourselves in Cauterets, with its 

 hot springs of varying value and its numerous establish- 

 ments of cure. Attendants in native Pyreneean costumes 

 were there busying themselves with the wants of invalids ; 

 but the cure ive needed was the pure air of the woods and 

 mountain slopes, and an early opportunity found us again 

 on foot, and on our way up through the forest to the Lac 

 de Gaube. The lakes of these regions are smaller and 

 fewer than those of Switzerland, and lie generally at greater 

 elevations. The Lac de Gaube is the largest in the chain, and 



