336 Major F. Bailey's Forest Tour 



for pipe-making, and are carried down on the backs of 

 mules to the factory, where they are sawn up into pieces 

 having more or less the shape of a pipe, these being 

 exported to Paris and other places, where they are carved 

 and finished. The wood is liable to split if it is allowed 

 to dry rapidly; and to avoid this the stumps are thrown 

 into water as soon as possible after tlieir extraction from 

 the ground, and the sawn pieces are exported wet. The 

 result is what is known in England as " briar " wood pipe, 

 this name being evidently a corruption of the French 

 word hruyh'e or heather. The stumps of the arbutus 

 {A. Unedo) are also used for the same purpose; but they are 

 not so valuable as the heather. 



On leaving Collobrieres we drove for some miles up the 

 cart road, passing many tracts well stocked with Spanish 

 chestnuts, which are grown, partly for the sake of their 

 wood, and partly for their fruit ; in the latter case they 

 are always grafted. The forest guard said, that far away 

 on the hill, there was a tree of this species measuring 

 45 feet in circumference, but we had no opportunity of 

 testing the accuracy of this statement. After breakfast- 

 ing at the roadside, we shouldered our knapsacks, and 

 mounted to the top of the ridge, where we saw further 

 examples of the extraordinary vigour wath which the 

 cluster pine grows on parts of the forest that have been 

 recently burnt, and can maintain itself above the heather 

 coppice. It seems quite possible that the best way to 

 obtain a crop of deodar or pine in some of the Himalayan 

 forests, where there is a dense mattirg of needles on the 

 ground, may be to burn them oif, taking due precautions 

 to control the fire, and prevent its injuring the stems of 

 the older trees. 



After walking for some distance, we ascended the peak 

 of Notre Dame des Anges, from which we obtained a 

 magnificent view over the greater part of the department 

 of Var ; St Baume, Hyeres, Frejus, and the hills about 

 Toulon being seen in the distance. Below us was a small 

 State forest protected by fire-lines, on which the cork oak 

 only was allowed to grow. Notre Dame des Anges, and 

 another peak of exactly similar height (2556 feet), are the 

 two highest points of the Maures. After enjoying the 



