A FOREST TOUR AMONG THE DUNES OF GASCONY. 293 
over the plain from the sea-shore, in the form of moving hills, 
called dunes, has completely covered a strip of 8 or 9 miles in 
width, and would, if unchecked, have ultimately laid waste the 
entire district. The aspect of the country, before steps were taken 
to improve its condition, must have been uninviting in the extreme ; 
the dande rase, or barren moorland, stretching towards the sea, was 
bounded by the dunes blanches, or white sandhills, which, rising 
near the coast to a height of some 230 feet, had already buried 
below them many a village spire, and their irresistible advance 
seemed to render certain the destruction of everything lying in 
their path. The church of Mimizan has been thus partially 
covered ; and, at a short distance from the village, a mound was 
pointed out to us, under which lies a buried hamlet. The village 
church of Soulac was completely overwhelmed, but was disinterred 
a few years ago; and M. Lamarque told us that he often ties his 
horse’s bridle to the top of a certain church steeple ! 
But this state of desolation no longer exists. The barren moor 
is now stocked with a nearly continuous forest of the cluster pine 
(Pinus pinaster), which, covering also the rolling dunes, has com- 
pletely arrested their advance; and from various elevated points 
which we ascended near the coast, as well as from La Truc, in the 
forest of La Teste, the dark green undulating upper surface of the 
pine forest meets the deep blue of the western sky, and, looking 
landwards, there is nothing else to be seen. Indeed, throughout 
the many miles which we travelled by rail, by carriage, or on 
horseback, through this part of the country, we became weary 
of the monotonous appearance of these trees. They are, never- 
theless, undoubtedly the saviours of the land. They not only 
avert the destruction of existing fields and villages, but also profit- 
ably occupy vast areas of sand-hills, and of the low-lying, marshy 
and unhealthy ground between them, thus providing employment 
for the population, who are nearly all engaged, during the summer 
months, in the collection of resin, and, at other times, in felling, 
cutting up, and exporting timber, or on other work which the forests 
offer to them. The people, however, still keep large flocks and 
herds, the guardians of which are to be seen mounted on stilts 
about three feet high, driving or following their animals through 
the dense undergrowth of prickly gorse and other shrubs. 
The climate may be described as a mean between that of the 
Parisian and Provengal regions; the annual rainfall, of from 
28 to 32 inches, being well distributed, so that the air seldom 
