A FOREST TOUR AMONG THE DUNES OF GASCONY. 299 
now nearly completed, and M. Lamarque explained the system to 
us. This barrier, commenced eighteen years ago, is now about 40 
feet high, and, all the ground inland having been sown, there is 
nothing but young pine forests to be seen as far as the eye can 
reach, What is now required is simply to maintain the artificial 
dune, which is done most scrupulously ; and whenever any move- 
ment of the surface commences, fagots are at once planted, and 
the surface is re-sown and covered. This operation was being 
carried out in places during our visit, and we were assured that, 
if such precautions were neglected, the entire work would soon be 
destroyed. We saw, indeed, two instances where want of proper 
supervision had already produced this result. The first of these 
was a few miles south of Arcachon, where the land was sold, in 
1863, to a private proprietor, who neglected to maintain the arti- 
ficial barrier ; and, consequently, a “ white dune” is now in pro- 
cess of formation, and is gradually ingulfing the pine forest 
established behind it. Some endeavours have been made to arrest 
the movement of the sand by the erection of wattled fences inland ; 
but these are of no avail, and the trees are being slowly but surely 
overwhelmed. As we mounted the new dune from the side of the 
sea, we found the trees more and more deeply buried ; and at its 
summit we actually walked over the crowns of some which were 
completely covered. On the land side, the sand falls down in a 
steep natural slope, at the foot of which are seen masses of young 
seedlings, carpeting the ground between the older trees from 
which they have sprung. It is said that nothing can be done to 
remedy this state of affairs, on account of the conditions under 
which the land was sold, but special legislation seems urgently 
needed. 
The second instance was seen a little south of the Mimizan 
dune, where, the subordinate in charge having neglected his work, 
the wind got under the covering of branches, for a distance of 
several hundred yards inland, and thus caused the formation of a 
number of large holes or pits with steep sides. IPf these were not 
dealt with, the whole forest would soon be destroyed. Matters 
have already gone too far to admit of mere local treatment ; and 
the only thing to be done is to dig up the gourbet and other vege- 
table growth, and allow the artificial dune to be breached, so that 
the holes may be filled up by the agency of the wind that caused 
them. But when doing this it will be necessary to erect a wattled 
fence on the inner side of the damaged surface, so as to prevent 
