286 CHAPTER XXXIX. 



to and fro, searching vainly for a blade of grass 

 upon the rocky ground. 



In the squalid Alpine villages to the east of the 

 Var, great numbers of goats are kept. They are 

 taken out every morning to spend the day upon 

 some distant mountain side. It is a pretty sight 

 to see them trooping back into the village at night- 

 fall, each animal stopping when she comes to her 

 owner's doorway. Besides these village goats, great 

 flocks are driven up from the coast regions, when 

 the grass fails there, to spend the Summer on the 

 highest summits where the chamois has his home. 

 It is admitted that the numbers of thesje mischievous 

 animals ought to be greatly reduced in the interest 

 of the woods and forests of the Maritime Alps. The 

 botanist, if he had any voice in the matter, would 

 certainly vote against his enemy the goat. 



At an elevation of some five or six thousand 

 feet we come upon the " Vacheries," great sheds 

 where the cattle are kept during the Summer. One 

 of the labours of Hercules was to clear out the 

 Augean stables, where the manure had accumulated 

 to such a depth that no man could remove it. He 

 turned a stream into the building, and thus accom- 

 plished his task. We are inclined to look upon 

 this ancient fable as an allegory without any basis 

 of fact. But the primitive and disgusting method is 

 actually practised in the mountain pastures of the 

 Maritime Alps. From time to time the sparkling 

 torrent is turned through the filthy cow-sheds ; the 

 picturesque valley is made unsightly by the yellow 

 and polluted stream, and the manure is wasted 

 which might fertilize the fields. 



