296 The Unknown River, 



but true hills of noble aspect, with rocky heights and 

 deep ravines. One of these is the Beuvray, mentioned 

 in the preceding chapter as the probable site of Bibracte ; 

 and exactly opposite to the Beuvray, on the other side 

 of the river, is the hill of Uchon, which may not have 

 been the site of a Gaulish place of strength, but which 

 still carries on its rocky height the tall fragment of a 

 mediaeval castle, once of considerable extent. I deter- 

 mined to explore this hill in detail, and gave a whole 

 day to if, with two guides, — a village schoolmaster, who 

 kindly offered his services, and a fine boy who was one 

 of his best scholars. The first thing to be seen was a 

 rocking-stone, a natural curiosity of sufficiently frequent 

 occurrence to need little description here. This stone, 

 commonly called ' La Pierre qui croule,' or by abbrevia- 

 tion ' La pierre croule,' is nearly at the crest of the hill, 

 in a large wood. Without the help of my guide I could 

 not possibly have found it. As in the case of other 

 rocking-stones, many attempts to remove it from its 

 pivot have been made by stupid peasants, who have 

 harnessed oxen to it with ropes ; but the stone, which 

 weighs nearly thirty tons, has always resisted all such 

 attempts to deprive it of its peculiar virtue and pre- 

 eminence. When set in motion, its movement is so 

 regular and sure that it cracks nuts without injuring the 

 kernel ; and as the schoolmaster was provided with nuts 

 for the occasion, and we had a boy with us willing to 

 eat them, I had the opportunity of verifying this. 



The ' Pierre qui croule ' is close to a deep ravine ; and 

 near it, on the summit of the hill, were many magnifi- 



