vin.J TRAVELS, 1835. 225 



simply of a handkerchief, very pretty, certainly, but ad- 

 justed with extraordinary skill. . '. . The art appeared to 

 me so well worth learning, that I served an apprentice- 

 ship to it, and actually " coiffed " a demoiselle in a shop 

 at Bareges, with the greatest success ; so that I hope to be 

 able to impart it, and, like Brummel and his neck-cloth, 

 to leave an imperishable legacy to my country. . . .' 



After another descent into Spain for the purpose of 

 examining the springs of Las Escaldas and its neigh- 

 bourhood, Forbes passed on by Veronet and Aries to 

 Perpignan, where he finally took leave of the Pyrenees, 

 and, travelling by diligence to Toulouse, entered the 

 volcanic districts of Auvergne, and established his head- 

 quarters at Clermont. 



To Miss FORBES. 



* CLERMONT, September 22. 



'. . . . Clermont seems to me the most pleasantly 

 situated of all the large towns of France which I have 

 seen. It is perched upon an eminence rising from an 

 extensive and fertile plain, which forms a sort of bay 

 amongst the hills which surround it for two-thirds of 

 the horizon. These hills are, for the most part, con- 

 nected with a plateau or table-land of granite, from 

 which the volcanoes rise; and of these, the Puy de 

 D6me, the highest and most noted, is conspicuous from 

 Clermont, being about the distance of the nearest Pent- 

 lands from Edinburgh, and greatly resembling some of 

 them in shape. 



' You are not to suppose that the word volcano, as 



applied to most of these hills, has anything problematical 



in it, for tin -y are as obviously volcanic as Vesuvius, and 



their vast torrents of uncultivated lava occupy the 



valley ,s with their cindery masses like those of Vesuvius 



or Uchia. The craters whence the lava has proceed. 1 



are equally visible, and often so red as to look as if 



re still glowing hot. Besides these unc<|uivo< ;) 1 



here are others of diverse character which 



