VIIL] TRAVELS, 1839. 247 



castle, and here the scenery reminded me of some of the 

 best-wooded of our Highland glens, a resemblance which 

 was increased by hearing a peasant chanting with much 

 taste a wild, plaintive, irregular air, exactly resembling 

 some of our Gaelic dirges. . . . Wild fig-trees grew plen- 

 tifully around, and were covered with fruit ; but towards 

 Mayras the valley became wilder, and the vegetation 

 more scanty. . . . 



' Next day, after finishing my examination of the lava 

 cliffs of the Ardeche, I started on foot for Jaujac, deter- 

 mined to ascend the volcano of Neyrac on my way . . . 

 and soon came in sight of the extensive colonnade of basalt 

 which occupies the southern bank of the Alignon for more 

 than four miles. It is more beautifully columnar but 

 far less lofty and grand than that of Thuez ; and after 

 scrambling along the north bank with some difficulty for 

 two miles to Jaujac, I was somewhat disappointed with 

 the latter. The Coupe de Jaujac is a low, strong (sic), 

 elliptical crater, which has burst at the end of its longei 

 , and from the firmness and dimensions of its lava 

 walls I presume it was once lofty as indeed it must have 

 been to have contained any part of the prodigious flow 

 of lava which proceeds from it, and which was evidently 

 the result of one eruption. 



' I waited an hour and a half for the courier for 

 Aubenas, and almost laughed when he approached in a 

 heavy, six-seated, antediluvian vehicle, drawn at a foot's 

 pace along an excellent road, by the most miserable of 

 broken-down ponies. When we got within some three 

 miles of our destination, the courier, in order to make 

 more speed, shouldered his bags, and walked on ! a 

 proceeding which I imitated. . . . While settling with 

 tin- postmistress, I had a new proof of what JIM- 

 me very much during this journey the univer- 

 sality of tli- I'M me of Scott. When asked my country, I 

 generally said Ecossais, An<jl<n* being too generally 

 associated abroa<l with pride, wealth, and < ximvagance 

 and I scarcely ever named myself such, in MHV }>lacc, 



,t the i Scott being i 



