330 LIFE OF HORACE BENEDICT DE SAUSSURE 



Safely landed, de Saiissure congratulates himself on having accom- 

 plished his task ; he was obviously no sailor. Perils by water, 

 however, were not over. The Var at that date was still unbridged, 

 and the travellers' carriage was conducted through the stream by 

 bare-legged men called egayeurs, who held it up on either side. 

 The next adventure was the passage of the Esterels, the minia- 

 ture mountain range the outline at least of which is familiar 

 to visitors to Cannes. Its dangers are depicted hi a para- 

 graph of the Voyages that agreeably interrupts much geological 

 detail. 



* It is on the bit of road immediately below the highest point 

 on the Antibes side that travellers are most frequently held up by 

 highwaymen. 



' A long stretch of road is visible in its entirety, shut in between 

 two projecting heights ; it is on these that the robbers place their 

 sentinels. They let the travellers advance to about half-way between 

 the two points, and then the robbers ambuscaded in the wood fall on 

 them and strip them, while the sentinels keep watch that they are 

 not surprised by the coastguards. In this case, warned by a whistle 

 or some such signal, they escape into the forest. It is impossible to 

 catch them, for not only is the bush very thick, but the ground beneath 

 it consists of broken blocks, there is neither road nor path, and unless 

 a man knows the locality as well as the robbers do, he can only pene- 

 trate with great difficulty and extreme slowness. When M. Pictet 

 and I passed this way the courier from Rome, who travelled with us, 

 pointed out the remains of the carriage of the preceding courier, who 

 had been robbed a few days previously. This forest, which the fre- 

 quency of accidents of this sort has made so dreaded, is composed of 

 pines and evergreen oaks, under which grow arbutus, cistuses, heaths, 

 etc. It extends to the sea, and has an area of three to four leagues in 

 length by two in breadth. All this region, entirely savage, is the 

 refuge of the prisoners who escape from the galleys of Toulon, the 

 nursery of all the brigands of the country.' [Voyages, 1440.] 



Seven years later de Saussure explored on foot the recesses of 

 this fascinating range of porphyry and climbed its seaward summit, 

 the Cap Roux. Now he and his companion hastened on to Frejus, 

 where Pictet tells us the population appeared fever-stricken owing 

 to the marshes in the neighbourhood. In Roman times the town 

 was a health resort. Pliny the younger mentions sending one 

 of his freedmen who had delicate lungs there for the benefit of the 



