36 Travels in France 



the chestnut rock is gay and animated. The termination of our 

 valley to the south is striking; the river Neste pours in incessant 

 cascades over rocks that seem an eternal resistance. The 

 eminence in the centre of a small vale^ on-which i&-aix old tower, 

 is a wild and romantic spot; the roar of the waters beneath 

 unites in e£Eect with the mountains, whose towering forests, 

 finishing in snow, give an awful grandeur, a gloomy greatness 

 to the scene ; and seem to raise a barrier of separation between 

 the kingdoms too formidable even for armies to pass. But 

 what are rocks, and mountains, and snow, when opposed to 

 human ambition? — In the recesses of the pendant woods, the 

 bears find their habitation on the rocks, and above the eagles 

 have their nests. All around is great; the sublime of nature, 

 with imposing majesty, impresses awe upon the mind ; attention 

 is riveted to the spot; and imagination, with all its excursive 

 powers, seeks not to wander beyond the scene. 



Deepens the murmurs of the falling floods, 

 And breathes a browner horror o'er the woods. 



To view these scenes tolerably is a business of some days; 

 and such is the climate here, or at least has been since I was at 

 Bagnere de Luchon, that not more than one day in three is to be 

 depended on for fine weather. The heights of the mountains is 

 such that the clouds, perpetually broken, pour down quantities 

 of rain. From June 26th to July 2nd, we had one heavy shower, 

 which lasted without intermission for sixty hours. The moun- 

 tains, though so near, were hidden to their bases in the clouds. 

 They do not only arrest the fleeting ones, which are passing in the 

 atmosphere, but seem to have a generative power; for you see 

 small ones at first, like thin vapour rising out of glens, forming 

 on the sides of the hills, and increasing by degrees, till they 

 become clouds heavy enough to rest on the tops, or else rise into 

 the atmosphere and pass away with others. 



Among the original tenants of this immense range of moun- 

 tains, the first in point of dignity, from the importance of the 

 mischief they do, are the bears. There are both sorts, car- 

 nivorous and vegetable-eaters: the latter are more mischievous 

 than their more terrible brethren, coming down in the night 

 and eating the corn, particularly buck-wheat and maize; and 

 they are so nice in choosing the sweetest ears of the latter that 

 they trample and spoil infinitely more than they eat. The 

 carnivorous bears wage war against the cattle and sheep, so that 

 no stock can be left in the fields at night. Flocks must be 



