An Ascent of Mont Ventoux 



praises the olives, stabbing them one by one 

 with the point of his knife; another lauds the 

 anchovies as he cuts up the little ochre-col- 

 oured fishes on his bread; a third waxes en- 

 thusiastic about the sausage ; and all with one 

 accord extol the pebre d'ase cheeses, no 

 larger than the palm of a man's hand. 

 Pipes and cigars are lit; and we stretch our- 

 selves on our backs in the grass, with the sun 

 shining down upon us. 



An hour's rest and we are off again, for 

 time presses. The guide with the baggage 

 will go alone, towards the west, skirting the 

 edge of the woods, which has a Mule-path. 

 He will wait for us at the Jas, or Batiment, 

 on the upper boundary of the beeches, some 

 5,000 feet above the level of the sea. The 

 Jas is a large stone hut, which is to shelter us, 

 man and beast, to-night. As for us, we con- 

 tinue the ascent to the ridge, by following 

 which we shall reach the highest peak more 

 easily. From the top, after sunset, we shall 

 go down to the Jas, where the guide will have 

 arrived long before us. This is the plan pro- 

 posed and adopted. 



We reach the crested ridge. On the 

 south, the comparatively easy slopes which 

 we have just climbed stretch as far as the eye 

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