The Bembex 



most unexpected fashion, lent me a very pre- 

 cious aid of a different kind, as my story 

 will show in good time. If I neglected to 

 furnish myself with this embarrassing ad- 

 junct to a long walk, my only resource 

 against sunstroke was to lie down at full 

 length behind some sandy knoll; and, when 

 the veins in my temples were throbbing to 

 bursting point, my last hope lay in putting 

 my head down a Rabbit-burrow. Such are 

 one's means of keeping cool in the Bois des 

 Issarts. 



The soil not occupied by those clumps of 

 woody vegetation is almost bare and con- 

 sists of fine, dry, very loose sand, which the 

 wind heaps into little dunes wherever the 

 stems and roots of the holm-oak interfere 

 with its dissemination. The sides of these 

 sand-dunes are generally very smooth, be- 

 cause of the extreme lightness of the ma- 

 terials, which slide down into the smallest 

 depression and of their own accord restore 

 the evenness of the surface. You need but 

 push your finger into the sand and take it 

 out again to bring about an immediate land- 

 slip which fills up the hole and restores 

 things to their original condition without 

 leaving a visible trace. But, at a certain 

 273 



