o (S BEAR HUNTING IN THE PYRENEES. 



< f a vast quantity of foam, dividing and convulsing itself in a great 

 variety of forms, as it dashes headlong towards the bed of the river, 

 \\liich to some considerable distance is completely covered with a kind 

 c.f froth, the vapour of which rises like smoke, to a considerable height 

 among the adjacent mountains. In the bottom of the valley, into which 

 this cataract precipitates itself, is a basin or reservoir, in the form of a 

 vedere between two high mountains, whose naked and apparently smooth 

 sides seem to form an angle of 50 or 60 degrees with the horizon. 



In order to come to the top of the fall, one is either obliged to go by a 

 path four English miles round the mountain, or to pass up the Maristein, 

 which runs in a zigzag direction in the side of the mountain, to a height 

 of seven hundred or eight hundred feet; in some places so narrow, that 

 one cannot place the feet side by side ; and whence one false step would 

 inevitably precipitate the traveller into the gulf below. Those who are 

 apt to be giddy, crawl along this path on their hands and feet, but the 

 mountaineers go up and down with the greatest facility. As it is 

 almost impossible to get to the foot of the cataract, it is difficult to 

 measure its perpendicular height, and on this subject authorities differ 

 from between five hundred and six hundred to nine hundred feet. Some 

 English travellers have given the latter height; truth may lie between, 

 and we may call it seven hundred feet high. In winter the particles of 

 w.iter freeze, and form a curious natural filagree work, while a kind of 

 tube forms itself around the fall, through which the water dashes with a 

 fearful noise. The fountain of the Gousta, the rocks of the Rinkard, and 

 the other mountains, are of mica slate, chlorite slate, and the transition 

 formation. 



BEAR HUNTING IN THE PYRENEES. 



BARRAS, a celebrated Chasseur, related to Mr. Murray, the following, 

 among many of his adventures. It seems that he had discovered a 

 cavern, in which a bear had taken up his winter quarters, and from 

 which he immediately determined to dislodge him. Single handed he 

 did not dare to attempt this, and accordingly he chose one of his most 

 hardy companions to join him in the attack. The place which the bear 

 had chosen for his retreat, was an almost inaccessible cave, on the sides 

 of the Pic du Midi, and among its darkest forests. When the two 

 hunters arrived at the entrance of the cave, they consulted as to the best 

 mode of rousing the animal, and getting him to leave it. Barras 

 proposed that he should enter the cave and wake him, while his compu- 



