162 RAMBLES OF A NATUEALIST. 



of the present pier a circle of mason work, which is 

 the only trace now existing of a well w r hich in 1820 

 watered the gardens which lay at the back of a 

 street of which not a vestige now remains. If you 

 return to the town, you will find, behind the mole 

 which is intended to protect it, uninhabited houses, 

 falling in and crumbling to pieces in consequence of 

 neglect. This state of things is owing to the long 

 and cruel experience which has taught the inha- 

 bitants that all means of defence against the enemy 

 which is thundering at their gates are alike una- 

 vailing, and that the wisest and safest plan is to 

 retreat before its advances. 



Saint- Jean-de-Luz formerly possessed natural dykes 

 of its own. The entrance of the bay was narrower, 

 and while a ledge of rocks served the purpose of a 

 breakwater, the mouth of the Nivelle was as it were 

 embanked between the mountain of Bordagain and a 

 high tract of sandy dunes. Towards the seventeenth 

 century, the Points of Socoa and of Saint Barbara 

 yielded little by little, the plateau of Arta sank more 

 and more, and the waves, which were then able to 

 reach the beach without any serious obstacle, began 

 to wear it away. A wall was now constructed to stop 

 their further advance, but the sea encroached daily 

 more and more upon the land, and on the 22nd of 

 February, 1749, a tempest carried away this first 

 dyke, together with several houses. 



Since this time the most skilful engineers have 

 vainly attempted to struggle against the fatality 

 which seems to be impending over Saint- Jean-de-Luz. 

 Works which to all appearance were of the most 



