THREE WEEKS AT ST. MARTIN VESUBIE. 185 



Three weeks at St. Martin Vesubie (Alpes Maritimes). 



By G. T. BETHTJNE-BAKER, F.L.S., F.Z.S., F.E'.S. 



It is a somewhat tiresome journey from la Sainte Baume to St. 

 Martin Vesubie, and 1 found the easiest way would be to go down to 

 Nans for the night and then catch the early automobile the next 

 morning, leaving at 5 a.m. and arriving at Aubagne in time to catch 

 the 8 o'clock train back to Marseilles, where we were just able to get 

 the express to Nice ; here we had to change stations for the single 

 track to Levens, where we again changed to the electric light railway 

 to St. Martin Vesubie. It was a close fit at each place but we 

 fortunately did it and arrived at the Grand Hotel Kegina about ten 

 o'clock at night. Here we found Monsieur Piguat ready to welcome 

 us and a nice refreshing meal awaiting our arrival, after which we went 

 thankfully to bed. We arrived here on July 12th and on the after- 

 noon of the 13th began the Fete Nationale with a grandiloquent 

 oration before the mayor and others by the schoolmaster. On the 

 14th we were awakened early by the strains of the Marseillaise, after 

 which " It's a long way to Tipperary " strikes our ears and so begins 

 a very noisy, and for the villagers, a very exciting day. For myself 

 and indeed my wife also, we preferred the mountain side, but it was 

 impossible and would have been ungrateful to ignore the festivities 

 altogether, nevertheless I thought a walk up to Venanson would be 

 good for my health, and this I took with a most pleasant young- 

 Scotsman named Campbell, who with his sister was staying in the 

 same hotel with us, and with whom I made manyjan excursion. 



A brief description of St. Martin may be udwul. It has changed 

 considerably in the area of its cultivation since Mr. Bowland-Brown 

 was there. The village is situated at the head of the valley in the angle 

 made by the rushing stream descending the Boreon valley and the less 

 impetuous waters coming down from the snows of the Gelas and the 

 Tenestre ranges. The Col de Saint Martin and the Bans de la Frema 

 rise at the head of the valley somewhat on the other side, but wherever 

 one goes in these directions the Italian frontier is soon reached. 

 Since the year 1914 the cultivation of the valley up the hillsides has 

 increased enormously, to-day the hills are terraced far up their sides, 

 wherever it has been possible to get a few yards of more or less level 

 space with the assistance of a supporting wall erected on the spot out 

 of the rocks and stones around, thus the persistence of the French 

 peasants has overcome all obstacles and they have raised their little 

 crops of grain, whatever it may be, wherever it is possible to obtain a 

 foothold. This reclamation of the mountain sides naturally has its 

 drawback for the entomologist as it involves him going much further 

 afield than in the days gone by. 



With the exception of the. Col. St. Martin and the Bans de la 

 Frema, the most interesting and certainly the most fruitful ground 

 was the valley of la Madone Fenestre and the terrain at the head of 

 that valley, beneath the shadow of the Gelas, and around the Hotel 

 and Befuge. The Borean valley is however not to be ignored, and 

 the sides of the hills up to Venanson have also their own specialities 

 and need to be well worked. Here as at Ste. Baume we had practically 

 uninterrupted sunshine, but it was certainly a hotter sun than in the 

 Var. Several excursions were made in the Madone Fenestre valley ; 

 November 15th, 1921. 



