286 DEVASTATIONS AND RESTORATIONS. 



hold true, for a long time to come. In his volume entitled The Pyrenees 

 West arid East, he writes, — " Kegarded in their largest extent, the Pyrenees 

 may be said to extend from Cape Creux, on the Mediterranean, to the 

 Gallician coast — a distance of about 670 miles ; but by the Pyrenean range 

 is generally understood those mountains which divide France from Spain. 



" Silius Italicus, whose voluminous writings throw light on the 

 geographical history of various countries, says : — 

 " ' Pyreiie celsa nimhosi verticis arce 

 Divisor Celtis late prospectat Iberos 

 Atque ceterna tenet magnis divortia terris.' 

 And the Pyrenees are still the barrier between those two countries. 



" In a straight line these Pyrenees are about 280 miles long, 50 miles 

 broad, and comprise an elevated area of about 1,100 square mUes. The 

 maximum height is nearly midway between the Atlantic and the Medi- 

 terranean, where the Maladetta attains an elevation of 11,424 feet, while 

 several mountain peaks in the vicinity are but little below this elevation, 

 and forty-five mountains are above 9,000 feet in height. 



" The range is remarkable for its wall-like form indented by gaps, or 

 ' ports ' as they are called, which give passage between France and Spain. 

 Through about fifty of these the principal traffic between the two countries 

 is carried on, the intricacies of many of them being only known to the 

 contrabandistas who abound in the Pyrenees. There are but five carriage 

 roads in the chain, all lying to the extreme east or west. The ' ports ' are 

 generally higher than the Alpine passes, and present scenery of great 

 grandeur. In consequence, however, of the Pyrenees being much more 

 south than the Alps, and of their vicinity to the sea, the line of congelation 

 is higher than it is in the Alps. Raymond fixes it at 8,600 ; Malte-Brun at 

 8,300 on the south side of the range, and 9,266 on the north side; probably 

 we shall not be far wrong if we assume 8,700 feet, or 1,300 above the line 

 of perpetual snow in the Alps, as the Pyrenean altitude of perpetual 

 congelation. 



" Thus the grand glacial features which are characterestio of Alpine passes 

 are frequently absent in the Pyrenees, when you are even on elevations 

 which in the Alps are covered with ice and snow. But glaciers, snow-fields, 

 and drifts, are not wanting in the high 'pans,' where the weather is 

 generally so wild, and the path so bad, as to give rise to the proverbs — 

 ' In the " part " where the wind rages the father waits not for the son, nor 

 the son for the father;' and ' He who has not been on the sea, or in the 

 "part" during a storm, knows not the power of God.' 



" A remarkable and very interesting feature in the Pyrenees, are the 

 basins — ' cerques,' or ' oules,' is their local name. They are situated in the 

 transverse valleys lying between the buttresses of the principal range, and 

 are generally surrounded on three sides by lofty walls of rock, opening into 

 the valley by a narrow gullet. The scenery of these ' cerques ' is peculiar, 

 possessing much sublimity with great pastoral beauty. 



" The geology of the Pyrenees has not been as thoroughly investigated 

 as is to be desired. Enough, however, has been done to inform us that the 

 primitive rocks occupy but a very small portion of the chain. The 

 arrangement of these difl'ers very remarkably from that in the Alps, and 

 elsewhere, where they burst out irregularly in the transition and secondary 

 formation, whereas in the Pyrenees they run in bands, or zones, parallel to 

 the chain. Thus, a very long granitic zone extends between Mont Perdu 



