288 DEVASTATIONS AND EBSTORATIONS. 



rarely less than double that height. Thus the mountains in the Pyrenees, 

 when seen from the valleys, frequently assume a more imposing appearance 

 than those in Switzerland of higher elevation. 



" In the valleys and on the slopes of the lower mountains a great 

 quantity of Lombardy poplars flourish ; as we ascend, Spanish chestnuts, 

 oak, hazel, mountain ash, alder, sycamore, and magnificent birch trees 

 abound. Higher still, we come to the grand dark pine forests which form a 

 prominent feature in the Western Pyrenees. 



" The Pyrenean forests are classified as follows ; — 



« Imperial forests, . . . 129,440h. 



" Communal forests, . . . 115,796h. 



" Private forests, . . . 123,000h. 



" Total, . 368,236h. 



" There is, indeed, every reason to believe that the greater portion of the 

 Western and Central Pyrenees were formerly covered by forests. In 

 Bigorre many places were called forum lignum, and Roman writers allude 

 frequently to the thickly wooded state of these mountains. As late as 1670 

 the royal forests were estimated to cover 174,300 hectares, of which, before 

 the close of that century, 51,300 hectares were destroyed by fire. Com- 

 munal forests are those, however, which have sufiered most from reckless 

 cutting and general mismanagement. In the early part of this century 

 there were 31 saw-mills in the commune of St Gaudens, at which trees 

 were cut, abstracted, according to the Government report, from the royal 

 forests. These mills are now suppressed. 



" The Pyrenean pines are a variety of the pinus sylvestris, frequently 

 attaining a great size, though not so thick in the bole as the graceful stone 

 pine. This tree never forms forests in the Pyrenees, and is only met with 

 in isolated groups. The peasants have a reverence for the stone pine, or 

 rather for the kernel. When this is ripe and split, the cotyledons roughly 

 resemble a hand, which they call ' la main de Dieu' and believe that by 

 swallowing the kernels in odd numbers, as one, three, five, fevers and other 

 maladies are cuied. 



" The streams — not turbid like those in Switzerland, but clear and bright — • 

 gush from every hollow, and water every valley, and impart an exquisitely 

 bright verdure to the lower lands, nourishing at the same time an almost 

 endless variety of lovely flowers. These are not, however, confined to the 

 valleys, for, like all mountainous districts, the flora of the Pyrenees present 

 an epitome of the vegetation from the equator to the poles ; and botanists 

 may like to be informed that in the valleys around the Cangou, and on 

 that mountain, a very large proportion of the flora of the Pyrenees may be 

 found. Two botanists collected in this district, during three days in June, 

 .•5,500 specimens," 



Entering the Pyrenees by tlie Val-d'Ossau, about ten milles from Pan, 

 he thus describes the scene : — "Adieu, now, to level roads, for we are on 

 the spurs of the Pyrenees, ascending fast, as you may see by the rapidity 

 with which the Gave-de-Gabas flows past from the rocky mountain, far 

 above where the streams are born. Oh, the beauty of the Pyrenean rivers ! 

 Unpolluted by alluvial soil, they retain, throughout thoir bounding course, 

 crystalline purity, reflecting as they flow varied hues from sky, scar, nnd 

 wood, studded with moss-clad rocks, and fringed by lovely flowers. The 



