1 5S THE MAURETTES. 



imagination, pale before the garden which we see here 

 with our own e\ es. We seem no longer to be ^valking 

 upon earth, but rather to be transported to those groves 

 in which the souls of the righteous enjo\- everlasting bliss. 

 The trees stand so close to one another that it is onh' 

 possible to pass through them bv artfullv planned paths. 

 Eighteen thousand Orange trees, laden with flowers and 

 fruit, shelter in tlieir branches innumerable nightingales 

 and their songs rise like a hvmn to Nature — a hvmn 

 of thanks for such a delightful and fragrant shelter. 

 Other birds join their voices to this brilliant concert, 

 while bus\' bees swarm humming round the flowers 

 gathering the rich food so profuseh- lavished". 



Similar sentiments of sensuous delight aroused b'\' 

 the genial climate ina\ have induced the Massiliots to 

 call their settlement on this coast "Olbia" — the blessed. 



We loved to roam on sunn^' afternoons on the 

 Maurettes, those heights which flank the town of H\-eres. 

 We would seek out the spots whence the ancient Castle 

 of H\'eres shows in the fairest setting. Blue sea in the 

 distance, green hills and checkered plain. Resting amid 

 Rosemar}-, Myrtle and Lavender we would forget the 

 fleeting hours and attempt to repeople those ruins which 

 crown the rocks t, onder so majesticalh". These ruins 

 are still guarded b^' watch-towers and walls, which 

 follow all the inequalities of the mountain in their deepl\' 

 indented outline. 



From the twelfth century- the '"Chastel d'Yeres" 

 was held b)' the Lords de Foz, a collateral branch ot 

 the Viscounts of Marseilles. Many a fierce struggle the}- 



