WOODS OF TflE ESTEREL. 185 



Soon we were walking in those extensive woods which 

 cover nearl\' the wliole Esterel range. The\- were formerh' 

 much damaged b^■ fires and the pedestrian met with 

 charred skeletons of trees instead of green, leaiv crowns. 

 Xow the woods ha\e become vState property' and thrive 

 under the most careful attention. The dark Maritime 

 Pines (I^. Pinaster) predominate ; their crowns are often 

 so close together that scarceh' a ra^' of sunshine can 

 penetrate to the soil. E.xcellent roads lead through the 

 woods, and the summit of the mountain can be reached 

 b\' well-kept paths. Strangeh' enough some of these 

 roads end abrupth' \\hen the^• reach the boundar\ of 

 the mountains. The departement of "A^'oods and Forests" 

 ends here and that of the ,, Fonts et Chaussees'' begins. 

 These two departments, so it would seem, do not alu'aws 

 work hand in hand. Tlie waA' to the Mont \'inaigre 

 was not hard to find. At lirst we saw the mountain in 

 front of us, and in the ^\'Oods we had onh- to follow the 

 r(.iad and, when other roads crossed this, to keep to the 

 north-west. It wound up among the hills. Generalh- it 

 was hiclden in the ^^•ood and dark masses of foliage 

 confined our outlook on all sides; then it went up a 

 steep slope and our eA'cs could range over the tops of 

 the trees awai,- to distant \alle\-s and mountains. But 

 not a house was to be seen, and nowhere did rising smoke 

 betray a Indden hut; nought but solhurU^. Nor did we 

 meet a single wanderer on our long walk; we were 

 ijuite alone — almost uncannih' alone — in the endless 

 woods. After two hours we reached a human habitation, 

 tlie Ranger's-house of Malpaw "Maou pa^s" - bad neigh- 



