396 THE VAR VALT>KV 



Tlie first part of tlie line was alreadv known to us 

 as it leads to (jrasse. The vegetation in the wide valle^■ 

 of the \'ar was as ^-et but little advanced, the deciduous 

 shrubs appeared more bare than they were at the corres- 

 ponding time last year. But the glorious distant view 

 of the snow\' Alps from Colomars, and the sight of 

 those old gre^- villages poised like eagles' eyries on the 

 rocks, delighted us ane\\-. ^Fliis time we kept to the left 

 bank of the \'ar be^'ond Colomars, on the road that 

 leads to Puget Theniers. But at the" next station, the 

 Pont Charles-Albert, I left the train to continue the 

 excursion on foot. At the same time several gentlemen 

 from the south of France also alighted here with the 

 intention ot ascending Alt. \'ial, 5,110 feet high. Its 

 summit can be easih' reached from (iilette, six kilometres 

 distant from here. Below the summit is a cave, the 

 Balme de Touasc, in which the night can be spent so 

 as to be at the top b\' sunrise. The view embraces the 

 whole chain of the snowy Alps, from Mont St. Honorat 

 to the Cima del Diavolo, nearly ihe entire coast ot 

 the Riviera di Ponente, and the sea as far as Corsica. 

 These gentlemen invited me most cordially to join them 

 in their excursion, but I was due in Nice at a fixed time, 

 and therefore I was obliged to abide b\' my original 

 intention. I follo^^•ed the bank of the Var with the 

 gorge, through which it Hows, alwa"\'s before me. To 

 my left were precipitous rocks with ancient villages on 

 their summits. Behind these rose Mt. X'ial in a suc- 

 cession of steps. Near the mouth of the ravine a stream 

 of water gushes out from the rock. It is water from 



