16 APPEARANCE OF THE LANDES. 



but of which not a trace remains, have in this manner disappeared, 

 and entire forests have been ingulfed, now under the sands of the 

 Dunes, now under the sands and waves of the sea. 



" Some parts of the chain have been rendered to a great extent 

 immovable by the vegetation which has gradually covered them, and 

 these have opposed a formidable obstacle to the encroachments of the 

 sands. Yet here and there the barrier has been defied. For example, 

 in the forest of Biscarosse the movable Dunes, actually sweeping over 

 the ancient hills, have not only filled up the valleys, but ingulfed a 

 great number of pines, and raised themselves several yards above the 

 crest of the oldest trees, planted on the summit of the highest hills.'' 



The name Dunes is traced etymologically to Dun, a hill, and in the 

 designation we may trace the origin of the designation downs given to 

 extensive districts in England. The designation lande is given to 

 waste lands and moors ; and thus may the lundes of the Gironde be 

 associated in thought with Dartmoor and Exmoor, and with Howns- 

 low Heath and other places bearing similar designations in England. 



But if associated in thought differences in their character must not 

 be lost sight of. Of Dartmoor, the extensive and romantic table land 

 of granite, which occupies the south-western part of the country of 

 Devon, it is stated in the work from which I have quoted — " In its 

 recesses still linger the eagle, the bustard, and the crane; its solitudes 

 are broken by the hoarse cries of the sparrow-hawk, the hobby, and 

 the goshawk ; and the Cyclopean memorials of Druidism which cover 

 its surface — cromlechs and kistvaens, tolm^ns and stone-avenues — 

 invest it with a peculiar air of mysterious awe. It extends in length 

 about twenty-two miles (from north to south), and in breadth twenty 

 miles (from east to west). Its total area exceeds 130,000 acres. It 

 rises above the surrounding country like ' the long, rolling waves of 

 a tempestuous ocean, fixed into solidity by some instantaneous and 

 powerful impulse.' A natural rampart is cast around it. Deep 

 ravines, watered by murmuring streams, diversify its aspect, and 

 lofty hills of granite, locally called tors, of which the principal, Yes 

 Tor, has an elevation of 2,050 feet above the sea. Its soil is composed 

 of peat, in some places twenty-five feet deep, underneath which lies 

 a solid mass of granite, occasionally relieved by trap (a volcanic rook), 

 and traversed by veins of tin, copper, and manganese. 



" Nearly in the centre of this dismal wilderness lies an immense 

 morass, whose surface is in many plaoes incapable of supporting the 

 lightest animal, and whose inexhaustible reservoirs supply the foun 



