THE FEATURE 07 THE LANDES. 25 



shall not themselves be buried under the sands blown up from the 

 shore, a palisade of wicker-work is raised at a suitable distance, 

 which, reinforced by young plants of sandwort (psamma arenaria), 

 check the moving sands for a sufficiently long time to favour the 

 development of the seeds. Finally, the work is completed by the 

 construction of a substantial wall, or rather an artificial cliff, which 

 effectually prevents the further progress of the flood, or directs it 

 seaward, to be arrested on its course by the barrier of the sand-hills. 

 Unable to force a passage through these natural ramparts, they have 

 excavated certain basins, more or less extensive, and more or less 

 deep, which have formed inland seas, communicating with the Atlantic 

 by one narrow issue. 



" It is a noteworthy fact that, owing to the encroachment of the 

 Dunes, these lakes have been constantly forced back upon the inland 

 country. Fortunately, this menacing invasion of the sands has been 

 checked by the great engineering works executed a few years ago ; 

 which, on the one hand, have fixed, and, as it were, solidified the 

 Dunes, and, on the other, have provided for the regular outflow of 

 the waters. The Landes have thus been opened to the persevering 

 labours of the cultivator. The culture of the pine, and the manu- 

 facture of resinous substances, have largely extended, and the time, 

 perhaps, is not far distant when these deserts will almost completely 

 disappear; when these desolate and unproductive plains will pleasantly 

 bloom, transformed into shadowy woods or verdurous meadows. 



" To so fortunate a result nothing will more powerfully contribute 

 than the embankment of the Dunes. These have been, in reality, the 

 true scourge of this country ; these were the moving desert, the con- 

 stantly ascending sea, which had already engulfed forests, villages, 

 even towns, under its billows of sand, and driven before it the ter- 

 rified inhabitants of the coast." 



The expressions employed in this intimation of what is expected 

 remind a Scotsman of his Scottish paraphrase of the predictions of 

 Isaiah — 



" With joy and peace shall then be led 

 the glad converted lands ; 

 The lofty mountains then shall sing, 



the forests clap their hands. 

 Where briers grew 'midst barren wilds, 



shall firs and myrtles spring ; 

 And nature, through its utmost bounds, 

 eternal praises sing." 



D 



