59 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE PARC DES BUTTES CHAUM0NT. 



This is the boldest attempt at what is called the picturesque 

 style that has been attempted either in Paris or London. 

 It is hardly wise to attempt expensive and extraordinary 

 works in places of this sort, at least till all the densely 

 populous parts of a city are provided with open, well-planted 

 spaces. Thus in London it is a mistake to devote great 

 expense to a few parks, and leave so many square miles of 

 population without a green spot. But in this instance an 

 unusual attempt was to some extent invited by the peculiar 

 nature of the ground. The whole park may be described 

 as a sort of diversified Primrose Hill with two or three 

 " peaks and valleys/' and an immense pile of rock seen 

 here and there. At its hollow or lower end there was a 

 quarry, and this has been taken advantage of to produce a 

 grand feature. They have cut all round three sides of this 

 quarry, smoothed it down, leaving intact the great side of 

 stone, and adding to it here and there masses of artificial 

 rock. 



This forms a very wide and imposing cliff, 164 feet high, 

 or thereabouts, in its highest parts, and from these you 

 may gradually descend to its base by a rough stair, exceed- 

 ingly well constructed, and winding in and out of the huge 

 rocky face. At the base of the cliff, and widely spreading 

 round it, there is a lake. This ponderous cliff has several 

 wings, so to speak, and in one bay has been constructed a 

 large stalactite cave, about sixty feet high from its floor to 

 the ceiling, and wide and imposing in proportion. At its 

 back part the light is let in through a wide opening, show- 

 ing a gorge reminding one of some of those in the very tops 

 of the Cumberland mountains, and down this trickles the 



