66 



THE PARC DES BXJTTES CHAUMONT. 



Ceinture passes, and tlie old plaster quarries,, whicli now 

 forms the most picturesque part, necessitated works of a 

 mucli more considerable cost. 



The line of rocks, which in some places are much over 100 

 feet in perpendicular height, was luckily terminated by a 

 craggy promontory looking down into the old excavations. 

 This promontory was separated from the general mass in 

 such a way as to form an isolated rock rising out of the lake 

 which surrounded it on all sides. The lake is supplied by 

 two rivulets which run through the two valleys of the 

 park. One of them flows out of the lower wall of the 

 upper boulevard, and falls down into a large cavern forming 

 a cascade over 100 feet in height. The wall and grotto 

 were formed to support the neighbouring land towards 

 Belleville which was gradually falling into the excavations 

 left in the quarries. The marly soil which lies above the 

 gypsum in a layer of forty-eight feet thick, the slightly sloping 

 surface of which was gradually crumbling away under the 

 action of the air, has been dug out so as to allow the slopes 

 to sustain the mould forming the plantations. At the 

 highest point of the promontory, however, where it was 

 necessary to have a bold mass of rock hanging over the 

 water, an embankment of masonry built in imitation of the 

 rocks at the base has been found necessary to support the 

 crumbling soil. A suspension bridge more than 200 feet 

 long thrown over the lake and the path surrounding it 

 joins this portion of the park to the other, and obviates the 

 necessity of a long walk round. A large number of carriage 

 roads twenty-two feet wide, the inclines rarely reaching 

 6 in 100, allow carriages to drive all over the park in spite 

 of the great difference of level existing in various parts. 



The paths, whose inclination seldom exceeds 10 in 100, 

 but which are sometimes cut into steps, afford foot-passengers 

 the means of making short cuts between the carriage-drives 

 in order to reach the heights of the park more expeditiously. 

 Four bridges have been built over some of the deeper hollows, 

 also a wire bridge has been thrown across the railway, a 

 stone bridge, forty feet in span and sixty feet high, above 

 a road and a small arm of the lake, the suspension bridge 



