VOLCANOS OF THE HAUTE LOIRE AND THE ARDECHE. 331 
Michel, but was defeated by the Catholics under the Count de 
la Tour Maubourg. Later on, the “ terrible baron ” and Blacon 
attacked La Chaise Dieu, mutilated all the statues and monu- 
ments in the church, and carried off the chandeliers, crosses, and 
vases. They also bore off a great statue of Moses, which they 
believed to be of solid gold. It turned out to be of copper- 
gilt ; so Moses was most irreverently tossed headlong into a small 
lake, from which he was fished up again forty years afterwards. 
The ruins of the castle stand upon a conical hill of trachytic 
lava, which Mr. Scrope thought must have flowed from Mezen. 
These lavas should be compared with the tabular masses 
overlying the freshwater beds near Brives. Another fine 
ruin, in a romantic situation, within reach of Le Puy, is the 
castle of Bouzols, south-east of Mont d’Ours. In the Huguenot 
wars it was Catholic, or at all events was occupied by St. Vidal 
the Catholic Gfovernor of Le Puy. Bouzols, Espailly, and 
Polignac leagued together ; and M. Mandet, the historian of 
the civil wars of Le Velay, gives interesting descriptions of 
these feudal strongholds, and the way in which their lords taxed 
and levied contributions on the surrounding people without 
mercy. It was, it appears, owing to disagreement between 
Baron St. Vidal and the populace of Le Puy respecting the forti- 
fication of Bouzols that St. Vidal challenged Pierre de la Bodde 
to single combat, and was slain by a stab from his poignard. 
The road to Bouzols from Le Puy is wild and peculiar, owing 
to the strange grouping of the hills capped with basalt, the exca- 
vated vales, isolated rock masses, and volcanic mountains away 
in the distance. The old Gfaulish town of Monastier is situated 
on the borders of the great lava current of Mezen, while the 
castle of Bouzols stands on volcanic breccia similar to that of 
Corneille or Polignac, and rises in the middle of a great denuda- 
tion of the freshwater and tertiary marls. It must have been a 
place of great strength, and with the light gleaming through 
its towers and loopholes is wild and weird enough. There are 
many local traditions about Bouzols, and a lady who was mur- 
dered by her cruel lord is said to haunt the place still. Below 
in the valley flows the Loire ; and in front, to the south, rises 
the Lion de Coubon, a mass of basalt somewhat like a lion 
couchant. The basalt overlies a hill of freshwater marls, at the 
base of which is the village of Coubon. East of Bouzols is a 
valley of denudation in the freshwater strata, the valley of 
Lausonne, with lava streams overlying the hill platforms ; while 
above these basaltic platforms rise the more recent volcanic 
cones of Prezailles and Freycenet. Another place particularly 
described by Mr. Scrope for its striking scenery and singular 
geology is on the Sumene river, a little north of Brives. Here 
we have the granitic rocks of Chaspinhac with its elevated vil- 
