334 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
We are here on the plateau of Pradelles, which separates the 
Loire and the Allier, and within reach of many interesting 
localities and beautiful scenery ; while to the fisherman 
it holds out the choice of many streams, full of goodly trout, 
within a walk — at least, so said our driver. Our road lay by 
La Chavade, along the flanks of the granite range on which 
rises the Loire. The whole scenery is changed as if by magic, 
and we find ourselves in a sub- Alpine district, among gorges 
and rocks and running waters. The road descends for seven or 
eight miles in a series of zigzags, and we had an opportunity of 
forming an idea of the disintegration of the granitic rocks from 
the wear and tear of atmospheric agents. The previous summer 
had been wet, and masses of granite had fallen from the moun- 
tains down the side of the gorge in heaps. At one place above 
the river the road had been carried away for many yards, and a 
large body of workmen were engaged in the repairs. We had 
to descend from our vehicle, and a day earlier our passage 
would have been impossible. Beyond this, fallen masses lay 
here and there in the road ; so this route, after a storm, is not 
without danger. On our right was a river flowing far below, 
and across the valley rose granite hills — the source of the Allier 
— covered with the great forest of Bouzon, still the haunt of the 
wild boar and the wolf. Volcanic cones have in two or three 
places burst through the granitic district near the source of 
the Ardeche river, but have sent forth no lava streams into 
the valleys. 
The people of Le Puy have a habit of altogether ignoring 
the existence of Vais, where there are several excellent hotels, 
especially the Hotel des Bains, and of recommending the 
tourist to stop at Thueys for the Montpesat and Jaujae. 
scenery, whereas Vais is only six or seven miles farther on. 
One line on the accommodation at Thueys in the summer 
of 1875, from the note-book of Sir William V. Gruise, may be a 
warning to the tourist : — 66 But how to describe the so-called 
hotel! the dirt, the squalor, the smells of that most primi- 
tive of hostelries ! ” And then there was an 66 extortionate 
hostess,” and all the while comfortable and cleanly Vais a few 
miles beyond. Still, Thueys is a place to visit from Vais, for 
it stands upon a great current of lava which has been poured 
from a volcanic cone east of the village. The columns of 
basalt are very grand, and nearly 150 feet in height. The 
river Ardeche has cut right through this basalt down to 
the granite below; and here, as in other localities in this 
country, we find the granitic rocks yielding much more easily 
to the flow of the waters than does the basalt. The river is. 
now excavating the granite bank. The cone of Thuey is not far 
from the volcano of the Grravenne de Montpesat, but is much 
