Description of the Landes of Acquitania. 97 
three in number; and some seamen are employed to keep them 
constantly in a convenient situation with respect to the pass. 
The basin has the form of a triangle ; its present entrance being 
at the angle which points towards the south-west, and extending in 
the north-east from Cerez to the mouth of the Eyre. ‘To the north 
and south are mountains of sand, generally covered with pine trees 
and other plants. In the centre is a large space, known by the name 
of the Island of Birds, about two miles in circumference at low 
tides. There is not a tree in the island, but a very small garden 
occurs in the vicinity of a hut built to shelter the person who watches 
the cattle nourished on this bleak spot: in the neighbourhood of 
this hut, is an excellent spring of fresh water. This island is daily 
increasing in size, and has never been known to have been sub- 
merged. About a mile and a quarter from the island, a bank of 
sand has formed itself, and courses north and south, tending to 
unite itself with the northern shore, and to block up the pass of that 
side almost entirely. What was formerly called the Basin of the 
Pilot, has. been filled up fifteen years back ; and the island desig- 
nated as the Isle of Mat, in the chart of Blaco, no longer exists. 
Scattered along the oriental base of the downs, in a direction 
from north to south, there occur other laguna, many of them 
extremely beautiful in their scenery, and fed by picturesque 
streams. ‘The rivulet of Palas is bordered on ‘each side by downs 
covered with pines, from 47 to 62 feet up their acclivities. In fol- 
lowing the canal of Horslieux, which leads to the sea, a magnificent 
plain opens itself before the traveller ; it is known by the name of 
Pelindres, and occupies 1800 acres of land. About twenty years ago, 
a Roman road, that traversed the present laguna of St. Leon, was 
still visible during low water. Springs, abundant in some parts of 
the Landes, are also met with on the sea-shore, where the strata 
of argillaceous ironstone crop out. ‘These points of the coast are 
generally made the site of the summer huts of the fishermen, or of 
the wooden guard-houses of the men employed in the preventive ser- 
vice. Fresh water is also obtained by bering the sand wherever 
there are indications of moisture. The inhabitants of the Landes 
are, however, generally supplied by wells; it only requires fre- 
quently to bore from four to five feet in depth, to arrive at the re- 
tentive substratum. The fountain of St. Roch issues from the sand, 
and is apparently only about a foot in depth. <A weight of 36 lbs. 
sinks to a depth of 14 feet; a rod penetrated 18 feet, but it was 
rejected with so much violence, as to rise perpendicularly, and be 
thrown to a considerable distance from the spring. ‘The ear is 
struck, on approaching it, by a distant grumbling noise, which, ac- 
cording to the inhabitants, increases in stormy weather. The spring 
furnishes about 20 cubic feet of water in the minute. As tested 
by Lafére fils, excepting indications of the presence of iron, the 
acetate of lead, nitrate of silver, and oxalate of ammonia, were the 
only reagents whose effects were sensible. 
The character of the vegetation of these lagunz naturally de-: 
YOL, I. N 
