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diff --git a/42941-8.txt b/42941-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 7efaf77..0000000 --- a/42941-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,10020 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rambles on the Riviera, by Francis Miltoun - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Rambles on the Riviera - -Author: Francis Miltoun - -Illustrator: Blanche McManus - -Release Date: June 13, 2013 [EBook #42941] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAMBLES ON THE RIVIERA *** - - - - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - Every attempt has been made to replicate the original book as printed. - -Some typographical errors have been corrected. A list follows the etext. - No attempt has been made to correct or normalize all of the French - orthography of the printed book. - -The images have been moved from the middle of paragraphs to the closest - paragraph break for ease of reading. - - (etext transcriber's note) RAMBLES ON THE RIVIERA - - _WORKS OF_ - - _FRANCIS MILTOUN_ - - _The following, each 1 vol., library 12mo, cloth, gilt top, profusely - illustrated. $2.50_ - - _Rambles on the Riviera_ - _Rambles in Normandy_ - _Rambles in Brittany_ - _The Cathedrals and Churches of the Rhine_ - _The Cathedrals of Northern France_ - _The Cathedrals of Southern France_ - _The Cathedrals of Italy_ (_In preparation_) - - _The following, 1 vol., square octavo, cloth, gilt top, profusely - illustrated. $3.00_ - - _Castles and Chateaux of Old Touraine and the Loire Country_ - - _L. C. PAGE & COMPANY_ - - _New England Building, Boston, Mass._ - -[Illustration] - - - - - Rambles - - on the - - RIVIERA - - BEING SOME ACCOUNT OF JOURNEYS MADE _en automobile_ - AND THINGS SEEN IN THE FAIR LAND OF PROVENCE - - BY FRANCIS MILTOUN - - Author of "Rambles in Normandy," "Rambles in Brittany," - "Castles and Chateaux of Old Touraine," etc. - - _With Many Illustrations_ - - _Reproduced from paintings made on the spot_ - - BY BLANCHE MCMANUS - - [Illustration: colophon] - - BOSTON - L. C. PAGE & COMPANY - 1906 - - _Copyright, 1906_ - BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY - - (INCORPORATED) - - _All rights reserved_ - - First Impression, July, 1906 - - _COLONIAL PRESS_ - _Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co. - Boston, U. S. A._ - - - - -APOLOGIA - - -This book makes no pretence at being a work of historical or -archæological importance; nor yet is it a conventional book of travel or -a glorified guide-book. It is merely a record of things seen and heard, -with some personal observations on the picturesque, romantic, and -topographical aspects of one of the most varied and beautiful -touring-grounds in all the world, and is the result of many pleasant -wanderings of the author and artist, chiefly by highway and byway, in -and out of the beaten track, in preference to travel by rail. - -The French Riviera proper is that region bordering upon the -Mediterranean west of the Italian frontier and east of Toulon. Nowadays, -however, many a traveller adds to the delights of a Mediterranean winter -by breaking his journey at one or all of those cities of celebrated art, -Nîmes, Arles, and Avignon; or, if he does not, he most assuredly should -do so, and know something of the glories of the past civilization of the -region which has a far more æsthetic reason for being than the florid -Casino of Monte Carlo or the latest palatial hotel along the coast. - -For this reason, and because the main gateway from the north leads -directly past their doors, that wonderful group of Provençal cities and -towns, beginning with Arles and ending with Aix-en-Provence, have been -included in this book, although they are in no sense "resorts," and are -not even popular "tourist points," except with the French themselves. - -Particularly are the byways of Old Provence unknown to the average -English and American traveller; the wonderful Pays d'Arles, with St. -Rémy and Les Baux; the Crau; that fascinating region around the Étang de -Berre; the coast between Marseilles and Toulon (and even Marseilles -itself); the Estaque; Les Maures; and the Estérel; and yet none of them -are far from the beaten track of Riviera travel. - -Of the region of forests and mountains that forms the background of the -Riviera resorts themselves almost the same thing can be said. The -railway and the automobile have made it all very accessible, but ninety -per cent., doubtless, of the travellers who annually hie themselves in -increasing numbers to Cannes, Nice, Monte Carlo, and Menton know nothing -of that wonderful mountain country lying but a few miles back from the -sea. - -The town-tired traveller, for pleasure or edification, could not do -better than devote a part of the time that he usually gives to the -resorts of convention to the exploring of any one of a half-dozen of -these delightful _petits pays_: Avignon and Vaucluse, with memories of -Petrarch and his Laura; the pebbly Crau, south of Arles; and the fringe -of delightful little towns surrounding the Étang de Berre. - -Any or all of these will furnish the genuine traveller with emotions and -sensations far more pleasurable than those to be had at the most blasé -resort that ever opened a golf-links or set up a roulette-wheel, which, -to many, are the chief attractions (and memories) of that strip of -Mediterranean coast-line known as the Riviera. - -The scheme of this book had long been thought out, and much material -collected at odd visits, but at last it could be delayed no longer, and -the whole was threaded together by hundreds of miles of travel, _en -automobile_, through the highways and byways of the region. - -The pictures were made "on the spot," and, as living, tangible records -of things seen, have, perhaps, a quality of appealing interest that is -not possessed by the average illustration. - -The result is here presented for the value it may have for the traveller -or the stay-at-home, it being always understood that no great thing was -attempted and little or nothing presented that another might not see or -learn for himself. - -The reason for being, then, of this book is that it does give a little -different view-point of the attractions of Maritime Provence and the -Mediterranean Riviera from that to be hitherto gleaned in any single -volume on the subject, and as such it is to be hoped that it serves its -purpose sufficiently well to merit consideration. - -F. M. - -CHÂTEAUNEUF-LES-MARTIGUES, _January, 1906_. - -[Illustration: _CONTENTS_] - - - - -CONTENTS - - PAGE - -APOLOGIA v - - -PART I. - -CHAPTER -I. A PLEA FOR PROVENCE 3 - -II. THE PAYS D'ARLES 24 - -III. ST. RÉMY DE PROVENCE 42 - -IV. THE CRAU AND THE CAMARGUE 56 - -V. MARTIGUES: THE PROVENÇAL VENICE 70 - -VI. THE ÉTANG DE BERRE 87 - -VII. A SEASCAPE: FROM THE RHÔNE TO MARSEILLES 107 - -VIII. MARSEILLES--COSMOPOLIS 122 - -IX. A RAMBLE WITH DUMAS AND MONTE CRISTO 144 - -X. AIX-EN-PROVENCE AND ABOUT THERE 156 - - -PART II. - -I. MARSEILLES TO TOULON 177 - -II. OVER CAP SICIÉ 202 - -III. THE REAL RIVIERA 226 - -IV. HYÈRES AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD 239 - -V. ST. TROPEZ AND ITS "GOLFE" 254 - -VI. FRÉJUS AND THE CORNICHE D'OR 271 - -VII. LA NAPOULE AND CANNES 292 - -VIII. ANTIBES AND THE GOLFE JOUAN 305 - -IX. GRASSE AND ITS ENVIRONS 319 - -X. NICE AND CIMIEZ 330 - -XI. VILLEFRANCHE AND THE FORTIFICATIONS 348 - -XII. EZE AND LA TURBIE 359 - -XIII. OLD MONACO AND NEW MONTE CARLO 370 - -XIV. MENTON AND THE FRONTIER 398 - -APPENDICES 409 - -INDEX 431 - - - - -[Illustration: _LIST of_ ILLUSTRATIONS] - - - PAGE - -ON THE RIVIERA _Frontispiece_ - -"IT WAS SEPTEMBER, AND IT WAS PROVENCE" facing 8 - -A YOUNG ARLESIENNE facing 36 - -ABBEY OF MONTMAJOUR AND VINEYARD 39 - -BAKER'S TALLY-STICKS 48 - -ST. RÉMY facing 48 - -A PANETIÈRE 52 - -THE BULLS OF THE CAMARGUE 59 - -LES SAINTES MARIES facing 60 - -ÉGLISE DE LA MADELEINE, MARTIGUES facing 70 - -HOUSE OF M. ZIEM, MARTIGUES facing 74 - -MARTIGUES 77 - -LOUP 86 - -ISTRES facing 92 - -THE KILOMETRE WEST OF SALON 102 - -BOUCHES-DU-RHÔNE TO MARSEILLES (MAP) 108 - -FOS-SUR-MER 111 - -CHATEAUNEUF facing 112 - -ROADSIDE CHAPEL, ST. PIERRE 114 - -FLOWER MARKET, COURS ST. LOUIS 129 - -A CABANON facing 134 - -MARSEILLES IN 1640 (MAP) 141 - -NOTRE DAME DE LA GARDE AND THE HARBOUR OF -MARSEILLES facing 148 - -ENVIRONS OF MARSEILLES (MAP) 150 - -CHÂTEAU D'IF facing 150 - -LES PENNES facing 160 - -ROQUEVAIRE 166 - -CONVENT GARDEN, ST. ZACHARIE facing 170 - -MARSEILLES TO TOULON (MAP) 176 - -CASSIS facing 180 - -LA CIOTAT AND THE BEC DE L'AIGLE 185 - -ST. NAZAIRE-DU-VAR facing 198 - -FISHING-BOATS AT TAMARIS facing 208 - -IN TOULON'S OLD PORT facing 212 - -TOULON TO FRÉJUS (MAP) 220 - -IN LES MAURES facing 222 - -COMPARATIVE THEOMETRIC SCALE 230 - -THE TERRACE, MONTE CARLO facing 234 - -THE PENINSULA OF GIENS facing 242 - -RUINED CHAPEL NEAR ST. TROPEZ facing 258 - -FRÉJUS TO NICE (MAP) 277 - -ST. RAPHAËL facing 278 - -MAISON CLOSE, ST. RAPHAËL 280 - -ON THE CORNICHE D'OR facing 284 - -OFFSHORE FROM AGAY facing 286 - -ON THE GOLFE DE LA NAPOULE facing 292 - -CANNES AND ITS ENVIRONS (MAP) 301 - -JOUAN-LES-PINS 306 - -ANTIBES AND ITS ENVIRONS (MAP) 313 - -ST. HONORAT 317 - -FLOWER MARKET, GRASSE facing 322 - -GOURDON 328 - -NICE TO VINTIMILLE (MAP) 331 - -A NIÇOIS 334 - -NICE facing 338 - -OLIVE PICKERS IN THE VAR facing 344 - -ENVIRONS OF NICE (MAP) 345 - -CAP FERRAT facing 348 - -VILLA OF LEOPOLD, KING OF BELGIUM 356 - -EZE 360 - -AUGUSTAN TROPHY, LA TURBIE 364 - -A ROQUEBRUNE DOORWAY facing 368 - -MONTE CARLO AND MONACO (MAP) 371 - -THE GAME 383 - -OVERLOOKING MONACO AND MONTE CARLO facing 390 - -THE RAVINE OF SAINT DÉVOTE, MONTE CARLO, facing 396 - -PONT SAINT LOUIS 406 - -THE PROVINCES OF FRANCE (MAP) 409 - -THE ANCIENT PROVINCES OF FRANCE (MAP) 411 - -ENSEMBLE CARTE DE TOURING CLUB DE FRANCE (MAP) 420 - -THE "TARIDE" MAPS 421 - -THREE RIVIERA ITINERARIES (MAPS) 423 - -COMPARATIVE METRIC SCALE (DIAGRAM) 427 - -THE LOG OF AN AUTOMOBILE 429 - - - - -PART I. - -OLD PROVENCE - - - - -RAMBLES ON THE RIVIERA - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -A PLEA FOR PROVENCE - - -"_À Valence, le Midi commence!_" is a saying of the French, though this -Rhône-side city, the Julia-Valentia of Roman times, is in full view of -the snow-clad Alps. It is true, however, that as one descends the valley -of the torrential Rhône, from Lyons southward, he comes suddenly upon a -brilliancy of sunshine and warmth of atmosphere, to say nothing of many -differences in manners and customs, which are reminiscent only of the -southland itself. Indeed this is even more true of Orange, but a couple -of scores of miles below, whose awning-hung streets, and open-air -workshops are as brilliant and Italian in motive as Tuscany itself. -Here at Orange one has before him the most wonderful old Roman arch -outside of Italy, and an amphitheatre so great and stupendous in every -way, and so perfectly preserved, that he may well wonder if he has not -crossed some indefinite frontier and plunged into the midst of some -strange land he knew not of. - -The history of Provence covers so great a period of time that no one as -yet has attempted to put it all into one volume, hence the lover of wide -reading, with Provence for a subject, will be able to give his hobby -full play. - -The old Roman Provincia, and later the mediæval Provence, were prominent -in affairs of both Church and State, and many of the momentous incidents -which resulted in the founding and aggrandizing of the French nation had -their inception and earliest growth here. There may be some doubts as to -the exact location of the Fossés Mariennes of the Romans, but there is -not the slightest doubt that it was from Avignon that there went out -broadcast, through France and the Christian world of the fourteenth -century, an influence which first put France at the head of the -civilizing influences of Christendom. - -The Avignon popes planned a vast cosmopolitan monarchy, of which France -should be the head, and Avignon the new Rome. - -The Roman emperors exercised their influence throughout all this region -long before, and they left enduring monuments wherever they had a -foothold. At Orange, St. Rémy, Avignon, Arles, and Nîmes there were -monumental arches, theatres, and arenas, quite the equal of those of -Rome itself, not in splendour alone, but in respect as well to the -important functions which they performed. - -The later middle ages somewhat dimmed the ancient glories of the -Romanesque school of monumental architecture--though it was by no means -pure, as the wonderfully preserved and dainty Greek structures at Nîmes -and Vienne plainly show--and the roofs of theatres and arenas fell in -and walls crumbled through the stress of time and weather. - -In spite of all the decay that has set in, and which still goes on, a -short journey across Provence wonderfully recalls other days. The -traveller who visits Orange, and goes down the valley of the Rhône, by -Avignon, St. Rémy, Arles, Nîmes, Aix, and Marseilles, will be an -ill-informed person indeed if he cannot construct history for himself -anew when once he is in the midst of this multiplicity of ancient -shrines. - -Day by day things are changing, and even old Provence is fast coming -under the influences of electric railroads and twentieth-century ideas -of progress which bid fair to change even the face of nature: Marseilles -is to have a direct communication with the Rhône and the markets of the -north by means of a canal cut through the mountains of the Estaque, and -a great port is to be made of the Étang de Berre (perhaps), and trees -are to be planted on the bare hills which encircle the Crau, with the -idea of reclaiming the pebbly, sandy plain. - -No doubt the deforestation of the hillsides has had something to do, in -ages past, with the bareness of the lower river-bottom of the Rhône -which now separates Arles from the sea. Almost its whole course below -Arles is through a treeless, barren plain; but, certainly, there is no -reflection of its unproductiveness in the lives of the inhabitants. -There is no evidence in Arles or Nîmes, even to-day--when we know their -splendour has considerably faded--of a poverty or dulness due to the -bareness of the neighbouring country. - -Irrigation will accomplish much in making a wilderness blossom like the -rose, and when the time and necessity for it really comes there is no -doubt but that the paternal French government will take matters into -its own hands and turn the Crau and the Camargue into something more -than a grazing-ground for live-stock. Even now one need not feel that -there is any "appalling cloud of decadence" hanging over old Provence as -some travellers have claimed. - -The very best proof one could wish, that Provence is not a poor -impoverished land, is that the best of everything is grown right in her -own boundaries,--the olive, the vine, the apricot, the peach, and -vegetables of the finest quality. The mutton and beef of the Crau, the -Camargue, and the hillsides of the coast ranges are most excellent, and -the fish supply of the Mediterranean is varied and abundant; _loup_, -turbot, _thon_, mackerel, sardines, and even sole,--which is supposed to -be the exclusive specialty of England and Normandy,--with _langouste_ -and _coquillages_ at all times. No cook will quarrel with the supply of -his market, if he lives anywhere south of Lyons; and Provence, of all -the ancient _gouvernements_ of France, is the land above all others -where all are good cooks,--a statement which is not original with the -author of this book, but which has come down since the days of the old -régime, when Provence was recognized as "_la patrie des grands maîtres -de cuisine_." - -"It was September, and it was Provence," are the opening words of -Daudet's "Port Tarascon." What more significant words could be uttered -to awaken the memories of that fair land in the minds of any who had -previously threaded its highways and byways? From the days of Petrarch -writers of many schools have sung its praises, and the literature of the -subject is vast and varied, from that of the old geographers to the last -lays of Mistral, the present deity of Provençal letters. - -[Illustration: "_It was September, and it was Provence_"] - -The Loire divides France on a line running from the southeast to the -middle of the west coast, parting the territory into two great -divisions, which in the middle ages had a separate form of legislation, -of speech, and of literature. The language south of the Loire was known -as the _langue d'oc_ (an expression which gave its name to a province), -so called from the fact, say some etymologists and philologists, that -the expression of affirmation in the romance language of the south was -"_oc_" or "_hoc_." Dialects were common enough throughout this region, -as elsewhere in France; but there was a certain grammatical resemblance -between them all which distinguished them from the speech of the -Bretons and Normans in the north. This southern language was principally -distinguished from northern French by the existence of many Latin roots, -which in the north had been eliminated. Foreign influences, curiously -enough, had not crept in in the south, and, like the Spanish and the -Italian speech, that of Languedoc (and Provence) was of a dulcet -mildness which in its survival to-day, in the chief Provençal districts, -is to be remarked by all. - -Northward of the Loire the _langue d'oeil_ was spoken, and this language -in its ultimate survival, with the interpolation of much that was -Germanic, came to be the French that is known to-day. - -The Provençal tongue, even the more or less corrupt patois of to-day -which Mistral and the other Félibres are trying to purify, is not so bad -after all, nor so bizarre as one might think. It does not resemble -French much more than it does Italian, but it is astonishingly -reminiscent of many tongues, as the following quatrain familiar to us -all will show: - - "Trento jour en Setèmbre, - Abrieu Jun, e Nouvèmbre, - De vint-e-une n'i'a qu'un - Lis autre n'an trento un." - -An Esperantist should find this easy. - -The literary world in general has always been interested in the Félibres -of the land of "_la verte olive, la mure vermeille, la grappe de vie, -croissant ensemble sous un ciel d'azur_," and they recognize the -"_littérature provençale_" as something far more worthy of being kept -alive than that of the Emerald Isle, which is mostly a fad of a few -pedants so dead to all progress that they even live their lives in the -past. - -This is by no means the case with the Provençal school. The life of the -Félibres and their followers is one of a supreme gaiety; the life of a -veritable _pays de la cigale_, the symbol of a sentiment always -identified with Provence. - -Of the original founders of the Félibres three names stand out as the -most prominent: Mistral, who had taken his honours at the bar, -Roumanille, a bookseller of Avignon, and Theodore Aubanal. For the love -of their _pays_ and its ancient tongue, which was fast falling into a -mere patois, they vowed to devote themselves to the perpetuation of it -and the reviving of its literature. - -In 1859 "Mirèio," Mistral's masterpiece, appeared, and was everywhere -recognized as the chief literary novelty of the age. Mistral went to -Paris and received the plaudits of the literary and artistic world of -the capital. He and his works have since come to be recognized as "_le -miroir de la Provence_." - -The origin of the word "_félibre_" is most obscure. Mistral first met -with it in an ancient Provençal prayer, the "Oration of St. Anselm," -"_emè li sét félibre de la léi_." - -Philologists have discussed the origin and evolution of the word, and -here the mystic seven of the Félibres again comes to the fore, as there -are seven explanations, all of them acceptable and plausible, although -the majority of authorities are in favour of the Greek word -_philabros_--"he who loves the beautiful." - -Of course the movement is caused by the local pride of the Provençaux, -and it can hardly be expected to arouse the enthusiasm of the Bretons, -the Normans, or the native sons of the Aube. In fact, there are certain -detractors of the work of the Félibres who profess regrets that the -French tongue should be thus polluted. The aspersion, however, has no -effect on the true Provençal, for to him his native land and its tongue -are first and foremost. - -Truly more has been said and written of Provence that is of interest -than of any other land, from the days of Petrarch to those of Mistral, -in whose "Recollections," recently published (1906), there is more of -the fact and romance of history of the old province set forth than in -many other writers combined. - -Daudet was expressive when he said, in the opening lines of "Tartarin," -"It was September, and it was Provence;" Thiers was definite when he -said, "At Valence the south commences;" and Felix Gras, and even Dumas, -were eloquent in their praises of this fair land and its people. - -Then there was an unknown who sang: - - "The vintage sun was shining - On the southern fields of France," - -and who struck the note strong and true; but again and again we turn to -Mistral, whose epic, "Mirèio," indeed forms a mirror of Provence. - -Madame de Sévigné was wrong when she said: "I prefer the gamesomeness of -the Bretons to the perfumed idleness of the Provençaux;" at least she -was wrong in her estimate of the Provençaux, for her interests and her -loves were ever in the north, at Château Grignan and elsewhere, in spite -of her familiarity with Provence. She has some hard things to say also -of the "mistral," the name given to that dread north wind of the Rhône -valley, one of the three plagues of Provence; but again she exaggerates. - -The "terrible mistral" is not always so terrible as it has been -pictured. It does not always blow, nor, when it does come, does it blow -for a long period, not even for the proverbial three, six, or nine days; -but it is, nevertheless, pretty general along the whole south coast of -France. It is the complete reverse of the sirocco of the African coast, -the wind which blows hot from the African desert and makes the coast -cities of Oran, Alger, and Constantine, and even Biskra, farther inland, -the delightful winter resorts which they are. - -In summer the "mistral," when it blows, makes the coast towns and cities -of the mouth of the Rhône, and even farther to the east and west, cool -and delightful even in the hottest summer months, and it always has a -great purifying and healthful influence. - -Ordinarily the "mistral" is faithful to tradition, but for long months -in the winter of 1905-06 it only appeared at Marseilles, and then only -to disappear again immediately. The Provençal used to pray to be -preserved from Æolus, son of Jupiter, but this particular season the god -had forsaken all Provence. From the 31st of August to the 4th of -September it blew with all its wonted vigour, with a violence which -lifted roof-tiles and blew all before it, but until the first of the -following March it made only fitful attempts, many of which expired -before they were born. - -There were occasions when it rose from its torpor and ruffled the waves -of the blue Mediterranean into the white horses of the poets, but it -immediately retired as if shorn of its former strength. - -"_C'est humiliant_," said the observer at the meteorological bureau at -Marseilles, as he shut up shop and went out for his _apéritif_. - -All Provence was marvelling at the strange anomaly, and really seemed to -regret the absence of the "mistral," though they always cursed it loudly -when it was present--all but the fisherfolk of the Étang de Berre and -the old men who sheltered themselves on the sunny side of a wall and -made the best use possible of the "_cheminée du Roi René_," as the old -pipe-smokers call the glorious sun of the south, which never seems so -bright and never gives out so much warmth as when the "mistral" blows -its hardest. - -A Martigaux or a Marseillais would rather have the "mistral" than the -damp humid winds from the east or northeast, which, curiously enough, -brought fog with them on this abnormal occasion. The café gossips -predicted that Marseilles, their beloved Marseilles with its Cannebière -and its Prado, was degenerating into a fog-bound city like London, -Paris, and Lyons. At Martigues the old sailors, those who had been -toilers on the deep sea in their earlier years, told weird tales of the -"pea-soup" fogs of London,--only they called them _purées_. - -One thing, however, all were certain. The "mistral" was sure to drive -all this moisture-laden atmosphere away. In the words of the song they -chanted, "_On n'sait quand y'r'viendra._" "_Va-t-il prendre enfin?_" -"_Je ne sais pas_," and so the fishermen of Martigues, and elsewhere on -the Mediterranean coast, pulled their boats up on the shore and huddled -around the café stoves and talked of the _mauvais temps_ which was -always with them. What was the use of combating against the elements? -The fish would not rise in what is thought elsewhere to be fishermen's -weather. They required the "mistral" and plenty of it. - -The Provence of the middle ages comprised a considerably more extensive -territory than that which made one of the thirty-three general -_gouvernements_ of the ancient régime. In fact it included all of the -south-central portion of Languedoc, with the exception of the Comtat -Venaissin (Avignon, Carpentras, etc.), and the Comté de Nice. - -In Roman times it became customary to refer to the region simply as "the -province," and so, in later times, it became known as "Provence," though -officially and politically the Narbonnaise, which extended from the -Pyrenees to Lyons, somewhat hid its identity, the name Provence applying -particularly to that region lying between the Rhône and the Alps. - -The Provence of to-day, and of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, -is a wider region which includes the mouth of the Rhône, Marseilles, and -the Riviera. It was that portion of France which first led the Roman -legions northward, and, earlier even, gave a resting-place to the -venturesome Greeks and Phoceans who, above all, sought to colonize -wherever there was a possibility of building up great seaports. The -chief Phocean colony was Marseilles, or Massilia, which was founded -under the two successive immigrations of the years 600 and 542 B. C. - -In 1150, when the Carlovingian empire was dismembered, there was formed -the Comté and Marquisat of Provence, with capitals at Avignon and Aix, -the small remaining portion becoming known as the Comté d'Orange. - -Under the comtes Provence again flourished, and a brilliant civilization -was born in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries which gave almost a new -literature and a new art to those glorious gems of the French Crown. The -school of Romanesque church-building of Provence, of which the most -entrancing examples are still to be seen at Aix, Arles, St. Gilles, and -Cavaillon, spread throughout Languedoc and Dauphiné, and gave an impetus -to a style of church-building which was the highest form of artistic -expression. - -It was at this time, too, that Provençal literature took on that -expressive form which set the fashion for the court versifiers of the -day, the troubadours and the _trouvères_ of which the old French -chronicles are so full. The speech of the Provençal troubadours was so -polished and light that it lent itself readily to verses and dialogues -which, for their motives, mostly touched on love and marriage. Avignon, -Aix, and Les Baux were very "courts of love," presided over--said a -chivalrous French writer--by ladies of renown, who elaborated a code of -gallantry and the _droits de la femme_ which were certainly in advance -of their time. - -The reign of René II. of Sicily and Anjou, called "_le bon Roi René_," -brought all this love of letters to the highest conceivable plane and -constituted an era hitherto unapproached,--as marked, indeed, and as -brilliant, as the Renaissance itself. - -The troubadours and the "courts of love" have gone for ever from -Provence, and there is only the carnival celebrations of Nice and Cannes -and the other Riviera cities to take their place. These festivities are -poor enough apologies for the splendid pageants which formerly held -forth at Marseilles and Aix, where the titled dignitary of the -celebration was known as the "Prince d'Amour," or at Aubagne, Toulon, or -St. Tropez, where he was known as the "Capitaine de Ville." - -The carnival celebrations of to-day are all right in their way, perhaps, -but their spirit is not the same. What have flower-dressed automobiles -and hare and tortoise gymkanas got to do with romance anyway? - -The pages of history are full of references to the Provence of the -middle ages. Louis XI. annexed the province to the Crown in 1481, but -Aix remained the capital, and this city was given a parliament of its -own by Louis XII. The dignity was not appreciated by the inhabitants, -for the parliamentary benches were filled with the nobility, who, as was -the custom of the time, sought to oppress their inferiors. As a result -there developed a local saying that the three plagues of Provence were -its parliament; its raging river, the stony-bedded Durance; and the -"mistral," the cold north wind that blows with severe regularity for -three, six, or nine days, throughout the Rhône valley. - -Charles V. invaded Provence in 1536, and the League and the Fronde were -disturbing influences here as elsewhere. - -The Comté d'Orange was annexed by France, by virtue of the treaty of -Utrecht, in 1713, and the Comtat Venaissin was acquired from the Italian -powers in 1791. - -Toulon played a great part in the later history of Provence, when it -underwent its famous siege by the troops of the Convention in 1793. - -Napoleon set foot in France, for his final campaign, on the shores of -the Golfe Jouan, in 1815. - -History-making then slumbered for a matter of a quarter of a century. -Then, in 1848, Menton and Roquebrune revolted against the Princes of -Monaco and came into the French fold. It was as late as 1860, however, -that the Comté de Nice was annexed. - -This, in brief, is a résumé of some of the chief events since the middle -ages which have made history in Provence. - -It is but a step across country from the Rhône valley to Marseilles, -that great southern gateway of modern France through which flows a -ceaseless tide of travel. - -Here, in the extreme south, on the shores of the great blue, tideless -Mediterranean, all one has previously met with in Provence is further -magnified, not only by the brilliant cosmopolitanism of Marseilles -itself, but by the very antiquity of its origin. East and west of -Marseilles and the Bouches-du-Rhône is a region, French to-day,--as -French as any of those old provinces of mediæval times which go to make -up the republican solidarity of modern France,--but which in former -times was as foreign to France and things French as is modern Spain or -Italy. - -To the eastward, toward Italy, was the ancient independent Comté de -Nice, and, on the west, Catalonia once included the region where are -to-day the French cities of Perpignan, Elne and Agde. - -Of all the delectable regions of France, none is of more diversified -interest to the dweller in northern climes than "La Provence Maritime," -that portion which includes what the world to-day recognizes as the -Riviera. Here may be found the whole galaxy of charms which the -present-day seeker after health, edification, and pleasure demands from -the antiquarian and historical interests of old Provence and the Roman -occupation to the frivolous gaieties of Nice and Monte Carlo. - -Tourists, more than ever, keep to the beaten track. In one way this is -readily enough accounted for. Well-worn roads are much more common than -of yore and they are more accessible, and travellers like to keep "in -touch," as they call it, with such unnecessary things as up-to-date -pharmacies, newspapers, and lending libraries, which, in the avowed -tourist resorts of the French and Italian Rivieras, are as accessible as -they are on the Rue de Rivoli. There are occasional by-paths which -radiate from even these centres of modernity which lead one off beyond -the reach of steam-cars and _fils télégraphiques_; but they are mostly -unworn roads to all except peasants who drive tiny donkeys in carts and -carry bundles on their heads. - -One might think that no part of modern France was at all solitary and -unknown; but one has only to recall Stevenson's charming "Travels with a -Donkey in the Cevennes," to realize that then there were regions which -English readers and travellers knew not of, and the same is almost true -to-day. - -Provence has been the fruitful field for antiquarians and students of -languages, manners, customs, and political and church history, of all -nationalities, for many long years; but the large numbers of travellers -who annually visit the sunny promenades of Nice or Cannes never think -for a moment of spending a winter at Martigues, the Provençal Venice, or -at Nîmes, or Arles, or Avignon, where, if the "mistral" does blow -occasionally, the surroundings are quite as brilliant as on the coast -itself, the midday sun just as warm, and the sundown chill no more -frigid than it is at either Cannes or Nice. - -Truly the whole Mediterranean coast, from Barcelona to Spezzia in Italy, -together with the cities and towns immediately adjacent, forms a -touring-ground more varied and interesting even than Touraine, often -thought the touring-ground _par excellence_. The Provençal Riviera -itinerary has, moreover, the advantage of being more accessible than -Italy or Spain, the Holy Land or Egypt, and, until one has known its -charms more or less intimately, he has a prospect in store which offers -more of novelty and delightfulness than he has perhaps believed possible -so near to the well-worn track of southern travel. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -THE PAYS D'ARLES - - -The Pays d'Arles is one of those minor sub-divisions of undefined, or at -least ill-defined, limits that are scattered all over France. Local -feeling runs high in all of them, and the Arlesien professes a great -contempt for the Martigaux or the inhabitant of the Pays de Cavaillon, -even though their territories border on one another; though indeed all -three join hands when it comes to standing up for their beloved -Provence. - -There are sixty towns and villages in the Pays d'Arles, extending from -Tarascon and Beaucaire to Les Saintes Maries, St. Mitre, and Fos-sur-Mer -on the Mediterranean, and eastward to Lambesc, the _pays_ enveloping La -Crau and the Étang de Berre within its imaginary borders. Avignon and -Vaucluse are its neighbours on the north and northeast, and, taken all -in all, it is as historic and romantic a region as may be found in all -Europe. - -The literary guide-posts throughout Provence are numerous and prominent, -though they cannot all be enumerated here. One may wander with Petrarch -in and around Avignon and Vaucluse; he may coast along Dante's highway -of the sea from the Genoese seaport to Marseilles; he may tarry with -Tartarin at Tarascon; or may follow in the footsteps of Edmond Dantes -from Marseilles to Beaucaire and Bellegarde; and in any case he will -only be in a more appreciative mood for the wonderful works of Mistral -and his fellows of the Félibres. - -The troubadours and the "courts of love" have gone the way of all -mediæval institutions and nothing has quite come up to take their place, -but the memory of all the literary history of the old province is so -plentifully bestrewn through the pages of modern writers of history and -romance that no spot in the known world is more prolific in reminders of -those idyllic times than this none too well known and travelled part of -old France. - -If the spirit of old romance is so dead or latent in the modern -traveller by automobile or the railway that he does not care to go back -to mediæval times, he can still turn to the pages of Daudet and find -portraiture which is so characteristic of Tarascon and the country -round about to-day that it may be recognized even by the stranger, -though the inhabitant of that most interesting Rhône-side city denies -that there is the slightest resemblance. - -Then there is Felix Gras's "Rouges du Midi," first written in the -Provençal tongue. One must not call the tongue a patois, for the -Provençal will tell you emphatically that his is a real and pure tongue, -and that it is the Breton who speaks a patois. - -From the Provençal this famous tale of Felix Gras was translated into -French and speedily became a classic. It is romance, if you like, but -most truthful, if only because it proves Carlyle and his estimates of -the celebrated "Marseilles Battalion" entirely wrong. Even in the -English translation the tale loses but little of its originality and -colour, and it remains a wonderful epitome of the traits and characters -of the Provençaux. - -Dumas himself, in that time-tried (but not time-worn) romance of "Monte -Cristo," rises to heights of topographical description and portrait -delineations which he scarcely ever excelled. - -Every one has read, and supposedly has at his finger-tips, the pages of -this thrilling romance, but if he is journeying through Provence, let -him read it all again, and he will find passages of a directness and -truthfulness that have often been denied this author--by critics who -have taken only an arbitrary and prejudiced view-point. - -Marseilles, the scene of the early career of Dantes and the lovely -Mercédès, stands out perhaps most clearly, but there is a wonderful -chapter which deals with the Pays d'Arles, and is as good topographical -portraiture to-day as when it was written. - -Here are some lines of Dumas which no traveller down the Rhône valley -should neglect to take as his guide and mentor if he "stops off"--as he -most certainly should--at Tarascon, and makes the round of Tarascon, -Beaucaire, Bellegarde, and the Pont du Gard. - -"Such of my readers as may have made a pedestrian journey to the south -of France may perhaps have noticed, midway between the town of Beaucaire -and the village of Bellegarde, a small roadside inn, from the front of -which hung, creaking and flapping in the wind, a sheet of tin covered -with a rude representation of the ancient Pont du Gard." - -There is nothing which corresponds to this ancient inn sign to be seen -to-day, but any one of a dozen humble houses by the side of the canal -which runs from Beaucaire to Aigues Mortes might have been the inn in -question, kept by the unworthy Caderousse, with whom Dantes, disguised -as the abbé, had the long parley which ultimately resulted in his -getting on the track of his former defamers. - -Dumas's further descriptions were astonishingly good, as witness the -following: - -"The place boasted of what, in these parts, was called a garden, -scorched beneath the ardent sun of this latitude, with its soil giving -nourishment to a few stunted olive and dingy fig trees, around which -grew a scanty supply of tomatoes, garlic, and eschalots, with a sort of -a lone sentinel in the shape of a scrubby pine." - -If this were all that there was of Provence, the picture might be -thought an unlovely one, but there is a good deal more, though often -enough one does see--just as Dumas pictured it--this sort of habitation, -all but scorched to death by the dazzling southern sun. - -At the time of which Dumas wrote, the canal between Beaucaire and Aigues -Mortes had just been opened and the traffic which once went on by road -between this vast trading-place (for the annual fair of Beaucaire, like -that of Guibray in Normandy, and to some extent like that of Nijni -Novgorod, was one of the most considerable of its kind in the known -world) and the cities and towns of the southwest came to be conducted by -barge and boat, and so Caderousse's inn had languished from a sheer lack -of patronage. - -Dumas does not forget his tribute to the women of the Pays d'Arles, -either; and here again he had a wonderfully facile pen. Of Caderousse -and his wife he says: - -"Like other dwellers of the southland, Caderousse was a man of sober -habits and moderate desires, but fond of external show and display and -vain to a degree. During the days of his prosperity, not a fête or a -ceremonial took place but that he and his wife were participants. On -these occasions he dressed himself in the picturesque costume worn at -such times by the dwellers in the south of France, bearing an equal -resemblance to the style worn by Catalans and Andalusians. - -"His wife displayed the charming fashion prevalent among the women of -Arles, a mode of attire borrowed equally from Greece and Arabia, with a -glorious combination of chains, necklaces, and scarves." - -The women of the Pays d'Arles have the reputation of being the most -beautiful of all the many types of beautiful women in France, and they -are faithful, always, to what is known as the costume of the _pays_, -which, it must be understood, is something more than the _coiffe_ which -usually marks the distinctive dress of a _petit pays_. - -It is a common error among rhapsodizing tourists who have occasionally -stopped at Arles, _en route_ to the pleasures of the Riviera, to suppose -that the original Arlesien costume is that seen to-day. As a matter of -fact it dates back only about four generations, and it was well on in -the forties of the nineteenth century when the _ruban-diadème_ and the -Phrygian _coiffe_ came to be the caprice of the day. In this form it -has, however, endured throughout all the sixty villages and towns of the -_pays_. - -The _ruban-diadème_, the _coiffe_, the _corsage_, the _fichu_, the -_jupon_, and a chain bearing, usually, a Maltese cross, all combine to -set off in a marvellous manner the loveliness of these large-eyed -beauties of Provence. - -Only after they have reached their thirteenth or fourteenth year do the -young girls assume the _coiffure_,--when they have commenced to see -beyond their noses, as the saying goes in French,--when, until old age -carries them off, they are always as jauntily dressed as if they were -_toujours en fête_. - -There is a romantic glamour about Arles, its arena, its theatre, its -marvellously beautiful Church of St. Trophime, and much else that is -fascinating to all travelled and much-read persons; and so Arles takes -the chief place in the galaxy of old-time Provençal towns, before even -Nîmes, Avignon, and Aix-en-Provence. - -Everything is in a state of decay at Arles; far more so, at least, than -at Nîmes, where the arena is much better preserved, and the "Maison -Carrée" is a gem which far exceeds any monument of Arles in its beauty -and preservation; or at Orange, where the antique theatre is superb -beyond all others, both in its proportions and in its existing state of -preservation. - -The charm of Arles lies in its former renown and in the reminders, -fragmentary though some of them be, of its past glories. In short it is -a city so rich in all that goes to make up the attributes of a "_ville -de l'art célèbre_," that it has a special importance. - -Marseilles, among the cities of modern France, has usually been -considered the most ancient; but even that existed as a city but six -hundred years before the Christian era, whereas Anibert, a "_savant -Arlésien_," has stated that the founding of Arles dates back to fifteen -hundred years before Christ, or nine hundred years before that of -Marseilles. In the lack of any convincing evidence one way or another, -one can let his sympathies drift where they will, but Arles certainly -looks its age more than does Marseilles. - -It would not be practicable here to catalogue all the monumental -attractions of the Arles of a past day which still remain to remind one -of its greatness. The best that the writer can do is to advise the -traveller to take his ease at his inn, which in this case may be either -the excellent Hôtel du Nord-Pinus--which has a part of the portico of -the ancient forum built into its façade--or across the Place du Forum at -the Hôtel du Forum. From either vantage-ground one will get a good -start, and much assistance from the obliging patrons, and a day, a week, -or a month is not too much to spend in this charming old-time capital. - -Among the many sights of Arles three distinct features will particularly -impress the visitor: the proximity of the Rhône, the great arena and its -neighbouring theatre, and the Cathedral of St. Trophime. - -It was in the thirteenth century that Arles first came to distinction as -one of the great Latin ports. The Rhône had for ages past bathed its -walls, and what more natural than that the river should be the highway -which should bring the city into intercourse with the outside world? - -Soon it became rich and powerful and bid fair to become a ship-owning -community which should rival the coast towns themselves, and its "lion -banners" flew masthead high in all the ports of the Mediterranean. - -The navigation of the Rhône at this time presented many difficulties; -the estuary was always shifting, as it does still, though the question -of navigating the river has been solved, or made the easier, by the -engineering skill of the present day. - -The cargoes coming by sea were transshipped into a curious sort of craft -known as an _allege_, from which they were distributed to all the towns -along the Rhône. The carrying trade remained, however, in the hands of -the Arlesiens. The great fair of Beaucaire, renowned as it was -throughout all of Europe, contributed not a little to the traffic. For -six weeks in each year it was a great market for all the goods and -stuffs of the universe, and gave such a strong impetus to trade that -the effects were felt throughout the year in all the neighbouring cities -and towns. - -The Cathedral of St. Trophime, as regards its portal and cloister, may -well rank first among the architectural delights of its class. The -decorations of its portal present a complicated drama of religious -figures and symbols, at once austere and dignified and yet fantastic in -their design and arrangement. There is nothing like it in all France, -except its near-by neighbour at St. Gilles-du-Rhône, and, in the beauty -and excellence of its carving, it far excels the splendid façades of -Amiens and Reims, even though they are more extensive and more -magnificently disposed. - -The main fabric of the church, and its interior, are ordinary enough, -and are in no way different from hundreds of a similar type elsewhere; -but in the cloister, to the rear, architectural excellence again rises -to a superlative height. Here, in a justly proportioned quadrangle, are -to be seen four distinct periods and styles of architectural decoration, -from the round-headed arches of the colonnade on one side, up through -the primitive Gothic on the second, the later and more florid variety on -the third, and finally the debasement in Renaissance forms and outlines -on the fourth. The effect is most interesting and curious both to the -student of architectural art and to the lover of old churches, and is -certainly unfamiliar enough in its arrangement to warrant hazarding the -opinion that it is unique among the celebrated mediæval cloisters still -existing. - -Immediately behind the cathedral are the remains of the theatre and the -arena. Less well preserved than that at Orange, the theatre of the Arles -of the Romans, a mere ruined waste to-day, gives every indication of -having been one of the most important works of its kind in Gaul, -although, judging from its present admirable state of preservation, that -of Orange was the peer of its class. - -To-day there are but a scattered lot of tumbled-about remains, much of -the structure having gone to build up other edifices in the town, before -the days when proper guardianship was given to such chronicles in stone. -A great _porte_ still exists, some arcades, two lone, staring -columns,--still bearing their delicately sculptured capitals,--and -numerous ranges of rising _banquettes_. - -This old _théâtre romain_ must have been ornamented with a lavish -disregard for expense, for it was in the ruins here that the celebrated -Venus d'Arles was discovered in 1651, and given to Louis XIV. in 1683. - -The arena is much better preserved than the theatre. It is a splendid -and colossal monument, surpassing any other of its kind outside of Rome. -Its history is very full and complete, and writers of the olden time -have recounted many odious combats and many spectacles wherein ferocious -beasts and gladiators played a part. To-day bull-fights, with something -of an approach to the splendour of the Spanish variety, furnish the -bloodthirsty of Arles with their amusement. There is this advantage in -witnessing the sport at Arles: one sees it amid a mediæval stage setting -that is lacking in Spain. - -It is in this arena that troops of wild beasts, brought from all parts -of the empire, tore into pieces the poor unfortunates who were held -captive in the prisons beneath the galleries. These dungeons are shown -to-day, with much bloodthirsty recital, by the very painstaking -guardian, who, for an appropriate, though small, fee, searches out the -keys and opens the gateway to this imposing enclosure, where formerly as -many as twenty-five thousand persons assemble to witness the cruel -sacrifices. - -[Illustration: _A Young Arlesienne_] - -Tiberius Nero--a name which has come to be a synonym of moral -degradation--was one of the principal colonizers of Arles, and built, it -is supposed, this arena for his savage pleasures. In its perfect state -it would have been a marvel, but the barbarians partly ruined it and -turned it into a sort of fortified camp. In a more or less damaged state -it existed until 1825, when the parasitical structures which had been -built up against its walls were removed, and it was freed to light and -air for the traveller of a later day to marvel and admire. - -Modern Arles has quite another story to tell; it is typical of all the -traditions of the Provence of old, and it is that city of Provence that -best presents the present-day life of southern France. - -Even to-day the well-recognized type of Arlesienne ranks among the -beautiful women of the world. Possessed of a carriage that would be -remarked even on the boulevards of Paris, and of a beauty of feature -that enables her to concede nothing to her sisters of other lands, the -Arlesienne is ever a pleasing picture. As much as anything, it is the -costume and the _coiffe_ that contributes to her beauty, for the tiny -white bonnet or cap, bound with a broad black ribbon, sets off her raven -locks in a bewitching manner. Simplicity and harmony is the key-note of -it all, and the women of Arles are not made jealous or conceited by the -changing of Paris fashions. - -The contrast between what is left of ancient Arles and the commercial -aspect of the modern city is everywhere to be remarked, for Arles is the -distributing-point for all the products of the Camargue and the Crau, -and the life of the cafés and hotels is to a great extent that of the -busy merchants of the town and their clients from far and near. All this -gives Arles a certain air of metropolitanism, but it does not in the -least overshadow the memories of its past. - -In the open country northwest of Arles is the ancient Benedictine abbey -of Montmajour, twice destroyed and twice reërected. Finally abandoned in -the thirteenth century, it was carefully guarded by the proprietors, -until now it ranks as one of the most remarkable of the historical -monuments of its kind in all France. - -It has quite as much the appearance of a fortress as of a religious -establishment, for its great fourteenth-century tower, with its -_mâchicoulis_ and _tourelles_, suggest nothing churchly, but rather an -attribute of a warlike stronghold. - -The majestic church needs little in the way of rebuilding and -restoration to assume the splendour that it must have had under its -monkish proprietors of another day. Beneath is another edifice, much -like a crypt, but which expert archæologists tell one is not a crypt in -the generally accepted sense of the term. At any rate it is much better -lighted than crypts usually are, and looks not unlike an earlier -edifice, which was simply built up and another story added. - -[Illustration: _Abbey of Montmajour and Vineyard_] - -The remains of the cloister are worthy to be classed in the same -category as that wonderful work of St. Trophime, but whether the one -inspired the other, or they both proceeded simultaneously, neither -history nor the local antiquaries can state. - -Besides the conventional buildings proper there are a primitive chapel -and a hermitage once dedicated to the uses of St. Trophime. Since these -minor structures, if they may be so called, date from the sixth century, -they may be considered as among the oldest existing religious monuments -in France. The "_Commission des Monuments Historiques_" guards the -remains of this opulent abbey and its dependencies of a former day with -jealous care, and if any restorations are undertaken they are sure to be -carried out with taste and skill. - -Near Montmajour is another religious edifice of more than passing -remark, the Chapelle Ste. Croix. Its foundation has been attributed to -Charlemagne, and again to Charles Martel, who gave to it the name which -it still bears in commemoration of his victory over the Saracens. It is -a simple but very beautiful structure, in the form of a Greek cross, and -admirably vaulted and groined. There are innumerable sepulchres -scattered about and many broken and separated funeral monuments, which -show the prominence of this little commemorative chapel among those of -its class. - -Every seven years, that is to say whenever the 3d of May falls on a -Friday (the anniversary of the victory of Charles Martel), the chapel -becomes a place of pious pilgrimages for great numbers of the thankful -and devout from all parts of France. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -ST. RÉMY DE PROVENCE - - -St. Rémy de Provence is delightful and indescribable in its quiet charm. -It's not so very quiet either--at times--and its great Fête de St. Rémy -in October is anything but quiet. On almost any summer Sunday, too, its -cafés and terraces, and the numerous tree-bordered squares and places, -and its Cours--the inevitable adjunct of all Provençal towns--are as gay -with the life of the town and the country round about as any local -metropolis in France. - -The local merchants call St. Rémy "_toujours un pays mort_," but in -spite of this they all eke out considerably more than what a -full-blooded Burgundian would call a good living. As a matter of fact -the population of St. Rémy live on something approaching the abundance -of good things of the Côte d'Or itself. There is perhaps nothing -remarkable about this, in the midst of a mild and pleasant land like -Provence; but it seems wise to state it here, for we know of an -Englishman who stayed three days at St. Rémy's most excellent Grand -Hôtel de Provence and complained because he did not get beefsteaks or -ham and eggs for a single meal! He got carp from Vaucluse, _langouste_ -from St. Louis-de-Rhône, the finest sort of lamb (but not plain boiled, -with cauliflower as a side dish), chickens of the real spring variety, -or a brace of little wild birds which look like sparrows and taste like -quail, but which are neither--with, as like as not, a bottle of -Châteauneuf des Papes, grapes, figs, olives, and goat's milk cheese. -Either this, or a variation of it, was his daily menu for breakfast or -dinner, and still he pined for beefsteaks! Had our traveller been an -American he would perhaps have cried aloud for boiled codfish or pumpkin -pie! - -The hotel of St. Rémy is to be highly commended in spite of all this, -though the writer has only partaken of an occasional meal there. He got -nearer the soil, living the greater part of one long bright autumn in -the household of an estimable tradesman,--a baker by trade, though -considering that he made a great accomplishment of it, it may well be -reckoned a profession. - -Up at three in the morning, he, with the assistance of a small -boy,--some day destined to be his successor,--puts in his artistic -touches on the patting and shaping of the various loaves, ultimately -sliding them into the great low-ceiled brick oven with a sort of -elongated snow-shovel such as bakers use the world over. - -It was in his manipulating of things that the art of it all came in. -Frenchmen will not all eat bread fashioned in the same form, and the -cottage loaf is unknown in France. One may have a preference for a -"_pain mouffle_," a long sort of a roll; or, if he likes a crusty -morsel, nothing but a "_pistolet_" or a "_baton_" will do him. Others -will eat nothing but a great circular washer of bread--"_comme un rond -de cuir_"--or a "_tresse_," which is three plaited strands, also crusty. -A favourite with toothless old veterans of the Crimea or beldames who -have seen seventy or eighty summers is the "_chapeau de gendarme_," a -three-cornered sort of an affair with no crust to speak of. - -By midday the baker-host had become the merchant of the town and had -dressed himself in a garb more or less approaching city fashions, and -seated himself in a sort of back parlour to the shop in front, which, -however, served as a kitchen and a dining-room as well. - -Many and bountiful and excellent were the meals eaten _en famille_ in -the room back of the shop, often enough in company with a _beau-frère_, -who came frequently from Cavaillon, and a niece and her husband, who was -an attorney, and who lived in a great Renaissance stone house opposite -the fountain of Nostradamus, St. Rémy's chief titular deity. - -These were the occasions when eating and drinking was as superlative an -expression of the joy of life as one is likely to have experienced in -these degenerate days when we are mostly nourished by means of patent -foods and automatic buffets. - -"My brother has a pretty taste in wine," says the _beau-frère_ from -Cavaillon, as he opens another bottle of the wine of St. Rémy, grown on -the hillside just overlooking "_les antiquités_." Those relics of the -Roman occupation are the pride of the citizen, who never tires of -strolling up the road with a stranger, and pointing out the beauties of -these really charming historical monuments. Truly M. Farges did have a -pretty taste in wine, and he had a cellar as well stocked in quantity -and variety as that of a Riviera hotel-keeper. - -Not the least of the attractions of M. Farges's board was the grace with -which his Arlesienne wife presided over the good things of the casserole -and the spit, that long skewer which, when loaded with a chicken, or a -duck, or a dozen small birds, turned slowly by clockwork before a fire -of olive-tree roots on the open hearth, or rather, on top of the -_fourneau_, which was only used itself for certain operations. Baked -meats and _rôti_ are two vastly different things in France. - -"Marcel, he bakes the bread, and I cook for him," says the jauntily -coiffed, buxom little lady, whose partner Marcel had been for some -thirty years. In spite of the passing of time, both were still young, or -looked it, though they were of that ample girth which betokens good -living, and, what is quite as important, good cooking; and madame's -taste in cookery was as "pretty" as her husband's for bread-making and -wine. - -Given a casserole half-full of boiling oil (also a product of St. -Rémy's; real olive-oil, with no dilution of cottonseed to flatten out -the taste) and anything whatever eatable to drop in it, and Madame -Farges will work wonders with her deftness and skill, and, like all good -cooks, do it, apparently, by guesswork. - -It is a marvel to the writer that some one has not written a book -devoted to the little every-day happenings of the French middle classes. -Manifestly the trades of the butcher, the baker, and the -candlestick-maker have the same ends in view in France as elsewhere, but -their procedure is so different, so very different. - -It strikes the foreigner as strange that your baker here gives you a -tally-stick, even to-day, when pass-books and all sorts of automatic -calculators are everywhere to be found. It is a fact, however, that your -baker does this at St. Rémy; and regulates the length of your credit by -the length of the stick, a plan which has many advantages for all -concerned over other methods. - -You arrange as to what your daily loaf shall be, and for every one -delivered a notch is cut in the stick, which you guard as you would your -purse; that is, you guard your half of it, for it has been split down -the middle, and the worthy baker has a whole battery of these split -sticks strung along the dashboard of his cart. The two separate halves -are put together when the notch is cut across the joint, and there you -have undisputable evidence of delivery. It's very much simpler than the -old backwoods system of keeping accounts on a slate, and wiping off the -slate when they were paid, and it's safer for all concerned. When you -pay your baker at St. Rémy, he steps inside your kitchen and puts the -two sticks on the fire, and together you see them go up in smoke. - -[Illustration: _Baker's Tally-sticks_] - -[Illustration: _St. Rémy_] - -St. Rémy itself is a historic shrine, sitting jauntily beneath the -jagged profile of the Alpines, from whose crest one gets one of those -wonderful vistas of a rocky gorge which is, in a small way, only -comparable to the cañon of the Colorado. It is indeed a splendid view -that one gets just as he rises over the crest of this not very ample or -very lofty mountain range, and it has all the elements of grandeur and -brilliancy which are possessed by its more famous prototypes. It is -quite indescribable, hence the illustration herewith must be left to -tell its own story. - -Below, in the ample plain in which St. Rémy sits, is a wonderful garden -of fruits and flowers. St. Rémy is a great centre for commerce in -olives, olive-oil, vegetables, and fruit which is put up into tins and -exported to the ends of the earth. - -Not every one likes olive-trees as a picturesque note in a landscape any -more than every one likes olives to eat. But for all that the -grayish-green tones of the flat-topped _oliviers_ of these parts are -just the sort of things that artists love, and a plantation of them, -viewed from a hill above, has as much variety of tone, and shade, and -colour as a field of heather or a poppy-strewn prairie. - -The inhabitants of most of the old-time provinces of France have -generally some special heirloom of which they are exceedingly fond; but -not so fond but that they will part with it for a price. The Breton has -his great closed-in bed, the Norman his _armoire_, and the Provençal his -"grandfather's clock," or, at least, a great, tall, curiously wrought -affair, which we outsiders have come to designate as such. - -Not all of these great timepieces which are found in the peasant homes -round about St. Rémy are ancient; indeed, few of them are, but all have -a certain impressiveness about them which a household god ought to have, -whether it is a real antique or a gaudily painted thing with much -brasswork and, above all, a gong that strikes at painfully frequent -intervals with a vociferousness which would wake the Seven Sleepers if -they hadn't been asleep so long. - -The traffic in these tall, coffin-like clocks--though they are not by -any means sombre in hue--is considerable at St. Rémy. The local -clock-maker (he doesn't really make them) buys the cases ready-made from -St. Claude, or some other wood-carving town in the Jura or Switzerland, -and the works in Germany, and assembles them in his shop, and stencils -his name in bold letters on the face of the thing as maker. This is -deception, if you like, but there is no great wrong in it, and, since -the clock and watch trade the world over does the same thing, it is one -of the immoralities which custom has made moral. - -They are not dear, these great clocks of Provence, which more than one -tourist has carried away with him before now as a genuine "antique." -Forty or fifty francs will buy one, the price depending on the amount of -chasing on the brasswork of its great pendulum. - -Six feet tall they stand, in rows, all painted as gaudily as a circus -wagon, waiting for some peasant to come along and make his selection. -When it does arrive at some humble cottage in the Alpines, or in the -marshy vineyard plain beside the Rhône, there is a sort of house-warming -and much feasting, which costs the peasant another fifty francs as a -christening fee. - -The clocks of St. Rémy and the _panetières_ which hang on the wall and -hold the household supply of bread open to the drying influences of the -air, and yet away from rats and mice, are the chief and most distinctive -house-furnishings of the homes of the countryside. For the rest the -Provençal peasant is as likely to buy himself a wickerwork chair, or a -German or American sewing-machine, with which to decorate his home, as -anything else. One thing he will not have foreign to his environment, -and that is his cooking utensils. His "_batterie de cuisine_" may not be -as ample as that of the great hotels, but every one knows that the -casseroles of commerce, whether one sees them in San Francisco, Buenos -Ayres, or Soho, are a Provençal production, and that there is a certain -little town, not many hundred miles from St. Rémy, which is devoted -almost exclusively to the making of this all-useful cooking utensil. - -[Illustration: _A Panetière_] - -The _panetières_, like the clocks, have a great fascination for the -tourist, and the desire to possess one has been known to have been so -great as to warrant an offer of two hundred and fifty francs for an -article which the present proprietor probably bought for twenty not many -months before. - -St. Rémy's next-door neighbour, just across the ridge of the Alpines, is -Les Baux. - -Every traveller in Provence who may have heard of Les Baux has had a -desire to know more of it based on a personal acquaintance. - -To-day it is nothing but a scrappy, tumble-down ruin of a once proud -city of four thousand inhabitants. Its foundation dates back to the -fifth century, and five hundred years later its seigneurs possessed the -rights over more than sixty neighbouring towns. It was only saved in -recent years from total destruction by the foresight of the French -government, which has stepped in and passed a decree that henceforth it -is to rank as one of those "_monuments historiques_" over which it has -spread its guardian wing. - -Les Baux of the present day is nothing but a squalid hamlet, and from -the sternness of the topography round about one wonders how its present -small population gains its livelihood, unless it be that they live on -goat's milk and goat's meat, each of them a little strong for a general -diet. As a picture paradise for artists, however, Les Baux is the peer -of anything of its class in all France; but that indeed is another -story. - -The historical and architectural attractions of Les Baux are many, -though, without exception, they are in a ruinous state. The Château des -Baux was founded on the site of an _oppidum gaulois_ in the fifth -century, and in successive centuries was enlarged, modified, and -aggrandized for its seigneurs, who bore successively the titles of -Prince d'Orange, Comte de Provence, Roi d'Arles et de Vienne, and -Empereur de Constantinople. - -One of the chief monuments is the Église St. Vincent, dating from the -twelfth to the fourteenth centuries, and containing the tombs of many of -the Seigneurs of Baux. - -There is, too, a ragged old ruin of a Protestant temple, with a series -of remarkable carvings, and the motto "_Post tenebras lux_" graven above -its portal. The Palais des Porcelets, now the "communal" school, and the -Église St. Claude, which has three distinct architectural styles all -plainly to be seen, complete the near-by sights and scenes, all of -which are of a weather-worn grimness, which has its charms in spite of -its sadness of aspect. - -Not far distant is the Grotte des Fées, known in the Provençal tongue as -"Lou Trau di Fado," a great cavern some five hundred or more feet in -length, the same in which Mistral placed one of the most pathetic scenes -of "Mirèio." Of it and its history, and of the great Christmas fête with -its midnight climax, nothing can be said here; it needs a book to -itself, and, as the French say, "_c'est un chose à voir_." - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -THE CRAU AND THE CAMARGUE - - -When the Rhône enters that _département_ of modern France which bears -the name Bouches-du-Rhône, it has already accomplished eight hundred and -seventy kilometres of its torrential course, and there remain but -eighty-five more before, through the many mouths of the Grand and Petit -Rhône, it finally mingles the Alpine waters of its source with those of -the Mediterranean. - -Its flow is enormous when compared with the other inland waterways of -France, and, though navigable only in a small way compared to the Seine, -the traffic on it from the Mediterranean to Lyons, by great towed barges -and canal-boats, and between Lyons and Avignon, in the summer months, by -steamboat, is, after all, considerable. Queer-looking barges and -towboats, great powerful craft that will tow anything that has got an -end to it, as the river folk will tell you, and "_bateaux longs_," make -up the craft which one sees as the mighty river enters Provence. - -The boatmen of the Rhône still call the right bank _Riaume_ (Royaume) -and the left _Empi_ (Saint Empire), the names being a survival of the -days when the kingdom of France controlled the traffic on one side, and -the papal power, so safely ensconced for seventy years at Avignon, on -the other. - -The fall of the Rhône, which is the principal cause of its rapid -current, averages something over six hundred millimetres to the -kilometre until it reaches Avignon, when, for the rest of its course, -considerably under a hundred kilometres, the fall is but twenty metres, -something like sixty-five feet. - -This state of affairs has given rise to a remarkable alluvial -development, so that the plains of the Crau and the Camargue, and the -lowlands of the estuary, appear like "made land" to all who have ever -seen them. There is an appreciable growth of stunted trees and bushes -and what not, but the barrenness of the Camargue has not sensibly -changed in centuries, and it remains still not unlike a desert patch of -Far-Western America. - -Wiry grass, and another variety particularly suited to the raising and -grazing of live stock, has kept the region from being one of absolute -poverty; but, unless one is interested in raising little horses (who -look as though they might be related to the broncos of the Western -plains), or beef or mutton, he will have no excuse for ever coming to -the Camargue to settle. - -These little half-savage horses of the Camargue are thought to be the -descendants of those brought from the Orient in ages past, and they -probably are, for the Saracens were for long masters of the _pays_. - -The difference between the Camargue and the Crau is that the former has -an almost entire absence of those cairns of pebbles which make the Crau -look like a pagan cemetery. - -Like the horses, the cattle of the Camargue seem to be a distinct and -indigenous variety, with long pointed horns, and generally white or -cream coloured, like the oxen of the Allier. When the mistral blows, -these cattle of the Camargue, instead of turning their backs upon it, -face it, calmly chewing their cud. The herdsmen of the cattle have a -laborious occupation, tracking and herding day and night, in much the -same manner as the Gauchos of the Pampas and the cowboys of the Far -West. They resemble the toreadors of Spain, too, and, in many of their -feats, are quite as skilful and intrepid as are the Manuels and Pedros -of the bull-ring. - -[Illustration: _The Bulls of Camargue_] - -As one approaches the sea the aspect of the Camargue changes; the -hamlets become less and less frequent, and outside of these there are -few signs of life except the guardians of cattle and sheep which one -meets here, there, and everywhere. - -The flat, monotonous marsh is only relieved by the delicate tints of the -sky and clouds overhead, and the reflected rays of the setting sun, and -the glitter of the waves of the sea itself. - -Suddenly, as one reads in Mistral's "Mirèio," Chant X., "_sur la mer -lointaine et clapoteuse, comme un vaisseau qui cingle vers le rivage_," -one sees a great church arising almost alone. It is the church of Les -Saintes Maries. - -Formerly the little town of Les Saintes Maries, or village rather, for -there are but some six hundred souls within its confines to-day, was on -an island quite separated from the mainland. Here, history tells, was an -ancient temple to Diana, but no ruins are left to make it a place of -pilgrimage for worshippers at pagan shrines; instead Christians flock -here in great numbers, on the 24th of May and the 22d of October in each -year, from all over Provence and Languedoc, as they have since Bible -times, to pray at the shrine of the three Marys in the fortress-church -of Les Saintes Maries: Mary, the sister of the Virgin Mary, the mother -of the apostles James and John, and Mary Magdalen. - -[Illustration: _Les Saintes Maries_] - -The village of Les Saintes, as it is commonly called, is a sad, dull -town, with no trees, no gardens, no "Place," no market, and no port; -nothing but one long, straight and narrow street, with short culs-de-sac -leading from it, and one of the grandest and most singular church -edifices to be seen in all France. Like the cathedrals at Albi and -Rodez, it looks as much like a fortress as it does a church, and here it -has not even the embellishments of a later decorative period to set off -the grimness of its walls. - -As one approaches, the aspect of this bizarre edifice is indeed -surprising, rising abruptly, though not to a very imposing height, from -the flat, sandy, marshy plain at its feet. The foundation of the church -here was due to the appearance of Christianity among the Gauls at a very -early period; but, like the pagan temple of an earlier day, all vestiges -of this first Christian monument have disappeared, destroyed, it is -said, by the Saracens. A noble--whose name appears to have been -forgotten--built a new church here in the tenth century, which took the -form of a citadel as a protection against further piratical invasion. At -the same time a few houses were built around the haunches of the -fortress-church, for the inhabitants of this part of the Camargue were -only too glad to avail themselves of the shelter and protection which it -offered. - -In a short time a _petite ville_ had been created and was given the name -of Notre Dame de la Barque, in honour of the arrival in Gaul at this -point of "..._les saintes femmes Marie Magdeleine, Marie Jacobé, Marie -Salomé, Marthe et son frère Lazare, ainsi que de plusieurs disciples du -Sauveur_." They were the same who had been set adrift in an open boat -off the shores of Judea, and who, without sails, oars, or nourishment, -in some miraculous manner, had drifted here. The tradition has been well -guarded by the religious and civic authorities alike, the arms of the -town bearing a representation of a shipwrecked craft supported by female -figures and the legend "_Navis in Pelago_." - -On the occasion of the fête, on the 24th of May, there are to be -witnessed many moving scenes among the pilgrims of all ages who have -made the journey, many of them on foot, from all over Provence. Like the -pardons of Brittany, the fête here has much the same significance and -procedure. There is much processioning, and praying, and exhorting, and -burning of incense and of candles, and afterward a _défilé_ to the sands -of the seashore, some two kilometres away, and a "_bénédiction des -troupeaux_," which means simply that the blessings that are so commonly -bestowed upon humanity by the clergy are extended on these occasions to -take in the animal kind of the Camargue plain, on whom so many of the -peasants depend for their livelihood. It seems a wise and thoughtful -thing to do, and smacks no more of superstition than many traditional -customs. - -After the religious ceremonies are over, the "_fête profane_" commences, -and then there are many things done which might well enough be frowned -down; bull-baiting, for instance. The entire spectacle is unique in -these parts, and every whit as interesting as the most spectacular -pardon of Finistère. - -At the actual mouth of the Rhône is Port St. Louis, from which the -economists expect great things in the development of mid-France, -particularly of those cities which lie in the Rhône valley. The idea is -not quite so chimerical as that advanced in regard to the possibility of -moving all the great traffic of Marseilles to the Étang de Berre; but it -will be some years before Port St. Louis is another Lorient or Le Havre. - -In spite of this, Port St. Louis has grown from a population of eight -hundred to that of a couple of thousands in a generation, which is an -astonishing growth for a small town in France. - -The aspect of the place is not inspiring. A signal-tower, a lighthouse, -a Hôtel de Ville,--which looks as though it might be the court-house of -some backwoods community in Missouri,--and the rather ordinary houses -which shelter St. Louis's two thousand souls, are about all the tangible -features of the place which impress themselves upon one at first glance. - -Besides this there is a very excellent little hotel, a veritable _hôtel -du pays_, where you will get the fish of the Mediterranean as fresh as -the hour they were caught; and the _mouton de la Camargue_, which is the -most excellent mutton in all the world (when cooked by a Provençal -_maître_); potatoes, of course, which most likely came in a trading -Catalan bark from Algeria; and tomatoes and dates from the same place; -to say nothing of melons--home-grown. It's all very simple, but the -marvel is that such a town in embryo as Port St. Louis really is can do -it so well, and for this reason alone the visitor will, in most cases, -think the journey from Arles worth making, particularly if he does it -_en auto_, for the fifty odd kilometres are like a sanded, hardwood -floor or a cinder path, and the landscape, though flat, is by no means -deadly dull. Furthermore there is no one to say him nay if the driver -chooses to make the journey _en pleine vitesse_. - -Bordering upon the Camargue, just the other side of the Rhône, is -another similar tract: the Crau, a great, pebbly plain, supposed to have -come into being many centuries before the beginning of our era. The -hypotheses as to its formation are numerous, the chief being that it was -the work of that mythological Hercules who cut the Strait of Gibraltar -between the Mounts Calpe and Abyle (this, be it noted, is the French -version of the legend). Not content with this wonder, he turned the -Durance from its bed, as it flowed down from the Alps of Savoie, and a -shower of stones fell from the sky and covered the land for miles -around, turning it into a barren waste. For some centuries the tract -preserved the name of "Champs Herculéen." The reclaiming of the tract -will be a task of a magnitude not far below that which brought it into -being. - -At all events no part of Gaul has as little changed its topography since -ages past, and the strange aspect of the Crau is the marvel of all who -see it. The pebbles are of all sizes larger than a grain of sand, and -occasionally one has been found as big as one's head. When such a -treasure is discovered, it is put up in some conspicuous place for the -native and the stranger to marvel at. - -Many other conjectures have been made as to the origin of this strange -land. Aristotle thought that an earthquake had pulverized a mountain; -Posidonius, that it was the bottom of a dried-out lake; and Strabon that -the pebbly surface was due to large particles of rock having been rolled -about and smoothed by the winds; but none have the elements of legend so -well defined as that which attributes it as the work of Hercules. - -The Crau, like the Camargue, is a district quite indescribable. All -around is a lone, strange land, the only living things being the flocks -of sheep and the herds of great, long-horned cattle which are raised for -local consumption and for the bull-ring at Arles. - -It is indeed a weird and strange country, as level as the proverbial -billiard-table, and its few inhabitants are of that sturdy -weather-beaten race that knows not fear of man or beast. There is an old -saying that the native of the Crau and the Camargue must learn to fly -instead of fight, for there is nothing for him to put his back against. - -Far to the northward and eastward is a chain of mountains, the -foot-hills of the mighty Alps, while on the horizon to the south there -is a vista of a patch of blue sea which somewhere or other, not many -leagues away, borders upon fragrant gardens and flourishing seaports; -but in these pebbly, sandy plains all is level and monotonous, with only -an occasional oasis of trees and houses. - -The Crau was never known as a political division, but its topographical -aspect was commented on by geographers like Strabon, who also remarked -that it was strewn with a scant herbage which grew up between its -pebbles hardly sufficient to nourish a _taureau_. Things have not -changed much in all these long years, but there is, as a matter of fact, -nourishment for thousands of sheep and cattle. St. Césaire, Bishop of -Arles, also left a written record of pastures which he owned in the -midst of a _campo lapidio_ (presumably the Crau), and again, in the -tenth and eleventh centuries, numerous old charters make mention of -_Posena in Cravo_. All this points to the fact that the topographical -aspect of this barren, pebbly land--which may or may not be some day -reclaimed--has ever been what it is to-day. Approximately twenty-five -thousand hectares of this pasturage nourish some fifty thousand sheep -in the winter months. In the summer these flocks of sheep migrate to -Alpine pasturage, making the journey by highroad and nibbling their -nourishment where they find it. It seems a remarkable trip to which to -subject the docile creatures,--some five hundred kilometres out and -back. They go in flocks of two or three hundred, being guarded by a -couple of shepherds called "_bayles_," whose effects are piled in -saddle-bags on donkey-back, quite in the same way that the peasants of -Albania travel. The shepherds of the Crau are a very good imitation of -the Bedouin of the desert in their habits and their picturesque costume. -Always with the flock are found a pair of those discerning but -nondescript dogs known as "sheep-dogs." The doubt is cast upon the -legitimacy of their pedigree from the fact that, out of some hundreds -met with by the author on the highroads of Europe, no two seemed to be -of the same breed. Almost any old dog with shaggy hair seemingly -answered the purpose well. - -The custom of sending the sheep to the mountains of Dauphiné for the -summer months still goes on, but as often as not they are to-day sent by -train instead of by road. The ancient practice is apparently another -reminiscence of the wandering flocks and herds of the Orient. - -If it is ever reclaimed, the Crau will lose something in picturesqueness -of aspect, and of manners and customs; but it will undoubtedly prove to -the increased prosperity of the neighbourhood. The thing has been well -thought out, though whether it ever comes to maturity or not is a -question. - -It was Lord Brougham--"_le fervent étudiant de la Provence_," the French -call him--who said: "Herodotus called Egypt a gift of the Nile to -posterity, but the Durance can make of _la Crau une petite Egypte aux -portes de Marseilles_." From this one gathers that the region has only -to be plentifully watered to become a luxuriant and productive -river-bottom. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -MARTIGUES: THE PROVENÇAL VENICE - - -We arrived at Martigues in the early morning hours affected by -automobilists, having spent the night a dozen miles or so away in the -château of a friend. Our host made an early start on a shooting -expedition, already planned before we put in an appearance, so we took -the road at the witching hour of five A. M., and descended upon the -Hôtel Chabas at Martigues before the servants were up. Some one had -overslept. - -However, we gave the great door of the stable a gentle shake; it opened -slowly, but silently, and we drove the automobile noisily inside. Two -horses stampeded, a dog barked, a cock crowed, and sleepy-headed old -Pierre appeared, saying that they had no room, forgetful that another -day was born, and that he had allowed two fat commercial travellers, who -were to have left by the early train, to over-sleep. - -[Illustration: _Église de la Madeleine, Martigues_] - -As there was likely to be room shortly, we convinced Pierre (whose name -was really Pietro, he being an Italian) of the propriety of making us -some coffee, and then had leisure to realize that at last we were at -Martigues--"La Venise Provençale." - -Martigues is a paradise for artists. So far as its canals and quays go, -it is Venice without the pomp and glory of great palaces; and the life -of its fishermen and women is quite as picturesque as that of the -Giudecca itself. - -Wonderful indeed are the sunsets of a May evening, on Martigues's Canal -and Quai des Bourdigues, or from the ungainly bridge which crosses to -the Ferrières quarter, with the sky-scraping masts of the _tartanes_ -across the face of the sinking sun like prison bars. - -Great ungainly tubs are the boats of the fisherfolk of Martigues (all -except the _tartanes_, which are graceful white-winged birds). The -motor-boat has not come to take the picturesqueness away from the -slow-moving _bêtes_, which are more like the dory of the Gloucester -fishermen, without its buoyancy, than anything else afloat. - -Before the town, though two or three kilometres away, is the -Mediterranean, and back of it the Étang de Berre, known locally as "La -Petite Mer de Berre." - -Here is a little corner of France not yet overrun by tourists, and -perhaps it never will be. Hardly out of sight from the beaten track of -tourist travel to the south of France, and within twenty odd miles of -Marseilles, it is a veritable "darkest Africa" to most travellers. To be -sure, French and American artists know it well, or at least know the -lovely little triplet town of Martigues, through the pictures of Ziem -and Galliardini and some others; but the seekers after the diversions of -the "Côte d'Azur" know it not, and there are no tea-rooms and no "_bière -anglaise_" in the bars or cafés of the whole circuit of towns and -villages which surround this little inland sea. - -The aspect of this little-known section of Provence is not wholly as -soft and agreeable as, in his mind's eye, one pictures the country -adjacent to the Mediterranean to be. The hills and the shores of the -"Petite Mer" are sombre and severe in outline, but not sad or ugly by -any means, for there is an almost tropical glamour over all, though the -olive and fig trees, umbrella-pines and gnarled, dwarf cypresses, with -juts and crops of bare gray stone rising up through the thin soil, are -quite in contrast with the palms and aloes of the Riviera proper. - -At the entrance to the "Petite Mer," or, to give it its official name, -the Étang de Berre, is a little port which bears the vague name of Port -de Bouc. - -Port de Bouc itself is on the great Golfe de Fos, where the sun sets in -a blaze of colour for quite three hundred days in the year, and in a -manner unapproached elsewhere outside of Turner's landscapes. Perhaps it -is for this reason that the town has become a sort of watering-place for -the people of Nîmes, Arles, and Avignon. There is nothing of the -conventional resort about it, however, and the inhabitants of it, and -the neighbouring town of Fos, are mostly engaged in making bricks, -paper, and salt, refining petrol, and drying the codfish which are -landed at its wharves by great "_trois-mâts_," which have come in from -the banks of Terre Neuve during the early winter months. There is a -great ship-building establishment here which at times gives employment -to as many as a thousand men, and accordingly Port de Bouc and -Fos-sur-Mer, though their names are hardly known outside of their own -neighbourhoods, form something of a metropolis to-day, as they did when -the latter was a fortified _cité romaine_. - -The region round about has many of the characteristics of the Crau, a -land half-terrestrial and half-aquatic, formed by the alluvial deposits -of the mighty Rhône and the torrential rivers of its watershed. - -At Venice one finds superb marble palaces, and a history of sovereigns -and prelates, and much art and architecture of an excellence and -grandeur which perhaps exceeds that at any other popular tourist point. -Martigues resembles Venice only as regards its water-surrounded -situation, its canal-like streets and the general air of Mediterranean -picturesqueness of the life of its fisherfolk and seafarers. - -Martigues has an advantage over the "Queen of the Adriatic" in that none -of its canals are slimy or evil-smelling, and because there is an utter -absence of theatrical effect and, what is more to the point, an almost -unappreciable number of tourists. - -[Illustration: _House of M. Ziem, Martigues_] - -It is true that Galliardini and Ziem have made the fame of Martigues as -an "artists' sketching-ground," and as such its reputation has been -wide-spread. Artists of all nationalities come and go in twos and threes -throughout the year, but it has not yet been overrun at any time by -tourists. None except the Marseillais seem to have made it a resort, and -they only come out on bicycles or _en auto_ to eat "_bouillabaisse_" of -a special variety which has made Martigues famous. - -Ziem seems to have been one of the pioneers of the new school, -high-coloured paintings which are now so greatly the vogue. This is not -saying that for that reason they are any the less truthful -representations of the things they are supposed to present; probably -they are not; but if some one would explain why M. Ziem laid out an -artificial pond in the gardens of his house at Martigues, put up -Venetian lantern-poles, and anchored a gondola therein, and in another -corner built a mosque, or whatever it may be,--a thing of minarets and -towers and Moorish arches,--it would allay some suspicions which the -writer has regarding "the artist's way of working." - -It does not necessarily mean that Ziem did not go to Africa for his Arab -or Moorish compositions, or to Venice for his Venetian boatmen and his -palace backgrounds. Probably he merely used the properties as -accessories in an open-air studio, which is certainly as legitimate as -"working-up" one's pictures in a sky-lighted atelier up five flights of -stairs; and the chances are this is just where Ziem's brilliant -colouring comes from. - -Martigues in its manners and customs is undoubtedly one of the most -curious of all the coast towns of France. It is truly a gay little city, -or rather it is three of them, known as Les Martigues, though the sum -total of their inhabitants does not exceed six thousand souls all told. - -Martigues at first glance appears to be mostly peopled by sailors and -fishermen, and there is little of the super-civilization of a great -metropolis to be seen, except that "all the world and his wife" dines at -the fashionable hour of eight, and before, and after, and at all times, -patronizes the Café de Commerce to an extent which is the wonder of the -stranger and the great profit of the patron. - -[Illustration: _Martigues_] - -No café in any small town in France is so crowded at the hour of the -"_apéritif_," and all the frequenters of Martigues's most popular -establishment have their own special bottle of whatever of the varnishy -drinks they prefer from among those which go to make up the list of the -Frenchman's "_apéritifs_." It is most remarkable that the cafés of -Martigues should be so well patronized, and they are no mere longshore -_cabarets_, either, but have walls of plate glass, and as many -varieties of absinthe as you will find in a boulevard resort in Paris. - -The Provençal historians state that Les Martigues did not exist as such -until the middle of the thirteenth century, and that up to that time it -consisted merely of a few families of fisherfolk living in huts upon the -ruins of a former settlement, which may have been Roman, or perhaps -Greek. This first settlement was on the Ile St. Geniez, which now forms -the official quarter of the triple town. - -Martigues is all but indescribable, its three _quartiers_ are so widely -diversified in interest and each so characteristic in the life which -goes on within its confines,--Jonquières, with its shady Cours and -narrow cobblestoned streets; the Ile, surrounded by its canals and -fishing-boats, and Ferrières, a more or less fastidious faubourg backed -up against the hillside, crowned by an old Capucin convent. - -For a matter of fifteen hundred years there has been communication -between the Étang de Berre and the Mediterranean, and the Martigaux have -ever been alive to keeping the channel open. Through this canal the fish -which give industry and prosperity to Martigues make their way with an -almost inexplicable regularity. A migration takes place from the -Mediterranean to the Étang from February to July, and from July to -February they pass in the opposite direction. - -Their capture in deep water is difficult, and the Martigaux have -ingeniously built narrow waterways ending in a cul-de-sac, through which -the fish must naturally pass on their passage between the Étang and the -sea. The taking of the fish under such conditions is a sort of automatic -process, so efficacious and simple that it would seem as though the plan -might be tried elsewhere. - -The name given to the sluices or fish thoroughfares is _bourdigues_, and -the fishermen are known as _bourdigaliers_, a title which is not known -or recognized elsewhere. - -The _bourdigue_ fishery is a monopoly, however, and many have been the -attempts to break down the "vested interests" of the proprietors. -Originally these rights belonged to the Archbishop of Arles, and later -to the Seigneurs de Gallifet, Princes of Martigues, when the town was -made a principality by Henri IV. It has continued to be a private -enterprise unto to-day, and has been sanctioned by the courts, so there -appears no immediate probability of the general populace of Martigues -being able to participate in it. - -There is a delicate fancy evolved from the connection of Martigues's -three sister faubourgs or _quartiers_. In the old days each had a -separate entity and government, and each had a flag of its own; that of -Jonquières was blue; the Ile, white; and Ferrières, red. There was an -intense rivalry between the inhabitants of the three faubourgs; a -rivalry which led to the beating of each other with oars and -fishing-tackle, and other boisterous horse-play whenever they met one -another in the canals or on the wharves. The warring factions of the -three _quartiers_ of Martigues, however, finally came to an -understanding whereby the blue, white, and red banners of Jonquières, -the Ile and Ferrières were united in one general flag. The adoption of -the tricolour by the French nation was thus antedated, curiously enough, -by two hundred years, and the tricolour of France may be considered a -Martigues institution. - -In the Quartier de Ferrières are moored the _tartanes_ and -_balancelles_, those great white-winged, lateen-rigged craft which are -the natural component of a Mediterranean scene. Those hailing from -Martigues are the aristocrats of their class, usually gaudily painted -and flying high at the masthead a red and yellow striped pennant -distinctive of their home port. - -In the fish-market of Martigues the traveller from the north will -probably make his first acquaintance with the tunny-fish or _thon_ of -the Mediterranean. He is something like the tarpon of the Mexican Gulf, -and is a gamy sort of a fellow, or would be if one ever got him on the -end of a line, which, however, is not the manner of taking him. He is -caught by the gills in great nets of cord, as thick and heavy as a -clothes-line, scores and hundreds at a time, and it takes the strength -of many boatloads of men to draw the nets. - -The _thon_ is the most unfishlike fish that one ever cast eyes upon. He -looks like a cross between a porpoise and a mackerel in shape, and is -the size of the former. It is the most beautifully modelled fish -imaginable; round and plump, with smoothly fashioned head and tail, it -looks as if it were expressly designed to slip rapidly through the -water, which in reality it does at an astonishing rate. Its proportions -are not graceful or delicately fashioned at all; they are rather clumsy; -but it is perfectly smooth and scaleless, and looks, and feels too, as -if it were made of hard rubber. - -In short the _thon_ is the most unemotional-looking thing in the whole -fish and animal world, with no more realism to it than if it were -whittled out of a log of wood and covered with stove-polish. Caught, -killed, and cured (by being cut into cubes and packed in oil in little -tins), the _thon_ forms a great delicacy among the assortment of -_hors-d'oeuvres_ which the Paris and Marseilles restaurant-keepers put -before one. - -One of the great features of Martigues is its cookery, its fish cookery -in particular, for the _bouillabaisse_ of Martigues leads the world. It -is far better than that which is supplied to "stop-over" tourists at -Marseilles, _en route_ to Egypt, the East, or the Riviera. - -Thackeray sang the praises of _bouillabaisse_ most enthusiastically in -his "Ballad of the Bouillabaisse," but then he ate it at a restaurant -"on a street in Paris," and he knew not the real thing as Chabas dishes -it up at Martigues's "Grand Hôtel." - -Chabas is known for fifty miles around. He is not a Martigaux, but comes -from Cavaillon, the home of all good cooks, or at least one may say -unreservedly that all the people of Cavaillon are good cooks: "_les -maîtres de la cuisine Provençale_" they are known to all -_bons-vivants_. - -Neither is madame a Martigaux; she is an Arlesienne (and wears the -Arlesienne coiffe at all times); Arles is a town as celebrated for its -fair women as is Cavaillon for its cooks. - -Together M. and Madame Chabas hold a big daily reception in the -_cuisine_ of the hotel, formerly the kitchen of an old convent. M. Paul -is a "handy man;" he cooks easily and naturally, and carries on a -running conversation with all who drop in for a chat. Most cooks are -irascible and cranky individuals, but not so M. Paul; the more, the -merrier with him, and not a drop too much oil (or too little), not a -taste too much of garlic, nor too much saffron in the _bouillabaisse_, -nor too much salt or pepper on the _rôti_ or the _légumes_. It's all -chance apparently with him, for like all good cooks he never measures -anything, but the wonder is that he doesn't get rattled and forget, with -the mixed crew of _pensionnaires_ and neighbours always at his elbow, -warming themselves before the same fire that heats his pots and pans and -furnishes the flame for the great _broche_ on which sizzle the -well-basted _petits oiseaux_. - -_Bouillabaisse_ is always the _plat-du-jour_ at the "Grand Hôtel," and -it's the most wonderfully savoury dish that one can imagine--as Chabas -cooks it. - -Outside a Provençal cookery-book one would hardly expect to find a -recipe for _bouillabaisse_ that one could accept with confidence, but on -the other hand no writer could possibly have the temerity to write of -Provence and not have his say about the wonderful fish stew known to -lovers of good-living the world over. It is more or less a risky -proceeding, but to omit it altogether would be equally so, so the -attempt is here made. - -"_La bouillabaisse_," of which poets have sung, has its variations and -its intermittent excellencies, and sometimes it is better than at -others; but always it is a dish which gives off an aroma which is the -very spirit of Provence, an unmistakable reminiscence of Martigues, -where it is at its best. - -When the _bouillabaisse_ is made according to the _vieilles règles_, it -is as exquisite a thing to eat as is to be found among all the famous -dishes of famous places. One goes to Burgundy to eat _escargots_, to -Rouen for _caneton_, and to Marguery's for soles, but he puts the memory -of all these things behind him and far away when he first tastes -_bouillabaisse_ in the place of its birth. - -Here is the recipe in its native tongue so that there may be no -mistaking it: - -"_Poisson de la Méditerranée fraîchement pêché, avec les huiles vierges -de la Provence. Thon, dorade, mulet, rouget, rascasses, parfumés par le -fenouil et de laurier, telles sont les bases de cette soupe, colorée par -le safran, que toutes les ménagères de la littoral de Provence -s'entendent à merveille à préparer._" - -As before said, not many tourists (English or American) frequent -Martigues, and those who do come all have leanings toward art. Now and -then a real "carryall and guide-book traveller" drifts in, gets a whiff -of the mistral, (which often blows with deadly fury across the Étang) -and, thinking that it is always like that, leaves by the first train, -after having bought a half-dozen picture post-cards and eaten a bowl of -_bouillabaisse_. - -The type exists elsewhere in France, in large numbers, in Normandy and -Brittany for instance, but he is a _rara avis_ at Martigues, and only -comes over from his favourite tea-drinking Riviera resort (he tells you) -"out of curiosity." - -Martigues is practically the gateway to all the attractions of the -wonderful region lying around the Étang de Berre, and of the littoral -between Marseilles and the mouths of the Rhône. It is not very -accessible by rail, however, and a good hard walker could get there -from Marseilles almost as quickly on foot as by train. - -The ridiculous little train of double-decked, antiquated cars, and a -still more antiquated locomotive, takes nearly an hour to make the -journey from Pas-de-Lanciers. Some day the dreaded mistral will blow -this apology for rapid transit off into the sea, and then there will -come an electric line, which will make the journey from Marseilles in -less than an hour, instead of the three or four that it now takes. - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -THE ÉTANG DE BERRE - - -Martigues is the metropolis of the towns and villages which fringe the -shore of the Étang de Berre, a sort of an inland sea, with all the -attributes of both a salt and fresh water lake. - -Around Martigues, in the spring-time, all is verdant and full of colour, -and the air is laden with the odours of aromatic buds and blossoms. At -this time, when the sun has not yet dried out and yellowed the -hillsides, the spectacle of the background panorama is most ravishing. -Almond, peach, and apricot trees, all covered with a rosy snow of -blossoms, are everywhere, and their like is not to be seen elsewhere, -for in addition there is here a contrasting frame of greenish-gray -olive-trees and punctuating accents of red and yellow wild flowers that -is reminiscent of California. - -Surrounding the "Petite Mer de Berre" are a half-dozen of unspoiled -little towns and villages which are most telling in their beauty and -charms: St. Mitre, crowning a hill with a picturesquely roofed Capucin -convent for a near neighbour, and with some very substantial remains of -its old Saracen walls and gates, is the very ideal of a mediæval hill -town; Istres, with its tree-grown chapel, its fortress-like church and -its "classic landscape," is as unlike anything that one sees elsewhere -in France as could be imagined; while Miramas, St. Chamas, and Berre, on -the north shores of the Étang, though their names even are not known to -most travellers, are delightful old towns where it is still possible to -live a life unspoiled by twentieth-century inventions and influences. - -If the mistral is not blowing, one may make the passage across the -Étang, from Martigues to Berre, in one of the local craft known as a -"_bête_," a name which sounds significant, but which really means -nothing. If the north wind is blowing, the journey should be made by -train, around the Étang via Marignane. The latter route is cheaper, and -one may be saved an uncomfortable, not to say dangerous, experience. - -One great and distinct feature of the countryside within a short radius -of Marseilles, within which charmed circle lie Martigues and all the -surrounding towns of the Étang de Berre, are the _cabanons_, the modest -villas (_sic_) of these parts, seen wherever there is an outlook upon -the sea or a valleyed vista. They cling perilously to the hillsides, -wherever enough level ground can be found to plant their foundations, -and their gaudy colouring is an ever present feature in the landscape of -hill and vale. - -The _cabanon_ is really the _maison de campagne_ of the _petit -bourgeois_ of the cities and towns. It is like nothing ever seen before, -though in the Var, east of Marseilles, the "_bastide_" is somewhat -similar. In its proportions it resembles the log cabin of the Canadian -backwoods more than it does the East Indian bungalow, though it is -hardly more comfortable or roomy than the wigwam of the red man. Indeed, -how could it be, when it consists of but four walls, forming a rectangle -of perhaps a dozen feet square, and a roof of red tiles? - -If, like the Japanese, the inhabitant of the _cabanon_ likes to carry -his household gods about with him, why, then it is quite another thing, -and there is some justice in the claim of its occupant that he is -enjoying life _en villégiature_. - -"_Le cabanon: c'est unique et affreux!_" said Taine, and, though he was -a great grumbler when it came to travel talk, and the above is an unfair -criticism of a most intolerant kind, the _cabanon_ really is ludicrous, -though often picturesque. - -The simple stone hut, with the stones themselves roughly covered with -pink or blue stucco, sits, always, facing the south. Before it is a tiny -terrace and, since there are often no windows, the general housekeeping -is done under an awning, or a lean-to, or a "_tonnelle_." - -It is not a wholly unlovely thing, a _cabanon_, but it gets the full -benefit of the glaring sunlight on its crude outlines, and, though -sylvan in its surroundings, it is seldom cool or shady, as a country -house, of whatever proportions or dimensions, ought to be. - -Some figures concerning the Étang de Berre are an inevitable outcome of -a close observation, so the following are given and vouched for as -correct. It is large enough to shelter all the commercial fleet of the -Mediterranean and all the French navy as well. For an area of over three -thousand hectares, there is a depth of water closely approximating forty -feet. Between the Étang and the Mediterranean are the Montagnes de -l'Estaque, which for a length of eight kilometres range in height from -three hundred to fifteen hundred feet, and would form almost an -impenetrable barrier to a fleet which might attack the ships of commerce -or war which one day may take shelter in the Étang de Berre. This, if -the naval powers-that-be have their way, will some day come to pass. All -this is a prophecy, of course, but Elisée Reclus has said that the -non-utilization of the Étang de Berre was a _scandale économique_, which -doubtless it is. - -In spite of the name "Étang," the "Petite Mer de Berre" is a veritable -inland harbour or _rade_, closed against all outside attack by its -narrow entrance through the elongated Étang de Caronte. That its -strategic value to France is fully recognized is evident from the fact -that frequently it is overrun by a practising torpedo-boat fleet. What -its future may be, and that of the delightful little towns and cities on -its shores, is not very clear. There is the possibility of making it the -chief harbour on the south coast of France, but hitherto the influences -of Marseilles have been too strong; and so this vast basin is as -tranquil and deserted as if it were some inlet on the coast of Borneo, -and, except for the little lateen-rigged fishing-boats which dot its -surface day in and day out throughout the year, not a mast of a -_goélette_ and not a funnel of a steamship ever crosses its -horizon,--except the manoeuvring torpedo-boats. - -The Marseillais know this "Petite Mer" and its curious border towns and -villages full well. They come to Martigues to eat _bouillabaisse_ of -even a more pungent variety than they get at home, and they go to -Marignane for _la chasse_,--though it is only "_petits oiseaux_" and -"_plongeurs_" that they bag,--and they go to St. Chamas and Berre for -the fishing, until the whole region has become a Sunday meeting-place -for the Marseillais who affect what they call "_le sport_." - -[Illustration: _Istres_] - -On the western shore of the "Petite Mer," on the edge of the dry, pebbly -Crau, with a background of greenish-gray olive groves, is Istres, a -_chef-lieu_ not recognized by many geographers out of France, and known -by still fewer tourists. Istres is in no way a remarkable place, and its -inhabitants live mostly on carp taken from the Étang de l'Olivier, -_moules_, and such _poissons de mer_ as find their way into the "Petite -Mer." Fish diet is not bad, but it palls on one if it is too constant, -and the _moule_ is a poor substitute for the clam or oyster. Istres -makes salt and soda and not much else, but it is a town as -characteristic of the surrounding country as one is likely to find. It -grew up from a quasi-Saracen settlement, and down through feudal times -it bore some resemblance to what it is to-day, for it numbers but -something like three thousand souls. There are remains of its old -ramparts which, judging from their aspect, must once have borne some -relationship to those of Aigues Mortes. - -Truly the landscape round about is weird and strange, but it is superb -in its very rudeness, although no one would have the temerity to call it -magnificent. There are great hillocks of fossil shells which would -delight the geologist, and there are "_petits oiseaux_" galore for the -sportsman. - -Twilight seems to be the time of day when all Istres's strange effects -are heightened,--as it is on the Nile,--and it will take no great -stretch of the imagination to picture the shores of the Étang as the -banks of Egypt's river. The aspect at the close of day is strange and -unforgettable, with the great plain of the Crau stretching away -indefinitely, and the blue "_nappe_" of the Étang likewise indefinitely -hazy and tranquil. In spite of its lack of twentieth-century comforts, -the seeker after new sensations could do worse than spend a night and a -part of a day at Istres's Hôtel de France, and, if he is a painter, he -may spend here a week, a month, or a lifetime and not get bored. - -If one happens to be at Istres on the "Jour des Mortes," in November, he -may witness, in the evening, in the cypress-sheltered cemetery, one of -the most weird and eerie sights possible to imagine. When Odilon, Abbot -of Cluny, established the "Fête des Mortes," in 998, he little knew the -extent to which it would be observed. The "Fête des Mortes" is one thing -in the royal crypt at St. Denis and quite another in the small towns and -villages up and down the length of France. - -It has been commonly thought that Bretagne was the most religious and -devout of all the ancient provinces of France, at least that it had -become so, whatever may have been its status in the past; but certainly -the good folk of Istres are as devout and religious as any community -extant, if the wonderfully impressive chanting and illuminating in the -graveyard by its old tree-grown chapel count for anything. It is as if -the night itself were hung with crêpe, and the hundreds, nay, thousands, -of candles set about on the tombs and in the trees heighten the effect -of solemnity and sadness to an indescribable degree. In the town the -church-bells toll out their doleful knell, and the still air of the -night carries the wails and chants of the mourners far out over the -barren Crau. It is the same whether it rains or shines, or whether the -mistral blows or not. The candles, the mourners, and the little crosses -of wheat straws--a symbol of the Resurrection--are as mystical as the -rites of the ancients to one who has never seen such a celebration. -Decidedly, if one is in these parts on the first day of November, he -should come to Istres for the night, or he will have missed an -exceedingly interesting chapter from the book of pleasurable travel. - -Passing from Istres to the north shore of the Étang, one comes to -Miramas. - -Miramas is a quaint little longshore town which makes one think of -pirates, Saracens, and Moors, all of whom, in days gone by, had a -foothold here, if local traditions are to be believed. Miramas and St. -Chamas, which is the metropolis of the neighbourhood, though its -population only about equals that of Miramas, are twin towns which are -quite unlike anything else in these parts in that they are neither -progressive nor somnolent, but while away their time in some -inexplicable fashion, bathed in the brilliant Mediterranean sunlight -reflected from off the surface of the Étang, which stretches at their -feet and furnishes the seafood on which the inhabitants mostly live. The -chief curiosity of the neighbourhood is the Pont Flavien, which crosses -the Touloubre near by, on the "Route d'Aix." The structure is a monument -to Domnius Flavius by his executors Domnius Vena and Attius Rufus. It -possesses an elegance and sobriety which many more magnificent works -lack, and the classic lines of its superstructure and its great -semicircular arch in the twilight carry the observer back to the days of -mediævalism. - -At St. Chamas one is likely to find his hotel--regardless of which of -the two leading establishments he patronizes--most unique in its -management, though none the less excellent, enjoyable, and amusing for -that. If by chance he reaches the town on a Saturday night and comes -upon a _grand bal familier_ in the dining-room, and is himself compelled -to eat his dinner at a small table in the office, he must not quarrel, -but rest content that he is to be rewarded by a sight which will prove -again that it is only the French bourgeois who really and truly knows -how to enjoy simple pleasures. Fortnightly, at least, during the winter -months this sort of thing takes place, and the young men and maidens, -and young mothers and their babies in arms, and old folk, too old -indeed to swing partners, form a cordon around the walls to gaze upon -the less timid ones who dance with all the abandon of a southern climate -until the hour of eleven,--and then to bed. It is all very primitive, -the orchestra decidedly so,--a violin and a clarionette, and always a -Provençal tambourine, which is not a tambourine at all, but a drum,--but -an occasional glimpse of a beautiful Arlesienne will truly repay one for -any discomfort to which he may have been put. - -St. Chamas is renowned through Provence from the fact that commerce in -the olive first came to its great proportions through the perspicuity of -one of the local cultivators. It was he who first had the idea of -preparing for market the "_olive-picholine_," or green briny olive, -which figures so universally on dining-tables throughout the world. In -some respects they may not equal the "queen olives" of Spain; but the -olives of Provence have a delicacy that is far more subtle, and the real -enthusiast will become so addicted to eating the olive of Provence on -its native heath that it will become an incurable habit, like cigarettes -or golf. - -From St. Chamas to Berre is scarce a dozen kilometres, but, to the -traveller from the north, the journey will be full of marvels and -surprises. The panorama which unfolds itself at every step is of -surpassing beauty, though not so very grand or magnificent. - -"La Petite Mer" is in full view, the opposite shore lost in the -refulgence of a reflected glow, as if it were the open sea itself. All -around its rim are the rocky hills, of which the highest, the Tête -Noire, rises to perhaps fifteen hundred feet. - -Everywhere there are goats, and many of them great long-haired beasts, -the females of which give an unusually abundant supply of milk. For a -long period, on the shores of the Étang de Berre, there were no cows, -and the inhabitants depended for their milk-supply solely upon the goat, -which the French properly enough call "_la vache du pauvre_." Like the -love of the olive, that for goat's milk is an acquired taste. - -The first apparition of the city of Berre is charming, and, like -Martigues, it is a sort of a cross between Venice and Amsterdam. Its -streets, like its canals and basins, are narrow and winding, though for -the most part it stretches itself out along one slim thoroughfare. Its -aspect, apparently, has not changed in thirty years, when Taine wrote -his impressions of "_ces rues d'une étroitesse étonnante_." He made a -further comment which does not hold true to-day. He said that there was -an infectious odour of concentrated humanity, with the dust and mud of -centuries still over all. From the very paradox of the description it is -not difficult to infer that he nodded, and assuredly Berre is not -to-day, if it ever was, _sale, comme si depuis le commencement des -siècles_. - -All the same Berre is not a progressive town, as is shown by the fact -that between the two last censuses its population has fallen from -eighteen hundred to fifteen. However, its trade has increased -perceptibly, thanks to the salt works here, and the tiny port gave a -haven, in the year past, to a hundred craft averaging a hundred tons -each. - -Northward from the shores of the Étang de Berre lies Salon, the most -commercial of all the cities and towns between Arles and Marseilles. -Differing greatly from the lowlands lying round about, Salon is the -centre of a verdant garden-spot reclaimed by the monks of St. Sauveur -from an ancient marshy plain. In reality the town owes its existence to -Jeanne de Naples, who, forced to flee from her kingdom in 1357, dreamed -of establishing another here in Provence. She actually did take up a -portion of the country, and the village of Salon, through the erection -of a donjon and a royal residence, took on some of the characteristics -of a capital. - -In spite of its royal patronage, the chief deity of Salon was -Nostradamus, who was born at St. Rémy, of Jewish parents, in 1503. -Destined for the medical profession, he completed his studies at -Montpellier and retired to Salon to produce that curious work called -"Centuries," he having come to believe that he was possessed of the -spirit of prophecy to such an extent that his mission was really to -enlighten rather than cure the world. - -Michael Nostradamus and his prophecies created some stir in the world, -for it was a superstitious age. The Medici was doing her part in the -patronizing of astrologers and necromancers, and promptly became a -patron of this new seer of Provence, though never forswearing allegiance -to her pet Ruggieri. It is on record that Catherine got a horoscope of -the lives of her sons from Nostradamus and showed him great deference. - -After this all the world of princes and seigneurs flocked to the -prophet's house at Salon, which became a veritable shrine, with a -living deity to do the honours. To-day one may see his tomb in the -parish church of St. Laurent. - -The traffic in olives and olive-oil is very considerable at Salon; -indeed, one may say that it is the centre of the industry in all -Provence, for the olives known as "Bouches-du-Rhône" are the most sought -for in the French market, and bring a higher price than those of the -Var, or of Spain, Sicily, or Tunis. - -Not far from the northern shores of the Étang de Berre, just above -Salon, runs the great national highway from Paris to Antibes, branching -off to Marseilles just before reaching Aix-en-Provence. The railway also -passes through the heart of the same region; but, in spite of it all, -only few really know the lovely country round about. - -The region is historic ground, though in detail it perhaps has not the -general interest of the Campagne d'Arles or Vaucluse; still it has an -abounding interest for the traveller by road, and nowhere will one find -a greater variety of topography or a pleasanter, milder land than in -this neglected corner of Provence. - -The roads here are flat, level stretches, five, ten, or more kilometres -in length, and are as straight as an arrow. There is a kilometre -stretch just west of Salon that the Automobile Club de France has -adjudged to be perfectly level, and there a road-devouring monster of -200 h.p. recently made a world's record for the flying kilometre of 20¾ -seconds. - -[Illustration: _The Kilometre West of Salon_] - -Before returning to the shores of the Étang de Berre, one should make a -détour to Roquefavour and Ventabren. One finds a complete change of -scene and colouring, quite another atmosphere in fact, and yet it is -only a scant ten kilometres off the route. - -The château and aqueduct of Roquefavour are each a sermon in stone, the -latter one of those engineering feats of modern times, which, unlike -wire-rope bridges and sky-scrapers, have something of the elements of -beauty in their make-up. - -Near by, on a rocky promontory, with a base so firm that all the winds -of the four quarters could never shake its foundations, is the -significantly named village of Ventabren. All about are the ruins of the -magnificence which had existed before, somewhat reminiscent of Les Baux, -while beneath flows the river Arc, the alluvial soil of whose bed has -proved so advantageous to the vine-culture hereabouts. - -The aqueduct of Roquefavour has not had the benefit of six centuries of -aging possessed by that similar work near Nîmes, the Pont du Gard of -Agrippa; but it harmonizes wonderfully with the surrounding landscape, -in spite of the fact that it is only a mid-nineteenth-century work, -built to conduct water to Marseilles from far up the valley of the -Durance. Overhead, and beneath the ground, for 122 kilometres, runs the -canal until here, where it crosses the Arc, the monumental viaduct has -proved to be a more stupendous work than any undertaken by the Romans, -who, supposedly, were the master builders of aqueducts. - -On returning to the Étang, and after passing several perilously perched -hillside villages, one comes suddenly to Marignane, a name which is -little known or recognized. The town is very contracted, and it is -wofully lacking in every modern convenience, except the electric light, -which, curiously enough, its more opulent neighbour, Martigues, lacks. - -Marignane preserves traces of the Roman occupation, though what its -status among the cities of the ancient Provincia may have been will -perhaps ever remain in doubt. Principally it will be loved for its -château of Renaissance times, which belonged to Mirabeau's mother, who -was of the seigneurial family of Marignane. It is not a remarkably -beautiful building, but it is a satisfactory one in every way, and, -though now in a state of decrepitude, it is a monumental reminder of -other days and other ways. The Hôtel de Ville occupies the old château, -but nothing very lively ever takes place there except the civil -marriages of the commune, participants in which would, it seems, rather -have the knot tied there than in any other similar edifice. Only the -façade misses being a ruin, but all parts preserve the elegance--in -suggestion, at least--of its former glory, and the great state chamber -has been well preserved and cared for. - -Formerly the town had the usual fortifications with which important -mediæval cities were surrounded, but they have now disappeared, and one -will have to turn his steps to Salon for any ruins that suggest -feudalism. - -There has ever been a contention between archæologists and historians as -to the exact location of the Maritima of Pliny and Ptolemy, a -designation given to a colony of Avatici, in the days when the sea power -of the Greeks and Romans seemed likely never to wane. The question is -still unsettled and crops up again and again. - -Marignane, on the shores of the Étang de Bolmon,--an offshoot of that -wonderfully fascinating Étang de Berre,--was, perhaps, the ancient -Maritima Colonia Avaticorum, and Martigues, its grander and better known -neighbour, may have borne the title of Maritima Colonia Anatiliorum. As -a mere matter of title, it is a fine distinction anyway, but everything -points to the fact that the ancients had a great port somewhere on the -shores of this landlocked Étang. Just where this may have been, and what -its name was, is not so clear to-day, for there is scarcely more than a -dozen feet of water in the shallow parts of the Étang, and this fact of -itself would seem to preclude that it was ever a rival of the great -ports of the Mediterranean of other days. The speculation, at any rate, -will give food for thought to any who are interested, and whether this -same Étang ever becomes, as is prophesied, a great series of ports and -docks which will more than rival Marseilles, does not matter in the -least. To-day the Étang de Berre is quite unspoiled in all the charm and -novelty of its environment and of the little salt-water towns which -surround it. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -A SEASCAPE: FROM THE RHÔNE TO MARSEILLES - - -The Bouches-du-Rhône, like the delta of the Mississippi, is a great -sprawling area of sandbars and currents of brackish water. For miles in -any direction, as the eye turns, it is as if a bit of water-logged -Holland had been transported to the Mediterranean, with sand-dunes and a -scrubby growth of furze as the only recognizable characteristics. - -As a great and useful waterway, the Rhône falls conspicuously from the -position which it might have occupied had nature given it a more regular -and dependable flow of water. - -The canals from Beaucaire through the Camargue and from Arles to the -Golfe de Fos are the only things that make possible water communication -between the Mediterranean and the towns and cities of the mid-Rhône -valley. - -[Illustration: _Bouches-du-Rhône to Marseilles_] - -The Golfe des Lions, or the Golfe de Lyon, as it is frequently called, -is the great bay lying between the coast of the Narbonnaise and the -headlands just to the eastward of Marseilles. It is a tempestuous body -of water, when the north wind blows, and travellers by sea, in and out -of Marseilles, have learned to dread it as if it were the Bay of Biscay -itself. - -Just eastward of the mouths of the Rhône is a smaller indentation in the -coast-line, the Golfe de Fos, known to mariners as being the best -anchorage between Marseilles and the Bouches-du-Rhône, and which has -received a local name of "Anse du Repos" and "Mouillage d'Aigues -douces." - -Surrounding the Golfe de Fos, and indeed west of the Rhône, are numerous -ponds and marshy bays, similar to the great inland sea of Berre. The -Golfe de Fos is generally thought to be the ancient Mer Avatique, one of -whose salty arms is known as "l'Estomac," probably a corruption of an -old Provençal expression, _lou stoma_, or perhaps because it is the site -of a colony of the Marseillais known as Stoma Limne, which was -established here a century before the beginning of the Christian era. - -Later the Senate of Rome designated Marius as governor of the region, -and he came with his legions and established himself here at the mouth -of the Rhône. He even attempted the then gigantic work of cutting a -free waterway from Arles to the sea, and thus arose--on this spot, -beyond a doubt, if circumstantial history counts for anything--the Port -des Fossés Mariennes which for a long time has been so great a -speculation to French historians. - -The port became the _faubourg maritime_ of Arles, as did the Piræus for -Athens. It was at this time that the name of Lion, or Lyon, was given to -the great bay which washes the coast of the ancient Narbonnaise. It grew -up from the fact that the Arlesien shipping was ever in evidence on its -waters, bearing aloft their flags and banners "blazoned with lions." As -the number of these ships of Arles was great, the name came gradually to -be adopted. The explanation seems plausible, and the countless thousands -who now traverse its waters in great steamships, coming and going from -Marseilles, need no longer speculate as to the origin of the name. - -The disappearance of the Roman Empire caused the decadence of the Fossis -Marianis, as the name had been modified, and the invasion of the -barbarians drove the inhabitants to the neighbouring heights, which they -fortified. This Castrum de Fossis became in time the Château des Fossés -Mariennes, and what is left of it, or at least the site, is so known -to-day. In the middle ages the town became a Marquisat belonging to the -Vicomtes de Marseille, but in 1393 it bought its freedom and became a -_communauté_. - -[Illustration: _Fos-sur-Mer_] - -To-day the little town of Fos-sur-Mer is a queer mixture of the old and -new, of indolence and industry; but the complex sky-line of its old -château, seen over the marshes, is as fairylike and mediæval as old -Carcassonne itself; which is saying the most that can be said of a -crumbling old walled town. It is not so grand, nor indeed so well -preserved, as Carcassonne, but it has all the characteristics, if in a -lesser degree. - -Fos has a wonderful industry in the manufacture of paper and cellulose -from the alfa, a textile plant which grows in abundance on the high -plateaux of Algeria. Added, in certain proportions, to the cane or -bamboo of Provence, it produces a most excellent fibre for the -fabrication of high-grade papers; in a measure a very good imitation of -the fine vellum and parchment papers of Japan and China. - -From Fos it is but a step to Port de Bouc, the more modern neighbour, -and the gateway by which the products of the Fos of to-day reach the -outside world. - -Here, in miniature, are all the indications of a world-port. It is a -picturesque waterside town, the tall chimneys of its factories, the -masts and funnels of the ships at its quays, and the tall spars of the -lateen-rigged "_tartanes_," all producing a wonderfully serrated -sky-line of the kind loved by artists; but, oh! so difficult for them to -reproduce satisfactorily. Besides these features there is also the -near-by fort and the lighthouse which gleams forth a sailor's warning a -dozen miles out to sea. The hum of industry and the generally imposing -aspect of the port leads one to suppose, from a distance, that the town -is vastly more populous than it really is; but for all that it is an -interesting note in one's itinerary along Mediterranean shores. - -The whole range of hills south of Martigues, and bordering upon the -Mediterranean itself, is a round of tiny hill towns, which, like St. -Pierre and Chateauneuf, dot the landscape with their spires of wrought -iron surmounting the belfries of their yellow stone churches and -presenting a grouping quite foreign to most things seen in France. They -are not Italian and they are not Spanish, neither are they any distinct -French type; hence they can only be classed as exotics which have taken -root from some previous importation. - -One's itinerary along the Provençal coast, from the mouths of the Rhône -toward Marseilles, comes abruptly to a stop when he reaches the height -of Cap Couronne, which rises just east of the entrance to the Étang de -Caronte, and sees that wonderful panorama of the Golfe de Lyon, with the -distant pall of smoky industry at its extreme eastern horizon. - -[Illustration: _Roadside Chapel, St. Pierre_] - -The name Couronne is certainly apropos of this dominant headland, under -whose flanks are innumerable natural shelters and anchorages. The -application of the name has a more practical side, however. In Provençal -the word "_cairon_" means limestone, and, since there have been for -ages past great limestone quarries here, it is not difficult to -recognize the origin of the name. - -The dusts of the great routes of travel are left behind as one climbs -the gentle slope of the Estaque range from Martigues. After having -passed the rock-cut village of St. Pierre and ascended the incline on -the opposite side of the valley, he finds himself on the height of Cap -Couronne, and the Mediterranean itself bursts all at once upon his gaze, -in much the same fashion as the dawn comes up at Mandalay. - -Cap Couronne plunges abruptly at one's feet, and the shadowy outlines of -the distant flat shores of the Bouches-du-Rhône lie to the westward, -while directly east is the most wonderfully light rose and purple -promontory that one may see outside of Capri and the Bay of Naples. It -is the eastern side of Marseilles, which itself, with its spouting -chimneys, accents the brilliant landscape in a manner which, if not -ideal, is, at least, not offensive. - -Who among our modern artists could do this view justice? The blue of the -cloudless sky; the ultramarine waves; and the shabby selvage of smoke, -all blending so marvellously with the pink and purple of the setting -sun. Turner might have done it in times past; doubtless could have done -so; and Whistler--waiting until a little later in the evening--would -have made a symphony of it; but any living artist, called to mind at the -moment, would have bungled it sadly. It is one of those wide-open -seascapes which the art-lover must see _au naturel_ in order to worship. -Nothing on the Riviera--that cinematograph of magic panoramas--can equal -or surpass the late afternoon view from Cap Couronne. - -Before one descends upon Marseilles from the Estaque, he comes upon the -little village of Carry. - -Of the antiquity of the little fishing-port there is no question, but it -is doubtful if the hordes of Marseillais who come here in summer, to eat -_bouillabaisse_ on the verandas of its restaurants and hotels, know, or -care, anything of this. - -As the Incarrus Posito, it had an existence long before _bouillabaisse_ -was ever thought of, at least by its present name. It was one of the -advance-posts of the Massaliotes when Marseilles was the Massalia of the -Greeks. - -Carry, with its port, and the château of M. Philippe Jourde, a Frenchman -who won his fortune on the field of commerce in the United States, is -delightful, but it is not usually accounted one of the sights that is -worth the while of the Riviera tourist to go out of his way to see. - -Within the grounds of the château have been brought to light within -recent years many monumental remains; one bearing the two following -inscriptions bespeaks an antiquity contemporary with the early years of -the building up of Marseilles: - - +-----------------+ - +-----------+ | | - | | | AES AVC | - | C. POMPEI | |C R IANCO | - | PLANTEA | |IP CAIII | - | | |EXCL INIPSNIS | - | | |SEVIR AUGUSTALIS | - | | | | - | | | I. S. D.| - +-----------+ | | - +-----------------+ - -Besides this, marbles, mosaics, pottery, coins, and even precious metals -have been found. Carry may then have been something more than a fortress -outpost, or a fishing-village; it may have been a Pompeii. - -Almost at one's elbow is Marseilles itself, brilliant and burning with -the feverish energies of a great mart of trade, and bathed in the dark -blue of the Mediterranean and the lighter blue of the skies. Beyond are -the isles of the bay and the rocky promontories to the eastward, while -to the northeast are the heights of the Var and the Alpes-Maritimes. -Truly the kaleidoscopic first view of the "_Porte de l'Orient_" fully -justifies any rhapsodies. There is but one other view in all France at -all approaching it in splendour,--that of Rouen from the height of Bon -Secours,--and that, in effect, is quite different. - -One's approach to Marseilles by rail from the north is equally a -reminder of a theatrical transformation scene, such as one has when he -reaches Rouen or Cologne; a sudden unfolding of new and strange beauties -of prospect, which are nothing if not startling. The railway runs for -many minutes in the obscurity of the Tunnel de la Nerthe before it -finally debouches on the southern gorges of the Estaque Range, the same -which flanks the coast all the way from Marseilles to the entrance to -the Étang de Berre. - -Pines and _boursailles_ and rocky hillocks, set out here and there with -olive-trees, form the immediate foreground, while that distant horizon -of blue, which is everywhere along the Mediterranean, forms a background -which is softer and more sympathetic than that of any other known body -of water, salt or fresh, great or small. - -At the base of the first foot-hills of the Estaque lies Marseilles, a -city enormously alive with industry and all the cosmopolitan life of one -of the most important--if not the greatest--of all world-ports. Here -human industry has transformed a naturally beautiful and commodious -situation into a mighty hive of affairs, where its long, straight -streets only end at the water's edge, and the basins and docks are -simply great rectangular gulfs, seemingly endless in their immensity. -Great towering chimney-stacks of brick punctuate the landscape here and -there, and the masts of vessels and the funnels of steamships carry -still further the idea of energetic restlessness. - -Offshore are the innumerable rocky islets, seemingly merely moored in -the sea, around which skim myriads of sailing-vessels and steamers, -quite in the ceaseless manner of cinematograph pictures, while an -occasional black cloud of smoke indicates the presence of a great liner -from the Far East, making port with its cargo of humanity and the silks -and spices of the Orient. - -The view of the waterside and offshore Marseilles, with the harmonious -Mediterranean blue blending into all, is transplendent in its -loveliness. Nothing is green or gray, as it is at Bordeaux, or Nantes, -or Le Havre; and none of the fog or smoke of the great cities of -mid-France, of Paris, of Lyons, or of St. Étienne is here visible; -instead all is brilliant--garishly brilliant, if you like, but still -harmoniously so--in a blend that compels admiration. - -Marseilles is a great conglomerate city made up by the intermingling of -the neighbouring villages, bourgs, and _petites villes_ until they have -quite lost their own identity in the communion of the greater. - -Some day the Rhône will empty itself into the great _Bassins_ of the -port of Marseilles; that is, if the moving of the traffic of the port to -the Étang de Berre at Martigues and Berre does not take place, which is -unlikely. When the _chalands_ and _péniches du nord_ can come from Le -Havre, from Rouen, from Antwerp, and from Paris direct to the quays of -Marseilles, by way of the canals and the Rhône, an additional prosperity -will have come to this greatest of all Mediterranean ports. No more will -it be a struggle with Genoa and Triest; and Marseilles will grow still -grander and more lively and cosmopolitan. - -In her efforts in this direction Marseilles has found an ardent ally in -Lyons, whose Chamber of Commerce has ever lent its aid toward this end, -burying all jealousies as to which shall become the second city of -France. Lyons, be it understood, great and industrious as it is, is at a -distinct disadvantage in transportation matters by reason of its -geographical position, although it already possesses at Port St. Louis, -at the mouth of the Grand Rhône, a port of transhipment for all -cumbersome goods which proceed by way of the towed convoys of the Rhône -canals. With direct communication with Marseilles one handling will be -saved and much money, hence all Lyonnais pray for this new state of -affairs to be speedily brought about. The day when the _chalands_ of the -Seine can meet the _navaires_ of La Joliette, Marseilles will surpass -Antwerp and Hamburg, say the Marseillais. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -MARSEILLES--COSMOPOLIS - - -Marseilles has more than once been called the Babylon of the south, and -with truth, for such a babel of many tongues is to be heard in no Latin -or Teuton city in the known world. - -At Marseilles all is tumultuous and gay, and the Cannebière is the -gayest of all. Mèry perpetuated its fame, or at any rate spread it far -and wide, when he said, "_Si Paris avait une Cannebière, ce serait un -petit Marseille_." It is not a long thoroughfare, this Cannebière, in -spite of its extension in the Rue de Noailles, but its animation and its -gaiety give it an incontestable air of grandeur which many more -pretentious thoroughfares entirely lack. Lyons has more beautiful -streets, and Paris has avenues and boulevards more densely thronged, but -the Cannebière has a character that is all its own, and a reputation for -worldliness which it lives up to in every particular. In reality the -Cannebière is Marseilles, the palpitating heart of the second city of -France. One does not need to go far away, however, before he comes to -the tranquillity and convention of the average provincial capital, and -for this reason this great street of luxurious shops and grand hotels is -the more remarkable, and the contrast the more absolute. By ten o'clock -the whole city of convention sleeps, but the Cannebière and its cafés -are as full of light and noise as ever, and remain so until one or two -in the morning. - -Not only does the Cannebière captivate the stranger, but each of the -various _quartiers_ does the same, until one realizes that the life of -Marseilles unrolls itself as does no other in provincial France. The -arts, science, industry, commerce, and the shipping all have their -separate and distinct quarters, where the life of their own affairs is -ceaseless and brings a content which only comes from industry. -Twenty-five centuries have rolled by since the foundations of the -present prosperity of Marseilles were laid, and nowhere has the star of -progress burned more brilliantly. - -Fortunate among all other great cities, Marseilles has preserved all the -essential elements of its former glory and opulence, and even added to -them with the advance of ages, remaining meanwhile "_encore jeune, -souriante, robuste, comme si le temps ne pouvait rien sur sa force -sereine, sur sa triomphante beauté_." - -Save the Byzance of antiquity, no seaport of history has enjoyed a rôle -so brilliant or so extended as Marseilles. The great maritime cities of -antiquity have disappeared, but Marseilles goes on aggrandizing itself -for ever, with--in spite of very general transformation--the impress of -the successive epochs, Greek, Roman, Frankish, and feudal, still in -evidence, here and there where the memory of some quaint and bygone -custom is unearthed or some mediæval monument is brought to light. - -By no means is all of the butterfly order here in the Mediterranean -metropolis. "_Les affaires_" are very serious affairs, and profitable -ones to those engaged in their pursuit, and the Marseillais business man -is as keen as his fellows anywhere. There is also a life redolent of -science and art, as vivid as that of the capital itself, and the press -of Marseilles is one of the most literary in a nation of literary -newspapers. Taine slandered Marseilles when he said that it was wholly -given up to "_la grosse joie_," as he did also when he said that the -pleasure of its inhabitants was to make money out of breadstuffs or -gamble in oil, or some such words. And Taine was a Marseillais, too. - -Here, as in many others of the old-world cities of France, are streets -so narrow that a cart may not turn around in them, all busy with the -little affairs of the lower classes, full of taverns, bars and _débits -de vin_, cheap _cafés-chantants_,--from which the stranger had best keep -out,--and from one end to the other full of straggling sailors of all -nationalities and tongues under the sun. - -This population of sailors and dock-labourers is of a certain doubtful -social probity, but all the same the spectacle is unique, and far more -edifying to witness than a midnight ramble through San Francisco's -Chinatown, though perhaps more fraught with danger to one's person. - -The Rue de la République has pushed its way through this old _quartier_, -but it has brought with it none of the modern life of the newer parts of -the town, and the narrow, tortuous streets around and about the "Hôtel -Dieu" are as brutally uncouth as any old-time quarter of a great city -peopled by the poorer classes; with this difference, that at Marseilles -everything, good, bad, and indifferent, is exaggerated. - -It is here in this old quarter that one finds the true type of the -Marseillais as he was in other days, if one knows where to look for him, -and what he looks like when he meets him, for Marseilles is so full of -strange men and women that the bird of passage is likely enough to -confound Greek with Jew and Lascar with Arab, to say nothing of the -difficulty of putting the Maltese and Portuguese in their proper places -in the medley. When it comes to distinguishing the Provençal from the -Marseillais and the Niçois from the Catalan, the task is more difficult -still. - -The Marseillais _pur sang_ (except that it has been many centuries since -he has been _pur sang_) is a unique type among the inhabitants of -France, the product of many successive immigrations from most of the -Mediterranean countries. He is indeed an extraordinary development, -though in no way outré or unsympathetic, in spite of being a -bloodthirsty-looking individual. To describe him were impossible. The -Marseillais is a Marseillais by his dark complexion, by his svelte -figure, and by the exuberance of his gestures and his voice. Always -ready for adventure or pleasure, he is the very stuff of which the -sea-rovers of another day were made. - -The Marseillais has been portrayed by many a French writer, and his -virtues have been lauded and his faults exposed. Mèry, a Marseillais -himself, has traced an amusing character, while Edmond About and Taine -were both struck by the Marseillais love of lucre and violent -amusements. Alexandre Dumas has drawn more or less idyllic portraits of -him. - -The topographical transformation of Marseilles in recent times has been -great. It was the first among the great cities of France to cut new -streets and build sumptuous modern palaces devoted to civic affairs. The -Rue de la République, if still lined in part with inferior houses, is -nevertheless one of the fine thoroughfares of the world. Its laying out -was a colossal task, cutting through the most solidly built and most -ancient quarter of the city. Neither the aristocratic nor the bourgeois -population have ever come to it for business or residence, but it serves -the conduct of affairs in a way which the tortuous streets of the old -régime would not have done. Many of the great avenues of the city are as -grand in their way as the best and most aristocratic of those in Paris, -and the world of commerce, of the Bourse, and of the liberal -professions, lives surrounded by as much sumptuousness and good taste as -the same classes in the capital itself. In other words, "_la société -Marseillais_" is no less endowed with good taste and the love of -luxurious appointments and surroundings than is the most Parisian of -Parisian circles,--a term which has come to mean much in the refinements -of modern life. "_Des plaisirs bruyants et grossiers_" may have struck -the Taines of a former day, but the twentieth-century student of men and -affairs will not place the Marseillais and the things of his household -very far down in the social scale, provided he is possessed of a mind -which is trained to make just estimates. - -Le Prado is another of the fine streets of Marseilles. It is a majestic -boulevard, the continuation of the Rue de Rome, beyond the Place -Castellane. Practically it is a great tree-bordered avenue, which is -lined with the gardens of handsome villas. It is as attractive as Unter -den Linden or the Champs Élysées. - -Marseilles has many specialities. _Bouillabaisse_ is one of them; -flowers, which you buy at a ridiculous low price at those curious little -pulpits which line the Cours St. Louis, are another; and a third are the -strawberries, which are here brought to one's door and sold in all the -perfection of fresh picked fruit. They are sold in "pots" of porous -stone, covered with a peculiar gray paper, and the size and capacity of -the "pots" is regulated by a municipal decree. The "_grand pot_" must -contain four hundred grammes, and the "_petit pot_" two hundred. All of -which is vastly more satisfactory for the purchaser than the -false-bottomed box of America or the underweighted scales of the -greengrocer in England. - -[Illustration: _Flower Market, Cours St. Louis_] - -This "_pot-à-fraise_" of Marseilles is a commodity strictly local, and -no fresh fruit is more in demand in season than the strawberries of -Roquevaire, Beaudinard, and Aubagne. The season's consumption of -strawberries at Marseilles is 350,000 litres. - -The street cries of Marseilles may not be as famous as those of London, -but they are many and lively nevertheless. Fish, fruit, and many other -things form the burden of the cries one hears at Marseilles in these -days; but, like most of the picturesque old customs, this is being -crowded out. The itinerant _vitrier_ still makes his round, however, and -you may hear him any day: - - "Encore un carreau cassé - Voici le vitrier qui passe...." - -In this connection it is interesting to recall that all glass made in -Provence in the thirteenth century was by authorization of the Bishop of -Marseilles, and that the industry was entirely in the hands of the -Chartreux monks. Only in the fifteenth century, at the hands of the good -King René, did the trade receive any extension. - -The fishing industry has ever been prominent in the minor affairs of -Marseilles. The ancient Provençal government guaranteed the fishing -rights to certain "_patrons pêcheurs_," and, when the province was -united with the Crown of France, in 1481, the Grand Seneschal confirmed -the privileges in the name of Louis XI. They were again confirmed, in -1536, by François I., and in 1557 by Henri II. - -By letters patent, in December, 1607, Henri IV. gave a permit to the -_pêcheurs_ of Marseilles which allowed them to sell their fish in all -_villes de mer_ that they might choose, and to be free from paying any -tax for the privilege. Thus it is seen that from the very earliest times -the traffic was one which was bound to prosper and add to the city's -wealth and independence. - -Louis XIII. was even more liberal. He extended the right of control of -the fishing, even by strangers, to the "_Prud'hommes de Marseilles_" (a -sort of a fishing guild, which endures even unto to-day), and forbade -any taking of fish between Cap Couronne and Cap de l'Aigle, except with -their permission. - -Louis XIV., on a certain occasion, when he was passing through -Marseilles, confirmed all that his predecessors had granted, and further -accorded them 3,500 minots of salt, at a price of eleven livres per -minot. - -The "_Prud'hommes_" formed a sort of court or tribunal which regulated -all disputes between members. To open a case one merely had to deposit -two _sols_ in a box, the contents of which were destined for the poor -(the other side contributing also), and four of the chosen number of -the "_Prud'hommes_" sat in judgment upon the question at issue. The -loser was addressed in the short and explicit formula, "_La loi vous -condamne_," and forthwith he either had to pay up, or his boats and nets -were seized. "Never was there a law so efficacious," says the historian -of this interesting guild; and all will be inclined to agree with him. - -The "_Prud'hommes_" of Marseilles still exist as an institution, but -their picturesque costume of other days has, it is needless to say, -disappeared. The old-time "_Prud'homme_," with a Henri Quatre mantle, a -velvet toque for a hat, and a two-handed sword, would be a strange -figure on the streets of up-to-date Marseilles. - -The amateur fisherman in France is not the minor factor that English -Nimrods would have one believe, though the mere taking of fish is a side -issue with him. Not always does he make of it a solitary occupation. At -Marseilles he has his "fishing excursions" and his "chowder-parties," -and the deep-sea fishing bouts held off the Provençal coast would do -credit to a Rockaway skipper. - -Read the following announcement of the banquet of "La Société de Pêche -la Girelle" of Marseilles, culled from a morning paper: - -"Members will meet at six o'clock in the morning, and will leave for -the Planier (Marseilles' great far-reaching light) grounds '_sur le -bateau à vapeur le Cannois_;' the overflow in small boats. To return at -noon for a grand banquet _chez_ Mistral. _Bouillabaisse et toute le -reste_." - -Another great passion of the Marseillais, of all classes, is for the -"_campagne_." The wealthy _commerçant_ has his sumptuous villa--always -gaily built, but a sad thing from an architectural point of view--in the -valley of the Huveaune, or on the slopes of the "Corniche" overlooking -the Mediterranean. The _petit bourgeois_, the shopkeeper or the man of -small affairs, contents himself with a _cabanon_, but it is his _maison -de campagne_ just the same. It is merely a stone hut with a tiny terrace -fronting it on the sunny side, sheltered by a _tonnelle_, and that is -all. The proprietor of this grand affair spends his Sundays and his -fête-days throughout the year here on the slope of some rocky hill -overlooking the sea, sleeps on a camp bedstead, and goes out early in -the morning _pour la pêche_, in the hope of taking fish enough to make -his _bouillabaisse_. Probably he will catch nothing, but he will have -his _bouillabaisse_ just the same, even if he has to go back to town to -get it in a quayside restaurant. This is a simple and healthful enough -way to spend one's time assuredly, so why cavil at it, in spite of its -ludicrous and juvenile side,--a sort of playing at housekeeping. - -The _cabanons_ are numerous for miles around Marseilles in every -direction, above all on the hills overlooking the sea and in the valleys -of the Oriol, the Berger, and the Huveaune, in fact, in any ravine where -one may gain a foothold and hire a _pied-de-terre_ for fifty to a -hundred francs a year. - -The real traveller of enthusiasm, the kind that Sterne wrote for when he -said "let us go to France," will not be content merely to know -Marseilles, the town, but will wander afield to Estaque, to Allauch, to -Les Aygalades, and to any and all of the scores of excursion points -which the Marseillais, more than the inhabitants of any other city in -France, are so fond of visiting. Then, and then only, will one know the -real life of the Marseillais. - -The tour of the shores of the _golfe_ alone will occupy a week of one's -time very profitably, be he poet or painter. - -At Les Aygalades are the remains of a Carmelite chapel, which came under -the special patronage of King René of Anjou, also a château constructed -for the Maréchal de Villars. - -[Illustration: _A Cabanon_] - -Back of the Bassin d'Arenc is a hamlet, now virtually a part of -Marseilles itself, perched high upon a hill, from which one gets a -marvellous panorama of all the life of the great seaport. - -Seon-Saint-André was formerly a suburb composed entirely of vineyards, -where picturesque peasants worked and sang as they do in opera, and -spent their evenings rejoicing over the one great meal of the day. -To-day all suggestion of this rural and sylvan life has disappeared, and -brick-yards and soap-factories furnish an entirely different colour -scheme for one's canvas. - -At St. Julien Cæsar had one of his many camps which he so plentifully -scattered over Gaul, and, as usual, he selected it with judgment; -certainly nothing but modern engines of war could ever have successfully -attacked his intrenchments from land or sea. - -All the country immediately back of Marseilles to the eastward was, in a -former day, covered with a dense forest. A breach was made in it by -Charles IX., who had not the least notion of what the preservation of -the kingdom's resources meant, though another monarch, René d'Anjou, -came here frequently to the tiny chapel of St. Marguerite--the remains -of which still exist in the suburb of the same name--to pray that he -might be favoured by capturing "the deer of many horns." From this -latter fact it may be inferred that he was a true lover and preserver of -forests, like the later François of Renaissance times. - -Offshore the islands of the bay contain much of historic interest, -including the Château d'If with all its array of fact and romance, the -Iles Pomegue and Rattonneau, and the Ile de Riou. The latter lies just -eastward of the Planier and is so small as to be hardly recognizable on -the map, and yet prolific in the remains of a civilization of another -day. It was only within the present year (1905) that an engraved silex -was discovered buried in its sandy soil. This stone was identical with -those inscribed stones found in Egypt from time to time, and dating from -a period long previous to any recorded history of that country. - -This sermon in stone was presented to the French Academy of -Inscriptions, and by them thought to prove that the Egyptians, even as -far back as prehistoric times, had already learned the art of navigation -by small craft (for they were then ignorant of working in metal), and in -some considerable body had settled here in the neighbourhood of -Marseilles long before the Phoceans. This is all conjecture of course, -as the stone may have been a fragment of a larger morsel which formed -the anchor of some fishing-boat, or a piece of ballast taken aboard off -the Egyptian coast, which ultimately found a resting-place here on Riou. -It may be, even, that some "collector" of ages ago brought the stone -here as a curio; in short, it may have been transported by any one of a -hundred ways and at almost any time. At any rate, it is all guesswork, -regardless of the sensation which the finding of it made among -archæologists; but it proves that all is not yet known of ancient -history. - -It is a remarkable view, looking landwards, that one gets from the -height of the donjon of the Château d'If. Back of the city, which itself -is but a short three miles distant, is a wonderful framing of -mountainous rocks and gray hills set about with olive and fig trees, -while in the immediate foreground is a forest of masts and belching, -smoky chimneys which give a distance and transparency to the view which -is almost too picturesque to be true. It is no dream, however, and there -is nothing of illusion about it, and soon a tiny steamboat will have -brought one back to shore and all the excitable diversions of the -Cannebière. One makes his way to shore around and behind innumerable -bales, boxes, and baskets, coils of rope, _charrettes_ and _camions_, -and treads gingerly over sleeping roustabouts and sailors. - -The docks and quays of Marseilles will have a surprise for those -familiar only with the ports of La Manche and the western ocean. High or -low water there makes a considerable economic and picturesque -difference, but in the Mediterranean there is always a regular depth of -water; its level is always practically the same, and fishing-boats and -great Eastern liners alike come and go without thought of tides or -dock-gates. - -The commerce of Marseilles is, as might be expected, highly varied, and -the flags of all the great and small commercial nations are at one time -or another within its port, whose importations--not counting the orange -boats--greatly exceed the exports. Nearly a third of the imports are -made up of cereals, Marseilles being by far the greatest port of entry -in France for this class of product. Russia, Turkey, Algeria, the -Indies, and America send their wheat, Piedmont and Asia their rice, -Algeria, Tunis, and Russia their barley, while beans are sent in great -quantities from the ports of the Black Sea. - -Marseilles is the centre, the most important in all France, for the -production of all manner of oils, vegetable, mineral, and animal. -Petroleum, cotton-seed, the olive, and many kindred fruits and berries -all go to make possible a vast industry which is famous throughout the -world. - -Sugar-refining, too, is of great proportions here, and the trade of -importing and exporting the raw and refined sugars amounts to over one -hundred millions of kilos per year. Of the raw sugar imported, more than -two-thirds comes from the French colonies, so that, with the enormous -production of beet-sugar as well, France alone, of all European nations, -has the sugar question solved. - -Coffee forms a considerable part of the trade of Marseilles, sixteen to -twenty thousand tons being handled in one year. This of course -demonstrates that the French are great coffee-drinkers, though the palm -goes to Holland for the greatest consumption per capita. Cocoa and -coffee come to France in large quantities from Brazil, and pepper from -Indo-China. - -It is an interesting fact to record that the receipts of cotton in the -port of Marseilles are steadily on the decrease, by far the largest -bulk now being delivered at Le Havre and Rouen by reason of their -proximity to the great cotton-manufacturing centres in Normandy, while -the mills in the east of France choose to bring their supplies through -the gateway of Antwerp. The traffic at Marseilles has fallen, -accordingly, from 125,000 bales in 1876 to less than 50,000 at the -present day. On the other hand, the importation of the cocoons of the -silkworm finds its natural gateway at Marseilles, this being the most -direct route from China, Japan, Turkey, Greece, and Austria to the -factories of Lyons. - -Marseilles is the centre of the soap industry of the world, situated as -it is in the very heart of the region of the olive, which makes not only -the olive-oil of commerce but the best of common soaps as well, -including the famous Castile soap, which has deserted Castile for -Marseilles. One hundred and twenty-one million kilos of soap are made -here every year, of which a fifth part, at least, is exported to all -corners of the globe, the bulk being taken by the French colonies. - -[Illustration: _Marseilles in 1640_] - -The passenger traffic of the great liners which come and go from this, -the chief port of the south of Europe, is vast. The movement of -_paquebots_ and _courriers_ is incessant, not only those that go to the -Mediterranean ports of Algeria, Spain, Tunis, Corsica, Italy, Greece, -Turkey, the Black Sea, and all those queer and little known ports of the -near East as well, but also the great liners, French, English, German, -Dutch, and Italian, which make the round voyages to the Far East and -Australia with the regularity of Atlantic liners, but with vastly more -romance about them, for the death-dealing pace of twenty-two or -twenty-three knots an hour is unknown under the sunny skies of the -Mediterranean and Indian Ocean. - -The old and new parts of Marseilles are one of the chief attractions for -the stranger to this fascinating city. The Port Vieux and the new -Bassins de la Joliette are separated by a peninsula which comprises the -chief part of old Marseilles; indeed it is the site of the primitive -city of the Phoceans, who came, it is undeniably asserted, six hundred -years before Christ. - -If the new ports of Marseilles have not the same picturesqueness as the -Port Vieux, they at least overtop it in their intensity of action and -the fever of commercialism. Here, too, hundreds of sailing-vessels (but -of an entirely different species from those of the old port) come and -go without cessation, bringing the diverse products of the Mediterranean -shores to the markets of the world by way of Marseilles: piles of golden -oranges from the Balearic Isles, figs from Smyrna, wool from Algeria, -rice from Piedmont, _arachides_ from Senegal, dyestuffs from Central -America, pine from Sweden and Norway, and marbles from Italy. All this, -and more, greets the eye at every turn, and the very sight of the varied -cargoes tells a story which is fascinating and romantic even in these -worldly times. - -Take the orange cargoes for example; the mere handling of them between -the ship and the shore is as picturesque as one could possibly imagine. -The unloading is done by women called _porteiris_, all of whom it is -said are Genoese, although why this should be is difficult for the tyro -to understand, and the master longshoreman under whom they work -apparently does not know either. The oranges are brought on shore in -great baskets, which are poured out in a steady stream into the cars on -the quay. During the process all is gay with song and laughter, it being -one of the principal tenets of the creed of the southern labourers, men -or women, that they must not be dull at their work. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -A RAMBLE WITH DUMAS AND MONTE CRISTO - - -One day, something like four hundred years ago, a little colony of -Catalans quitted Spain and, sailing across the terrible Gulf of Lions, -came to Marseilles and begged the privilege of settling on that jutting -tongue of land to the left of Marseilles's Vieux Port, known even to-day -as the Pointe des Catalans. - -To reach the Pointe and Quartier des Catalans one follows along the -quays of the old port and climbs the height to the left. Of course one -should walk; no genuine literary pilgrim ever takes a car, though there -is one leaving the Cannebière, marked "Catalans," every few minutes. - -Dantes's Mercédès was a Catalane of the Catalans, and is the most -lovable figure in all the Dumas portrait gallery. Descended from the -early settlers of the colony at Marseilles, Mercédès, the betrothed of -the ambitious Dantes, was indeed lovely, that is, if we accept Dumas's -picture of her, and the author's portraiture was always exceedingly -good, whatever may have been his errors when dealing with historical -fact. - -Half-Moorish, half-Spanish, and with a very little Provençal blood, the -Catalans kept their distinct characteristics, while the other settlers -of Marseilles developed into the type well known and recognized to-day -as the Marseillais. - -Their looks, manners, and customs, their houses and their clothes were -faithful--and are still, to no small extent--to the early traditions of -the race, and, by intermarrying, the type was kept comparatively pure, -so that in this twentieth century the Catalan women of Marseilles are as -distinct a species of beautiful women as the Niçoise or the Arlesienne, -both types distinct from their French sisters, and each of great repute -among the world's beautiful women. - -Dumas was not very explicit with regard to the geography of this Catalan -quarter of Marseilles, though his references to it were numerous in that -most famous of all his romances, "Monte Cristo." - -At the time of which Dumas wrote (1815) its topographical aspect had -probably changed but little from what it had been for a matter of three -or four centuries, and the sea-birds then, even as now, hovered about -the jutting promontory and winged their way backwards and forwards -across the mouth of the old harbour, where the ugly but useful Pont -Transbordeur now stretches its five hundred metres of wire ropes. - -Around the Anse and the Pointe des Catalans were--and are still--grouped -the habitations of the Catalan fisher and sailor folk. One sees to-day, -among the men and women alike, the same distinction of type which Dumas -took for his ideal, and one has only to climb any of the narrow -stairlike streets which wind up from the sea-level to see the -counterpart of Dantes's Mercédès sitting or standing by some open -doorway. - -For a detailed, but not too lengthy, description of the manners and -customs of the Catalans of Marseilles, one can not do better than turn -to the pages of Dumas and read for himself what the great romancer wrote -of the lovely Mercédès and her kind. - -There are at least a half-dozen chapters of "Monte Cristo" which, if -re-read, would form a very interesting commentary on the Marseilles of -other days. - -The opening lines of Dumas's romance gives the key-note of old -Marseilles: "On the 28th of February, 1815, the watch-tower of Notre -Dame de la Garde signalled the '_trois-mâts_' _Pharaon_, from Smyrna, -Triest, and Naples." - -The functions of Notre Dame de la Garde have changed somewhat since that -time, but it is still the dominant note and beacon by land and sea, from -which sailors and landsmen alike take their bearings, and it is the best -of starting-points for one who would review the past history of this -most cosmopolitan of all European cities. - -High up, overlooking the Château du Pharo, now a Pasteur Hospital; above -the old Abbey of St. Victor, now a barracks; and above the Fort St. -Nicholas, which guards one side of the entrance to Marseilles port, is -the fort and sanctuary of Notre Dame de la Garde. The fort was one of -the first erections of its class by François Premier, who had something -of a reputation as a fortress-builder as well as a designer of châteaux -and a winner of women's hearts. Originally the fortress-château enfolded -within its walls an ancient chapel to Ste. Marie, and an old tower which -dated from the tenth century. This old tower, overlooking the town as -well as the harbour, was given the name of La Garde, which in turn was -taken by the château which ultimately grew up on the same site. - -This was long before the days of the present gorgeous edifice, which was -not consecrated until 1864. - -The château bore the familiar escutcheon of the Roi-Chevalier, the -symbolical salamander, but as a fortress it never attained any great -repute, as witness the following poetical satire: - - "C'est Notre Dame de la Garde, - Gouvernement commode et beau, - A qui suffit pour toute garde - Un Suisse, avec sa hallebarde, - Peint sur la port du château." - -The reference was to a painted figure of a Swiss on the entrance-door, -and whatever the irony or cynicism may have been, it was simply a -forerunner of the time when the fortress became no longer a place to be -depended upon in time of war, though at the time of which Dumas wrote it -was still a signal-station whence ships coming into Marseilles were -first reported. - -[Illustration: _Notre Dame de la Garde and the Harbour of Marseilles_] - -The modern church, in the Byzantine style, which now occupies this -commanding site, is warm in the affections of the sailor-folk of -Marseilles; besides which it is visited incessantly by pilgrims from -all parts of the world and for all manner of reasons; some to bring a -votive offering of a tiny ship and say a prayer or two for some dear one -travelling by sea; another to place at the foot of the statue of "_La -Bonne Mère_" a golden heart, as a talisman of a firm affection; and -others to leave little ivory replicas of a foot or an arm which had -miraculously recovered from some crippling accident. Add to these the -curious, and those who come for the view, and the numbers who ascend to -this commanding height by the narrow streets of steps, or the -_funiculaire_, are many indeed. As an enterprise for the purpose of -vending photographic souvenirs, the whole combination takes on huge -proportions. The church is really a most ornate and luxurious work, -built of the marbles of Carrara and Africa, on the pure Byzantine plan, -and surmounted with an enormous gilded statue of the Virgin nearly fifty -feet in height. - -This great beacon by land and sea, rising as it does to a height of -considerably over five hundred feet, is the point of departure of that -great deep-sea traffic which goes on so continually from the great port -of Marseilles. An enthusiastic and imaginative Frenchman puts it as -follows--and it can hardly be improved upon: "_Adieu! tu gardes -jalousement ta couronne de reine de la mer._" - -[Illustration: _Environs of Marseilles_] - -Of all the points of sentimental and romantic interest at Marseilles and -in its neighbourhood, the Château d'If will perhaps most strongly -impress itself upon the mind and memory. The Quartier des Catalans and -the Château d'If are indeed the chief recollections which most people -have of the city of the Phoceans, as well as of the romance of "Monte -Cristo." - -[Illustration: _Château d'If_] - -The descriptions in the first pages of this wonderful romance could not -be improved upon in the idea they convey of what this grim fortress was -like in the days when the great Napoleon was languishing at Elba. - -Little is changed to-day so far as the general outlines are concerned. -The little islet lies off the harbour's mouth scarce the proverbial -stone's throw, and visitors come and go and poke their heads in and out -of the sombre galleries and dungeons, asking the guardian, meanwhile, if -they are really those of which Dumas wrote. History defines it all with -even more accuracy than does romance, for one may recall that the prison -was one time the cage of the notorious Marquis de la Valette, the "Man -of the Iron Mask," and many others. - -One's mind always turns to Dantes and the gentle Abbé Faria, however, -and your cicerone with great coolness tells you glibly, and with perfect -conviction, just what apartments they occupied. You may take his word, -or you may not, but it is well to recall that the Abbé Faria was no -mythical character, though he never was an occupant of the island prison -in which Dumas placed him. - -The real Abbé Faria was a metaphysicist and a hypnotist of the first -rank in his day, and one feels that there is more than a suggestion of -this--or of some somnambulistic foresight or prophecy--in the last -speech which Dumas gives him when addressing Dantes: "_Surtout n'oubliez -pas Monte Cristo, n'oubliez pas le trésor!_" - -Dumas's own accounts of the Château d'If are indeed wonderful -word-pictures, descriptive and narrative alike. It is romance and -history combined in that wonderful manner of which Dumas alone was the -master. The best guide, undoubtedly, to Château d'If is to be found in -Chapters XIV., XV., XVII., and XX. of Dumas's romance, though, truth to -tell, the action of his plot was mostly imaginative and his scenario -more or less artificial. - -As it rounded the Château d'If, a pilot boarded Dantes's vessel, the -_Pharaon_, between Cap Morgion and the Ile de Riou. "Immediately, the -platform of Fort St. Jean was covered with onlookers, for it always was -an event at Marseilles for a ship to come into port." - -To-day the whole topography of the romance, so far as it refers to -Marseilles, is all spread out for the enthusiast in brilliant relief; -all as if one were himself a participant in the joyousness of the -home-coming of the good ship _Pharaon_. - -The old port from whose basin runs the far-famed Cannebière was the -Lacydon of antiquity, and was during many centuries the glory and -fortune of the town. To-day the old-time traffic has quite forsaken it, -but it is none the less the most picturesque seaport on the -Mediterranean. It is to-day, even as it was of yore, thronged with all -the paraphernalia of ships and shipping of the old-school order. It is -always lively and brilliant, with flags flung to the breeze and much -cordage, and fishing-tackle, and what not belonging to the little -sailing-craft which to-day have appropriated it for their own, leaving -the great liners and their kind to go to the newer basins and docks to -the westward. - -Virtually the Vieux Port is a museum of the old marine, for, except the -great white-hulled, ocean-going yachts, which seem always to be at -anchor there, scarce a steam-vessel of any sort is to be seen, save, -once and again, a fussy little towboat. Most of the ships of the Vieux -Port are those indescribably beautiful craft known as _navaires à voiles -de la Mediterranée_, which in other words are simply great -lateen-rigged, piratical-looking craft, which, regardless of the fact -that they are evidently best suited for the seafaring of these parts, -invariably give the stranger the idea that they are something of an -exotic nature which has come down to us through the makers of school -histories. They are as strange-looking to-day as would be the caravels -of Columbus or the viking ships of the Northmen. - -All the Mediterranean types of sailing craft are found here, and their -very nomenclature is picturesque--_bricks_, _goelettes_, _balancelles_, -_tartanes_ and _barques de pêche_ of a variety too great for them all to -have names. For the most part they all retain the slim, sharp prow, -frequently ornamented with the conventional figurehead of the old days, -a bust, or a three-quarters or full-length female figure, or perhaps a -_guirlande dorée_. - -One's impression of Marseilles, when he is on the eve of departure, will -be as varied as the temperament of individuals; but one thing is -certain--its like is to be found nowhere else in the known and travelled -world. Port Said is quite as cosmopolitan, but it is not grand or even -picturesque; New York is as much of a mixture of nationalities and -"colonies," from those of the Syrians and Greeks on the lower East Side -to those of the Hungarians, Poles, and Slavs on the West, but they have -not yet become firmly enough established to have become -picturesque,--they are simply squalid and dirty, and no one has ever yet -expressed the opinion that the waterside life of New York's wharves and -locks has anything of the colour and life of the Mediterranean about it; -Paris is gay, brilliant, and withal cosmopolitan, but there is a -conventionality about it that does not exist in the great port of -Marseilles, where each reviving and declining day brings a whole new -arrangement of the mirror of life. - -Marseilles is, indeed, "_la plus florissante et la plus magnifique des -villes latines_." - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -AIX-EN-PROVENCE AND ABOUT THERE - - -Much sentimental and historic interest centres around the world-famed -ancient capital of Aix-en-Provence. - -To-day its position, if subordinate to that of Marseilles in commercial -matters, is still omnipotent, so far as concerns the affairs of society -and state. To-day it is the _chef-lieu_ of the Arrondissement of the -same name in the Département des Bouches du Rhône; the seat of an -archbishopric; of the Cour d'Appel; and of the Académie, with its -faculties of law and letters. - -Aix-en-Provence, Aix-la-Chapelle, and Aix-les-Bains are all confused in -the minds of the readers of the Anglo-Parisian newspapers. There is -little reason for this, but it is so. Aix-la-Chapelle is the shrine of -Charlemagne; Aix-les-Bains, of the god of baccarat--and in a later day -bridge and automobile-boat races; but Aix-en-Provence is still prominent -as the brilliant capital of the beauty-loving court of the middle ages. -The remains of this past existence are still numerous, and assuredly -they appeal most profoundly to all who have ever once come within their -spell, from that wonderfully ornate portal of the Église de St. Sauveur -to King René's "Book of Hours" in the Bibliothèque Méjanes. - -Three times has Aix changed its location. The ancient _ville gauloise_, -whose name appears to be lost in the darkness of the ages, was some -three kilometres to the north, and the _ville romaine_ of Aquæ-Sextiæ -was some distance to the westward of the present city of -Aix-en-Provence. - -The part played in history by Aix-en-Provence was great and important, -not only as regards its own career, but because of the aid which it gave -to other cities of Provence. For the assistance which she gave -Marseilles, when that city was besieged by the Spanish, Aix was given -the right to bear upon her blazoned shield the arms of the Counts of -Anjou (the quarterings of Anjou, Sicily, and Jerusalem). This accounts -for the complex and familiar emblems seen to-day on the city arms. - -René d'Anjou was much revered in Aix, in which town he made his -residence. It was but natural that the city should in a later day -honour him with a statue bearing the inscription, "_Au bon roi René, -dont la mémoire sera toujours chère aux Provençaux_." - -There were times when sadness befell Aix, but on the whole its career -was one of gladsome pleasure. To René, poet of imagination as well as -king, was due the founding of the celebrated Fête-Dieu. In one form or -another it was intermittently continued up to the middle of the -nineteenth century. Originally it was a curious bizarre affair, with -angels, apostles, disciples, and the whole list of Biblical characters -personated by the citizens. The "Fête de la Reine de Saba," the "Danse -des Olivettes," and the "Danse des Épées" were other processional fêtes -which contributed not a little to the gay life here in the middle ages -and account for the survival to-day of many local customs. - -Nostradamus, the prophet of Salon, gives the following flattering -picture of "Le Prince d'Amour," the title given to the head of the -mediæval Courts of Love which nowhere flourished so gorgeously as here: - -"He marched always at the head of the parade, alone and richly clad. -Behind were his lieutenants, his nobles, his standard-bearers, and a -great escort of horsemen, all costumed at his expense." - -It was Louis XIV. who decided to suppress the function, and a royal -declaration to that effect was made on the 16th June, 1668. - -Aix met the decree by deciding that the "Prince d'Amour" should be -replaced by a "Lieutenant," to whom should be allowed an annual pension -of eight hundred livres. Apparently this was none too much, as one of -the aspirants for the honour expended something like two thousand livres -during his one year in office. - -The costume officially prescribed for a "Lieutenant" or a "Prince -d'Amour" was as follows: - -"A corselet and breeches '_à la romaine_,' of white moiré with silver -trimmings, a mantle trimmed with silver, black silk stockings, low shoes -tied with ribbons, and a plumed hat, together with 'knee-ribbons,' a -sword-knot and a bouquet, also with streamers of ribbon." - -All this bespeaks a certain gorgeousness which was only accomplished at -considerable personal expense on the part of him on whom the honour -fell. - -In one form or another this sort of thing went on at Aix until -Revolutionary times, when the pageant was abolished as smacking too -much of royal procedure and too little of republicanism. - -Avignon and Arles are intimately associated with the modern exponents of -Provençal literature, but Aix will ever stand as the home of Provençal -letters of a past time, Aix the nursery of the ancient troubadours. - -As a touring-ground little exploited as yet, the region for fifty -kilometres around Aix-en-Provence offers so much of novelty and charm -that it may not be likened to any other region in France. - -Off to the southwest is Les Pennes, one of those picturesque -cliff-towns, scattered here and there about Europe, which makes the -artist murmur: "I must have that in my portfolio,"--as if one could -really capture its scintillating beauty and grandeur. - -Les Pennes will be difficult to find unless one makes a halt at Aix, -Marseilles, or Martigues, for it appears not to be known, even by name, -outside of its own intimate radius. - -[Illustration: _Les Pennes_] - -It shall not further be eulogized here, for fear it may become -"spoiled," though there is absolutely no attraction, within or without -its walls, for the traveller who wants the capricious delights of -Monte Carlo or the amusements of a city like Aix or Marseilles. - -On the "Route Nationale" between Aix and Marseilles is the little town -of Gardanne, only interesting because it is a typical small town of -Provence. It has for its chief industries the manufacture of aluminium -and nougat, widely dissimilar though they be. - -Just to the southward rises majestically the mountain chain of the Pilon -du Roi, whose peak climbs skyward for 710 metres, overshadowing the -towns of Simiane, with its remains of a Romanesque chapel and a -thirteenth-century donjon, and Septèmes, with the ruins of its Louis -XIV. fortifications, and Notre Dame des Anges, which was erected upon -the remains of the ancient chapel of an old-time monastery. - -From the platform of Notre Dame des Anges is to be had a remarkable view -of the foot-hills, of the coast-line, and of the sea beyond, the whole -landscape dotted here and there with yellow-gray hamlets and -olive-trees, and little trickling streams. It suggests nothing so much -as the artificial spectacular compositions which most artists paint when -they attempt to depict these wide-open views, and which it is the -fashion to condemn as not being true to nature. This may sometimes be -the case; but often they are as true a map of the country as the -average topographical survey, and far more true than the best -"bird's-eye" photograph that was ever taken. - -The Pilon du Roi, so named from its resemblance to a great ruined or -unfinished tower, rises two hundred or more metres above the platform of -the church, and to climb its precipitous sides will prove an adventure -as thrilling as the most foolhardy Alpinist could desire. - -There is a little corner of this region, lying between Marseilles and -Gardanne, which, in spite of the overhead brilliancy, will remind one of -the grimness and austerity of Flanders. One comes brusquely upon a lusty -and growing coal-mining industry as he descends the southern slope of -the Chaîne du Pilon du Roi, and, while all around are umbrella-pines, -olive-trees, cypress, and all the characteristics of a southern -landscape, there are occasional glimpses of tall, belching chimneys and -the sound of the trolleys carrying the coal down to a lower level. Here -and there, too, one finds a black mountain of débris, sooty and grimy, -against a background of the purest tints of the artist's palette. The -contrast is too horrible for even contemplation, in spite of the -importance of the industry to the metropolis of Marseilles and the -neighbouring Provençal cities. - -At Auriol is another "_exploitation houillère_," which is the French way -of describing a coal-mine. To the tourist and lover of the beautiful -this is a small thing. He will be more interested in the vineyards and -olive orchards and the flower-gardens surrounding the little townlet, -which here bloom with a luxuriance at which one can but marvel. The town -is a "_ville industrielle_," if there ever was one, since all of its -inhabitants seem to be engaged in, or connected with, the coal-mining -industry in one way or another. In spite of this, however, the real -old-time flavour has been well preserved in the narrow streets, the -sixteenth-century belfry, and the ruins of the old château, which still -rise proudly above the little red-roofed houses of Auriol's twenty-five -hundred inhabitants. To-day there is no more fear of a Saracen -invasion,--as there was when the château was built,--but there is the -ever present danger that some yawning pit's mouth will be opened beneath -its walls, and that the old donjon tower will fall before the invasion -of progress, as has been the fate of so many other great historic -monuments elsewhere. - -In the little vineyard country there are to be heard innumerable -proverbs all connected with the soil, although, like the proverbs of -Spain, they are applicable to any condition of life, as for instance: -"Buy your house already finished and your vines planted," or "Have few -vines, but cultivate them well." - -There is a crop which is gathered in Provence which is not generally -known or recognized by outsiders, that of the caper, which, like the -champignon and the truffle, is to the "_cuisine française_" what paprika -is to Hungarian cooking. - -Without doubt, like many other good things of the table in the south of -France, the caper was an importation from the Levant. It is a curious -plant growing up beside a wall, or in the crevice of a rocky soil, and -giving a bountiful harvest. In the early days of May the "_boutons_" -appear, and the smaller they are when they are gathered,--so long as -they are not microscopic,--the better, and the better price they bring. -They must be put up in bottles or tins as soon as picked or they cannot -be made use of, so rapidly do they deteriorate after they have been -gathered. - -The crop is gathered by women at the rate of five _sous_ a kilo, which, -considering that they can gather twenty or more kilos a day, is not at -all bad pay for what must be a very pleasant occupation. The buyer--he -who prepares the capers for market--pays seventy-five centimes a kilo, -and after passing through his hands, by a process which merely adds a -little vinegar (though it has all to be most carefully done), the price -has doubled or perhaps trebled. - -Like the olive and the caper, the apricot is a great source of revenue -in the Var, particularly in the neighbourhood of Roquevaire, midway -between Aix and Marseilles. Slopes and plains and valley bottoms are all -given over, apparently indiscriminately, to the culture. Near by are -great factories which slice the fruit, dry it, or make it into -preserves. Formerly the growers sold direct to the factories; but now, -having formed a sort of middleman's association, they have united their -forces with the idea of commanding better prices. This is a procedure -greatly in favour with many of the agricultural industries of France. -The growers of plums in Touraine do the same thing; so do the growers of -cider-apples in Normandy; the vineyard proprietors of the Cognac region, -and the cheese-makers of Brie and Gournay; and the plan works well and -for the advantage of all concerned. - -[Illustration: _Roquevaire_] - -The apricots of the Var, in their natural state, formerly brought but -five or six centimes a kilo, but by the new order of things the price -has been raised to ten. - -In the season as many as five hundred thousand kilos of apricots are -peeled and stoned in a day by one establishment alone, employing perhaps -two hundred women and young girls. From this twenty-five thousand kilos -of stones or _noyaux_ result, which, in turn, are sold to make _orgeat_ -and _pâte d'amande_,--which fact may be a surprise to many; it was to -the writer. - -Forty to forty-five centimes a kilo is the price the fruit brings when -it is turned over to the canning establishment, where the process does -not differ greatly from that in similar trades in America or Australia, -though the "_abricots conservés_" of Roquevaire-en-Provence lead the -world for excellence. - -Roquevaire's next-door neighbour is Aubagne, in the valley of the -Huveaune. It might well be called a suburb and dependency of the -metropolis of Marseilles, except that the little town claims an -antiquity equal to that of Marseilles itself. To-day, lying in the -fertile plain of Baudinard, and surrounded by innumerable plantations -devoted to the growing of fruits, principally strawberries, it is noted -chiefly as the place from which Marseilles draws its principal supplies -of early garden fruits or _primeurs_, which is a French word with which -foreigners should familiarize themselves. It is believed that Aubagne -was the Albania of mediæval times, and it was so named on the chart of -Provence made in the tenth century by Boson, Comte de Provence, by whom -it was united with the Vicomté de Marseilles, and its civil and -religious rights vested in the monks of the Abbey of St. Victor. - -There is nothing of dulness here, and, while in no sense a manufacturing -town, such as Gardanne, there are innumerable petty industries which -have grown up from the agricultural occupations, such as the putting up -of _confitures_, the distilling of those sweet, syrupy concoctions which -the French of all parts, be they on the boulevards at Paris or at sea on -board a Messageries liner, drink continually, no variety more than the -_grenadine_, which is produced at its best here. - -The little river Huveaune flows southwest till it drops down to the sea -through the hills forming the immediate background of Marseilles, and -gives to the aspect of nature what artists absolutely refuse to call by -any other name than _character_. - -On the horizon one sees a great cross, planted on the summit of a height -known as the Gardelaban. Beneath it is a great hole burrowed into the -rock and anciently supposed to be of some religious significance, just -what no one seems to know or care. - -A few generations ago gold was supposed to be buried there; but, as no -gold was found, this was one of the superstitions which soon died out. -The new Eldorado was not to be found there, though a self-styled expert -once gave the opinion (in print, and solicited subscriptions on the -strength of the claim) that the ground was full of "_des amas de fer -hydraté, contenant des pyrites au reflet doré_." The claim proved false -and so it was dropped. - -Running northeasterly from Marseilles, at some little distance from the -city, but near enough to be in full view from the height of Notre Dame -de la Garde, is the mass of the Saint Pilon range, with Sainte Baume, a -little to the southward, rising skyward 999 metres, which height makes -it quite a mountain when it is considered that it rises abruptly almost -from the sea-level. - -The Forêt de Sainte Baume is one of those unspoiled wildwoods scattered -about France which do much to make travel by road interesting and -varied. To be sure Sainte Baume is on the road to nowhere; but it makes -a pleasant excursion to go by train from Marseilles to Auriol, and -thence by carriage to St. Zacharie and Sainte Baume. It will prove one -of the most delightful trips in a delightful itinerary, and furthermore -has the advantage of not being overrun with tourists. - -St. Zacharie, like many other of the tiny hill towns of Provence, looks -like a bit of transplanted Italy. The village is small, almost to minute -proportions, but it has a pottery industry which is renowned for the -beauty of its wares. There is also a church which was built in the tenth -century, and moreover there is a most excellent hotel, the Lion d'Or. -The surrounding hills are either thickly wooded or absolutely bare, and -accordingly the scenic contrast is most remarkable, from the point of -view of the lover of the unconventionally picturesque. - -[Illustration: _Convent Garden, St. Zacharie_] - -As for the Forêt de Sainte Baume itself, it is thickly grown with great -oaks, poplars, aspens, lichen-grown beeches, sycamores, cypresses, -pines, and all the characteristic undergrowth of a virgin forest, which -this virtually is, for no forest tract in France has been less spoiled -or better cared for. In addition nearly all the medicinal plants of -the pharmacopoeia are also found, and such exotics as mistletoe and -orchids as would delight the heart of a botanist jaded with the -commonplaces of a northern forest. - -At the entrance to the wood is the Hôtellerie de la Sainte Baume, served -by monks and nuns, who will cater for visitors in a most satisfactory -manner--the women on one side and men on the other--and give them -veritable monastic fare, a little preserved fish, an omelette, rice, -perhaps, cooked in olive-oil, and a full-bodied red or white wine _ad -lib._, and all for a ridiculously small sum. - -The grotto of Sainte Baume, well within the forest, was, according to -tradition, the resting-place for thirty-three years of Mary Magdalen, -and accordingly it has become a place of pilgrimage for the faithful at -Pentecost, la Fête Dieu, and the Fête de Ste. Madeleine (22d July). The -grotto (from which the name comes, _baume_ being the Provençal for -_baoumo_, meaning grotto) has a length of some twenty metres and a width -of twenty-five with a height of perhaps six or seven. - -It is a damp, dark sort of a cave, with water always trickling from the -roof, though a cistern on the floor never seems to run over. The -falling drops make an uncanny sound, if one wanders about by himself, -and he marvels at the fact that it has become a religious shrine so -famous as to have been visited by Louis and Marguerite de Provence, -Louise de Savoie, Claude de France, Marguerite, Duchesse d'Alençon, and -a whole galaxy of royal personages, including Louis XIV., and Gaston -d'Orleans. - -On the Monday of Pentecost all Provence, it would seem, comes to make -its devotions at this shrine of Mary Magdalen,--men, women, and -children, and above all the young couples of the year, this pilgrimage -being frequently stipulated in the Provençal marriage contract. - -Above the grotto, on a rocky peak, are the remains of a convent founded -by Charles II., Comte de Provence. The view from its platform is one of -dazzling beauty. Off to the southwest lies Marseilles, with the great -golden statue of Notre Dame de la Garde well defined against the blue of -the sea; the Étang de Berre scintillates directly to the westward, like -a great fiery opal, and still farther off are the mountains of -Languedoc. - -For many reasons the journey to Sainte Baume should be made by all -visitors to Aix or Marseilles who have the time, and inclination, to -know something of the countryside as well as of the towns. - - - - -PART II. - -THE REAL RIVIERA - -[Illustration: MARSEILLES TO TOULON] - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -MARSEILLES TO TOULON - - -The coast just east of Marseilles is quite unknown to the general -Riviera traveller, although it is accessible, varied, and an admirable -foretaste of the beauties of the Riviera itself. - -Just over the great bald-faced peak of Mount Carpiagne lie Cassis and -the Bec de l'Aigle, the virtual beginning of the wonderful scenic -panorama of the Riviera. - -One would have expected that as time went on Carsicus Portus of the -Romans, the present Cassis, would have exceeded Marseilles in magnitude, -for its situation was much in its favour. Great treasure-laden ships -from the Orient would have avoided doubling the rocky promontory which -stretches seaward between Marseilles and Cassis, and thereby saved the -worry of many ever-present dangers. This was not to be, however, and -Marseilles has grown at the expense of its better situated rival. -Cassis, however, was a port of refuge to ships coming from the East, -and on more than one occasion they put in here and landed their cargoes, -which were sent overland to the already firmly established trading -colony at Marseilles. - -The origin of the name is doubtful. It seems plausible enough that it -may have come from the old Provençal _classis_, a _filet_ or net, from -the use of this in the fishing which was carried on here extensively in -times past. - -Some supposedly ancient quays, which may have dated from Roman times, -were discovered in the eighteenth century, but the present port and its -quays were constructed under the orders of Louis XIII. - -The present fishing industry of Cassis is not very considerable, it -being far less than that of Martigues or Port de Bouc. At Cassis there -are but half a hundred men engaged, and the returns, as given in a -recent year, were scarcely over eleven hundred francs per capita, which -is not a great wage for a toiler of the sea. - -Another harvest of the sea, little practised to-day, but formerly much -more remunerative, is the gathering of a variety of coral which quite -equals that of Italy or Dalmatia. This industry has of late grown less -and less important here, as elsewhere, for the Italians, Greeks, and -Maltese have so scraped over the bottom of the Mediterranean with their -great hooked tridents that but little coral is now found. - -Cassis figures in a story connected with the great plague or pest which -befell Marseilles in the eighteenth century. Pope Clement XI. had sent -to the Monseigneur de Belsunce a cargo of wheat to be distributed among -the famished of Marseilles or elsewhere, "_comme il le jugerait à -propos_." In December, 1720, a fleet of _tartanes_,--the same -lateen-rigged ships which one sees engaged to-day in the open-sea -fishing industry of Martigues,--bringing the wheat to the stricken city, -was forced to anchor in the Golfe des Lèques, just offshore from the -little port of Cassis, "_par suite de la violente mistral qui balayait -la mer_." The same mistral sweeps the seas around Marseilles to-day, and -works all sorts of disaster to small craft if they do not take shelter. - -When the _tartanes_ were discovered off Cassis, the famishing -sailor-folk of the town hesitated not a moment to put off and board -them. The papal _tartane_ attempted to parley with them, but every -vessel in the fleet was attacked in true Barbary-pirate fashion and -captured; and the entire consignment was seized and distributed among -the distressed people of Cassis and the surrounding country. The -"pirates," however, paid the Archbishop of Marseilles the full value of -the shipment, "_comme c'était justice_." Mgr. de Belsunce, "coming to -Cassis on donkey-back," brought back the money and founded a school for -both sexes with the capital, besides giving to the poor of the town an -annual sum equal to the interest on the principal. Whether this was a -case of "heaping coals of fire" on the delinquent heads, or not, history -does not say. - -Cassis is the native city of the Abbé Barthélémy, a savant who, amid the -constant study of ancient and modern Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Syriac, -Chaldean, and Arabic, found time to write the "_Voyage du Jeune -Anacharsis en Grèce_," a work which has placed his name high in the roll -of writers who have produced epoch-making literature. - -[Illustration: _Cassis_] - -Cassis is the perfect type of the small Mediterranean port. High above -the houses of its nineteen hundred inhabitants, on the apex of a wooded, -red-rock hill, are the ruins of a château. To the east is the grim and -gray Cap, a mountain of considerable pretensions, while to the west is -Pointe Pin, a height of perhaps fifteen hundred metres sloping gently -down to the sea, and covered with scrub-pines save for occasional -granite outcrops. - -Cassis is a highly industrious little town, now mostly given over to the -manufacture of cement, the coastwise shipping of which gives a perpetual -liveliness to the port. The fishing, too, though, as before said, not -very considerable, results in a constant traffic with the wharves of -Marseilles, where the product is sold. - -The white wine of Cassis, a "_vrai vin parfumé_," which in another day -was produced much more extensively than now, is as much the proper thing -to drink with _bouillabaisse_ and _les coquillages_ as in the north are -Chablis and Graves with oysters and lobsters. - -The _vin de Cassis_ is like the wine of which Keats wrote: - -"So fine that it fills one's mouth with gushing freshness,--that goes -down cool and feverless, and does not quarrel with your liver, lying as -quiet as it did in the grape." - -The sheltering headland which rises high above Cassis is known as Le -Gibel. On its highest peak the poet Mistral has placed the retreat of -the heroine Esteulle in his poem "Calandau." Black and menacing, Cap -Canaille continues Le Gibel out toward the sea, and its sheer rise -above the Mediterranean approximates five hundred metres. - -On the opposite bank of a little bay, called in Provençal a _calanque_, -rises the ruined towers and walls of a feudal château, of no interest -except that it forms a grim contrasting note with the blue background of -sky above and sea below. - -A little farther on, sheltered at the head of a _calanque_, is Port -Miou, which has a legend that has made it a popular place of pilgrimage -for the Marseillais. The little port is well sheltered in the bay, with -the entrance nearly closed by a great sentinel rock, which is, at times, -wholly submerged by the waves. It is this which has given rise to the -legend that a Genoese fisherman, surprised by a tempest and being unable -to control his craft, abandoned the tiller and would have hurled himself -into the sea if his son, obeying a sudden inspiration, had not steered -the boat through the narrow strait and came to a safe harbour within. -The father at once fell upon the boy, killing him with a blow; but, -Providence taking no revenge, the boat drifted on to a safe anchorage. - -The story is not a new one; the same legend, with variations, is heard -in many parts of western Europe and as far north as Norway, but it is -potent enough here to draw crowds of Sunday holiday-makers, in the -summer months, from Marseilles. - -In 1377 Pope Gregory XI., who desired to reëstablish the papacy at Rome -after its seventy years at Avignon, took ship at Marseilles, but was -held back by contrary winds and seas and hovered about the little -archipelago of islands at the harbour's mouth, until finally, when he -had at last got well started on his way, a furious tempest arose and the -vessel forced to anchor in the _calanque_ of Port Miou, called by the -historian of the voyage Portus Milonis. - -Beyond Cassis, eastward, are still to be traced the outlines of the old -Roman road which led into Gaul from Rome, via Pisa and Genoa, until it -finally passes Ceyreste, the ancient Citharista. The name was originally -given to the site because of the chain of hills at the back, which -formed a sort of a tiara (_citharista_ signifying tiara or crown), of -which the little city formed the bright particular jewel. It must have -been one of the first health resorts of the Mediterranean shore, for -Cæsar founded here a hospital for sick soldiers. Since that day it -appears to have been neglected by the invalids (real and fancied), for -they go to Monte Carlo to live the same life of social diversion that -goes on at Paris, Vienna, or New York. - -Another explanation of the origin of the city's name is that it was -dedicated to Apollo, the god of music, and that its name came from the -_cithare_, or zither, which, according to those learned in mythology, -the god always bore. - -Ceyreste, at all events, was of Grecian origin as to its name, and was -perhaps the patrician suburb of La Ciotat, the city of sailors and -merchants. Unlike most plutocratic towns, Ceyreste appears always to -have had a due regard for the proprieties, for a French historian has -written: "_Il est de notoriété publique que jamais aucun Ceyrestéen n'a -subi de peine infamante, ni même afflictive. Jamais aucun crime n'a été -commis dans la commune!_" - -Ceyreste must console itself with these memories of a glorious past, for -to-day it is but a minute commune of but a few hundred souls, most of -whom have attached themselves in their daily pursuits to the busy -industrial La Ciotat. - -The railway issues from the Tunnel de Cassis, through olive-groves and -great sculptured rocks, on the shores of the wonderful Baie de la -Ciotat, flanked on one side by a rocky promontory and on the other, the -west, by the Bec de l'Aigle, a queer beak-shaped projection which well -lives up to its name. - -[Illustration: _La Ciotat and the Bec de l'Aigle_] - -The bay of La Ciotat is the first radiant vision which one has of a -Mediterranean _golfe_, as he comes from the north or east. Things have -changed to-day, and the considerable commerce of former times has -already shrunk to infinitesimal proportions, though to take its place -the port has become the location of the vast ship-building works of the -"Cie. des Messageries-Maritimes," whose three or four thousand workmen -have taken away most of the local Mediterranean wealth of colour which -many a less progressive place has in abundance. Accordingly La Ciotat is -no place to tarry, though unquestionably it is a place to visit, if -only for the sake of that wonderful first impression that one gets of -its bay. - -It was a fortunate day for the prosperity of La Ciotat when the -engineers and directors of the great steamship company founded its vast -workshops here. To be sure they do not add much to the romantic aspect -of this charmingly situated coast town; but men must live, and great -ocean liners must be built somewhere near salt water. - -The prosperity of La Ciotat, the _ville des ouvriers_, has grown up -mostly from its traffic by sea, the railway stopping at an elevation of -some two hundred feet above the level of the quays. The traveller makes -his way by a little branch train, but heavy merchandise for the -ship-building yards is still brought first to Marseilles and then -transhipped by boat. - -Ship-building was one of the ancient occupations of the people of La -Ciotat, hence it is natural enough to hear some old workman, who has -become incapacitated by time, say: "_N'est-il pas naturel que La Ciotat -soutienne son antique réputation en construisant de bons bateaux?_" - -For a long time it was the grand ship-building yard of the Marseillais, -who obtained here all their ships to "_faire la caravane_," as the -voyage to the Levant was called in olden times. - -La Ciotat was perhaps the Burgus Civitatis of the itinerary of Antony, -but in time it came to be known--in the Catalan tongue--as _Bort de -Nostre Cieuta_, and it is so given in an ancient charter which conceded -certain rights to the Marseillais. - -In 1365 La Ciotat passed to the monks of the Abbey of St. Victor, but -for a short time it was in the possession of the Catalans, who were the -partisans of the Antipope Pierre de Luna. Few towns of its size in all -France have had so varied a career as La Ciotat, until it finally -settled down to the more or less prosaic affairs of later years. Forty -families formed its first population, but, in the reign of François I., -its population was twelve thousand or more, a number which has not -perceptibly increased since. - -During the pest of 1720, which fell so hard upon Marseilles, and indeed -upon nearly all of the ports of maritime Provence, La Ciotat was saved -from the affection by the observance of a stringent quarantine. To a -great extent this was due to the prudence and fearlessness of the women. -All entrance to the city was rigorously refused to strangers, and, when -the troops from the garrison at Marseilles were sent here that they -might be quartered in a place of safety, the women armed themselves with -sticks and stones and formed a barrier, _dehors des murs_, and drove the -soldiery off as if they had been an attacking foe. This is one of those -Amazonian feats which prove the valour of the women of other days. - -La Ciotat was frequently attacked by the Barbary pirates before these -vermin were swept from the seas by the intervention of the two great -republics, France and the United States. The English, too, attacked the -intrepid little town, and there are brave tales of the valour of the -inhabitants when bombarded by the guns of the _Seahorse_ in 1818. - -Directly in front of La Ciotat, at the foot of the Côte de Saint Cyr, on -the eastern shore of the bay, was an old Greek colony known to -geographers as Tauroentum. Rich and powerful in its own right, -Tauroentum rivalled its neighbour Marseilles, but the fleets of Pompey -and Cæsar had one of those old-time sea-fights off its quays, and the -city, having suffered greatly at the time, never recovered its -prosperity, and the more opulent and powerful Marseilles became the -metropolis for all time. The monumental remains to be observed to-day -are mostly covered with the sands of time, and only the antiquarian and -archæologist will get pleasure or satisfaction from any fragmentary -evidences which may be unearthed. The subject is a vast and most -interesting one, no doubt, but the enthusiast in such matters is -referred to Lentheric's great work on "La Provence Maritime." - -La Ciotat, with its workmen's houses and its shipyard, will not detain -one long. One will be more interested in making his way eastward along -the coast, when every kilometre will open up new splendours of -landscape. - -Opposite La Ciotat is the hamlet of Les Lèques, well sheltered in the -bay of the same name. Lamartine, _en route_ for the Orient, compared it -with enthusiasm to the Bay of Naples, a simile which has been used with -regard to many another similar spot, but hardly with as much of -appropriateness as here. Said Lamartine: "_C'est un de ces nombreux -chefs-d'oeuvre que Dieu a répandus partout_." - -From Les Lèques it is but a step to Bandol, a place not mentioned in the -note-books of many travellers, though to the French it is already -recognized as a "_station hivernale et de bains de mer_." This is a -pity, for it will soon go the way of the other resorts. - -Bandol is a small town of the Var, possessed of a remarkably beautiful -and sheltered site, and, since it numbers but a trifle over two thousand -souls, and has no palace hotels as yet, it may well be accounted as one -of the places on the beaten track of Riviera travel which has not yet -become wholly spoiled. - -Bandol's principal business is the growing of immortelles and -artichokes, with enough of the fishing industry to give a liveliness and -picturesqueness to the wharves of the little port. - -It is a wonderfully warm corner of the littoral, here in the immediate -environs of Bandol, and palms, banana-trees, the eucalyptus, and many -other subtropical shrubs and plants thrive exceedingly. There is nothing -of the rigour of winter to blight this warm little corner; only the -mistral--which is everywhere (Monaco perhaps excepted)--or its equally -wicked brother, _le vent d'est_, ever makes disagreeable a visit to this -warm-welcoming little coast town. - -A clock-tower, or belfry, an old château,--the construction of -Vauban,--and a jetty, which throws out its long tentacle-like arm to -sea, make up the chief architectural monuments of the town. - -Not so theatrical or stagy as Monte Carlo or even Hyères, or as overrun -with "swallows" as Nice or Menton, Bandol has much that these places -lack, and lacks a great deal that they have, but which one is glad to be -without if he wants to hibernate amid new and unruffling surroundings. - -Very good wines are made from the grapes which grow on the neighbouring -hillsides; rich red wines, most of which are sold as Port to not too -inquisitive buyers. The industry is not as flourishing as it once was, -though the inhabitants--some two hundred or more--who used to be engaged -in the coopering trade, still hope that, phoenix-like, it will rise again -to prosperity. What the culture once was, and what picturesque elements -it possessed, art-lovers, and others, may judge for themselves by the -contemplation of the celebrated canvas by Joseph Vernet, now in the -Louvre at Paris. - -The fishermen of Bandol find the industry more profitable than do many -others in the small towns to the eastward of Marseilles, and, -accordingly, they are more prominent in the daily life which goes on in -the markets and on the quays. Their catch runs the whole gamut of the -_poissons de Mediterranée_, including a unique species called the St. -Pierre, whose bones somewhat resemble the instruments of the Passion. - -Three thousand cases of immortelles are gathered each year from the -hillsides and shipped to all parts, the crop having a value of more than -a hundred thousand francs. - -Bandol is the centre of the manufacture of _couronnes d'immortelles_ in -France. The little yellow flowers literally clog the narrow streets of -the town away from the waterside. The warm zone in which Bandol is -situated is most favourable to the growth of the plant, which, according -to the botanists, originally came from Crete and Malta. The natives of -Bandol say that it originated with them, or at least with their _pays_. - -A hot, dry soil is necessary to their growth, and they are at their best -in June and July, when their golden yellow tufts literally cover the -hillsides; that is, all that are not covered by narcissi. The flora of -Bandol is most varied and abundant, but these two flowers predominate. - -The culture of the immortelle is simple. In February or March the plants -are set in the ground, from small roots, and the gathering commences in -July of the second season, after which the poor, stripped stalks look -anything but immortal. Each plant grows three or four score of stems, -each stem bearing ten to twenty flowers. - -Curiously enough there seems to be a diversity of opinion as to the -colour that a crown of immortelles shall take. Not all of them are sent -out in the golden colour nature gave them. Some are dyed purple and -others black, and then, indeed, all their beauty has departed. The -natives think so, too, but dealers in funeral supplies in Paris, Lyons, -and Marseilles--who have about the worst artistic sense of any class of -Frenchmen who ever lived--have got the idea that their clients like -variety, and that bright yellow is too gay for a symbol of mourning. - -Bandol sits in a great amphitheatre surrounded by wooded hillsides set -out here and there with plantations of olive and mulberry trees and -vines. - -Harvest loads of grapes and olives form the chief characteristics of the -traffic by the highways and byways throughout Provence, but in no -section are they more brilliant and gay with colour than along the coast -from Marseilles to Hyères. - -Bandol is thought to have been one of those numerous nameless ports -referred to by the Roman historians, but it is necessary to arrive at -the end of the sixteenth century to find any mention of it by name. -Nostradamus recounts that a certain Capitaine Boyer of Ollioules, who -had rendered great service to the king during the troubles with the -League, was given "_en fief et à paye-morte, à luy et à sa postérité, le -fort de Bendort (Bandol), situé au bord de la mer_." - -Later this same Boyer was appointed governor of the Château de la Garde -at Marseilles, and received, in addition, certain valuable rights -connected with the tunny fishing on the Provençal coasts, which -enterprise ultimately placed him in a position of great affluence. - -The old château of Bandol, built on a bed of basalt, has the following -pleasant _mot_ connected with it: - - "Le gouverneur de cette roche, - Retournant un jour par le coche, - A, depuis environ quinze ans, - Emporté la clé dans sa poche." - -Ten kilometres beyond Bandol is Ollioules, which is mentioned in the -guide-books as being the gateway to the celebrated Gorges d'Ollioules, -which, like most gorges and cañons, is of surprising spectacular beauty. -This is a classic excursion for the residents of Toulon, who on Sunday -flock to the site of this tortuous savage gorge, and breathe in some of -those same delights which a mountaineer finds in a deep-cut cañon in the -Rockies. There is nothing so very stupendous about this gorge, but it -looks well in a photograph, and satisfies the Toulonais to their highest -expectations, and altogether is a very satisfactory sort of a ravine, if -one does not care for the beauties of the coast-line itself,--which is -what most of us come to the Mediterranean for. - -Ollioules itself is of far more attraction, to the lover of picturesque -old streets and houses and crumbling historical monuments, than its -gorge. The town bears still the true stamp of the middle ages, though -the inhabitants will tell you that it has great hopes of becoming some -day a popular resort like Nice, this being the future to which all the -small Riviera towns aspire. - -Old vaulted streets, leaning porched houses, with enormous gables and -delicately sculptured corbels and window-frames, give quite the effect -of mediævalism to Ollioules, though a hooting tram from Toulon makes a -false note which is for ever sounding in one's ears. - -All the same, Ollioules, with the débris of its thirteenth-century -château, its very considerable remains of city wall, and its _Place_, -tree-shaded by high-growing palms, is a town to be loved, by one jaded -with the round of resorts, for its many and varied old-world -attractions. - -Ollioules is built in the open air, at the end of the defile or gorge, -in the midst of a country glowing with all the splendour and beauty of -endless beds of hyacinths and narcissi, flowers which rank among the -most beautiful in all the world, and which here, in this corner of old -Provence, grow as luxuriantly as heather on the hills of Scotland or -tulips in Holland. Violets, poppies, the mimosa, and tuberoses are also -here in abundance. - -Two hundred and fifty hectares, or more, in the immediate vicinity of -Ollioules, are devoted to the culture of bulbs, and five million bulbs -form an average crop, most of which is sent away by rail to Belgium, -Holland (tell it not to a Dutchman), and England. - -The origin of the name of the town is peculiar, as indeed is the -derivation of many place-names. Savants think that it comes from -olearium, meaning a place where oil was made and stored. This may be so, -but olive-oil does not figure any more among the products of this -particular _petit pays_. - -Not only the rock-bound gorge but the whole basin of Ollioules is a -wonderland of exotic and rare natural beauties. On one side, to the -north, rise the volcanic heights of Evenos, crowned to-day with ruins -which may be Saracenic, or _gallo-romain_, or prehistoric, perhaps,--it -is impossible to tell. - -George Sand has written with great appreciation of the whole -neighbouring region in "Tamaris," but even her graphic pen has not been -able to reproduce the charming and distinguished characteristics of a -region which, even to-day, is little or not at all known to the great -mass of tourists who annually rush to the Riviera resorts from all parts -of America and Europe. "_Tant pis_," then, as Sterne said, but the way -is here made plain for any who would go slowly over this well-worn road -of history and cast a glance up and down the cross-roads as he comes to -them. - -The distance is not great from Marseilles to Hyères, but eighty -kilometres, a little over fifty miles; but there is a wealth of interest -to be had from a silent threading of the roadways of this delightful -corner of maritime Provence which the partakers of conventional tours -know nothing of. - -Here in the environs of Ollioules, on the hillsides flanking its -celebrated gorge, is found in profusion the _fleur d'or_, famed in the -verses of Provençal poets. François Delille, one of the followers of the -Félibres, in his "_Fleur de Provence_," has sung its praises in -unapproachable fashion, and there are some other fragment verses by a -poet whose name has been forgotten, which seem worth quoting, since they -recount an incident which may happen to any one who journeys by road -along the coast of Provence: - - _Le Voyageur au Voiturin._ - - "Arrête ton cheval, saute à bas, mon vieux faune: - Et va, bon voiturin, du côte de la mer; - Sur le bord de cette anse où le flot est si clair, - Coupe, dans les rochers, coupe cette fleur jaune." - - _Le Voiturin._ - - "C'est une fleur sauvage, O seigneur étranger. - La-bas nous trouverons des bouquets d'oranger." - - _Le Voyageur._ - - "Non! laisse l'oranger embaumer le rivage, - Pour ces parfums si doux je suis barbare encore, - Mais sur ma terre aussi poussent les landiers d'or - Et j'aime la senteur de cette fleur sauvage!" - -Such is the charm of the _ajonc_, "_la fleur d'or de Provence_." - -[Illustration: _St. Nazaire-du-Var_] - -Beyond Ollioules is St. Nazaire-du-Var, a tiny port which resembles in -many ways that of Bandol. It has some of the aspects of a _station -des bains_, in the summer months, for it has a fine beach. The railways -and the guide-books apparently have little knowledge of St. Nazaire for -they call it Sanary, after the old Provençal name. The present -authorities of the really attractive little town are doing their best to -keep pace with the march of progress, and there are hotels, more or less -grand, electric lights, and tram-cars. - -The little port is exceedingly picturesque, and its quays are always -animated with the comings and goings of a hundred or more fishing-boats, -which of themselves smack nothing of modernity. The motor-boat has not -yet taken the picturesqueness out of the life of these hardy fishermen -of yore, though it is slowly making its way in some parts. - -In reality St. Nazaire-du-Var exists no more. The development of St. -Nazaire-de-Bretagne overshadowed its less opulent namesake and took most -of the mail-matter addressed to the little Provençal port. The -inhabitants of the latter protested and addressed who ever has the -making and changing of place-names in France to be allowed to adopt its -ancient patronymic of Sanary. - -Some day a "Club Privé," and "Promenades," and "Places," and "Squares" -will come, and an effort will be made to stop the flood of English and -American and German tourists, who are appropriating nearly every -beauty-spot on the Riviera where there is a post-office and a telegraph -station. - -Above, on a hill to the eastward, is a chapel dedicated to Nôtre Dame de -Pitié, greatly venerated by the fishermen and sailors of the town, but -mostly remembered by travellers for the very remarkable outlook which is -to be had from the platform of its great square tower. With its -rectangular little houses glistening white in the sunlight, and red -roofs, and great towering palms and eucalyptus, St. Nazaire resembles a -great flowering bouquet, and when the simile is carried further, and the -bouquet is tied up with a waving ribbon of yellow sand, and placed in a -broad blue vase of the sea, the picture is one which, once seen, will be -unforgettable. - -Toward the horizon is seen a cone which bears the enigmatical name of -Six-Fours. More majestic is Cap Sicié, which breaks the waves of the -Mediterranean into myriads of flakes, and gives a warning to the ships -lying in the basins at Marseilles that the sea is rising, and that one -of those intermittent tempests, for which the Golfe de Lyon is noted, -is due. Cap Nègre lies farther in, a black basalt wall which gives an -accent of sombreness to the otherwise gay picture. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -OVER CAP SICIÉ - - -The great promontory of Cap Sicié is a peninsula, five kilometres across -the "neck," and jutting seaward double that distance. - -Just beyond Sanary, or St. Nazaire-du-Var, is the great Baie de Sanary, -snuggled close under the promontory height and forming a welcome shelter -from the seas which pile up on the coast from Toulon to Marseilles. - -There is a little excursion offshore which one should make before he -descends on the great arsenal of Toulon, on the other side of the Cap; -but unless the traveller is forewarned he is likely to overlook it -altogether, and thereby miss what to many will be a new form of human -happiness. - -Travellers to Naples make the trip to Ischia, if they are not afraid of -earthquakes; or to Capri, if they like the damp of the grottoes; but -travellers _en route_ to Toulon may make the short trip to the Iles des -Embiez, from the little haven of Le Brusc, and have something of the -suggestion of both the former popular tourist points,--with an utter -absence of tourists. - -Embiez is not much of an island in point of size, and the map-makers -scarcely know it at all. One makes his way from Le Brusc, through an -expanse of calm and limpid water, on a flat-bottomed sort of craft which -looks as though it might have degenerated from a punt. - -The way is not long; it is astonishingly short for a sea voyage, and it -is only with a previous knowledge of the shallows--or, rather, the -deeps--that the craft can find its way across the scarcely hidden banks -of yellow sand. Fifteen minutes of this voyaging brings one to the isle, -and from its little jetty a _douanier_ accosts your boat to know if you -have anything dutiable on board, as well as for your ship's papers, and -a doctor's certificate. He need have no fears, however, for no one would -ever take the trouble to smuggle anything into Embiez. "Nothing doing," -and the _douanier_ returns to his fishing off the jetty's end. - -The isle is a rock-surrounded mamelon which rises to a height of some -sixty or seventy metres, and is as wild and savage and romantic as the -most imaginative sketch ever outlined by Doré. - -There is a fringe of small white houses, the dwellings of the workers in -the salt-works of the isle, and of that lonesome _douanier_, while -above, on an elevated plateau, is the Château de Sabran, which draws its -name from one of the illustrious and ancient families of Provence. - -It is all very picturesque, but there is nothing very archaic about the -château, with the exception of one old tower. There are numerous -evidences which point to the fact that some kind of fortifications were -erected here in early times; the _douanier_ is divided in his opinion as -to whether they were the work of Saracens or Barbary pirates, and the -reader may take his choice. At any rate, there is an unspoiled setting -right here at hand for any writer who would like to try to turn out as -good a tale as "Treasure Island" or "Monte Cristo." - -Returning to the mainland, and following the highroad as it goes -eastward to Toulon, one comes upon the curiously named little town of -Six-Fours, situated on the very apex of the heights. - -The very name of Six-Fours is enigmatic. It is certain that it was a -mountain fortress in days gone by; and from that--and the intimation -that there was once six forts or six towers here--one infers that its -name was evolved from Six-Forts, which name was written in Latin Sex -Furni and finally Six Fours. Another opinion--French antiquarians, like -their brethren the world over, are prolific in opinions--is that the -bizarre name was that of one of the lieutenants of Cæsar engaged in the -blockade of Marseilles. One named Sextus Furnus, or Sextus Furnis, did -occupy a mountain stronghold in that campaign, and it may have been the -site where the village of Six-Fours now stands. - -Six-Fours, so curiously named, and so little known outside its immediate -neighbourhood, has many strange manners and customs. The genuine -Six-Fourneens are six feet or more in height, and will not--or would not -for a long time--marry any _étranger_, by which term they designate all -outsiders. - -Their speech and accent, too, are different from other Provençaux, and -they have been called wild, savage, and ridiculous. This is mostly a -libel, or else they have now outgrown these undesirable characteristics. - -There is a Christmas custom at Six-Fours which is worth noting: a _bon -feu_ (which easily enough shows the evolution of the English word -bonfire) is lighted in the street on Christmas eve before the dwelling -of the oldest inhabitant (the oldest inhabitant of last year's -celebration may or may not have died, so there is always the element of -chance to give zest), followed by a collation paid for by public -subscription. As this repast comes off, also, in the street, the effect -is weirdly amusing. The children partake, too (which is right and -proper), and "_par permission spéciale_" all are allowed to eat with -their fingers, as there are seldom enough knives and forks to go round. - -From the plateau height on which sits this decayed village a most -expansive view is to be had. Before one is the promontory of Cap Sicié -plunging abruptly beneath the Mediterranean waves. About and around are -rose-bushes, gripping tenaciously the rocky crevices of the hills, here -and there as thickly interwoven as chain mail, while in the valleys are -occasional little cleared orchards where the olive-trees are ranged in -rows like soldiers, though in the tree kingdom of the southland the -olive is the dwarf, and, moreover, lacks the brilliant colouring of the -fig or almond which mostly form its neighbours. - -Off to the left are the roof-tops of La Seyne, and the smoky stacks of -its shipyards and factories, while still farther to the southeast is the -combination of the grime of Toulon with that luminous sky of iridescent -Mediterranean blue. It is ravishing, all this, though perhaps not more -so than similar panoramas elsewhere along the Riviera. On the whole, -their like is not to be found elsewhere in the travelled world, at least -not with such abundant contributory charms. - -Six-Fours itself raises its ruins high in air, miserable, and silent, -almost, as the grave, a mere wraith of a once lively and ambitious -settlement. The decadence of man is a sad thing, but that of cities -quite as sad, and to-day this ancient domain of the _seigneur-abbés_ of -St. Victor de Marseilles is as impressive an example as one will find. - -As one proceeds eastward he opens another vista quite unlike any other -view to be had in all the world. The great Rade de Toulon, its batteries -and forts, its suburbs, and its environs, all form an impressive -ensemble of the work of nature and man. - -The highroad continues on toward La Seyne, the great ship-building -suburb, and another leads to Les Sablettes and Tamaris, directly on the -water's edge, and far enough removed from the smoke and industry of the -great arsenal to belong to the real countryside. - -The Rade de Toulon is one of the joys of the Mediterranean. Its splendid -banks are cut into graceful curves, and the background of hills and -mountains makes a joyful picture indeed, whether viewed from land or -sea. The charming little bays of its outline are quite in harmony with -the brilliant blue of the sky, and not even the smoke-pouring chimneys -of the shipyards at La Seyne sound a false note, but rather they accent -the natural beauties to a still higher degree. - -Away beyond the Grande Rade are the ragged isles of the archipelago of -Hyères, wave-battered and gleaming in the sunlight, while around the -whole nebulous horizon are effects of brilliant colouring of land and -sea hardly to be equalled, certainly not to be excelled. Wooded -peninsulas come down and jut out into the sea, and, despite the air of -activity which is over the whole neighbourhood, there is an idyllic -charm about the remote suburbs which is indescribable. - -[Illustration: _Fishing-boats at Tamaris_] - -Guarded seaward by grim forts, and admirably sheltered from the mistral, -which blows over its head and out to sea, is Tamaris, whose fame -first started from a four months' residence here of George Sand. Like -Alphonse Karr and Dumas, the elder, George Sand, if not the discoverer -of a new and unpatronized _pied de terre_, gave the first impetus to -Tamaris as a resort of not too alluring attractions, and yet -all-sufficient to one who wanted to enjoy the quietness and beauties of -nature to a superlative degree, all within a half-hour's journey of a -great city. So pleased was the great woman of French letters that she -laid the scene of one of her last and most celebrated romances here. All -the delicate plants of a latitude five hundred miles farther south here -find a foothold, and flourish as soon as they have become acclimated and -taken root. Hence it has become a "garden-spot," in truth, and one which -is too often neglected by Riviera tourists in general. There is small -reason for this, and when one realizes that Tamaris is a first-class -literary shrine as well--for the dwelling (the Maison Trucy) inhabited -by Madame Sand still stands--there is even less. - -The magic ring of Michel Pacha, the innovator of lighthouses within the -waters of the Ottoman empire, has served to develop and enrich a little -corner of this delightful bit of the tropics, and, where the cypress and -pine once grew alone, are now found palm, orange, and lemon trees; and -hedges and walls of the laurier-rose line the alleys which lead to the -Oriental-looking château of this dignitary of the East. The effect is -just the least bit garish and out of place, but like all groupings of -nature and art on Mediterranean shores, it is undeniably effective, and -the domain all in all looks not unlike a stage setting for the "Arabian -Nights." - -Just back of Tamaris is, or was, the celebrated "Batterie des Hommes -Sans Peur," which so awakened the interest and curiosity of George Sand -that she implored the authorities to make a memorial of the spot -forthwith, and spend less time digging for prehistoric remains. - -The construction of the battery was one of the first great exploits of -the young Napoleon (1793), which, with the subsequent taking of the -Petit-Gibraltar (as the present Fort Napoleon was then known), was one -of the real history-making events of modern France. - -Madame Sand marvelled that the site of this tiny battery had been so -neglected. It was due to that distinguished lady that the exact location -of the battery was made known, and, though still merely a ruined -earthwork, may be reckoned as one of the patriotic souvenirs of a lurid -page of history. - -George Sand had the idea of buying these twenty metres square of ground, -surrounding them with a paling and making a path thereto which should -lead from the highway. Ultimately she intended to plant a simple stone -with the following inscription: "_Ici Reposent les Hommes Sans Peur_." -This was never done, however, and so those only who have the memory of -the incident well within their grasp ever even come across the site. -There is something more than a legendary grandeur about it all, and -those who are unfamiliar with the incident had best refer to any good -life of Napoleon, and learn what really happened at the famous siege of -Toulon. - -Toulon is about the best guarded arsenal in all the world. The Caps -Mouret, Notre Dame de la Garde, Sicié, and Sepet play nature's part, and -play it well, and the hand of man has added cannons wherever he could -find a resting-place for them. "_Canons! encore canons, et toujours des -canons!_" said a French commercial traveller at the _table d'hôte_, when -the artist told him that she had been remonstrated with when making a -sketch on the summit of an exceedingly beautiful hillside to the -eastward of the city. This admonition was enough. Much better to take -good advice than to languish in prison till your consul comes and gets -you out,--which is just what has happened to inquisitive artists in -France before now. - -Toulon is warlike to the very core, and, in spite of an active historic -past, there is scarcely a monument in the town to-day, except the old -cathedral of Saint Marie Majeure, which takes rank among those which -appeal for architectural worth alone. The arsenal is the chief -attraction; remove it, and Toulon might become a great commercial -centre, or even a "watering-place," but with it the very atmosphere -smacks of powder and shot. - -The city is not unlovely as great cities go. It is modern, well-kept, -and certainly well-beautified by trees and shrubs and flowers, and wide, -straight streets, and, above all, it is blessed with a charming -situation. - -[Illustration: _In Toulon's Old Port_] - -Of all the cities of the Mediterranean (always excepting Marseilles), -Toulon is the most gay. It has not the feverish commercialism of -Marseilles, but it has an up-to-dateness that is quite as much to be -remarked. There are no _boulevards maritimes_ or great hotels, as at -Cannes or Nice, neither are there any special tourist attractions to -make Toulon a resort, but there are cafés galore and much gaiety of a -convivial kind. "_Une ville régulière, d'aspect Américain_," Toulon has -been called, and it merits the appellation in some respects, with its -straight streets and tall houses of brick or stone. A large number of -great branching palms just saves the situation. - -The great defect of Toulon is that the quarter where centres the life of -the city is far away from the sea. To get a satisfactory view of the -magnificent harbour, or the commercial port of the Vieille Darse, one -has to go even farther afield and climb one or the other of the -hillsides round about, when a truly great panorama spreads itself out. - -La Seyne, the great ship-building suburb of Toulon, is a model of what a -manufacturing town of its class should be, though it has no real meaning -for the tourist for rest or pleasure. For the student of things and men, -the case is somewhat different. For instance, you may read, posted up on -the wall opposite the entrance to the ship-building establishment, that -the _Gazetta del Popolo_ of Genoa has a correspondent at Toulon, this in -big, staring red and green letters surmounting a more or less rude -woodcut of an Italian soldier. From this one gathers that the Italian -workmen are numerous hereabouts, as indeed they are, and almost -everywhere else along the coast. As like as not the hotel _garçon_ -serves your soup with an "_Ecco_," instead of a "_Voilà!_" and sooner or -later you come to realize that the hybrid speech which you hear on -street corners is not Provençal but Franco-Italian. - -Toulon, in history, makes a long and brilliant chapter, but a -cataloguing even of the events can have no place here. Its prominence as -a stronghold and bulwark of the French nation was due to Louis XII., the -second husband of Anne of Bretagne, who, it is said, inspired his -predecessor on the throne (and in her affections) to first appreciate -the advantages of Brest as a stronghold of a similar character. - -Ages before this Toulon was founded by the Phoenicians, it is supposed -sometime before the tenth century. The royal purple of the East and the -desire to possess it, or make it, was the prime cause; for the ancients -found that the waters around Toulon gave birth to a mollusk which dyed -everything with which it came in contact into a most brilliant purple. -It seems a small thing to found a great city upon, and the industry is -non-existent to-day, but such is the more or less legendary account. - -After the Phoenicians Toulon fell into the background, and the -possibilities of building here a great port which might rival Marseilles -were utterly neglected. - -It seems probable that the original name of the town was Telo, which in -the itinerary of Antony is given as Telo-Martius, from an ancient temple -to Mars, thus distinguishing it from a similar name applied to many -other places in the Narbonnais. - -Finally Toulon emerged from its semi-obscurity, and Guillaume de -Tarente, Comte de Provence, in 1055, surrounded with wall "the place -called Tholon or Tollon." - -Until the tenth century Toulon's ecclesiastical history was more -momentous than was its civic. It had been the seat of a bishop for a -matter of six centuries, with St. Honorat, St. Gratien, and St. Cyprien -as bishops, all within the first century of its existence. - -The plan to make Toulon one of the great fortified places of the world -was carried on assiduously by Richelieu, who commanded a certain Jacques -Desmarets, professor of mathematics at the university at Aix, to make a -plan which should show the Provençal coast-line in all its detail. The -instructions read, "..._sur vélin, enluminé en or et representant la -côte jusqu'à deux ou trois lieues dans les terres_." - -The general scheme was carried out further by Mazarin, the wily Italian -who succeeded Richelieu. In company with Louis XIV., Mazarin visited -Toulon, and then and there decided that it should take the first place -in the kingdom as a stronghold for the navy. - -Toulon then became the greatest naval arsenal the world had known. In -1670 it armed forty-two ships of the line, among them many -three-deckers, which all lovers of the romance of the seas have come to -accept as the most imposing craft then afloat, whatever may have been -their additional virtues. Among those fitted for sea and armed at Toulon -was the _Magnifique_, a vessel which excited universal enthusiasm all -over Europe, not only because it mounted a hundred and four guns, but -because the sculptor Puget had designed her decorations, and decorations -on ships were much more ornate in those days than they are in the -present vagaries of the "_art nouveau_." - -Puget lived at Toulon at the time, and had indeed already designed the -caryatides which stand out so prominently in the Toulon's Hôtel de -Ville. His house in the Rue de la République, known by every one as the -"Maison Puget," is one of the shrines at which art-worshippers should -not neglect to pay homage. It has some remarkably beautiful features, a -fine stairway in wrought iron, an elaborate newel-post, and many similar -decorations. - -Back of Toulon is the great gray mass of the Faron, fortified, as is -every height and point of view round about. From the summit of this -great height (546 metres) one may see, on a clear day, Corsica and the -Alps of Savoie. The fortifications are too numerous to call by name -here, and, indeed, they are uninteresting enough to the lover of the -romantically picturesque, regardless of their worth from a strategic -point of view. Like the cannon, the forts are everywhere. - -Formerly the port of Toulon was closed by sinking a great chain across -the harbour-mouth. It went down with the sinking of the sun and only -rose at daybreak. The guardianship of this defence was given to some -"_homme de confiance_" of Toulon as a sort of deserved honour or glory. -This was in the seventeenth century, and to-day, though the guard-ships -and the search-lights of the forts do the same service, the name -"_Chaine Vieille_" is still in the mouths of the old sailors and -fishermen as they make their way to and fro from the Grande to the -Petite Rade. - -Toulon has among its great men of the past the name of the Chevalier -Paul, perhaps first and foremost of all the seafarers of France since -the day of Dougay-Trouin. He had fixed his residence in the valley of -the Dardennes, with a roof over his head "_tout à fait digne d'un -prince_." In the month of February, 1660, the celebrated sailor received -Louis XIV., Anne of Austria, the Duc d'Orléans, Cardinal Mazarin, "la -grande Mademoiselle," innumerable princes and seigneurs, four -Secrétaires d'État, the ambassador of Venice, and the papal nuncio. This -royal company was splendidly fêted, much after the manner of those -assemblies held in the previous century in the châteaux of Touraine. The -Chevalier bore until his death the title of supreme "Commandant de la -Marine," and when his death came, at the age of seventy, he made the -poor of the city his heirs. - -One memory of Toulon, which is familiar to students of history and -romance, are the prisons and galleys of other days. Dumas draws a vivid -picture of the life in the galleys in one of his little known but most -absorbing tales, "Gabriel Lambert." - -To be sure, those who were condemned "_à ramer sur les galères_" were -mostly culprits who deserved some sort of punishment, but the survival -of the institution was one that one marvels at in these advanced -centuries. - -Really the galley, and the uses to which it was put at Toulon in the -eighteenth century, was a survival of the galley of the ancients. It was -a long slim craft, of light draught, propelled by a single, double, or -treble bank of oars, and sometimes sails. - -The punishment of the galleys, that is to say, the obligation to "_ramer -sur les galères_," was applied to certain classes of criminals who were -known as _forçats_ or _galériens_. The crime of Gabriel Lambert, of whom -Dumas wrote with such fidelity, was that of counterfeiting. - -In 1749 there were sixteen _galères_ here, eight of them at "_practice_" -at one time, giving occupation to thirty-seven hundred convicts who were -quartered on old hulks moored to the quays or on shore in a convict -prison. - -[Illustration: _Toulon to Frejus_] - -Between Toulon and Hyères, lying back from the coast, in the valley of -the Gapeau, is a bit of transplanted Africa, where the brilliant sun -shines with all the vigour that it does on the opposite Mediterranean -shore. The valley is perhaps the most important topographically west of -the Rhône, at least until one reaches the Var at Nice. There is a -sprinkling of small towns here and there, and more frequent country -residences and vineyards, but there is an air of solitude about it that -can but be remarked by all who travel by road. - -One great highroad runs out from Toulon through Solliès-Pont, Cuers, -Puget-Ville, Pignans, and Le Luc to Fréjus. The coast road leads to the -same objective point, but the characteristics of the two are as -different as can be. A more varied and more charming combination of -scenic charms, than can be had by journeying out via one route and back -by the other, can hardly be found in this world, unless one has in mind -some imaginary blend of Switzerland and the Mediterranean. - -The region is known as Les Maures, the name in reality referring to the -mountain chain whose peaks follow the coast-line at a distance of from -thirty to fifty kilometres. - -The whole region known as Les Maures is in a state of semi-solitude; -twenty-three thousand souls for an area of one hundred and twenty -thousand hectares is a remarkable sparsity of population for most parts -of France. - -Cuers is the metropolis of the region and boasts of some three thousand -inhabitants, and a great trade in the oil of the olive. - -There is absolutely nothing of interest to the tourist in any of these -little towns between Toulon and Fréjus. There is to be sure the usual -picturesque church, which, if not grand or architecturally excellent, is -invariably what artists call "interesting," and there is always a -picturesque grouping of roof-tops, clustered around the church in a -manner unknown outside of France. - -Occasionally one does see a small town in France which reminds him of -Italy, and occasionally one that suggests Holland, but mostly they are -French and nothing but French, though they be as varied in colour as -Joseph's coat, and as diversified in manners and customs as one would -imagine of a country whose climate runs the whole gamut from northern -snows to southern olive groves. - -In reality, Cuers shares its importance with Les Solliès, whose curious -name grew up from the memory of a Temple of the Sun, upon the remains of -which is built the present church of Solliès-Ville. - -[Illustration: _In Les Maures_] - -Solliès-Pont owes its name to the _pont_, or bridge, by which the "Route -Nationale" crosses the Gapeau. It is the centre of the cherry culture in -the Var, and at the time of year when the trees are in blossom, the -aspect of the surrounding hillsides would put cherry-blossoming Japan -to shame. The crop is the first which comes into the market in France. -The lovers of early fruits, in Paris restaurants and hotels, know the -"_cerises du Var_" very well indeed. They buy them at the highest market -prices, delightfully put up in boxes of poplar-wood and garnished with -lace-paper. Annually Solliès-Pont despatches something like a hundred -thousand cases of these first cherries of the year, each weighing from -three to twelve kilos, and bringing--well, anything they can command, -the very first perhaps as much as eight or ten francs a kilo. This for -the first few straggling boxes which some fortunate grower has been able -to pick off a well-sunned tree. Within a fortnight the price will have -fallen to fifty centimes, and at the end of a month the traffic is all -over, so far as the export to outside markets is concerned. - -"Cherries are grown everywhere," one says. Yes, but not such cherries as -at Solliès-Pont. - -Here at this little railway station in the Var one may see a whole train -loaded with a hundred thousand kilos of the most luscious cherries one -ever cast eyes upon. - -The aspect of the region round about has nothing of the grayness of the -olive orchards east and west; all this has given way to a flowering -radiance and a brilliant green, as of an oasis in a desert. - -The gathering of this important crop is conducted with more care than -that of any other of the Riviera. The trees are not shaken and their -fruit picked up off the ground, nor do agile lads climb in and out among -the branches. Not even a ladder is thrust between the thick leaves of -the trees, but a great straddling stepladder, like those used by the -olive pickers of the Bouches-du-Rhône, is carried about from tree to -tree, and gives a foothold to two, three, or even four lithe, young -girls, whose graces are none the less for their gymnastics at reaching -for the fruit head-high and at arm's length. - -One marvels perhaps--when he sees these boxes of luscious cherries in -the Paris market--as to how they may have been packed with such -symmetry. It is very simple, though the writer had to see it done at -Solliès-Pont before he realized it. The boxes are simply packed from the -top downwards, so to speak. The first layer is packed in close rows, the -stems all pointing upwards, then the rest of the contents are put in -without plan or design, and the cover fastened down. When the packages -are opened, it is the bottom that is lifted, and thus one sees first -the rosy-red globules, all in rows, like the little wooden balls of the -counting machines. - -The south of France is destined to provision a great part of Europe, and -already it is playing its part well. The cherries of Solliès-Pont -go--after Paris has had its fill--to England, Switzerland, Belgium, -Germany, and Russia, though doubtless only the "milords" and -millionaires get a chance at them. - -Besides the consumption of the fruit _au naturel_, the cherries of the -Var are the most preferred of all those delicacies which are preserved -in brandy, and a cocktail, of any of the many varieties that are made in -America (and one place, and one only, in Paris--which shall be -nameless), with one of the cherries of Solliès-Pont drowned therein, is -a superdelicious thing, unexcelled in all the "made drinks" the world -knows to-day. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -THE REAL RIVIERA - - -The real French Riviera is not the resorts of rank and fashion alone; it -is the whole ensemble of that marvellous bit of coast-line extending -eastward from Toulon to the Italian frontier. Topographically, -geographically, and climatically it abounds in salient features which, -in combination, are unknown in any similar strip of territory in all the -world, though there is very little that is strange, outré, or exotic -about any of its aspects. It is simply a combination of conditions which -are indigenous to the sunny, sheltered shores of the northern -Mediterranean, which are here blessed, owing to a variety of reasons, -with a singularly equable climate and situation. - -Doubtless the region is not the peer of southern California in -topography or climate; indeed, without fear or favour, the statement is -here made that it is not; but it has what California never has had, nor -ever will, a history-strewn pathway traversing its entire length, where -the monuments left by the ancient Greeks and Romans tell a vivid story -of the past greatness of the progenitors and moulders of modern -civilization. - -This in itself should be enough to make the Riviera revered, as it -justly is; but it is not this, but the gay life of those who neither -toil nor spin that makes this world's beauty-spot (for Monaco and Monte -Carlo are assuredly the most beautiful spots in the world) so worshipped -by those who have sojourned here. - -This is wrong of course, but the simple life has not yet come to be the -institution that its prophets would have us believe, and, after all, a -passion of some sort is the birthright of every man, whether it be -gambling at Monte Carlo, automobiling on sea or land, painting, or -attempting to paint, the masterpieces of nature, or studying historic -monuments. At any rate, all these diversions are here, and more, and, as -one may pursue any of them under more idyllic conditions here than -elsewhere, the Riviera is become justly famed--and notorious. - -Not all Riviera visitors live in palatial hotels; some of them live _en -pension_, which, like the boarding-house of other lands, has its -undeniable advantage of economy, and its equally undeniable -disadvantages too numerous to mention and needless to recall. - -Of course the Riviera has undeniable social attractions, since it was -developed (so far as the English--and Americans--are concerned) by that -vain man, Lord Brougham. - -Lord Brougham, Lord Chancellor of England, first gave the popular fillip -to Cannes in the early years of Queen Victoria's reign. From that time -the Riviera, east and west of Cannes, has steadily increased in -popularity and in transplanted institutions. The chief of these is -perhaps the tea-tippling craze which has struck the Riviera with full -force. It's not as exhilarating an amusement as automobiling, which runs -it a close second here, but a "tea-fight" at a Riviera _hôtel de luxe_ -has at least something more than the excitement of a game of golf or -croquet, which also flourish on the sand-dunes under the pines, from St. -Tropez to Menton, and even over into Italy. - -It's a pity the tea-drinking craze is so monopolizing,--really it is as -bad as the "Pernod" habit, and is no more confined to old maids than are -Bath chairs or the reading of the _Morning Post_. Bishop Berkeley -certainly was in error when he wrote, or spoke, about the "cup that -cheers but does not inebriate," for the saying has come to be one of -the false truths which is so much of a platitude that few have ever -thought of denying it. - -The doctors say that one should not take tea or alcohol on the Riviera, -the ozone of the climate supplying all the stimulant necessary. If one -wants anything more exciting, let him try the tables at Monte Carlo. - -Riviera weather is a variable commodity. Some localities are more -subject to the mistral than others, though none admit that they have it -to the least degree, and some places are more relaxing than others. -Menton is warm, and very little rain falls; Nice is blazing hot and cold -by turn; and there are seasons at Cannes, in winter, when, but for the -date in the daily paper, you would think it was May. - -Beaulieu and Cap Martin lead off for uniformity of the day and night -temperature. The reading at the former place (in that part known as -"_Petite Afrique_") on a January day in 1906 being: minimum during the -night, 9° centigrade; maximum during the day, 11° centigrade; 8 A. M., -10° centigrade; 2 P. M., 9° centigrade, and, in a particularly -well-sheltered spot in the gardens of the Hôtel Metropole, 15° -centigrade. This is a remarkable and convincing demonstration of the -claims for an equable temperature which are set forth. - -[Illustration: _Comparative Theometric Scale_] - -In general this is not true of the Riviera. A bright, sunny, and -cloudless January day, when one is uncomfortably warm at midday, is, as -likely as not, followed at night by a sudden fall in temperature that -makes one frigid, if only by contrast. - -The Riviera house-agent tells you: "Do not come here unless you are -prepared to stay" (he might have added "and pay"), "for the Riviera -renders all other lands uninhabitable after once you have fallen under -its charm." - -Amid all the gorgeousness of perhaps the most exquisite beauty-spot in -all the world--that same little strip of coast between Hyères and -Menton--is a colony of parasitic dwellers who are no part of the -attractions of the place; but who unconsciously act as a loadstone which -draws countless others of their countrymen, with their never absent -diversions of golf, tennis, and croquet. One pursues these harmless -sports amid a delightful setting, but why come here for that purpose? -One cannot walk the _Boulevards_ and _Grandes Promenades_ all of the -time, to be sure, but he might take that rest which he professedly comes -for, or failing that, take a plunge into the giddy whirl of the life of -the "Casino" or the "Cercle." The result will be the same, and he will -be just as tired when night comes and he has overfed himself with a -_dîner Parisien_ at a great palace hotel where the only persons who do -not "dress" are the waiters. - -This is certain,--the traveller and seeker after change and rest will -not find it here any more than in Piccadilly or on Broadway, unless he -leaves the element of big hotels far in the background, and lives simply -in some little hovering suburb such as Cagnes is to Nice or Le Cannet to -Cannes, or preferably goes farther afield. Only thus may one live the -life of the author of the following lines: - - "There found he all for which he long did crave, - Beauty and solitude and simple ways, - Plain folk and primitive, made courteous by - Traditions old, and a cerulean sky." - -The rest is hubble, bubble, toil, and trouble of the same kind that one -has in the hotels of San Francisco, London, or Amsterdam; everything -cooked in the same pot and tasting of cottolene and beef extract. - -There is some truth in this,--for some people,--but the ties that bind -are not taken into consideration, and, though the words are an echo of -those uttered by Alphonse Karr when he first settled at St. -Raphaël,--after having been driven from Étretat by the vulgar -throng,--they will not fit every one's ideas or pocket-books. - -Popularity has made a boulevard of the whole coast from St. Raphaël to -San Remo, and indeed to Genoa, and there is no seclusion to be had, nor -freedom from the "sirens" of automobiles, or the tin horns of trams and -whistles of locomotives; unless one leaves the beaten track and settles -in some background village, such as Les Maures or the Estérel, where the -hum of life is but the drone of yesterday and Paris papers are three -days old when they reach you. - -For all that the whole Riviera, and its gay life as well, is delightful, -though it is as enervating and fatiguing as the week's shopping and -theatre-going in Paris with which American travellers usually wind up -their tour of Europe. - -The Riviera isn't exactly as a Frenchman wrote of it: "all Americans, -English, and Germans," and it is hardly likely you will find a hotel -where none of the attendants speak French (as this same Frenchman -declared), but nevertheless "All right" is as often the reply as "Oui, -monsieur." - -All the multifarious attractions of this strip of coast-line are doubly -enhanced by the delicious climate, and the wonders of the Baie des Anges -and the Golfe de la Napoule are more and more charming as the sun rises -higher in the heavens, and La Napoule, St. Jean, Beaulieu, Passable, -Villefranche, Cap Martin, and Cap Ferrat, the "Corniche," La Turbie, -Monaco, and Menton are all names to conjure with when one wants to call -to mind what a modern Eden might be like. - -Of course Monte Carlo dominates everything. It is the one objective -point, more or less frequently, of all Riviera dwellers. The -sumptuousness of it acts like a loadstone toward steel, or the -candle-flame to the moth, and many are the wings that are singed and -clipped within its boundaries. - -Whatever may be the moral or immoral aspect of Monte Carlo, it does not -matter in the least. It has its opponents and its partisans,--and the -bank goes on winning for ever. Meantime the whole region is prosperous, -and the public certainly gets what it comes for. The _Monégasques_ -themselves profit the most however. They are, for instance, exempt from -taxes of any sort, which is considerable of a boon in heavily taxed -continental Europe. - -Monte Carlo is an enigma. Its palatial hotels, its Casino, its game, and -its concerts and theatre, its pigeon-shooting, its automobile yachting, -and all the rest contribute to a round of gaiety not elsewhere known. It -may rain "_hallebardes_," as the French have it, but the most adverse -weather report which ever gets into the papers from Monte Carlo is -"_ciel nuageux_." - -[Illustration: _The Terrace, Monte Carlo_] - -If Marseilles is the "Modern Babylon" of the workaday world, the -Riviera--in the season--may well be called the "_Cosmopolis de luxe_." -In winter all nations under the sun are there, but in summer it is quite -another story; still, Monte Carlo's tables run the year around, and, -as the inhabitant of the principality is not allowed to enter its -profane portals, it is certain that visitors are not entirely absent. - -There are three distinct Rivieras: the French Riviera proper, from -Toulon to Menton; the Italian Riviera, from Bordighera to Alassio; and -the Levantine Riviera, from Genoa to Viareggio. - -Partisans plead loudly for Cairo, Biskra, Capri, Palermo, and -Majorca,--and some for Madeira or Grand Canary,--but the comparatively -restricted bit of Mediterranean coast-line known as the three Rivieras -will undoubtedly hold its own with the mass of winter birds of passage. -Just why this is so is obvious for three reasons. The first because it -is accessible, the second, because it is moderately cheap to get to, and -to live in after one gets there, unless one really does "plunge," which -most Anglo-Saxons do not; and the third,--whisper it gently,--because -the English or American tourist, be he semi-invalid or be he not, hopes -to find his fellows there, and as many as possible of his pet -institutions, such as afternoon tea and cocktails, marmalade and broiled -live lobsters, to say nothing of his own language, spoken in the -lisping accents of a Swiss or German waiter. - -It is not necessary to struggle with French on the Riviera, and the -estimable lady of the following anecdote might have called for help in -English and got it just as quickly: - -At the door of a Riviera express, stopping at the Gare de Cannes, an -elderly English lady tripped over the rug and was prostrated her -full-length on the platform. - -Gallant Frenchmen rushed to her aid from all quarters: "Vous n'avez pas -de mal, madame?" "Merci, non, seulement une petite sac de voyage," she -replied, as she limpingly and lispingly made her way through the crowd. - -This ought to dispose of the language question once for all. If you are -on the Riviera, speak English, or, likely enough, you will fall into -similar errors unless you know that vague thing, idiomatic French, which -is only acquired by familiarity. - -The French Riviera has from forty to fifty rainy days a year, which is -certainly not much; and it is conceivable that a stay of two months at -Nice, Cannes, or Menton will not bring a rainy day to mar the memory of -this sunny land. On the other hand, the Levantine Riviera may have ten -days of rain in a month, and the next month another ten days may -follow--or it may not. It is well, however, not to overlook the fact -that Pisa, not so very far inland from the easternmost end of the -Italian Riviera, is called the "Pozzo dell Italia"--the well of Italy. - -There was a time when Cannes, Nice, and Menton were favoured as invalid -resorts, and as mere pleasant places to while away a dull period of -repose, but to-day all this is changed, and even the semi-invalid is -looked at askance by the managers of hotels and the purveyors of -amusements. - -The social attractions have quite swamped the health-giving inducements -of the chief towns of the Riviera, and the automobile has taken the -place of the Bath chair; indeed, it is the world, the flesh, and the -devil which have come into the province where ministering angels -formerly held sway. - -At the head of all the throng of Riviera pleasure-seekers are the -royalties and the nobility of many lands. "_Au-dessous d'eux_," as one -reads in the monologue of Charles Quint, "_la foule_," but here the -throng is still those who have the distinction of wealth, whatever may -be their other virtues. A "_petit millionaire Français_," by which the -Frenchman means one who has perhaps thirty thousand francs a year, -stands no show here; his place is taken by the sugar and copper kings -and "milords" and millionaires from overseas. - -There are others, of course, who come and go, and who have not got a -million _sous_, or ever will have, but the best they can do is to hire a -garden seat on the promenade and with Don Cesar de Bazan "_regarder -entrer et sortir les duchesses_." It is either this (in most of the -resorts of fashion along the Riviera) or one must "_manger les -haricots_" for eleven months in order to be able to ape "_le monde_" for -the other twelfth part of the year. Most of us would not do the thing, -of course, so we are content to slip in and out, and admire, and marvel, -and deplore, and put in our time in some spot nearer to nature, where -dress clothes cease from troubling and functions are no more. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -HYÈRES AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD - - -Just off the coast road from Toulon to Hyères is the tiny town of La -Garde. The commune boasts of twenty-five hundred inhabitants, most of -whom evidently live in hillside dwellings, for the town proper has but a -few hundreds, a very few, judging from its somnolence and lack of life. -More country than town, the district abounds in lovely sweeps of -landscape. Pradet, another little village, lies toward the coast, and, -amid the dull grays of the olive-trees, gleams the white tower of a -chapel which belongs to the modern château. The chapel, which bears the -sentimental nomenclature of "La Pauline," is filled by a wonderful lot -of sculptures from the chisel of Pradier. Decidedly it is a thing to be -seen and appreciated by lovers of sculptured art, even though its modern -château is painful in its bald, pagan architectural forms. - -Beyond La Garde lies the plain of Hyères, and offshore the great Golfe -de Giens, well sheltered and surrounded by the peninsula of the same -name, one of the beauty-spots of the Mediterranean scarcely known and -still less visited by tourists. Directly off the tip end of the -peninsula of Giens is a little group of rocky isles known as the Iles -d'Hyères. They are indescribably lovely, but the seafarers of these -parts of the Mediterranean dread them in a storm as do Channel sailors -the Casquets in a fog. - -The chief of these isles is Porquerolles, and it possesses a village of -the same name, which has never yet been marked down as a place of -resort. To be sure, no one, unless he were an artist attached to the -painting of marines, or an author who thought to get far from the -madding throng, would ever come here, anyway. The village is not so bad, -though, and it is as if one had entered a new world. There is an inn -where one is sure of getting a passable breakfast of fish and eggs; a -"Grande Place" which, paradoxically, is not grand at all; and a humble -little church which is not bad in its way. Two or three cafés, a -bake-shop, and a Bureau des Douanes, of course, complete the business -part of the place. Each little _maisonette_ has a terrace overshadowed -with vines, and, all in all, it is truly an idyllic little settlement. -The isle culminates in a peak five hundred feet or so high, on the top -of which is seated a fortification called Fort de la Repentance. - -The entire isle, with the exception of that portion occupied by the fort -and its batteries, belongs to a M. and Madame de Roussen, who are known -to readers of French novels under the names of Pierre Ninous and Paul -d'Aigremont. The proprietors have charmingly ensconced themselves in a -delightful residence, which, if it does not rise to the dignity of a -château, has as magnificent a stage setting as the most theatrical of -the châteaux of the Loire; only, in this case, it is a seascape which -confronts one, instead of the sweep of the broad blue river of Touraine. - -Two hundred and fifty inhabitants live here, but away in the west there -was formerly a colony of a thousand or more workmen engaged in the -manufacture of soda. For more reasons than one--the principal being that -the sulphurous fumes from the works were having an ill effect on the -verdure--the establishment was purchased by the present proprietors of -the isle. - -The village has somewhat of the airs of its bigger brothers and sisters -elsewhere in that its streets are lighted at night; the wharves are as -animated as those of a great world-town, particularly on the arrival of -the boat from Toulon; and the market-women sit about the street corners -with their wares picturesquely displayed before them as they do in -larger communities. - -Truly, Porquerolles is unspoiled as yet, and the marvel is that it has -not become an "artist's sketching-ground" before now. It has many claims -in this respect besides its natural beauties and attractions, one, not -unappreciated by artists, being that it is not likely to be overrun by -tourists. The reason for this is that the _Courrier des Iles d'Hyères_, -as the diminutive steamer which arrives three times a week is called, is -subsidized by the ministry for war, and the captain has the right to -refuse passage to civilians when his craft is overloaded with travelling -soldiers and sailors, whom the French government, presumably from -motives of economy, prefers to move in this way from point to point -among the various forts along the coast. - -[Illustration: _The Peninsula of Giens_] - -Four or five other islets make up the group which geographers and -map-makers know as the Iles d'Hyères, but which the sentimental -Provençaux best like to think of as the Iles d'Or; but their -characteristics are quite the same as Porquerolles. There is here a -picturesque fort called Alicastre, derived from Castrum Ali, a souvenir, -it is said, of a Saracen chief who once entrenched himself here. Local -report has it that the Man in the Iron Mask was imprisoned here at one -time, but the nearest that history comes to this is to place his -imprisonment at Ste. Marguerite and the Château d'If. - -From the sea, as one comes by boat from Toulon, the Presqu'ile de Giens -looks as though it were an island and had no connection with the land, -for the neck connecting it with the mainland is invisible, both from the -eastward and the westward, while the rocks of the tip end of the -peninsula are abruptly imposing as they rise from the sea-level to a -moderate but jagged height. - -As one approaches closer he notes the capricious scallops of the -shore-line of this bizarre but beautiful jutting point, and -congratulates himself that he did not make his way overland. - -A little village is in the extreme south, its whitewashed houses -shepherded by a little church and the ruins of an old fortress-château. -The town is as nothing, but the view is most soothing and tranquil in -its impressive beauty and quiet charm. Nothing is violent or -exaggerated, but the components of many ideal pictures are to be had for -the turning of the head. Giens is another "artist's sketching-ground" -which has been wofully neglected. - -The eastern shore is less savage and there are some attempts at -agriculture, but on the whole Giens and its peninsula are but a distant -echo of anything seen elsewhere. The quadrilateral walls of the old -château, a semaphore, and a coast-guard station form, collectively, a -beacon by sea and by land, and, as one makes his way to the mainland -along the narrow causeway, he is reminded of that sandy ligature which -binds Mont St. Michel with Pontorson, on the boundary of Brittany and -Normandy. - -Hyères is no longer fashionable. One would not think this to read the -alluring advertisements of its palatial hotels, which, if not so grand -and palatial as those at Monte Carlo, are, at least, far more splendid -than those "board-walk " abominations of the United States, or the -deadly brick Georgian façades which adorn many of the sea-fronts of the -south coast of England. The fact is, that society, or what passes for -it, flutters around the gaming-tables of Monte Carlo, though for -motives of economy or respectability they may sojourn at Nice, Menton, -or Cap Martin. - -For this reason Hyères is all the more delightful. It is the most -southerly of all the Riviera resorts, and, while it is still a place of -villas and hotels, there is a restfulness about it all that many a -resort with more lurid attractions entirely lacks. - -Built cosily on the southern slope of a hill, it is effectually -sheltered from the dread mistral, which, when it blows here, seems to -come to sea-level at some distance from the shore. The effect is curious -and may have been remarked before. The sea inshore will be of that -rippling blue that one associates with the Mediterranean of the poets -and painters, while perhaps a league distant it will roll up into those -choppy whitecaps which only the Mediterranean possesses in all their -disagreeableness. Truly the wind-broken surface of the Mediterranean in, -or near, the Golfe de Lyon is something to be dreaded, whether one is -aboard a liner bound for the Far East or on one of those abominable -little boats which make the passage to Corsica or Sardinia. - -Hyères in one of its moods is almost tropical in its softness with its -famous avenue of palms which wave in the gentle breezes which spring up -mysteriously from nowhere and last for about an hour at midday. Its -avenues and promenades are delightful, and there is never a suggestion -of the snows which occasionally fall upon most of the Riviera resorts at -least once during a winter. The only snow one is likely to see at Hyères -is the white-capped Alps in the dim northeastern distance, and that will -be so far away that it will look like a soft fleecy cloud. - -Hyères is beautiful from any point of view, even when one enters it by -railway from Marseilles, and even more so--indescribably more so, the -writer thinks--when approaching by the highroad, from Toulon or -Solliès-Pont, awheel or "_en auto_." - -Of all the historical memories of Hyères none is the equal of that -connected with St. Louis. None will be able to read without emotion the -memoirs of Joinville, giving the details of the return of Louis IX. and -his wife, Marguerite de Provence, from the Crusades. The account of -their arrival "_au port d'Yeres devant le chastel_" is most thrilling. -One readily enough locates the site to-day, though the outlines of the -old city walls and the château have sadly suffered from the stress of -time. - -This was a great occasion for Hyères; the greatest it has ever known, -perhaps. "They saluted the returning sovereign with loud acclamations, -and the standard of France floated from the donjon of the castle as -witness to the fidelity of the inhabitants for the sovereign." - -The "good King René," in a later century, had a great affection for -Hyères also, and was equally beloved by its inhabitants. One of his -legacies to Jeanne de Provence were the salt-works of Hyères, which were -even then in existence. - -Hyères enjoyed a strenuous enough life through all these years, but the -saddest event in its whole career was when the traitorous Connétable de -Bourbon took the château and turned it over to France's arch-enemy, -Charles V. - -Charles IX. visited Hyères and remained five days within its walls, "his -progress having been made between two rows of fruit-bearing -orange-trees, freshly planted in the streets through which he was to -pass." This flattery so pleased the monarch that he himself, so history, -or legend, states, carved the following inscription upon the trunk of -one of those same orange-trees, "_Caroli Regis Amplexu Glorior_." - -One of the most beautiful strips of coast-line on the whole Riviera -lies between Hyères and Fréjus. A narrow-gauge railway makes its way -almost at the water's edge for the entire distance, and the coast road, -a great departmental highway, follows the same route. The distance is -too great--seventy-five kilometres or more--for the pedestrian, unless -he is one who keeps up old-time traditions, but nevertheless there is -but one way to enjoy this everchanging itinerary to the full, and that -is to make the journey somehow or other by highroad. The automobile, a -bicycle, or a gentle plodding burro will make the trip more enjoyable -than is otherwise conceivable, even though the striking beauties which -one sees from the slow-running little train give one a glimmer of -satisfaction. Seventy-five kilometres, scarce fifty miles! It is nothing -to an automobile, not much more to a bicycle, and only a two-days' jaunt -for a sure-footed little donkey, which you may hire anywhere in these -parts for ten francs a day, including his keeper. No more shall be said -of this altogether delightful method of travelling this short stretch of -wonderland's roadway, but the suggestion is thrown out for what it may -be worth to any who would taste the joys of a new experience. - -Close under the frowning height of Les Maures runs the coast road, for -quite its whole length up to Fréjus, while on the opposite side, and -beneath, are the surging, restless waves of the Mediterranean. - -First one passes the Salines de Hyères, one of those great governmental -salt-works which line the Mediterranean coast, and soon reaches La -Londe, famous for its lead mines and the rude gaiety of its seven or -eight hundred workmen, who on a Sunday go back to primitive conditions -and eat, drink, and make merry in rather a Gargantuan manner. This will -not have much interest for the lover of the beautiful, but up to this -point he will have regaled himself with a promenade along a beautiful -sea-bordered roadway, whose opposite side has been flanked with -rose-laurel, palms, orange-trees, and many exotic plants and shrubs of -semi-tropical lands. - -From La Londe and its sordid industrialism one has twenty straight -kilometres ahead of him until he reaches Bormes, a town which has been -considered as a possible rival to Nice and Cannes, but which has never -got beyond the outlining of sumptuous streets and boulevards and the -erecting of two great hotels to which visitors do not come. It is an -exquisite little town, the old bourg parallelled with the tracery of -the new streets and avenues. Take it all in all, the site is about one -of the best in the south for a winter station, though the non-proximity -of the sea--a strong five kilometres away--may account for the slow -growth of Bormes as a popular resort. - -The old town is most picturesque, its tortuous, sloping streets ever -mounting and descending and making vistas of doorways and window -balconies which would make a scene-painter green with envy, everything -is so theatrical. Like some of the little hill-towns of the country to -the westward of Aix, Bormes is a reflection of Italy, although it has -its own characteristics of manners and customs. - -The country immediately around this little town of less than seven -hundred souls is of an incomparable splendour. There is nothing exactly -like it to be seen in the whole of Provence. In every direction are seen -little scattered hamlets, or a group of two or three little houses -hidden away amid groves of eucalyptus and thickets of mimosa, while the -flanking panorama of Les Maures on one side, and the Mediterranean on -the other, gives it all a setting which has a grandeur with nothing of -the pretentious or spectacular about it. It is all focussed so finely, -and it is so delicately coloured and outlined that it can only be -compared to a pastel. - -The Rade de Bormes, though it really has nothing to do with Bormes, a -half a dozen kilometres distant, is another of those delightful bays -which are scattered all along the Mediterranean shore. It has all the -beauty which one's fancy pictures, and the maker of high-coloured -pictures would find his paradise along its banks, for there is a -brilliancy about its ensemble that seems almost unnatural. - -In 1482 St. François de Paule, called to France by the death of Louis -XI., landed here. At the time Bormes was stricken with a plague or pest, -and all intercourse with strangers was forbidden. But, when the saint -demanded aid and refreshment after his long voyage, it was necessary to -draw the cordon and open the gates of the town. In return for this -hospitality, it is said by tradition, the holy man cured miraculously -the sick of the town. The popular devotion to St. François de Paule -exists at Bormes even up to the present day, in remembrance of this -fortunate event. - -The old town itself is built on the sloping bank of a sort of natural -amphitheatre, in spite of which it is well shaded and shadowed by -numerous great banks of trees, while in every open plot may be seen -aloes, cactus, agavas, immense geraniums, and the Barbary fig. - -The ruins of the feudal château of Bormes recall the memory of the -Baroness Suzanne de Villeneuve, of Grasse and Bormes, who, in the -sixteenth century, so steadfastly sought to avenge the assassination of -her husband. - -Bormes possesses one other historic monument in the Hermitage of Notre -Dame de Constance, which, on a still higher hill, dominates the town, -and everything else within the boundary of a distant horizon, in a -startling fashion. - -Below, on the outskirts, is an old chapel and its surrounding cemetery, -which, more than anything else in all France, looks Italian to every -stone. - -One other shrine, this time an artistic one as well as a religious one, -gives Bormes a high rank in the regard of worshippers of modern art and -artists. On the little Place de la Liberté is the Chapelle St. François -de Paule, where is interred the remains of the painter Cazin. - -In spite of the fact that it is far from the sea, Bormes has its -"_faubourg maritime_," a little port which has an exceedingly active -commerce for its size. In reality the word _port_ is excessive; it is -hardly more than a beach where the fishermen's boats are hauled up like -the dories of down-east fishermen in New England. There is an apology -for a dike or mole, but it is unusable. This will be the future _ville -de bains_ if Bormes ever really does become a resort of note. Its -assured success is not yet in sight, and accordingly Bormes is still -tranquil, and there are no noisy trams and hooting train-loads of -excursionists breaking the stillness of its tranquil life. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -ST. TROPEZ AND ITS "GOLFE" - - -From Bormes the route runs close to the shore-line up to the Baie de -Cavalaire, where it cuts across a ten-kilometre inland stretch and comes -to the sea again at St. Tropez. - -The blue restless waves, the jutting capes, and the inlet bays and -_calanques_ make charming combinations of land and sea and sky, and -repeat the story already told. The route crosses many vine-planted hills -and valleys, through short tunnels and around precipitous promontories, -but always under the eyes is that divinely beautiful view of the waters -of the Mediterranean. The traveller finds no villages, only little -hamlets here and there, and innumerable scattered country residences. - -At Cavalaire the mountains of the Maures become less abrupt, and -surround the bay in a low semicircle of foot-hills, quite different from -the precipitous "_corniches_" of the Estérel or the mountains beyond -Nice. - -The Baie de Cavalaire has nearly a league of fine sands; not so -extensive that they are as yet in demand as an automobile race-track, -but fine enough to rank as quite the best of their kind on the whole -Mediterranean shore of France. There will never be a resort here which -will rival Nice or Cannes; these latter have too great a start; but -whatever does grow up here in the way of a watering-place--a railway -station and a Café-Restaurant famous for its _bouillabaisse_ have -already arrived--will surpass them in many respects. - -The place has, moreover, according to medical reports, the least -contrasting day and night temperature in winter of any of the -Mediterranean stations. This would seem cause enough for the founding -here of a great resort, but there is nothing of the kind nearer than the -little village of Le Lavandou, passed on the road from Bormes, a hamlet -whose inhabitants are too few for the makers of guide-books to number, -but which already boasts of a Grand Hotel and a Hôtel des Étrangers. - -At La Croix, just north of the Baie de Cavalaire, has grown up a little -winter colony, consisting almost entirely of people from Lyons. It is -here that formerly existed some of the most celebrated vineyards in -Provence, the plants, it is supposed, being originally brought hither -by the Saracens. - -The sudden breaking upon one's vision of the ravishing Golfe de St. -Tropez, with its bordering fringe of palms, agavas, and rose-laurels, -and its wonderful parasol-pines, which nowhere along the Riviera are as -beautiful as here, is an experience long to be remembered. - -The lovely little town of St. Tropez sleeps its life away on the shores -of this beautiful bay, quite in idyllic fashion, though it does boast of -a Tribunal de Pêche and of a few small craft floating in the gentle -ripples of the _darse_, the little harbour enclosed by moles of masonry -from the open gulf. - -Up and down this basin are groups of fine parti-coloured houses, all -with a certain well-kept and prosperous air, with nothing of the sordid -or base aspect about them, such as one sees on so many watersides. A -little square, or _place_, forms an unusual note of life and colour with -its central statue of the great sailor, Suffren. - -Only on this square and on the quays are there any of the modern -attributes of twentieth-century life; the narrow but cleanly streets -away from the waterside are as calm and somnolent as they were before -the advent of electricity and automobiles; indeed, an automobile would -have a hard time of it in some of these narrow _ruelles_. - -The near-by panorama seen from the quays, or the end of the stone -pier-head, is superb. The whole contour of the Golfe is a marvel of -graceful curves, backed up with sloping, well-wooded hills and, still -farther away, by the massive black of the Maures, the hill of St. -Raphaël, and the red and brown tints of the Estérel, while still more -distant to the northward, hanging in a soft film of vapour, are the -peaks of the snowy Alps. - -By following the old side streets, crowded with overhanging porches and -projecting buttresses, with here and there a garden wall half-hiding -broad-leafed fig-trees and palms, one reaches the Promenade des Lices, a -remarkably well-placed and appointed promenade, shaded with great -plane-trees, in strong contrast to the occasional pines and laurels. - -St. Tropez's history is ancient enough to please the most blasé delver -in the things of antiquity. It may have been the Gallo-Grec Athenopolis, -or it may have been the Phoenician Heraclea Caccabaria; but, at all -events, its present growth came from a foundation which followed close -upon the death of the martyr St. Tropez in the second century. - -St. Tropez, in the days when sailing-ships had the seas to themselves, -was possessed of a traffic and a commerce which, with the advent of the -building of great steamships, lapsed into inconsequential proportions. -The yards where the wooden ships were built and fitted out are deserted, -and a part of the population has gone back to the land or taken to -fishing; others--the young men--becoming _garçons de café_ or _valets de -chambre_ in the great tourist hotels of the coast; or, rather, they did -look upon these occupations as a bright and rosy future, until the -coming of the automobile, since when the peasant youth of France aspires -to be a chauffeur or _mécanicien_. - -A new industry has recently sprung up at St. Tropez, the manufacture of -electric cables, but it has not the picturesqueness, nor has it as yet -reached anything like the proportions, of the old hempen cordage -industry. - -[Illustration: _Ruined Chapel near St. Tropez_] - -St. Tropez possesses its wonderful Golfe, its gardens, and its "_Petite -Afrique_," and is more and more visited by Riviera tourists; but it -still awaits that great tide of traffic which has made more famous and -rich many other less favoured Mediterranean coast towns. There is a -reason for all this; principally that it faces the mistral's icy breath, -for the coast-line has here taken a bend and the Golfe runs inland in a -westerly direction, which makes the town face directly north. As an -offset to this the inhabitant points out to you that you may regard the -sea without being troubled by the sun shining in your eyes. - -At the head of the Golfe is La Foux. It sits in the midst of a sandy -plain, surrounded by a border of superb umbrella-pines. The chief -attraction for the visitor is the remarkable specimens of the little -horses of Les Maures to be seen here. They are known as "_les Eygues_," -and have preserved all the purity of the type first brought from the -Orient by the Saracens. Six centuries and more have not wiped out the -Arab strain to anything like the extent that might be supposed, and -accordingly the little horses of Les Maures are vastly more docile and -agreeable playmates than the "_petits chevaux_" of the Casinos of Monte -Carlo and Nice. - -The umbrella or parasol pines of La Foux are famous throughout the whole -Riviera. Elsewhere there are isolated examples, but here there are -groves of them, all branching with a wide-spreading luxuriance which is -quite at its best. It might seem as though they were planted by the -hand of man, so decorative are they to the landscape from any point of -view, but most of them are of an age that precludes all thought of this. - -The giant of its race is directly on the bank of the Golfe, near the -Château de Berteaux. Its branches extend out in every direction, like -the ribs of a parasol or umbrella, and its trunk is thirty feet or more -in circumference, while the shadow from its overhanging branches makes a -great round oasis of shade in the brilliant Mediterranean sunlight. The -tree and its position cannot be mistaken by travellers by road or rail, -for the railway itself has a "_halte_" almost beneath its branches. All -around these parasol-pines push themselves up through the sand which has -been carried down into the headwaters of the Golfe by the Mole and the -Giscle, torrents which at certain seasons bring down a vast alluvial -deposit from the upper valleys of Les Maures. - -It is not far from La Foux to the plain of Cogolin. A league or more -behind one of the first buttresses of Les Maures, one enters the rich -alluvial prairie of Cogolin. Sheep, goats, and cows, and the -Arabian-blooded horses, which are so much admired at the _courses_ at -La Foux, find welcome pasture here in these verdant fields. - -Cogolin is not the capital of the Golfe country, that honour belonging -to Grimaud, of which St. Tropez is virtually the port; still, Cogolin is -quite a little metropolis, and is the centre of the liveliest happenings -of all the region between Hyères and Fréjus. The town has two different -aspects, one banal and modern, and the other picturesque and feudal, -recalling the thirteenth-century days of the Grimaldis, who built the -château of which the present belfry formed a part. - -Cogolin is uninteresting enough in its newer parts, but as one ascends -the slope of the hill on which the town is built it grows more and more -picturesque until, when the lower town is actually lost sight of, it -finally takes rank as a delightful old-world place, with scarce a note -of the twentieth century about it, where they still bring water from the -public fountain and most of the shops of the smaller kind transact their -business on the sidewalk--where there is one. - -There is a peculiar odour all over Cogolin, which comes from the -manufacture of corks and queer-looking "whisk-brooms." It's not a bad or -unhealthful smell, but it is peculiar, and many will not like it. From -Cogolin all roads lead to the heart of the Maures, and the stream of -carts loaded with great slabs of cork is incessant. - -Here, as in many other parts of Les Maures, the manufacture of corks is -an industry which furnishes a livelihood to many. The workrooms of the -cork-makers, to attract clients or amuse the populace--the writer -doesn't know which--are often in full view from the street. Certainly it -is amusing to see a workman stamp out, or cut out, the corks and drop -them into a waiting basket, as if they were plums gathered from a tree. -In the larger establishments, where the work is done by machinery, the -process is more complicated, and less interesting, and the writer did -not see that any better results were obtained. - -The whole region of Les Maures is dominated by the _chêne-liège_, or the -cork-oak. Usually they are great, straight-trunked trees with a heavy -foliage. Some still possess their natural brown trunks, and some are a -gray fawn colour, showing that they are already aged and have been many -times robbed of their bark for the manufacture of floats for the -fisherman's nets and corks for bottles. The first coat which is stripped -has no mercantile value, and the trunk is left to heal itself as best -it may, the sap oozing out and forming another skin, which in due time -forms the cork-bark of commerce. - -The trees are stripped only in part at one time, else they would perish. -The first marketable crop is gathered in ten or a dozen years, and it -takes another decade before the same portion can be again obtained. - -This cork-bark industry means a fortune to Les Maures and its rather -scanty population. The discovery, or real development, of the industry -was due to a lonesome shepherd, who, finding how soft and compressible -the bark of the _chêne-liège_ really was, manufactured a few corks to -pass the time while watching his flocks, taking them at the first -opportunity to town, to see if he could find a market, which, needless -to say, he did immediately. The account has something of a legendary -flavour about it, but no doubt the discovery was made in just such a -way. - -Cogolin has another industry which, in its way, is considerable,--the -manufacture of briar pipes, though mostly it is the gathering of the -briar-roots which makes the industry, the actual fashioning of the pipes -themselves being carried on most extensively at St. Claude in the Jura, -to which point many train-loads of the roots are sent each year. Just -why the industry should be carried on so far from the source of supply -of the raw material is one of the problems that economists are trying -always to solve, but the traffic clings tenaciously to the customs of -old. When Les Maures goes in for the manufacture of briar pipes on a -large scale there will be a new and increased prosperity for the -inhabitants; this in spite of the growing consumption of the deadly -cigarette, which, in France, is made of something which looks amazingly -like cabbage-stalk--and a poor quality at that. The contempt for French -tobacco is of long duration. It is recalled that a certain minister -under Charles X. was invited to smoke smuggled tobacco at a friend's -house, and was implored to use his influence to the substituting of the -same grade of tobacco for the poisonous cabbage-leaf then grown in -France. His reply was appreciative but non-committal, and so the thing -has gone on to this day, and the French public smokes uncomplainingly a -very ordinary tobacco. - -Three kilometres distant sits Grimaud, snug and serene on the terrace of -a mountainside, overlooking Cogolin and the Golfe, and all its -environment. The little town has all the characteristics of its -neighbours, with perhaps a superabundance of shade-trees for a place -which has not very ample streets and squares. At the apex of the -ascending _ruelles_ is a cone which is surmounted by the pathetic ruins -of the old château of the Grimaldi. Without grandeur and without life, -this château is in strong contrast with the palace of the present -members of the ancient house of Grimaldi, the Prince of Monaco and his -family. - -The ruins of Grimaud's château are, to be sure, a whited sepulchre, and -a dismal one, but the view from the platform is one of great beauty. Les -Maures forms an encircling cordon, through which the brilliance of the -Golfe breaks toward the south. In the twilight of an early June evening -the effect will be surprising and grateful in its quiet grandeur; a -welcome change after the refulgence of the Alpine glow of Switzerland -and the gorgeous, bloody sunsets of the Mediterranean coast towns. - -After a meditation here, one will be in the proper mood for the repose -which awaits him at "Annibal's" in the town below. It is not grand, this -little hotel of M. Annibal, but it is typical of the _pays_, and you, as -likely as not, ate your dinner on a little balcony overlooking a little -tree-bordered _place_, which has already put you in a soulful mood. When -you return from the château, you will need no sedative to make you -sleep, and you will bless the good fortune which brought you thither--if -you are a true vagabond and not a devotee of the "resorts." The latter -class are advised to keep away; Grimaud would "bore them stiff," as a -strenuous American, who was "doing" the Riviera on a motor-cycle, told -the writer. - -La Garde-Freinet next calls one, and it must not be ignored by any who -would know what a real mountain town in France is like. It is different -from what it is in Switzerland or the Tyrol; in fact, it is not like -anything anywhere else. It is simply a distinctively French small town -nestling in the heart of the Mediterranean coast range, and cut off from -most of the distractions of civilization, except newspapers (twenty-four -hours old) and the post and telegraph. - -La Garde-Freinet sits almost upon the very crest of the Chaîne des -Maures. The road from Grimaud, which is but a dozen kilometres or so, -rises constantly through rocky escarpments like a route in Corsica, -which indeed the whole region of Les Maures resembles. - -All is solitude and of that quietness which one only observes on a -lonely mountain road, while all around is a girdle of tree-clad peaks, -not gigantic, perhaps, but sufficiently imposing to give one the -impression that the road is mounting steadily all of the way, which, -even in these days of hill-climbing automobiles, is something which is -bound to be remarked by the traveller by road. - -Finally one comes in sight of the old Saracen fortress of Fraxinet, or -Freinet, from which the present town of something less than two thousand -souls takes its name. It stands out in the clear brilliance of the -Provençal sky, as if one might reach out his hand and touch its walls, -though it is a hundred or more metres above the town, which finally one -reaches through the usual narrow entrance possessed by most French towns -whether they are of the mountain or the plain. - -It was from just such fortified heights as this that the Saracens were -able to command all Provence and the valley of the Rhône up to the Jura. -Concerning these far-away times, and the exact movements of the -Saracens, historians are not very precise, and a good deal has to be -taken on faith; but where monuments were left behind to tell the story, -albeit they were mostly fortresses, enough has come down to allow one to -build up a fabric which will give a more or less just view of the -extent of the Saracen influence which swept over southern Gaul from the -eighth to the tenth centuries. - -They made one of their greatest strongholds here on the Pic du Fraxinet -("the place planted with _frênes_"), and, in spite of the fact that they -were sooner or later driven from their position, as history does tell in -this case, their descendants, becoming Christians, were the ancestors of -the present growers of mulberry-trees and cork-oaks, and tenders of -silk-worms, which form the principal occupations of the inhabitants of -La Garde-Freinet to-day. - -Any one, with the least eye for the fair sex, will note the fact that -the women of La Garde-Freinet--the _Fraxinétaines_ of the -ethnologists--have a unique kind of beauty greatly to be admired. They -are not as beautiful as the women of Arles, to whom the palm must always -be given among the women of France; but they are well-formed, with -beautiful hair, great, liquid black eyes, oval faces, and plump, -well-formed arms, justifying, even to-day, the beauty which they are -supposed to have acquired from their Moorish ancestors. - -There are no monuments at La Garde-Freinet except the ruined, dominant -fortress, but for all that the pilgrimage is one worth the making, if -only for glimpses of those wonderfully beautiful women, or for the -delightful journey thither. - -From La Foux and Grimaud one rapidly advances toward the Estérel, that -sheltering range of reddish, rocky mountains which makes Cannes and La -Napoule what they are. - -St. Tropez and its tall white houses are left behind, and the shores of -the Golfe are followed until one comes to the most ancient town of Ste. -Maxime. Unlike St. Tropez, Ste. Maxime, though only thirty minutes away -by boat, across the mouth of the Golfe, has not the penetrating mistral -for a scourge. On the other hand one does get the sun in his eyes when -he wishes to view the sea, and has not that magically coloured curtain -of the Estérel, with all its varied reds and browns, before his eyes. -One cannot have everything as he wishes, even on the Riviera. If he has -the view, he often has also the mistral; and, if he finds a place that -is really sheltered from the mistral, it has a more or less restricted -view, and a climate which the doctors and invalids call "relaxing," -whatever that arbitrary term may mean. - -Here in the Golfe de St. Tropez, at St. Tropez, at La Foux, and at Ste. -Maxime, one sees again those great _tartanes_ and _balancelles_, the -great white-winged craft which fly about the Mediterranean coasts of -France with all the idyllic picturesqueness of old. - -There are still twenty kilometres before one reaches Fréjus, the first -town of real latter-day importance since passing Toulon, and this, too, -in spite of its great antiquity. Other of the coast towns have risen or -degenerated into mere resorts, but Fréjus holds its own as the centre of -affairs for a very considerable region. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -FRÉJUS AND THE CORNICHE D'OR - - -Twenty kilometres beyond Ste. Maxime one comes to the Golfe de Fréjus -and its neighbouring towns of Fréjus and St. Raphaël, the former the -_ville commerçant_ and the latter the _ville d'eau_. - -As with Arles, on the banks of the Rhône, one may well say of Fréjus -that the town and its environs form a veritable open-air museum. It will -be true to add also, in this case, that the museum has a far greater -area than at Arles, for Fréjus, and the antiquities directly connected -with it, cover a radius of at least forty kilometres. - -The Romans, the great builders of baths and aqueducts, set a great store -by water, and indeed classed it as among the greatest blessings of -mankind. No labour was too great, and expense was never thought of, when -it came to a question of building these great artificial waterways -which, even unto to-day, are known as aqueducts the world over. One of -their greatest works of the kind led to Fréjus, and two of its arches -stand gaunt and grim to-day in the midst of a fence-paled field. There -is also a sign attached to one of the fence-posts which reads as -follows: - - +-------------------+ - | DEFENSE ABSOLUE | - | DE PENETRER | - | DANS LA PROPRIÉTÉ | - +-------------------+ - -This sign-board does not look as durable as the moss-grown old arches -over which it stands sentinel; perhaps some day the stress of time (or -some other reason) will cause it to disappear. - -The remains of this great aqueduct of other days prove conclusively the -great regard and hope which the Romans must have had for the Forum Julii -of Julius Cæsar, for all, without question, attribute the foundation of -Fréjus to the conqueror of the Gauls. - -The evolution of the name of Fréjus is readily enough followed, though -the present name, coming down through Forojuliens and Frejules, is a sad -corruption. Of this evolution the authorities are not very certain, and -call it "_une tradition et non un fait historiquement prouvé_." It is -satisfying enough to most, however, so let it stand; and anyway we have -the words of Tacitus, who said that his brother-in-law, Agricola, was -born at "the ancient and illustrious colony of Forojuliens." - -Fréjus is prolific in quaint customs and legends too numerous to -mention, though two, at least, stand out so plainly in the memory of the -writer that they are here recounted. - -On a certain occasion in August,--not the usual season for tourists, but -genuine travel-lovers, having no season, go anywhere at any time,--as -the town was entered by the highroad, our automobile was abruptly -stopped at the _barrière_ by a motley crew clad in all manner of -military costumes, like the armies of the South American republics. -Firearms, too, were there, and when a grenadier of the time of -Louis-Philippe let off a smoky charge of gunpowder under our very noses, -it was a signal for a general _feu-de-joie_ which might have rivalled a -Fourth of July celebration in the United States, for the disaster which -it bid fair to bring in its wake. As a matter of fact, nothing happened, -and we were allowed to proceed in peace, though the sleep-destroying -cannonade was kept up throughout the night. - -The occasion was nothing but the annual celebration of "_Les -Bravadeurs_," a survival of the days of Louis XIV., when the town, -being left without a garrison, raised a motley army of its own to serve -in place of the troops of the king. - -There is a legend, too, concerning the landing of St. François de Paule -here, which the native is fond of telling the stranger, but which needs -something more than the proverbial grain of salt to go with it, because -St. François is claimed to have first put foot on shore at various other -points along the coast. - -The story is to the effect that the ship which bore the holy man from -the East having foundered, or not having been sufficiently sea-worthy to -continue the voyage, St. François stepped overboard and walked ashore on -the waves. He did not walk on the waves themselves in this case, but -laid his mantle upon them and walked on that. What he did when he came -to the edge of his mantle tradition does not state. - -The ecclesiastical and political history of Fréjus is most interesting, -though it cannot be epitomized here. Two significant Napoleonic events -of the early nineteenth century stand out so strongly, however, that -they perforce must be mentioned. - -In 1809 Pope Pius VII. stopped at Fréjus when he was making his way to -Fontainebleau, more or less unwillingly, as history tells. Five years -later the Holy Father again stopped at Fréjus on his return to Italy, -and Napoleon himself, on the 27th of the following April, awaiting the -moment of his departure for Elba, occupied the very apartment that had -received the pontiff. - -Of the architectural and historical monuments of Fréjus one must at -least take cognizance of the Baptistery, one of the few of its class out -of Italy and dating from some period previous to the tenth century. -Architecturally it is not a great structure, neither is it such in size; -but its very existence here, well over into Gaul, marks a distinct era -in the Christianizing and church-building efforts of those early times. -The cathedral at Fréjus is by no means of equal archæological importance -to this tiny Baptistery, though the bishopric itself was founded as -early as the fourth century, and at least one of its early bishops -became a Pope (Jean XXII., 1316-34). - -Here, there, and everywhere around the encircling avenues of the town -are to be seen the remains of the old city walls, which in later years, -even in the middle ages, sunk more and more into disuse, from the fact -that the city has continually dwindled in size, until to-day it covers -only about one-fifth of its former area. - -The old aqueduct of Fréjus, a relic of Roman days and Roman ways, is the -chief monumental wonder of the neighbourhood. It has long been in a -ruinous state of disuse, though its decay is merely that incident to -time, for it was marvellously well built of small stones without -ornament of any kind. - -At Fréjus there are also remains of a Roman theatre, now nothing more -than a mass of débris, though one easily traces its diameter as having -been something approaching two hundred feet. - -The arena of Fréjus is in quite as dismantled a state as the theatre, -one of the principal roadways now passing through its centre, so that -to-day the monument is hardly more than a great open _Place_ at the -crossing of four roads. From the grandeur of the structure, as it must -once have been, it is a monument comparable in many ways with those -better preserved and more magnificent arenas at Arles and Nîmes. - -[Illustration: _Fréjus to Nice_] - -From this résumé of some of the chief monuments of the Roman occupation -one gathers that Fréjus was carefully planned as a great city of -residence and pleasure; and so it really was, with the added importance -which its position, both with regard to the routes by sea and land, -gave to it in a commercial sense. - -From Fréjus to St. Raphaël is a bare three kilometres. St. Raphaël -boasts as many inhabitants as Fréjus, but it is mostly a city of -pleasure, and has no monuments of a past age to suggest that even a -reflected glory from Fréjus ever shone over its site. To-day the plain -which lies between the two towns is dotted here and there with palatial -residences: "_C'est tout palais_," the native tells you, and he is not -far wrong, but in a former day it was a broad bay, where floated the -galleys of Cæsar and Augustus. - -[Illustration: _St. Raphaël_] - -There was some sort of a feudal town here in the middle ages, but it -never grew to historical or artistic importance, and the town was little -known until the advent of Alphonse Karr and his fellows, who made of it, -or at least intimated that it could be made, what it is to-day,--a -"winter resort," or, as the French have it, a "_station hivernale_." It -is a very simple expression, but one which leads to a certain amount of -misunderstanding among the newcomers, who think that they have only to -take up their residence, from November to March, anywhere along the -shores of the Mediterranean east of Marseilles to swelter in tropical -sunshine. This they will not do, and unless they keep indoors between -five and seven in the evening on most days, they will get a chill which -will not only go to the marrow, but as like as not will carry pneumonia -with it; that is, if one dresses in what are commonly called "summer -clothes," the kind that are pictured in the posters which decorate the -dull walls of the railway stations as being suitable for the life of the -Riviera. - -St. Raphaël is not wholly given up to pleasure, for it is a notable fact -that in industrial enterprise it has already surpassed Fréjus, due -principally to a vast traffic in bauxite, a clay from which aluminium is -obtained, and there are always at its quays steamers from England, -Germany, and Holland loading the reddish earth. - -Nevertheless, St. Raphaël is in the main a city of villas, less -pretentious than those of Cannes, but still villas in the general -meaning of the word. There is one called locally (in Provençal) the -"_Oustalet du Capelan_" (The House of the Curé), which was a long time -occupied by Gounod. Lovers of the master and his works will make of it a -musical shrine and place of pilgrimage. An inscription over the door -recalls that in this house Gounod composed "Romeo et Juliette." - -[Illustration: _Maison Close, St. Raphaël_] - -The Maison Close, inhabited by Alphonse Karr, is literally a _maison -close_, for it is surrounded by a high wall, and the most that one can -see and admire is the suggestion of the wonderful garden behind. In -Karr's time it must have been a highly satisfactory retreat, and no -wonder he found it not difficult to let the rush of the world go by with -unconcern. - -Hamon, the landscape painter, was another devotee of St. Raphaël, and -he described it as "_la campagne de Rome au fond du Golfe du Naples_;" -it needs not a great stretch of the imagination to follow the simile. - -In spite of the expectations of a former generation of landlords and -landowners, St. Raphaël, progressive as it has been, has never grown up -on the lines upon which it was planned. The grand boulevards and avenues -came as a matter of course, and the great hotels, and, ultimately, the -inevitable casino and its attendant attractions; but, nevertheless, St. -Raphaël has remained a _ville des villas_, and the population has mostly -gone to the suburban hillsides, especially around Valesclure, where new -houses are springing up like mushrooms, all built of that white -sandstone which flashes so brilliantly in the sunlight against the -background of the green-clad, reddish-brown Estérel. - -The Estérel is a coast range of mountains as different from Les Maures, -their neighbour to the westward, as could possibly be, in colour, in -outline, and in climatic influences, and these to no little extent have -a decided effect on the manners and customs of the people who live in -the neighbourhood. - -The contrast between the mountains of Les Maures and the Estérel is -most marked. The former are more sober and less accentuated than the -latter range, and there is more of the culture of the olive to be noted -in the valleys, and of the oak on the hillsides. In the Estérel all is -brilliant, with a colouring that is more nearly a deep rosy red than -that of any other rock formation to be seen in France. Coupled with the -blue of the Mediterranean, the reddish rocks, the green hillsides, and -the delicate skies make as fantastic a colour-scheme as was ever -conceived by the artist's brush. - -The Route d'Italie passes to the north of the Estérel crest, and is one -of those remarkable series of roadways which cross and recross France, -and may be considered the direct descendants of the military roads laid -out by the Romans, and developed and perfected by Napoleon. To-day a -generously endowed department of the French government tenderly cares -for them, with the result that the roads of France have become one of -the most precious possessions of the nation. - -Until very recent times the great mountain and forest tract of the -Estérel had remained unknown and untravelled, save so far as the railway -followed along the coast, and the great Route d'Italie bounded it on -the north, or at least bounded the mountain slopes. - -All this has recently been changed, and, where once were only narrow -foot-paths and roads, made use of by the shepherds and peasants, there -are a broad and elegant highway flanking the indentations of the -coast-line, and many interior routes crossing and recrossing one of the -most lovely and unspoiled wildwoods still to be seen in France. There -are other parts much more wild, the Cevennes or the Vivarais, for -instance; but they have not a tithe of the grandeur and beauty of the -red porphyry rocks of the Estérel combined with the blue waters of the -Mediterranean and the forest-covered flanks of its mountain range. - -From Fréjus, St. Raphaël, or La Napoule, or even Cannes, one may enter -the Estérel and lose himself to the world, if he likes, for a matter of -a week, or ten days, or a fortnight, and never so much as have a -suspicion of the conventional Riviera gaieties which are going on so -close at hand. - -The "Corniche d'Or" of the Estérel, as the coast road is known, was only -completed in 1893, and as a piece of modern roadway-making is the peer -of any of its class elsewhere. The record of its building, and the -public-spirited assistance which was given the project on all sides, -would, or should, put to shame those road-building organizations of -England and America which for the most part have aided the good-roads -movement with merely an unlimited supply of talk about what was going to -be done. - -As a roadway of scenic surprises the "Corniche d'Or" of the Estérel is -the peer of the better known rival beyond Nice, though it has nothing to -excel that superb half-dozen kilometres just before, and after, Monte -Carlo and Monaco. - -The interior route of the Estérel, the Route d'Italie, mounts to an -altitude of three hundred metres, while the "Corniche" is practically -level, with no hills which would tire the least muscular cyclist or the -weakest-powered automobile. - -[Illustration: _On the Corniche d'Or_] - -Since the beginning of the transformation of the Estérel two hundred and -forty kilometres of new roadways have been laid out. After this great -work was finished came the question of erecting sign-boards along the -various _routes_ and _chemins_ and _carrefours_ and _bifurcations_, and -the work was not treated in a parsimonious fashion. Within the first -year of the completion of the road-building over two hundred -important and legible signs were erected by the efforts of a wealthy -resident of St. Raphaël, with the result that the value of the Estérel -as a great "_parc nationale_" became apparent to many who had previously -never even heard of it. - -This delightful tract of unspoiled wildwood is bounded on the north by -the Route d'Italie, while the ingeniously planned "Corniche" follows the -coast-line all the way to Cannes, which is really the door by which one -enters the Riviera of the guide-books and the winter tourists. - -The "Corniche d'Or," its inception and construction, was really due to -the efforts of the omnific "Touring Club de France." Formerly the way by -the coast was but a narrow track, or a "_Sentier de Douane_." To-day it -is an ample roadway along its whole length, on which one has little fear -of speeding automobiles for the simple reason that the jutting capes and -promontories of porphyry rock are death-dealing in their abruptness and -frequency, and no automobilist who is sane--let it be here -emphasized--takes such dangerous risks. - -The forest and mountain region of the Estérel between those two -encircling strips of roadway is possessed of a wonderful fascination -for those who are brain-fagged or town-tired; and to roam, even on foot, -along these by-paths for a few days will give a whole new view of life -to any who are disposed to try it. If one purchases the excellent map of -the region issued by the "Touring Club de France," or even the -five-colour map of the "Service Vicinal" of the French government, he -will have no fear of losing his way among the myriads of paths and -roadways with which the whole region is threaded. - -One first enters the "Route de la Corniche" by leaving St. Raphaël by -way of the newly opened Boulevard du Touring Club, and soon passes two -great projecting rocks known as the "Lion de Terre" and the "Lion de -Mer." They do not look in the least like lions,--natural curiosities -seldom do look like what they are named for,--but they will be -recognizable nevertheless. Throughout its length the road follows the -shore so closely that the sea is always in sight. - -[Illustration: _Offshore from Agay_] - -Boulouris is a sort of unlovely but picturesque suburb of St. Raphaël, -and from its farther boundary one is in full view of the "Sémaphore -d'Agay," perched high on a promontory a hundred and forty metres above -the sea. The Sémaphore is an ugly but utilitarian thing, and the -wireless telegraph has not as yet supplanted its functions in France. - -From the same spot one sees the Tour du Dramont, a one-time refuge of -Jeanne de Provence during a revolution among her subjects. - -In following the road one does not come to a town or indeed a settlement -of any notable size until he reaches Agay, on the other side of the -promontory. The town lies at the mouth of a tiny river bearing the same -name. It makes some pretence at being a resort, but it is still a -diminutive one, and, accordingly, all the more attractive to the -world-wearied traveller. - -Three routes lead from Agay, one to Cannes by Les Trois Termes -(twenty-nine kilometres), another by the Col de Belle Barbe, and another -directly by the "Corniche." - -Near the Col de Belle Barbe is the Oratoire de St. Honorat and the -Grotte de Ste. Baume. The latter is a place of pilgrimage for the devout -of the region, and for those from farther abroad, but most of the time -it is a mere rendezvous for curious sightseers. - -The roadway continues rising and falling through the pines until it -crosses the Col Lévêque (169 metres), when, rounding the Pic d'Aurele, -it comes again to sea-level at Le Trayas. - -From Agay the "Corniche" runs also by Le Trayas, and to roll over its -smoothly made surface in a swift-moving automobile is the very poetry of -motion, or as near thereto as we are likely to get until we adopt the -flying-machine for regular travel. It is an experience that no one -should miss, even if he has to hire a seat on the automobile omnibus -which frequently runs between St. Raphaël and La Napoule and Cannes. - -It is twenty kilometres from Agay to La Napoule, and is a good -afternoon's journey by carriage, or even on donkey-back. Better yet, one -should walk, if he feels equal to it, and has the time at his disposal. - -_En route_ one passes Anthéore, which may best be described as a colony -of artistic and literary people who have settled here for the quiet and -change from the bustle of the modern life of the towns. This was the -case at least when the settlement was founded, and the poet Brieux built -himself a house and put up over the gateway the significant words: "_Je -suis venu ici pour être seul._" Whether he was able to carry out this -wish is best judged by the fact that since that time many outsiders -have gained a foothold, and the Grand Hôtel de la Corniche d'Or has come -to break the solitude with balls and bridge and all the distractions of -the more celebrated Riviera towns and cities. - -Between Anthéore and Le Trayas is a narrow pathway which mounts to St. -Barthélémy, but the coast road still continues its delightful course -toward La Napoule. - -Le Trayas, though it figures in the railway time-tables, is hardly more -than a hamlet; but it boasts proudly of a hotel and a group of villas. -It has not yet become spoiled in spite of this, and though it lacks the -picturesque local colour of the average Mediterranean coast town, and -almost altogether the distractions of the great resorts, it is worth the -visiting, if only for its charming situation. - -The Département of the Var joins that of the Alpes-Maritimes just -beyond, and, at three kilometres farther on, the coast road rises to its -greatest height, a trifle over a hundred metres. - -Before one comes to La Napoule he passes the progressive, hard-pushing -little resort of Théoule, so altogether delightful from every point of -view that one can but wish that winter tourists had never heard of it. -This was not to be, however, and Théoule is doing its utmost to become -both a winter and a summer resort, with many of the qualifications of -both. It is deliciously situated on the Golfe de la Napoule, or, rather, -on a little _anse_ or bay thereof, and consists of perhaps a hundred -houses of all classes, most of which rejoice in the name of Villa -Something-or-other. Most of these villas are well hidden by the trees, -and their _coquette_ architecture (on the order of a Swiss châlet, but -stuccoed here and there and with bits of coloured glass stuck into the -gables,--and perhaps a plaster cat on the ridge-pole) is not so -obtrusive as it might otherwise be. - -Leaving Théoule, the coast road continues to La Napoule, but, properly -speaking, the "Corniche" ends at Théoule. Throughout its whole length it -is a wonderfully varied and attractive route to the popular Riviera -towns, and one could hardly do better, if he has journeyed from the -north by train, than to leave the cars at Fréjus or St. Raphaël and make -the journey eastward via the Corniche d'Or. If he does this, as likely -as not he will find some delightful beauty-spot which will appeal to him -as far more attractive than a Cannes or Nice boarding-house, where the -gossip is the same sort of thing that one gets in Bloomsbury or on -Beacon Hill. The thing is decidedly worth the trying, and the suggestion -is here given for what it may be worth to the reader. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -LA NAPOULE AND CANNES - - -La Napoule is known chiefly to those birds of passage who annually -hibernate at Cannes as the end of a six-mile constitutional which the -doctors advise their patients to take as an antidote to overfeeding and -"tea-fights." In reality it is much more than this; it is one of the -most charmingly situated of all the Riviera coast towns, and has a -history which dates back to a fourteenth-century fortress, built by the -Comté de Villeneuve, a tower of which stands to-day as a part of the -more modern château which rises back of the town. - -[Illustration: _On the Golfe de la Napoule_] - -French residents on the Riviera have a popular tradition that Lord -Brougham originally made overtures to the municipality of Fréjus when he -was seeking to found an English colony on the Riviera. Whatever his -advances may have been, they were promptly spurned by the town, and -England's chancellor forthwith turned his steps toward Italy, whither he -had originally been bound. Suddenly he came upon the ravishing -outlook over the Golfe de la Napoule, and the charms of this lovely spot -so impressed him that he fell a prey to their winsomeness forthwith and -decided that if he could find a place where the inhabitants were at all -in favour of a peaceful English invasion, he would throw the weight of -his influence in their favour. He travelled the country up and down and -threaded the highways and byways for a distance of fifty kilometres in -every direction until finally he decided that Cannes, on the opposite -side of the Golfe, should have his approval. Thus the Riviera, as it is -known by name to countless thousands to-day, was born as a popular -English resort, and soon Cannes became the "_ville élégante_," replacing -the little "_bourg de pêche_" of a former day. - -The road eastward from Fréjus, the highroad which leads from France into -Italy, passes to the northward of the crests of the Estérel range just -at the base of Mont Vinaigre, a topographical landmark with which the -average visitor to Cannes should become better acquainted. It is far -more severe and less gracious than Cap Roux, where the Estérels slope -down to the Mediterranean; but it has many attractions which the latter -lacks. From the summit of Mont Vinaigre one may survey all this -remarkable forest and mountain region, while from Cap Roux one has as -remarkable a panorama of sea and shore and sky, but of quite a different -tonal composition. - -Mont Vinaigre is the culminating peak of the Estérel, and is visible -from a great distance. Its great white observatory tower rises high -above the neighbouring peaks and, when one finally reaches the -vantage-ground of the little platform which is found at the utmost -height, he obtains a view which is far more vast in effect than many of -the "grandest views" scattered here and there about the world. In clear -weather the outlook extends from Bordighera to Sainte Baume, as if the -whole region were spread out in a great map. - -Below Mont Vinaigre is Les Adrets and its inn, which in days of old was -known by all travellers to Italy by way of the south of France as a -post-house, where horses were changed and where one could get -refreshment and rest. To-day the Auberge des Adrets performs much the -same functions for the automobilist, and is put down in the automobile -route-books of France as a "_poste de secours_," one of those safe -havens on land which are as necessary to the automobilist _en tour_ as -is a life-saving station to the shipwrecked sailor. - -The inn, modest and lacking in up-to-date appointments as it is, has a -delightfully wild and unspoiled situation, sheltered from the north by -numerous chestnut and plane-trees, and in summer or winter its climatic -conditions are as likely to fit the varying moods of the traveller as -any other spot on the Riviera. Truly Les Adrets is a retreat far from -the madding crowd, where an author or an artist might produce a -masterwork if what he needed was only quiet and a change of scene. There -are no distractions at Les Adrets to break the monotony of its -existence. One may chat with a passing automobile tourist, or with one -of those guardians of the peace of the countryside, the gendarmes,--who -have barracks near by,--but this is the only diversion. - -At the inn itself one finds nothing of luxury. One pays two francs for -his repasts and a franc for his modest room. This is not dear, and has -the additional advantage that neither one nor the other of these -requirements of the traveller have the least resemblance to the sort of -thing that one gets in the towns. - -Over the doorway of this unassuming establishment one reads the -following: "_La maison este rebastie par le Sieur Laugier en 1653; elle -a été restaurée par Ed. Jourdan, 1898._" - -Never is there a throng of people to be seen in these parts, and, if one -wanders abroad at night, he is likely enough to have thoughts of the -highwaymen of other days. Formerly the forests and mountains of the -Estérel were infested with a class of brigands who were by no means of -the polished villain order which one has so frequently seen upon the -stage. They were not of the Claude Duval class of society, but something -very akin to what one pictures as the Corsican bandit of tradition. - -To-day, however, all is peaceful enough, with the Gendarmerie near by, a -terror to all wrong-doers, and the only reminiscences which one is -likely to have of the highwaymen of other days are such as one gets from -an old mountaineer or a review of the pages of history and romance, -where will be found the names of Robert Macaire and Gaspard de Besse, -two famous, or infamous, characters whose names and lives were closely -connected with this region. It is all tranquil enough to-day, and one is -no more likely to meet with any of these unworthies in the Estérel than -he is with the "Flying Dutchman" at sea. - -As one draws near to Cannes, he realizes that he has left the -simplicity of the life of the countryside behind him. While still half a -dozen kilometres away, he sees a sign reading "Cannes Cricket Club," and -all is over! No more freedom of dress; no more hatless and collarless -mountain climbs; but the costume of society, of London, Paris, or New -York is what is expected of one at all times. - -Cannes is truly "aristocratic villadom," or "_séjour aristocratique et -recherché_," as the French have it, with all that the term implies. -Consequently Cannes is conventional, and the real lover of -nature--regardless of the town's charming situation--will have none of -it. - -It is believed that the town grew up from the ancient Ligurian city of -Aegytna, destroyed by Quintus Opimius a hundred and fifty years before -the beginning of the Christian era. - -If one does not make his entry into Cannes by road, direct from the -Estérel, he will probably come by the way of Le Cannet. Le Cannet is -itself a sumptuous suburb which in every way foretells the luxury which -awaits one in the parent city by the seashore. - -Three kilometres of palm and plantain bordered avenue, lined with villas -and hotels, joins Le Cannet with Cannes. Not long ago the suburb was an -humble, indifferent village, but the tide of popularity came that way, -and it has become transformed. - -The Boulevard Carnot descends from Le Cannet to the sea by a long easy -slope, and again one comes to the blue water of the enchanted -Mediterranean. At times, Cannes is most lively,--always in a most -conventional and eminently respectable fashion,--and at other times it -sleeps the sleep of an emptied city, only to awake when the first fogs -of November descend upon "_brumeuse Angleterre_." - -To tell the truth, Cannes is far more delightful "out of season," when -its gay, idling population of strangers has disappeared, stolen away to -the watering-places of the north, there to live the same deadly dull -existence, made up of rounds of tea-drinking and croquet-playing, with -perhaps an occasional ride in a char-à-banc. Probably the millionaire -improves somewhat upon this régime, but there are countless thousands -who live this very life in European watering-places--and think they are -enjoying themselves. - -Cannes's off season is of course summer, but, considering that it is so -delightfully and salubriously situated at the water's edge, and has a -summer temperature of but 22° Centigrade, this is difficult to -understand. Certainly Cannes is more delightful in the winter months -than "_brumeuse Angleterre_," but then it is equally so in June. - -Not every one in Cannes speaks English; but for a shopkeeper to prosper -to the full he should do so, and so the local "professors" have a busy -time of it, in season and out, teaching what they call the "_idiome -britannique_" and the "_argot Américaine_." - -The shore east and west of the centre of the town is flanked with hotels -and villas, and great properties are yearly being cut up and put into -the hands of the real-estate agents in order that more of the same sort -may be erected where olive and palm trees formerly grew. - -Horticulture is still a great industry at Cannes, as well as the selling -of building-lots, but the marvel is that there is any unoccupied land -upon which to raise anything. A dozen years from now how will the -horticulturalists of Cannes be able to grow those decorative little -orange and palm trees with which Paris and Ostend and London and even -Manchester hotel "palm-gardens" are embellished? - -Cannes has an ecclesiastical shrine of more than ordinary rank, in spite -of the fact that it is of no great architectural splendour. It is the -old Basilique de Notre Dame d'Espérance which crowns the hill back of -the town and possesses a remarkable reliquary of the fifteenth century, -said to contain the bones of St. Honorat, the founder of the famous -monastery of the Lerin Isles. - -Another monument of the middle ages is the ancient "Tour Seigneuriale," -erected in 1080 by Adelbert II., an abbot of the Monastery of Lerins. -For three hundred years it was in constant use, serving both as a -_citadelle_ and as a marine observatory. To-day its functions are no -more; but, with the tower of the church, it does form a sort of a -beacon, from offshore, for the Cannes boatmen. - -There is a Christmas custom celebrated by the fisher-folk of Cannes -which is exceedingly interesting and which should not be missed if one -is in these parts at the time. On the eve of Christmas there is held a -popular banquet, in which the sole dish is polenta, most wonderfully -made of peas, nuts, herbs, and meal, together with boiled codfish, the -yolks of eggs, and what not, all perfumed with orange essence. It's a -most temperate sort of an orgy, in all except quantity, and, when washed -down with a local _vin blanc_, bears the name, simply, of a "_gros -souper_." Brillat-Savarin might have done things differently, but the -dish sounds as though it might taste good in spite of the mixture. - -[Illustration] - -At Le Cannet is the Villa Sardou, where the great actress Rachel spent -the last days of her life and died in 1858. Near Le Cannet, too, is a -most strangely built edifice known as the "Maison du Brigand." It is the -chief sight of the neighbourhood for the curious and speculative, though -what its uncanny design really means no one seems to know. It is a -spudgy, square tower with an overhanging roof of tiles and four queer -corbels at the corners. The entrance doorway is three metres, at least, -from the ground, and leads immediately to the second story. From this -one descends to the ground floor, not by a stairway, but through a -trap-door. This curious structure is supposed to date from the sixteenth -century. - -Vallauris is what one might call a manufacturing suburb of Cannes, a -town of potteries and potters. The potteries of the Golfe Jouan, of -which Vallauris is the headquarters, are famous, and their product is -known by connoisseurs the world over. - -One notes the smoke and fumes from the furnaces where the pottery is -baked, and likens the aspect to that of a great industrial town, though -Vallauris is, as a matter of fact, more daintily environed than any -other of its class in the known world. Not all of its six thousand -inhabitants are engaged at the potteries; but by far the greater portion -are; enough to make the town rank as a city of workmen, for such it -really is, though it would take but little thought or care to make of it -the ideal "garden city." - -Artist-travellers have long remarked the qualities of the plastic clay -found here, and by their suggestions and aid have enabled the -manufacturers to develop a high expression of the artistic sense among -their workmen. Most of these workers are engaged, in the first instance, -as mere moulders of ordinary pots and jugs; but, as they acquire skill -and the art sense, they are advanced to more important and lucrative -positions. - -The establishment of Clément Massier is famous for the quality and -excellent design of its product. The proprietor in the early days, by -his natural taste and studies, brought his work to the attention of such -masters in art as Gérôme, Cabanal, Berne-Bellecour, and Puvis de -Chavannes, all of whom encouraged him to develop his abilities still -further. - -Study of antique forms and processes threw a new light upon the art, or -at least a newly reflected light, and at last were produced those -wonderful iridescent effects and enamels which were a revelation to -lovers of modern pottery. Their success was achieved at the great Paris -Exposition of 1889, since which time they have been the vogue among the -"_clientèle élégante du littoral_," as the cicerone who takes you over -the Ceramic Musée tells you. - -Vallauris is noted also for its production of orange-water, or, rather, -orange-flower water, with which the French flavour all kinds of subtle -warm drinks of which they are so fond. The _tisane_ of the French takes -the place of the tea of the English, and they make it of all sorts of -things,--a stewed concoction of verbena leaves, of mint, and even -pounded apricot stones,--and always with a dash of orange-flower water. -It is not an unpleasant drink thus made, but wofully insipid. - -The orange-trees of the neighbourhood of Cannes and Vallauris prosper -exceedingly, though it is not for their fruit that they are so carefully -tended. It is the blossoming flowers that are in demand, partly for -enhancing the charms of brides, but more particularly for making orange -essence. There are numerous distilleries devoted to this at Vallauris, -and, when the season of gathering the orange-flower crop arrives, a -couple of thousand women and children engage in the pleasant task. A -million kilogrammes of the flower are gathered in a good season, from -which is produced as much as seventy-five thousand kilos of essence. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -ANTIBES AND THE GOLFE JOUAN - - -Beyond Cannes, on the eastern shore of the Golfe Jouan, before one comes -to the peninsula's neck, is a newly founded station known as -Jouan-les-Pins. It is little more than a hamlet, though there are villas -and hotels and a water-front with wind-shelters and all the appointments -which one expects to find in such places. - -Jouan-les-Pins really is a delightful place, the rock-pines coming well -down to the shore and half-burying themselves in the yellow sands. A -boulevard, bordered by a balustrade, extends along the water's edge and -forms that blend of artificiality and nature which, of all places on the -Riviera, is seen at its best at Monte Carlo. - -Undoubtedly there is some sort of a great future awaiting -Jouan-les-Pins, for it is already regarded as a suburb of Antibes, and -it is but a few years since Antibes itself was but a narrow-alleyed, -high-walled little town, reminiscent of the mediæval fortress that it -once was. To-day the bastions of Antibes have nearly disappeared under -the picks of the industrious workmen. - -[Illustration: _Jouan-les-Pins_] - -The chief event of historic moment in the vicinity was the landing of -Napoleon here on his return from Elba, on March 1, 1815. Every one -feared the time when the "Corsican ogre" should break loose, and when -the ambitious Napoleon set foot upon the shores of the Golfe Jouan, -there was no doubt but that his sole object was to regain the throne -which he had lost. Provence, Languedoc, and Dauphiné were supposed to be -faithful to the reigning Louis, hence there was little fear that -Napoleon's march would extend beyond their confines. How well the -emotions of a people were to be judged in those days is best recalled by -the fact that it was but a mere promenade from Jouan-les-Pins, via -Grasse, Gap, and Sisteron, to Lyons. The opinions of the advisers of -Louis XVIII. were decidedly wrong, for, while the Provençaux remained -faithful to the Bourbon, the mountaineers of Dauphiné were only too -ready and willing to give Napoleon the aid he wished. - -In the early ages the shores of the Golfe Jouan were well known and -beloved by Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, barbarians, and Moors alike. The -name Jouan, which comes down from the Saracens, has by some geographers -been changed to Juan. Since, however, the old Provençal spelling and -pronunciation was Jouan (_ou_ being the Provençal accent of the French -_u_), it is still so written by the best authorities. - -Never has the word incomparable been more suitably applied than to the -Golfe Jouan and the monuments of the past civilization that surround it. -Together with the Golfe de la Napoule it forms one vast expanse of bay, -the most ample and, perhaps, the most beautiful on the whole Riviera. To -the south is the open sea, and to the north the varied background of -the Alpes-Maritimes. - -Antibes has itself much charm of situation, though it is mostly known to -English-speaking people as a sort of rest-house on the way to the more -gay attractions of Monte Carlo and about there. - -Antibes is, however, of great antiquity, having been the Antipolis of -the Romans. It has the usual attractions of the Riviera towns and, in -addition, the proximity of the great peninsula of Antibes, locally -called the Cap. - -This peninsula is a rare combination of trees and rocks and winding -roads, almost surrounded by the pulsing Mediterranean, always cool and -comfortable, even in summer, and scarcely ever troubled by the blowing -of the mistral. Villas, almost without end, occupy the Cap, tree-hidden, -and all brilliantly stuccoed with a tint which so well harmonizes with -the surrounding subtropical flora that the effect is as of fairy-land. - -The Jardin Thuret is a great botanical collection, covering an area of -over seven hectares, a gift to the nation by the sister of the great -botanist of the same name. The Villa Eilen-Roc has also wonderful -gardens, laid out with exotic plants, and open to visitors. - -Offshore, to the westward, are the Iles de Lerins and the Golfe de la -Napoule, while eastward lie the Baie des Anges and the mountains back of -Nice. Northward are the snow-clad summits of the Alpine range, while to -the south is the sea, where one sees the filmy smoke of great steamers -bound for Genoa or Marseilles, while nearer at hand are the white-winged -_balancelles_ and _tartanes_. Truly it is a ravishing picture which is -here spread out before one, and therein lies the great charm of Antibes. - -There is a weird combination of things devout and secular at -Antibes,--Notre Dame d'Antibes, with its hermitage; the lighthouse; and -the semaphore. Of the utility of the two latter there can be no doubt, -while the tiny chapel of the hermitage forms a link which binds the -sailor-folk at sea with their friends on shore. It is a sort of -_ex-voto_ shrine, like Notre Dame de la Garde at Marseilles, where one -may register his vows upon his departure or return from the sea. - -When the river Var was the boundary between France and Piedmont, this -Chapelle de Notre Dame was a place of pilgrimage for the seafarers on -both sides of the river, and passports were freely given to permit the -Italians to worship here at this seaside shrine of Our Lady. - -Antibes has much of historic reminiscence about it, though to-day its -monuments are neither very numerous nor magnificent. - -The old town was, for military reasons, surrounded with walls, and thus -the sea was some distance from the centre of the town. Then, as to-day, -to get a whiff of the sea, one had to leave the narrow tortuous -picturesqueness of the old town behind and saunter on the quays of the -little port, with its narrow entrance to the open sea. - -There is little traffic of importance going on in the port of Antibes; -mostly the shipping of the product of the potteries at Vallauris and -neighbouring towns. Still, by no means is it an abandoned port; it is a -popular haven for Mediterranean yachtsmen, and fishermen find it a -suitable base for their operations in the open sea; so there is a -constant going and coming such as gives a picturesque liveliness which -is lacking at a mere resort or watering-place. Antibes is, moreover, a -torpedo-boat station of the French navy, being safely sheltered by a -line of rocks which parallel the coast-line for some distance just -beyond the harbour's mouth, and which are marked by a great iron buoy, -known locally by the name of "Cinq Cent Francs." - -In the days of the Romans Antibes was probably the military port of -Cimiez, and in a later day it came into the favour of both Henri IV. and -Richelieu as a strongly fortified place. Later, Vauban came on the scene -and surrounded its harbour with a great circular mole with considerable -architectural pretensions. To-day the place is practically ignored as a -military stronghold in favour of Villefranche and Toulon and the many -intermediate batteries which have been erected. - -The origin of the name of the town comes from the colony of Massaliotes -who came here in the fifth century. Its modern name is a derivation from -its earlier nomenclature, which became successively Antibon, Antibolus, -and then Antiboul,--the Provençal name for the Antibes of the later -French. - -To-day one may see the remains of two ancient towers built by the -Romans, and there are still evidences of the substructure of the antique -theatre, built into the lower courses of some modern houses. In the -walls of the Hôtel de Ville is a tablet reading as follows: - - +-------------------------------+ - | D. M. | - | PVERI SEPTENTRI | - | ONIS ANNORXI QUI | - | ANTIPOLI IN THEATRO | - | BIDVO SALTAVIT ET PLACVIT. | - +-------------------------------+ - -According to Michelet this was a memorial to "the child Septentrion, -who, at the age of twelve years, appeared two days at the theatre of -Antipolis; doubtless one of the slaves who were let out to managers of -spectacles." - -Inland from Antibes, on the banks of a little streamlet, the Brague, -lies Biot, once a settlement of the Templars, and later, in the -fourteenth century, a possession of the Genoese, or at least peopled by -a colony of them. - -It is a remarkable little place, generally over-looked by travellers in -the rush to the show-places of the Riviera, and the suggestion is here -made that any who are seeking for a real exotic could not do better than -hunt it here. The manners and customs, and even the speech, of many of -the old people of the town are as Italian as those of the Genoese -themselves. The tiny bourg possesses a series of arcades surrounding a -tiny square, a product of the fourteenth century, and is as "foreign" -to these parts as would be the wigwam of an Indian. There are also -remains of the old ramparts of the town still visible, and the whole -ensemble is as a page torn from a book which had been closed for -centuries. - -[Illustration] - -One need not fear undue discomfort here in this little old-world spot, -where things go on much the same as they have for centuries. There is -nothing of the allurements of the great hotels of the resorts about the -two modest inns at Biot, but for all that there is a bountiful and -excellent fare to be had amid entirely charming surroundings, and, if -one is minded, he can easily put in a month at the retreat, and only -descend to the super-refinements of Cannes or Nice--each perhaps a dozen -miles away--whenever he feels the pangs which prompt him to get in touch -with a daily paper and the delights of asphalt pavements and "dressy" -society. - -Not all Riviera tourists know the Iles de Lerins as well as they might, -though it is a popular enough excursion from Cannes. - -These isles give the distinct note which lends charm to the waters of -the Mediterranean just offshore from Cannes, forming, as they do, a sort -of a jetty, or breakwater, between the Golfe de la Napoule and the Golfe -Jouan. - -There are but two islands in the group, St. Honorat and Ste. Marguerite, -the latter separated from the Pointe de la Croisette at Cannes by a -little over a kilometre. It costs a franc to cover this by boat, and -another franc to pass between Ste. Marguerite and St. Honorat. - -The Ile Ste. Marguerite and its prison are redolent of much of history, -from the days of the "Iron Mask" up to those of the miserable Bazaine. -Much has been hazarded from time to time as to the real identity of the -"Man in the Iron Mask," but the annals of Provence dealing with Ste. -Marguerite seem to point to the fact that he was Count Mattioli, the -minister of the Duke of Mantua, who had agreed to betray his master into -the hands of the French, and then for some unaccountable reason--no one -knows why--repented, with the result that he was entrapped and thrown -into prison. One sees still the walls of the dungeon where twenty-seven -years of his unhappy life were spent. - -Bazaine, the unfortunate Maréchal de France who capitulated at Metz -during the Franco-Prussian war, was also confined here, from December, -1873, to August, 1874, when by some unexplained means, he was able to -escape to Italy. - -The islands take their collective name from the memory of a pirate of -the heroic age, Lero by name, to whom a temple was erected on the larger -isle. - -The Ile St. Honorat has perhaps a greater interest than that of Ste. -Marguerite. St. Honorat established himself here in retreat in the -fifth century, and his abode was afterward visited by Erin's St. -Patrick. - -A religious foundation, known as the Monastery of Lerins, took shape -here in the sixth century, and became one of the most celebrated in all -Christendom. - -Barbarians, fanatics, and pirates attacked the isle from time to time, -but they could not disturb the faith upon which the religious -establishment was built, and it was only in 1778, when it was -desecularized by the Pope, that its influence waned. - -In 1791, Mlle. Alziary de Roquefort, an actress of fame in her day, -acquired the isle and made it her residence. To-day it is in the -possession of a community of Benedictines of Citeaux, who cultivate a -great portion of its soil for the benefit of the Bishop of Fréjus. - -The modern conventual buildings are on the site of the old -establishment, now completely disappeared, but the community is well -worth the visiting, if only to bring away with one a bottle of the -Liqueur Lerina, which, in the opinion of many, is the equal of the -popular "Benedictine" and "Chartreuse." - -There is a fragment of the old fortress-château still left to view, -bathing the foot of its crenelated donjon in the sea, a reminder of the -days when the monks fought valiantly against pirate invasion. - -Legend accounts for the names borne by both the Iles de Lerins. Two -orphans of high degree, brother and sister, left their home in the -Vosges and came to Provence, which they adopted as their future home. - -[Illustration] - -Marguerite took up her residence on the isle nearest the shore, and her -brother on the farthermost. Disconsolate at being left alone, the maid -supplicated her brother to come to her, and this he promised to do each -year when the cherry-trees were in bloom. Marguerite prayed to God that -her brother, who had become a _religieux_, would come more often; at -once the cherry-trees about her habitation burst into bloom, a miracle -which occurred each month thereafter, and her brother, true to his -promise, came promptly the first of each month, and thus broke the -lonely vigil of his sister. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -GRASSE AND ITS ENVIRONS - - -According to the French geographers, Grasse occupies a commanding site -on a "_montagne à pic_," and this describes its situation exactly. - -On the flanks of this great hill sits the town, its back yards, almost -without exception, set out with olive and orange trees, to say nothing -of the more extended plantations of the same sort seen as one reaches -the outskirts. - -The whole note of Grasse is of flowers, trees, and shrubs, and the -perfume-laden air announces the fact from afar. - -Above rises the "_pic_," and, farther away, the northern boundary of the -horizon is circumscribed with an amphitheatre of wooded mountains severe -and imposing in outline. - -Grasse is but a short eighteen kilometres from the Mediterranean, but -the whole topographical aspect of the country has changed. The panorama -seaward is the only intimation of the characteristics which have come to -be recognized as the special belongings of the French Riviera. The -foot-hills slope gently down to the blue "_nappe_," which is the only -word which describes the Mediterranean when it is all of a tranquil -blue. It is an incomparable view that one has over this eighteen -kilometres of country southward, and a strong contrast to the lively -suburbs of the coast towns. Its charm and beauty are all its own, and -there is little of the modern note to be heard as one threads the -highways and byways, through the valleys and down the ravines to -sea-level. Without doubt it was a fortunate choice of the Romans when -they set their Castrum Crassense on this verdure-crowned height. - -In the middle ages Grasse developed rapidly, and became the seat of a -bishop and a place dominant in the commerce of the region. The -inhabitants were reputed to be possessed of wonderful energies, and the -fact that they were twice able to repel the Moorish invaders, though -their town was practically destroyed, seems to prove this beyond a -doubt. - -Richelieu gave the bishopric of this proud city to Antoine Godeau, who, -it seems, possessed hardly any qualifications for the post except family -influence and the flatteries he had showered upon the cardinal. Because -of his small stature this prelate became known as the "Nain de Julie," -but in time he came to develop a real aptitude for his calling, and -governed his diocese with care, prudence, and judgment, and became an -Académicien through having written a history of the Church in France -during the eighteenth century. - -The ecclesiastical monuments of Grasse are not many or as beautiful as -might be expected of a bishop's seat, and at the Revolution the see was -suppressed. The old-time cathedral, as it exists to-day, is an -ungracious thing, with a _perron_, a sort of horseshoe staircase, before -it, built by Vauban, who, judging from this work, was far more of a -success as a fortress-builder than as a designer of churches. - -Formerly Grasse was the seat of the Préfecture of the Département du -Var, but, with the inclusion of the Comté de Nice within the limits of -France, the honour was given to Draguignan, while that of the newly made -Département des Alpes-Maritimes was given to Nice, and Grasse became -simply a _sous-préfecture_. Shorn of its official dignities, and never -having arisen to the notoriety of being a fashionable resort, Grasse -"buckled down to business," as one might say, and acquired a preëminence -in the manufacture of perfumes, candied fruits, and _confitures_ -unequalled elsewhere in the south of France. The manufacture of soaps, -wax, oil products, and candles also form a considerable industry, and -the general aspect of Grasse is quite as prosperous, indeed more so, -than if it were dependent on the butterfly tourists of the coast towns. - -The streets of the town rise and fall in bewildering fashion. They are -badly laid out, in many cases, and dark and gloomy, but they are -nevertheless picturesque to a high degree; a sort of négligé -picturesqueness, which does not necessarily mean dirty or squalid. There -are no remarkable architectural splendours in all the town, and there -are none of those archæological surprises such as one comes upon at Aix -or Fréjus. - -Grasse has a fine library, containing numerous rare manuscripts and -deeds and the archives of the ancient Abbey of Lerins. In the Hôpital is -an early work of Rubens, which ranks as one of the world's great art -treasures, and there is a further interest in the city for art-lovers -from the fact that it was the birthplace of Fragonard, to whom a fine -bust in marble has been erected in the Jardin Publique. - -[Illustration: _Flower Market, Grasse_] - -As before mentioned, the height above is the chief point of interest at -Grasse. It culminates in the significantly named promenade known as -the "_Jeu de Ballon_." A sea of tree-tops surges about one on all sides, -with here and there a glimpse of the red roof-tops of the town below. - -Between the town and the sea is an immense rocky wall known as Les -Ribbes, with a picturesque cascade rippling down its flank. From its -apex Napoleon, escaping from Elba, arrested his flight long enough to -turn and--in the words of his best-known historian--"_contemplate the -immense panorama which unrolled before his eyes, and salute for the last -time the Mediterranean and the mountains of La Corse, which he was never -again to see_." - -The assertion "_voir La Corse_," in the original, was not a figure of -speech, for under certain conditions of wind and weather the same is -possible to-day. - -A half a dozen kilometres to the eastward of Grasse the highroad crosses -the river Loup, and one sees a semicircular town before him known as -Villeneuve-Loubet. The town has hotels and all the faint echoes of the -watering-places of the coast. This is a pity, for it is delightful, or -was, before all this up-to-dateness came. Its château, still proudly -rearing its head above the town, was built in the twelfth century by -the Comtes de Provence. - -The primitive town was called Loubet, a corruption of the name of the -river which bathes its walls. Before even the days of the occupation of -the Comtes de Provence, as early as the seventh century, there was a -monastery here known by the name of Notre Dame la Dorée, of which scanty -remains are visible even to-day. Owing to various Mussulman incursions, -the occupants of the monastery were forced to flee to the protection of -the château, and soon the "_Ville-neuve_" was created, ultimately -forming the hyphenated name by which the place is known to-day. - -Still onward, on the road to Nice, is Cagnes, a sort of economical -overflow from the more aristocratic resort, with few advantages to-day -as an abiding-place, and most of the disadvantages of the larger city. -There are tooting trams, automobile garages, and shops for the sale of -many of the minor wants of life, which in former times one had to walk -the ten or a dozen kilometres into Nice to get. The automobile is a very -good thing for touring, but, as a perambulator in which to "run down to -the village," it is much overrated and a confirmed nuisance to every -one; and Cannes suffers from this more than any other place in France, -unless it be Giverny on the Seine, the most overautomobiled town in the -world,--one to every score of inhabitants. - -Once Cagnes bid fair to become an artists' resort, but it became overrun -with "tea and toast" tourists, and so it just missed becoming a Pont -Aven or a Barbizon. For all that, it is a picturesque enough place -to-day; indeed, it is delightful, and if it were not for the automobiles -everywhere about, and that awful tram, it would be even more so. -However, its little artists' hotel was, and is, able to make up for a -good deal that is otherwise lacking, and the sawmills, brick-works, and -distilleries of the neighbourhood are not offensive enough to take away -all of its sylvan charm. - -In earlier times Cagnes was both a place of military importance and a -sort of a city of pleasure, something after the Pompeiian order, one -fancies, from the Roman remains which have been found here. - -There is an ancient château of the Grimaldi family, still very much in -evidence, though it has become the property of a German. In many -respects it is a beautiful Renaissance work and is accordingly an -architectural monument of rank. - -Directly inland from Cagnes is Vence, an ancient episcopal city which -was shorn of its ecclesiastical rights at the Revolution. In spite of -this the memories and the very substantial reminders of other days, -still to be seen within the precincts of the one-time cathedral, give it -rank as an ecclesiastical shrine quite out of the ordinary. The church -itself is built upon the site, and in part out of, an ancient temple to -Cybele, and the fortifications, erected when the Saracens had possession -of the city, are still readily traced. It is a most picturesquely -disposed little city, and well worth more attention than is generally -bestowed upon it. - -Between Grasse and Nice lies the valley of the Loup, a stream of some -sixty kilometres in length emptying into the Mediterranean, and which -has the reputation of being the most torrential waterway in France, in -this respect far exceeding the more important streams, such as the -Rhône, the Durance, and the Touloubre. Its course is so sinuous, as it -comes down from its source in the Alpes-Maritimes, that it is known -locally as "_le serpent_." With all violence it rolls down its rapidly -sloping bed, amid rock-cut gorges and wooded ravines, in quite the -manner of the scenic waterfalls of the geographies that one scans at -school. It does not resemble Niagara in any manner, nor is it a slim, -narrow cascade at any point; but throughout its whole length it is a -series of tiny waterfalls which, in a photograph, do indeed look like -miniature Niagaras. All along its course are numerous centres of -population, though none of them reach to the dignity of a town and -hardly that of a village, if one excepts Le Bar, the chief point of -departure for excursions in the gorges. - -Le Bar is reminiscent of the Saracens, who were for long masters of the -neighbouring country. The walls of the houses and barriers are of that -warm, rosy, mud-baked tint that one associates mostly with the Orient, -and no artist's palette is too rich in colour to depict them as they -are. The Saracens called the place "_Al-Bar_," which came later, by an -easy process of evolution, to _Albarnum_, and finally Le Bar. - -It was an important place under the Roman domination, and, in time, when -the town came to be a valued possession of the Comtés de Provence, the -cross succeeded the crescent. In the tiny church of the town there is a -remarkable ancient painting picturing a "_danse macabre_," supposed to -be of the fifteenth century. - -[Illustration: _Gourdon_] - -Above Le Bar is the aerial village of Gourdon, fantastic in name, -situation, and all its elements. At its feet rushes the restless Loup, -and tears its way through one of those curious rock-walls which one only -sees in these parts. To the westward is the curious and imposing -outline of Grasse, the metropolis of the neighbourhood. - -Near by the railway crosses the ravine on an imposing and really -beautiful modern viaduct of seven arches, each twelve metres in -height--nearly forty feet. - -Up the ravine toward the source, or downward to the sea, the charms -multiply themselves like the glasses of the kaleidoscope until one, as a -result of a first visit to this much neglected scenic spectacle, is -quite of the mind that it resembles nothing so much as a miniature -Yellowstone. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -NICE AND CIMIEZ - - -When one crosses the Var he crosses the ancient frontier between France -and the Comté de Nice. The old-time French inhabitants of the Comté ever -considered it an alien land, and invariably expressed the wish to be -buried in the Cemetery of St. Laurent du Var, just over the border in -the royal domain. - -The present Pont du Var, which one crosses as he comes from the -westward, from Cagnes or Antibes, is the successor of another flung -across the same stream by Vauban, much against his will, it would seem, -for he said boldly that it was so foolish a project as never to be worth -a hundredth part of its cost. How poorly he reckoned can be judged by -the hundreds of thousands of travellers--millions doubtless--who, in -later years, have made use of it. He evidently did not foresee the tide -of tourist travel, whatever may have been his genius as a military -engineer. - -[Illustration: _Nice to Vintimille_] - -The Var is not a very formidable-looking river at first glance, and -has not the tempestuous flood of the Rhône and the Durance in actual -volume, but the excess of water which it carries to the sea, at certain -seasons, is proportionately very much greater. The Rhône increases its -bulk but thirty times, the Durance a hundred times, but the Var throws -into the Mediterranean, in time of flood, a hundred and forty times its -usual flow, a fact which ranks it as one of the most fickle waterways of -Europe, if not of the world. - -So important a place as Nice of course has a legendary account of the -origin of its name. It is claimed by some historians, and disputed by -others, that it was a colony founded by the Massaliotes three hundred -years before the beginning of the Christian era, and, in consequence of -a signal success against the Ligurians, the place received the glorious -name of Victory,--_Nicæa_, a name which with but little alteration has -come down to to-day. - -Long before the French came into possession of the Comté de Nice and its -capital there was a friendship, and a sort of union, between the two -peoples. When the little state became a part of modern France, it became -simply more French than it was before. This was the only change to be -remarked until the era of its great prosperity as a winter resort, for -the world's idlers made it what it is,--the best-known winter station in -all the world. - -Nice used to be called "Nizza la Bella," but, since the arrival of the -French (1860), and the English, and the Americans, and the Germans (the -Russian grand dukes, be it recalled, have made Cannes their own), "Nizza -la Bella" has become "Nice la Belle," for it is beautiful in spite of -its drawbacks for the lover of sylvan and unartificial charms. - -There is not in Africa a spot more African in appearance than the -railway station at Nice; such at all events is the impression that it -makes upon one when he views the enormous palms that surround the -station. - -Up to this time the traveller from the north, by rail, has got some -glimpses of the southland from the windows of his railway car; has seen -some palms, perhaps, and other specimens of a subtropical flora; but, -since the railway does not make its way through the palm avenues of -Hyères or Cannes, the sudden apparition of Nice is as of something new. - -[Illustration] - -Many have sung the praises of "Nice la Belle" in prose and verse; in -times past, Dupatay, Lalande, and Delille; and, in our own day, Alphonse -Karr, Dumas père, De Banville, Mistral, Jacques Normand, Bourget, -Nadaud, and a host of others too numerous to mention. - -Nice is a marvellous blend of the old and the new; the old quarter of -the Niçois, with narrow streets of stairs, overhanging balconies, and -all the accessories of the life of the Latins as they have been pictured -for ages past; the new, with broad boulevards, straight tree-bordered -avenues flanked with gay shops, hotels, kiosks, automobile cabs, and all -the rest of what we have come unwisely to regard as the necessities of -the age. The curtain of trees flanking these great modern thoroughfares -is the only thing that saves them from becoming monotonous; as it is, -they are as attractive as any of their kind in Paris, Lyons, or -Marseilles. - -The Promenade des Anglais is the finest of these thoroughfares. With its -yuccas, and its garden, and its sea-wall, and its fringe of -white-crested, lapping waves, it is all very entrancing,--all except the -inartistic thing of glass roofs and iron struts, known the world over as -a pier, and which, in spite of its utility,--if it really is useful,--is -an abomination. Artificiality is all very well in its place, but out of -place it is as indigestible as the _nougat_ of Montélimar. - -The Nice of to-day bears little resemblance to the Nice of half a -century ago, as one learns from recorded history and a gossip with an -old inhabitant. Then it was simply a collection of _maisons groupées_, -with narrow, crooked streets between, huddled around the flanks of the -old château. - -In those days the railway ended at Genoa on the east and at Toulon on -the west, and the space between was only covered by diligence, horse or -donkey back, or by boat. The "high life," as the French have come -themselves to term listlessness and indolence, had not yet arrived, in -spite of the fact that its outpost had already been planted at Cannes by -England's chancellor. - -Those were parlous times for Monte Carlo. There was but one table for -"_trente et quarante_" and one for "_roulette_," and the opening of the -game waited upon the arrival of a score of persons who came from Nice -daily by _voiture publique_, via La Turbie, or by the cranky little -steamer which took an hour and forty minutes in good weather, and which -in bad did not start out at all. On these occasions there was little or -nothing "doing" at Monte Carlo, but the new régime saw to it that -transportation facilities were increased and improved, and immediately -everything prospered. - -However much one may deplore the advent of the railway along picturesque -travel routes, and it certainly does detract not a little from several -charming Riviera panoramas, there is no question but that it is a -necessary evil. Perhaps after all it isn't an evil, for one can be very -comfortable in any of the great and luxurious expresses which deposit -their hordes all along the Riviera during the winter season. The new -thirteen-hour train from Paris, the "_Côte d'Azur Rapide_," has already -become one of the world's wonders for speed, taking less than -three-quarters of an hour in making the nine stops between Paris and -Nice. Then there are the "London-Riviera Express," the "Vienne-Cannes -Express," the "Calais-Nice Express," and the Nord-Sud-Brenner (Cannes, -Nice, Vintimille to Berlin), with sleeping-cars and dining-cars, but not -yet with bathrooms, barber-shops, or stenographers and typewriters, -which have already arrived in America, where business is combined with -the joy of living. - -From the very fact of its past history and of its geographical location, -Nice is the most cosmopolitan of all the cities of the Riviera, if we -except Monte Carlo. - -To the stranger, English, French, and Italians seem to be about on a -par at Nice, with a liberal addition of Germans and Russians, though -naturally French are really in the majority. There are many -Italian-speaking people in the old town of Nice, away from the frankly -tourist quarters, but it is a strange Italian that one hears, and in -many cases is not Italian at all, but the Niçois patois, which sounds -quite as much like the real Provençal tongue as it does Italian, though -in reality it is not a very near approach to either. - -Nice is the true centre of the catalogued beauties of the Riviera, and -in consequence it has become the truly popular resort of the region. In -spite of this it is not the most lovable, for garish hotels,--no matter -how fine their "_rosbif_" may be,--_chalets coquets_, and sky-scraping -apartment houses have a way of intruding themselves on one's view in a -most distressing manner until one is well out into the foot-hills of the -Alpes-Maritimes and away from the tooting, humming electric trams. - -[Illustration: _Nice_] - -The port of Nice is not a great one, as those of the maritime world go, -but it is sufficient to the needs of the city, and there is a -considerable coastwise traffic going on. The basin is purely artificial -and was cut practically from the solid rock. With its sheltering -mountain background it is exceedingly picturesque and well disposed. -The tiny river Paillon runs into it from the north, a rivulet which in -its own small way apes the torrents of the Var in times of flood. At -other seasons it runs drily through the town and bares its pebbles to -the blazing southern sun. It serves its purpose well though, in that its -thin stream of water forms the washing-place of the washerwomen of Nice, -and, from their numbers, one might think of the whole Riviera. The -process of pounding and strangling one's linen into a semblance of -whiteness does not differ greatly here from that of other parts of -France. There are the same energetic swoops of the paddle, the -thrashings on a flat stone, the swishings and swashings in the running -water of the stream, and finally the spreading on the ground to dry. -Here, though, the linen is spread on the smooth, clean pebbles of the -river-bed and the southern sun speedily dries it to a stiffness (and -yellowness) which grass-spread linen does not acquire. In other respects -the washing process seems quite as efficacious as elsewhere, and there -are quite as many small round holes (in the most impossible places), -which will give one hours of speculation as to how they were made. It's -all very simple, when you come to think of it. Things are simply rolled -or twisted into a wad and pounded on the flat stone. Where nothing but -linen intervenes between the paddle and the stone, a certain flatness is -produced in the mass, and the dirt meanwhile is supposed to have sifted, -or to have been driven, through and out. Where there are buttons--well, -that is where the little round holes come from, and meanwhile the -buttons have been broken and have disappeared. The process has its -disadvantages--decidedly. - -The old château of Nice and its immediate confines sound the most -dominant old-time note of the entire city, for, in spite of the old -streets and houses of the older part of the city, the quarters of the -Niçois and the Italians, there is over all a certain reflex of the -modernity which radiates from the great hotels, cafés, and shops of the -newer boulevards and avenues. - -To be sure, the "château," so called to-day, is no château at all, and -is in fact nothing more than a sort of garden, or park, wherein are some -scanty remains of the château which existed in the time of Louis XIV. -The hill on which it sat is still the dominant feature of the place, -although, according to the exaggerated draughtsmanship of the sixteenth -and seventeenth centuries, the château and its dependencies must have -been a marvellous array of spectacular architecture. The summit of this -eminence, hanging high above the port on one side and the Quai du Midi -and the valley of the Paillon on the other, is reached by a winding -road, doubling back and forth up its flank, but the only thing that -would prompt one to make the ascent would be the exercise or the -altogether surprising view which one has of the city and its immediate -surroundings. - -The sea mirrors the sails of the shipping (mostly to-day it is funnels -and masts, however) and the distant promontories of Cap d'Antibes on the -one side and Cap Ferrat on the other. Beyond the former the sun sets -gloriously at night, amidst a ravishing burst of red, gold, and purple, -quite unequalled elsewhere along the Riviera. Of course it _is_ as -glorious elsewhere, but the combination of scenic effects is not quite -the same, and here, at least, Nice leads all the other Riviera tourist -points. - -To the north are the lacelike snowy peaks of the Alps, cutting the -horizon with that far-away brilliance and crispness which only a -snow-capped mountain possesses. The contrast is to be remarked in other -lands quite as emphatically, at Riverside, in California, for instance, -where you may have orange-blossoms one hour and deep snow in the next, -if you will only climb the mountain to get it; but there is a historic -atmosphere and local colour here on the Riviera whose places are not -adequately filled by anything which ever existed in California. - -Nice is surrounded by a triple defence of mountains which, supporting -one another, have all but closed the route to Italy from the north. This -mountain barrier serves another purpose, and that is as a sort of -shelter from the rigours of the Alps in winter. The wind-shield is not -wholly effectual, for there is one break through which it howls in most -distressing fashion most of the time. This is at the extremity of the -port, where the wall is broken between the hill of the château and Mont -Boron. Formerly this gap bore the old Provençal nomenclature of "_Raoubo -Capeou_," which, literally translated, may be called the "hat-lifter," -and which the French themselves call "_Dérobe Chapeau_." - -Above all, one should see Nice in the height of the flower season, when -the stalls of the flower merchants are literally buried under a harvest -of flowers and perfumed fruits. - -Nice's distractions are too numerous to be mentioned in detail. The -Mi-Carême and Mardi Gras festivals are nowhere on the Riviera more -brilliant than here, and now that in these progressive days they have -added "Batailles de Fleurs" and "Courses d'Automobiles," and -"Horse-Races" and "Tennis" and "Golf Tournaments," the significance of -the merry-making is quite different from the original interpretation -given it by the Latins. Sooner or later "Baseball" and "Shoe-blacking -Contests" may be expected to be introduced, and then what will be one's -recollections of "Nizza la Bella?" - -The business of Nice consists almost entirely of the catering to her -almost inexhaustible stream of winter visitors. This, and the traffic in -garden vegetables and fruits, a trade of some proportions in olive-oil, -and the manufacture and sale of crystallized fruit, make up the chief -industrial life of the town. - -One other industry may be mentioned, though it is of little real worth, -in spite of the business having reached large figures,--the trade in -olive-wood souvenirs. Every one knows the sort of thing: penholders, -napkin-rings, and card-cases. They are found at resorts all over the -world, and the manufacturers of Nice have spread their product, -throughout Europe, before the eyes of the tourists who like to buy such -"souvenirs," whether they are at Brighton, Mont St. Michel, or Vichy. - -The region between Nice and Menton seems particularly favourable to the -growth of a much grander species of olive-tree than is to be seen in the -other _départements_ of the south, and the olive-oil of Nice, because of -its peculiar perfume, is greatly in demand among those who think they -have an exquisite taste in this sort of thing. As most of this aromatic -oil is exported, the statement need be no reflection on the product of -other parts. One hundred establishments, of all ranks, are engaged in -this traffic at Nice. - -The horticultural trade plays its part, and the roses and violets of -Nice are found throughout the flower-markets of Europe. There are three -great rose-growing centres in western Europe, Lyons, Paris, and Ghent -(Belgium), and mostly their flowers are grown from plants obtained at -Nice. - -The cut-flower traffic is also considerable locally, and Nice, Beaulieu, -Monaco, and Monte Carlo are themselves large consumers. - -Four kilometres only separate Nice from Cimiez, the latter comparatively -as flourishing and important a town in the days of the Romans as Nice is -to-day. - -[Illustration: _Olive Pickers in the Var_] - -[Illustration: _Environs of NICE_] - -For long it played a preëminent rôle in the history of these parts. -To-day one makes his way by one of the ever-pushing electric trams -which, in France, are threading every suburban byway in the vicinities -of the cities and large towns. In other days this was the ancient Roman -way which bound Cimiez and Vence, the Via Augusta, the most ancient -communication between Italy and Gaul. Evidences of its old foundations -are not deeply hidden, and this stretch of roadway must ever remain one -of the most vivid examples of the utilitarian industry of the colonizing -Romans in Gaul. - -At Cimiez there are many evidences of the old Roman builders and their -unequalled art, fragments of temples, aqueducts, baths, and -amphitheatres. Everything is very fragmentary, often but a bit of a -column, a sculptured leg or arm, or a morsel of a plate; but there is -everything to prove that Cimiez was a most important place in its time. -The most notable of these ruins is the amphitheatre, built after the -conventional manner of theatre-building invented by the Greeks before -the Romans, and which has, in truth, not been greatly changed up to -to-day, except that it has been roofed over. The theatre at Cimiez in no -way suggests those other Provençal examples at Orange or Arles, the -peers of their class in western Europe, and the stone-cutting was of a -very rude quality or has greatly crumbled in the ages. Such of the walls -and arches as are visible to-day show a hardiness and correctness of -design which, however, is not lived up to in the evidences of actual -workmanship. - -There are no grandiose structures anywhere in the vicinity; everything -is fragmentary, but Cimiez was evidently an important city in embryo, -which some untoward influence prevented ever coming to its full-blown -glory. - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -VILLEFRANCHE AND THE FORTIFICATIONS - - -Nice in many respects is the centre from which radiates all the life of -the Riviera; moreover its military and strategic importance attains the -same distinction; it is the base of the whole system, social and -political. - -East and west the "Côte d'Azur" extends until it runs against the grime -and commercial activity of Marseilles on the one side, and Genoa on the -other. - -From the heights back of Nice one sees the Ligurian coast stretch away -to infinity, with the sea and the distant isles to the right, while to -the left are the peaks of the Maritime Alps. - -[Illustration: _Cap Ferrat_] - -On this _pied de terre_ France has organized a great series of defences -by land and sea. On every height is a fort or a battery, like the -castle-crowned crags of the Rhine. The bays and harbours below the -foot-hills are all defended from the menaces of a real or imaginary foe -by a guardian fringe of batteries and defences of all ranks, and, what -with battle-ships and torpedo-boats, and destroyers and submarines, -this frontier strip is in no more danger of sudden attack by an -unfriendly power than are the interior provinces of Berry and Burgundy. - -The entire country around Nice is one vast entrenched camp, constructed, -equipped, and maintained, as may be supposed, with considerable -difficulty and at enormous expense. A mountain fortress whose very -stones, to say nothing of other materials, are transported up a -trailless mountainside, is one of the wonder-works of man, and here -there is a long line of such, encircling the whole region from the -Italian frontier westward to Toulon. - -Above all, the fortifications are concentrated in the country just back -of the capital of the Riviera. All the great hillsides, rocky, -moss-grown, or covered with pines or olive-trees, are a network of forts -and batteries, strategic roads, reservoirs of water, and magazines of -shot and shell. - -One of the strongest of these forts is on the flanks of Mont Boron; Cap -Ferrat holds another, and the "Route de la Corniche," the only low-level -line of communication between France and Italy, literally bristles with -the same sort of thing. - -Fort de la Drette, five hundred metres in altitude, rises above that -astonishing Saracen village of Eze, while a strategic route leads to -another at Feuillerins, six hundred and forty-eight metres high, and -thence to Fort de la Revere at seven hundred and three metres, an -impregnable series of fortifications, one would think. - -Between the battery-crowned heights are the reservoirs and magazines of -powder, all in full view of the automobile and coach tourists from Nice -to Monte Carlo. The route skirts La Revere and the great towering rock -back of Monte Carlo, known as the "Tête de Chien," and the tourist may -readily enough judge for himself as to the utility and efficacy of these -distinctly modern defences. - -The crowning glory, however, is on Mont Agel, the culminating peak in -the vicinity of Nice. It is situated at a height of eleven hundred and -forty-nine metres, and it would take a long siege indeed to capture this -fortress, if things ever came to an issue in its neighbourhood. - -Of all the wonderful examples of road-making in France, and they are -more numerous and excellent than elsewhere, the "Route de la Grande -Corniche" is the best known, covering as it does a matter of nearly -fifty kilometres from Nice to Vintimille. - -Personally conducted tourists make the trip in brakes and char-à-bancs -via Mont Gros and its observatory, the Col des Quatre Chemins, by Eze -perched on its pyramidal rock, and La Turbie with its memories of -Augustus, until they descend, either via Roquebrune to Menton, or by the -steeps of La Turbie to Monte Carlo and its "_distractions de haut -goût_." - -It is all very wonderful and, to the traveller who makes the trip for -the first time or the hundredth, the beauties of the panorama which -unfolds at every white kilometre stone is so totally different from that -which he has just passed that he wonders if he is not journeying on some -sort of a magic carpet which simply floats in space. Certainly there is -no more beautiful view-point in all the world than that from the height -overlooking Monaco, Monte Carlo, and Cap Martin, all bedded like jewels -amid an inconceivable brilliancy and softness, a combination which seems -paradoxical enough in print, but which in real life is quite the -reverse, although it is ravishingly beautiful enough to be unreal. - -The twenty-franc excursionists from Nice are rushed out from town in the -early morning, via "La Grande Corniche," to Menton, and back in the -early afternoon via the "Route du Bord du Mer," at something like the -speed that the _malle-poste_ of other days used to thread the great -national roadways of France. Really the excursion is quite worth the -money, and you _do_ cover the ground, but you cover it much too rapidly, -and so do the speeding automobilists. By far the best way to drink in -all the beauties of this delightful promenade is to devote a week to it, -and do it on foot. Walking tours are not fashionable any more, and in -many thousands of miles of travel by road in France, the writer has -never so much as walked between neighbouring villages, but some day that -promenade _au pied_ is going to be made on the "Corniche" between Nice -and Menton, returning, as do the "trippers," via the lower road through -Monte Carlo, La Condamine, and Beaulieu. It is the only way to -appreciate the artistic beauties, and the strategic value, of this great -highway of a civilization of another day, whose life, if not as refined -as that of the present, could hardly have been more dissolute than that -which to-day goes on to some extent here in this playground of the -world. - -One should make the journey out by the "Corniche" and back by the -waterside, lunching at the _auberge_ at Eze off an anchovy or two, a -handful of dried figs, and a flagon of thick, red, perfumed wine. Then -he will indeed think life worth living, and regret that such things as -railway trains, automobiles, and palace hotels ever existed. - -Beyond Nice the Corniche route toward Italy is ample and majestic -throughout its whole course, though, as a whole, it is no more beautiful -than that Corniche by the Estérel. It winds around Mont Gros, at the -back of Nice, and reaches its greatest height just beyond the Auberge de -la Drette. _En route_, at least after passing the Col des Quatre -Chemins, there is that ever-present panorama of the Mediterranean blue -which all Frenchmen, and most dwellers on its shores, and some others -besides, consider the most beautiful bit of water in the world. - -To know the full charms of the road from Nice to Villefranche and -Beaulieu one should start early in the morning, say in April or even -May, when, to him who has only known the Riviera in the winter months, -the very liquidness of the atmosphere and the landscape will be a -revelation. All is impregnated with a penetrating gentle light, under -which the house walls, the roadway, the waves, the rocks, and the -foliage take on a subtle tone which is quite indescribable and quite -different from the artificiality which is more or less present all -through the Riviera towns in winter. There is a difference, too, from -the sun-baked dryness of the dead of summer. Each rock, each cliff, each -bank of sand, and each wavelet of the Mediterranean has a note which -forms the one tone needful for the gamut which is played upon one's -emotions. - -Rounding Mont Boron by the coast road, one soon comes to Villefranche, -whose very name indicates the privileges which were accorded to it by -its founder, Charles II., Comte de Provence et Roi de Naples. Built in -1295, it became at once a free trading port, and speedily drew to itself -a very considerable population. Soon, too, it came into prominence as a -military port, and the Ducs de Savoie made it their chief arsenal. - -To-day Villefranche occupies a very equivocal position. It has a -population of something over five thousand souls, and its splendid -harbour gives it a prominence in naval circles which is well deserved; -but, in spite of this, the town has none of the attributes of the other -Riviera coast towns and cities. - -The prevailing note of Villefranche is Oriental, with its house walls -kalsomined in red, blue, and pink, in ravishingly delicate and -picturesque tones; really a great improvement, from every point of view, -to the whitewash of Anglo-Saxon lands. The French name for this species -of decoration is the worst thing about it, and, unless one has a -considerable French vocabulary, the word "_badigeonée_" means nothing. -Another exotic in the way of nomenclature which one meets at -Villefranche is _moucharabieh_, which is not found in many dictionaries -of the French language. A _moucharabieh_ is nothing more or less than a -unique variety of window screen or blind, behind which, taking into -account the Eastern aspect of all things in Villefranche, one needs only -to see the beautiful head of an Oriental maiden to imagine himself in -far Arabia. - -It is but a step beyond Villefranche to Beaulieu and "_La Petite -Afrique_," generally thought to be the most exclusive and retired of all -the Riviera resorts. To a great extent this is so, though the scorching -automobilists of the _nouveau-riche_ variety have covered its giant -olive-trees with a powdery whiteness which has considerably paled their -already delicate gray tones. - -Between Villefranche and Beaulieu is the peninsula of St. Jean, washed -by the waves on either side and as indented and jagged as the shores of -Greece. To-day it has become an annex of Nice, with opulent villas of -kings, princes, and millionaires, from Leopold, King of Belgium down. - -[Illustration: _Villa of Leopold, King of Belgium_] - -At St. Jean-sur-Mer, midway down the peninsula, is a little fishing -village, still quaint and unspoiled amid all the splendours of the -palaces of kings and villas of millionaires, which have of late grown -so plentiful in this once virgin forest tract. There are many souvenirs -here of the time when the neighbourhood was occupied by the Knights -Hospitalers of St. John of Jerusalem, and there is much history and -legend connected with them. Seaward is the Promontory or Pointe de St. -Hospice, where the Duc de Savoie, Emmanuel Philibert, built a -fortification. It was an ideal spot for a defensive work of this nature, -though it protected nothing except what was inside. It must, in a former -day, have been a very satisfactory work of its kind, as it is recorded -that this prince, coming to view the progress of the work, and fallen -upon by the Saracens, retreated within the walls of his new defence, -where he successfully repulsed all their attacks. - -Many times did the pirates attack this outpost, but finally, as the -country became peaceful, a hospice came to take the place of the warlike -fortification, and from this establishment the Pointe de St. Hospice of -to-day takes its name. - -Half-way up the foot-hills of the Alps the great white ribbon of the -"Corniche" rolls its solitary way until La Turbie is reached. Here is a -little village seated proudly beneath that colossal ruin, the Augustan -trophy, which has been a marvel and subject of speculation for -archæologists for ages past. One thing seems certain, however, and that -is that it was a monument commemorative of the submission of forty-five -distinct peoples of western Gaul to the power of Rome. - -Westward is Roquebrune, where the "Corniche" drops to the two -hundred-metre level, and one rapidly approaches the sea beyond Cap -Martin, and thus reaches Menton, but two kilometres onward. - -The coast route from Nice to Menton via Villefranche and Beaulieu -approximates the same length as the "Corniche" proper, and its charms -are as varied. It rolls along behind the old citadel of Mont Boron and -suddenly opens up the magnificent bay of Villefranche, the favourite -Mediterranean station of the Russians and Americans, and thence on -rapidly to Beaulieu, Monte Carlo, and Menton. - -All the way this route by the sea follows the shore and skirts -picturesque gulfs and _calanques_, and now and then tunnels a hillside -only to come out into day and a vista more beautiful than that which was -left behind. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -EZE AND LA TURBIE - - -The ancient Saracen fortress of Eze lies midway between Beaulieu and -Monte Carlo, somewhat back from the coast, and crowns a pinnacle such as -is usually devoted to the glory of St. Michel. - -As one climbs the steep sides of the hill, the fantastic outlines of the -roof-tops silhouette themselves against the sky quite like a scene from -Dante's masterpiece, or, if not that, like the fabled spectral Brocken. -The road twists and turns, and the sea and shore blend themselves into -one of those incomparable glories of the Riviera, until actually one -stands on the little plateau which moors the tiny church and its -surrounding dwellings. - -The Eza of yesterday has become the Eze of to-day, but the former -spelling was vastly more euphonic, and it is a pity that it was ever -changed. Eze is ruinous to-day, as it has been for ages, and pagan and -Christian monuments are cheek by jowl. - -Rising abruptly three hundred metres from the sea-level, the mountain -offered a stronghold well-nigh unassailable. First the Phoenicians -occupied it, then the Phoceans, followed by the Romans, the Saracens, -and all the warring factions and powers of mediæval times. No wonder it -is reminiscent of all, with memorials ranging all the way from the -temple dedicated to the Egyptian cult of Isis to the Christian church -seen to-day. - -[Illustration: _Eze_] - -Centuries passed but slowly here, and the Moorish hordes, seeking for a -vantage-ground on the Ligurian coast, took the peak for their own. The -early founders did not need to go afield for the material for the -building of houses and their military constructions. It was all close at -hand. The rocky base sufficed for all. - -What is left to-day of the old bourg, remodelled and rebuilt in many -cases, but still the original structures to no small extent, is a -veritable museum of architectural curiosities. - -What an accented note it is in the whole vast expanse of green and blue! -It is literally worth coming miles to see, even if one makes the -wearisome journey on foot. - -Eze is sequestered from all the world, and, like Normandy's Mont St. -Michel, would be an ideal place in which to shut oneself up if one -wanted to escape from his enemies (and friends). - -The shrine of Notre Dame de Laghet lies in the country back of Eze, but -rather nearer to La Turbie. The whole south venerated Our Lady of Laghet -in days gone by, and came to worship at her shrine. The neighbouring -country is severe and less gracious than that of most of the flowering -Riviera; but, in the early days of spring, with the hardier blossoms -well forward, it is as delightful an environment for a shrine as one can -well expect to find. - -Historic souvenirs in connection with Notre Dame de Laghet are many. -The Duc de Savoie, Victor Amédée, came here to worship in 1689, and a -century and a half later, his descendant, Charles Albert, shorn of his -crown, and a fugitive, sought shelter here from the dangers which beset -him. Here he knelt devoutly before the Madonna, and prayed that his -enemies might be forgiven. A tablet to-day memorializes the event. - -The little church of the establishment contains hundreds of votive -offerings left by pious pilgrims, and, though architecturally the -edifice is a poor, humble thing, it ranks high among the places of -modern pilgrimage. - -A kilometre beyond the gardens which face the Casino at Monte Carlo is a -little winding road leading blindly up the hillside. "_Où conduit-il?_" -you ask of a straggler; "_A La Turbie, m'sieu_;" and forthwith you -mount, spurning the aid of the _funiculaire_ farther down the road. When -one has progressed a hundred metres along this serpentine roadway, the -whole ensemble of beauties with which one has become familiar at the -coast are magnified and enhanced beyond belief. Nowhere is there a -gayer, livelier colouring to be seen on the Riviera; this in spite of -the conventionality of the glistening walls of the great hotels and the -artificial gardens with which the vicinity of the paradise of Monte -Carlo abounds. - -As one turns another hairpin corner, another plane of the horizon opens -out until, after passing various isolated small houses, and zigzagging -upward another couple of kilometres, he enters upon the "Route -d'Italie," and thence either turns to the left to La Turbie, or to the -right to Roquebrune, a half-dozen kilometres farther on. - -La Turbie is quite as much of an exotic as Eze. It is as vivid a -reminder of a glory that is past as any monumental town still extant, -and its noble Augustan Trophy, as a memorial of a historical past, is -far greater than anything of its kind out of Rome itself. There is -something almost sublime about this great sky-piercing tower, a monument -to the vanquishing of the peoples of Gaul by the Roman legions. - -Fragments of this great "trophy" have been carted away, and are to be -found all over the neighbouring country. Barbarians and Saracens, one -and all, pillaged the noble tower ("the magnificent witness to the -powers of the divine Augustus," as the French historians call it), using -it as a quarry from which was drawn the building material for many of -their later works. Without scruple it has been shorn of its attributes -until to-day it is only a bare, gaunt skeleton of its former proud self. -Its marbles have been dispersed, some are in Nice, some in Monaco, and -some in Genoa, but the greatest of all the indignities which the edifice -underwent was that thrust upon it by Berwick, in 1706, when attempts -were actually made to pull it to the ground. - -[Illustration: _Augustan Trophy, La Turbie_] - -What its splendours must once have been may best be imagined from the -following description: - -"_A massive quadrangular tower surrounded with columns of the Doric -order and ornamented with statues of the lieutenants of Augustus, and -personifications of the vanquished peoples. Surmounting all was a -colossal statue of the emperor himself._" - -La Turbie has a most interesting "_porte_," once fortified, but now a -mere gateway. It dates from the sixteenth century, and is an exceedingly -satisfying example of what a mediæval gateway was in feudal times. - -The church of the town is of great size and well kept, but otherwise is -in no way remarkable. - -As with the founders of Eze, the builders of La Turbie and its great -Augustan Trophy had their material close at hand, and there was no need -for the laborious carrying of material from a distance which accompanied -the building of many mediæval monuments and fortifications. - -A quarry was to be made anywhere that one chose to dig in the hillside, -and, though no traces of the exact location whence the material was dug -is to be seen to-day, there is no question but that it was a home -product. The marbles and statues alone were brought from afar. - -Roquebrune, onward toward Menton, is more individual in the character of -its people and their manners and customs than any of the other towns and -villages near the great Riviera pleasure resorts. The ground is -cultivated in small plots, and olive and fruit trees abound, and -occasionally, sheltered on a little terrace, is a tiny vineyard -struggling to make its way. The vine, curiously enough, does not prosper -well here, at least not the extent that it formerly did, and accordingly -it is a good deal of a struggle to get a satisfactory crop, no matter -how favourable the season. - -Here in the vicinity of Roquebrune one sees the little donkeys so well -known throughout the mountainous parts of Italy and France. They are -sure-footed little beasts, like their brother burros of the Sierras and -the Rockies, and appear not to differ from them in the least, unless -they are smaller. All through the region to the northward of the coast -they file in cavalcades, bearing their burdens in panniers and -saddle-bags in quite century-old fashion, and as if automobiles and -railways had never been heard of. An automobile would have a hard time -of it on some of the by-roads accessible only to these tiny beasts of -burden, which often weigh but eighty kilos and cost little or nothing -for provender. - -These little Savoian donkeys are gentle and good-natured, but obstinate -when it comes to pushing on at a gait which the driver may wish, but -which has not yet dawned upon the donkey as being desirable. This, -apparently, is the national trait of the whole donkey kingdom, so there -is nothing remarkable about it. He will go,--when you twist his -tail,--and if you twist it to the right he will turn to the left, and -vice versa. A sailor would be quite at home with a donkey of Roquebrune. - -Roquebrune is tranquil enough to-day, though there have been times when -the rocky giant on whose bosom it sleeps awakened with a roar which -shook the very foundations of its houses. These earthquakes have not -been frequent; the last was in 1887; but the memory of it is enough to -give fear to the timid whenever a summer thunder-storm breaks forth. - -Roquebrune occupies a height very much inferior to that on which sits La -Turbie; but the panorama from the town is in no way less marvellous, nor -is it greatly different, hence it is not necessary to recount its -beauties here. There is considerably more vegetation in the -neighbourhood, and there are many lemon-trees, with rich ripening fruit, -instead of the dwarfed unripe oranges which one finds at many other -places along the Riviera. - -The lemon-tree is the real thermometer of the region, and the inhabitant -has no need of the appliances of Réaumur or Fahrenheit, or the more -facile Centigrade, for when three degrees of frost strikes in through -the skin of the lemon, it withers up and dies. The orange, curiously -enough, resists this first attack of cold. - -Roquebrune, like La Turbie, abounds in vaulted streets and terraced -hillsides, allowing one to step from the roofs of one line of houses to -the dooryards of another in most quaint and picturesque fashion. The -people of Roquebrune are a prosperous and contented lot, and have the -reputation of being "as laborious as the bee and as economical as the -ant." - -[Illustration: _A Roquebrune Doorway_] - -At the highest point, above most of the roof-tops of Roquebrune, are -found the ruins of its château, in turn a one-time possession of the -Lascaris and the Grimaldi, and belonging to the latter family when the -town and Menton were ceded to France. From the platform of the ancient -citadel one readily enough sees the point of the legend which -describes Roquebrune as once having occupied the very summit of the -height, and, in the course of ages, slipping down to its present -position. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -OLD MONACO AND NEW MONTE CARLO - - -[Illustration: MONTE CARLO & MONACO] - -"Old Monaco and New Monte Carlo" might well be made the title of a book, -for their stories have never been entirely told in respect to their -relations to the world of past and present. Certainly the question of -the morality or immorality of the present institution of Monte Carlo, -called by the narrow-minded a "gambling-hell," has never been thrashed -out in all its aspects. Instead of being a blight, it may be just a -safety-valve which works for the good of the world. It is something to -have one spot where all the "swell mobsmen" of the world congregate, or, -at least, pass, sooner or later, for, like "Shepheards" at Cairo and the -"Café de la Paix" at Paris, Monte Carlo sooner or later is visited by -all the world, the moralists to whine and deplore all its loveliness -being wasted on the evil-doer, the preacher out of curiosity (as he -invariably tells you, and probably this is so); the sentimental young -girls and their mammas to be seen and to see and (perhaps?) to play, -and the pleasure-loving and the care-worn business man--for nine years -and nine months out of ten--to play a little, and, when they have lost -all they can afford, to withdraw without a regret. There is another -class, several other classes in fact, but it is assumed that they need -not be mentioned here. - -Unquestionably there are many tragedies consummated at Monte Carlo, and -all because of the tables, and it is also true that the same sort of -tragedies take place in Paris, London, and New York, but it isn't the -gambling craze alone that has brought them about, and, anyway, one can -come to Monte Carlo and have a very good time, and not become addicted -to "the game." To be sure not many do, but that is the fault of the -individual and not the "Administration," that all-powerful anonymous -body which controls the whole conduct of affairs at Monte Carlo. - -Some one has remarked the seemingly significant coat of arms of the -present reigning Prince of Monaco, but assuredly he had very little -knowledge of heraldry to assume that it had anything to do with the -pleasure-making suburb of the capital of the Principality. It seems well -enough to make mention of the fact here, if only to explode one of the -fabulous tales which pass current among that class of tourists who come -here, and, having hazarded a couple of coins at the tables, go home and -mouth their adventures to awed acquaintances. Their tales of fearful -adventure, and the anecdote that the blazoning of the arms of the -reigning prince represents the layout of the gaming-tables, are really -too threadbare and thin to pass current any longer. - -To many the Riviera means that "beautiful, subtle, sinister place, Monte -Carlo," and indeed it _is_ the most idyllically situated of the whole -little paradise of coast towns from Marseilles to Genoa, and perhaps in -all the world. - -Whatever the moral aspect of Monte Carlo is or is not, there is no doubt -but that it is one of the best paying enterprises in the amusement -world, else how could M. Blanc have lived in a palace which kings might -envy, and have kept the most famous string of race-horses in France. -Certainly not out of a "losing game." He himself made a classic bon mot -when he said, "_Rouge gagne quelquefois, noir souvent, mais Blanc -toujours_." - -M. Blanc was a singularly astute individual. He knew his game and he -played it well, or rather his tables and his croupiers did it for him, -and he even welcomed men with systems which they fondly believed would -sooner or later break the bank, for he knew that the best of "systems" -would but add to the profits of the bank in the long run. He even -answered an inquisitive person, who wanted to know how one should -gamble in order to win: "_The most sensible advice I can give you -is--'Don't.'_" - -One reads in a local guide-book that the chances between the player and -the bank, taking all the varieties of games into consideration, is as 60 -to 61, and that the winnings of the bank were something like £1,000,000 -sterling per year. This would seem to mean that the players of Europe -and America took £61,000,000 to Monte Carlo each year, and brought away -£60,000,000, leaving £1,000,000 behind as the price of their pleasure. -The magnitude of these figures is staggering, and so able a statistician -as Sir Hiram Maxim refuted them utterly a couple of years ago as -follows: - -"If the bank actually won one million sterling a year, and its chances -were only 1 in 60 better than the players, it would seem quite evident -that sixty-one millions must have been staked. However, upon visiting -Monte Carlo and carefully studying the play, I found that instead of the -players taking £61,000,000 to Monte Carlo, and losing £1,000,000 of it, -the total amount probably did not exceed £1,000,000, of which the bank, -instead of winning, as shown in the guide-book, about 1½ per cent., -actually won rather more than 90 per cent.; therefore, the advantages in -favour of the bank, instead of being 61 to 60, were approximately 10 to -1." - -This ought to correct any preconceived false notions of percentages and -sum totals. - -The law of averages is a very simple thing in which most people, in -respect to gambling, and many other matters, have a supreme faith; but -Sir Hiram disposes of this in a very few words. He says: "Let us see -what the actual facts are. - -"If red has come up _twenty times_ in succession, it is just as likely -to come up at the twenty-first time as it would be if it had not come up -before for a week. Each particular 'coup' is governed altogether by the -physical conditions existing at that particular instant. The ball spins -round a great many times in a groove. When its momentum is used up, it -comes in contact with several pieces of brass, and finally tumbles into -a pocket in the wheel which is rotating in an opposite direction. It is -a pure and unadulterated question of chance, and it is not influenced in -the least by anything which has ever taken place before, or that will -take place in the future." - -Thus vanish all "systems" and note-books, and all the schemes and -devices by which the deluded punter hopes to beat M. Blanc at his own -game. It is possible to play at "_Rouge et Noir_" at Monte Carlo and -win,--if you don't play too long, and luck is not against you; but if -you stick at it long enough, you are sure to lose. There was once a man -who went to Monte Carlo and played the very simple "_Rouge et Noir_" in -a sane and moderate fashion, and in three years was the winner by -twenty-five thousand francs. He returned the fourth year, and in three -weeks lost it all, and another ten thousand besides. He gave up the -amusement from that time forward as being too expensive for the pleasure -that one got out of it. - -As a business proposition, the modestly titled "Société Anonyme des -Bains de Mer et Cercle des Étrangers" (for it is well to recall that the -inhabitants of Monte Carlo are forbidden entrance, _their_ morals, at -least, being taken into consideration) is of the very first rank. It -earned for its shareholders in 1904-05 the magnificent sum of thirty-six -million francs, an increase within the year of some two millions. It is -steadily becoming more prosperous, and the businesslike prince who rents -out the concession has had his salary raised from 1,250,000 francs to -1,750,000 francs per annum, on an agreement to run for fifty years -longer. - -By those who know it is a well-recognized fact that the bank at Monte -Carlo loses more by fraud than by any defects in its system of play. -From the pages of that unique example of modern journalism, "Rouge et -Noir--L'Organe de Défense des Joueurs de Roulette et de -Trente-et-Quarante," are culled the two following incidents: - -A certain gambler, Ardisson by name, bribed a croupier to insert a -specially shuffled pack into the "Trente-et-Quarante" game one fine -evening, during an interval when attention was diverted by a female -accomplice having dropped a roll of louis on the floor. After eight -abnormal "coups," the bank succumbed,--"_la société se retire -majestueusement_" the informative sheet puts it,--180,000 francs out of -pocket. The swindler--for all gamblers are not swindlers--and his -accomplice, or accomplices, made their way safely across the frontier, -and the only echo of the event was heard when the guilty croupier was -sentenced to two months' imprisonment,--a period of confinement for -which he was doubtless well paid. - -Another incident recounted in this most interesting newspaper was that -of one Jaggers, an Englishman from Yorkshire, where all men are -singularly knowing. This individual discovered that one of the -roulette-wheels had a distinct tendency toward a certain number. His -persistency in backing that number attracted the attention of the bank's -detectives, who marvelled at his continued run of luck. Eventually the -authorities solved the problem, and now the roulette-wheels are -interchangeable, and are moved daily from one set of bearings to -another. - -Once it was planned to explode a bomb near the gas-metre in the -basement, and in the excitement, after the lights went out, to rob the -tables and players alike. This plan was conceived by a gang of ordinary -thieves, who needed no great intelligence to concoct such a scheme, -which, needless to say, was nipped in the bud. - -Some years ago the game was played with counters which were bought at a -little side-table. A gang of counterfeiters made these in duplicate, and -had a considerable haul before the trick was discovered. The museum of -the Casino has many of these unstable records, but a change was -immediately made in favour of five-franc pieces, louis, and notes of the -Banque de France, which are no more likely to be counterfeited for -playing the tables at Monte Carlo than they are for general purposes of -trade. - -Formerly one could wager a great "pillbox" roll of five-franc pieces -done up in paper,--twenty of them to the hundred,--but to-day the -envelope must be broken open. Some one won a lot of money once with some -similar rolls of iron, which, until the daily or weekly inventory on the -part of the bank, were not discovered to be foreign to the coin of the -realm. - -There are two sides to the life and environment of Monaco and Monte -Carlo; there is the beautiful and gay side, for the lover of charming -vistas and a lovely climate; and there is the practical, dark, and -sordid side, of which "the game" is the all. - -Much has been written of the moral or immoral aspect of the place, and -the discussion shall have no place here. The reader will find it all set -out again in his daily, weekly, or monthly journal sometime during the -present year, as it has appeared perennially for many years. - -Monaco is old and Monte Carlo is new. The history of Monaco runs back -for many centuries. The Phoenicians built a temple to Hercules here long -before its political history began; then for a time it was a rendezvous -for pirates, and finally it fell to the Genoese Republic. Jean II. -became the seigneur, and left it to his _propre frère_, Lucien Grimaldi, -the ancestor of the present house of Grimaldi, to whom the princes of -to-day belong. Thus it is that the Prince of Monaco, though the -sovereign of the smallest political state of Europe, belongs to the -oldest reigning house. Monaco is a relic of the ages past, but Monte -Carlo is a thing of yesterday. - -Monte Carlo is the result of the labours of M. Blanc, who, though not -the creator of the vast enterprise as it exists to-day, was the real -developer of the scheme. He attained great wealth and distinction, as is -borne out by the fact that he lived luxuriously and was able to marry -his daughters to princes of the great house of Napoleon. - -Blanc showed his business acumen when he got a concession from the -Prince of Monaco to run a gambling-machine at Monte Carlo. He got the -concession first, and then bought out a weak, puny establishment which -was already in operation, after having made the proprietors a -proposition which he gave them two hours to accept or reject. The -contract closed, he arranged immediately to begin the new Casino with -Garnier, the designer of the Paris Opera, as his architect. Opposite it -he built the Hôtel de Paris, which has the deserved reputation of being -the most expensive hotel in existence. Like everything else at Monte -Carlo, you get your money's worth, but things are not cheap. The Prince -of Monaco generously gave his name to the place, and the enterprise--for -at this time it was nothing more than a great collective enterprise--was -christened Monte Carlo. - -Everything comes to him who waits, and soon the Paris, Lyons, and -Mediterranean Railway extended its line to the gay little city of -pleasure, in spite of the pressure brought to bear by other Riviera -cities and towns to the westward. Thus the place started, almost at -once, as a full-grown and lusty grabber of the people's money, always -wanting more; and the world came on luxurious trains, whereas formerly -they made their way by a cranky little steamboat from Nice, or by the -coach-and-four of other days. - -Like most successful handlers of other people's money, Blanc was a -reader of man's emotions. He knew his customers, and he knew that many -of them were the scum of the earth, and he guarded carefully against -allowing them too much freedom. He may have feared his life, or he may -have feared capture for ransom, like missionaries and political -suspects, and for this reason M. Blanc went about with never a penny on -his person. He carried a blank cheque, however, printed, it is said, in -red ink--for the old-stager at Monte Carlo still likes to regale the -_nouveau_ with the tale--and good for several hundred thousand francs. -The "man in the box" had very explicit instructions never to pay this -cheque, should it turn up, unless he had previously received a telegram -ordering him to do so. It will not take the sagacity of a Dupin or a -Sherlock Holmes to evolve the reason for this, but it was a clever idea -nevertheless. - -In case any of the curious really want to know how the game is played, -the following facts are given: - -Blanc's organization was well-nigh a perfect one, and, though its -founder is now dead, it remains the same. The staff is a large one. At -the head is an administrator-general, who has three collaborators, also -known as administrators, one who conducts the affairs of the outside -world, has charge of the supplies for the establishment, and the -arrangements for the pigeon-shooting, the automobile boat-races, the -care of the gardens, etc.; another holds the purse-strings and is a sort -of head cashier; and the third has charge of the tables and their -personnel. - -[Illustration: _The GAME_] - -Under this last is a director of the games, three assistant directors, -four _chefs-de-table_,--which sounds as though they might be cooks, but -who in reality are something far different; then come five inspectors, -and fourteen chiefs of the roulette-tables, and all of them are a pretty -high-salaried class of employee, as such things go in Europe. - -The chiefs of the roulette-tables draw seven and five hundred francs a -month, for very short hours and easy work. - -There are two classes of dealers,--croupiers at the roulette-tables and -_tailleurs_ at "_trente-et-quarante_," each of whom receive from four to -six hundred francs a month, according to their experience. - -The apprentices, who some day expect to become croupiers,--those who do -the raking in,--receive two hundred francs a month. All, however, are -under an espionage in all their sleeping, waking, and working moments as -keen and observant as if they were bank messengers in Wall Street. - -Each roulette-table has a _chef_ and a _sous-chef_ and seven croupiers, -who are expected, it is said, to keep their hands spread open before -them on the table between all the turns of the wheel. A story is told, -which may or may not be true, of a croupier who was inordinately fond -of taking snuff. It seemed curious that a coin should always adhere to -the bottom of his snuff-box whenever he laid it down upon the table, and -accordingly that particular croupier was banished and the practice -forbidden. - -Another had built himself a nickle-in-the-slot arrangement which, with -remarkable celerity, conducted twenty-franc pieces from somewhere on the -rim of his exceedingly tall and stiff collar to an unseen money-belt. -Every time he scratched his ear, or slapped at an imaginary mosquito, it -cost the bank a gold piece. Now high collars are banished and -mosquito-netting is at every door and window. - -No employee is allowed to play, nor are the Monégasques themselves. All -nations are represented in the establishment, French, Italian, Russians, -Belgians, and Swiss. Once there was a croupier who spoke English so -perfectly that he might be taken for an Englishman or an American, but -he proved to be a native of the little land of dikes and windmills, -where they teach English in the schools to the youth of a tender age. - -The French language reigns and French money is used exclusively. You may -cash sovereigns and eagles at the bureau, and you may do your banking -business at the counters of the "Crédit-Lyonnais," which discreetly -hangs out its shingle just over the border on French territory, though -not a stone's flight from the Casino portals. You know this because -beneath their sign you read another in bold, flaring letters, as if it -were the most important of all, "_On French Soil_." - -The three towns of the Principality of Monaco each present a totally -different aspect; but, in spite of all its loveliness, one's love for -Monte Carlo is a sensuous sort of a thing, and it is with a real relief -that he turns to admire Monaco itself. - -Its story has often been told, but there always seems something new to -learn of it. The writer always knew that its flora was to be remarked, -even among those horticultural exotics scattered so bountifully all over -the Riviera, and that, apparently, the Monégasques had the art instinct -highly developed, as evinced by the many beautiful monuments and -buildings of the capital; but it was only recently that he realized the -excellence of the typographical art of the printers of Monaco. These -craftsmen have reached a high degree of proficiency and taste, as -evinced by that most excellent production, the "_Collection de -Documents Historiques_," published by the archivist of the Principality, -and the "_Résultats des Campagnes Scientifiques Accomplies sur son -Yacht, par S. A. le Prince Albert de Monaco_." - -Authors the world over might well wish their works produced with so much -excellence of typography and so rich a format and impression. - -Monaco, small and restricted as it is, is full of surprises and -anomalies. It has a ruling monarch, a palace, an army,--of sixty odd, -all told,--a bishop and a cathedral all its very own, though the -Principality is but three and a half kilometres in length and slightly -more than a kilometre in width, its only rival for minuteness being the -former province of Heligoland. - -The reigning prince has a military staff composed of two aides-de-camp, -an ordnance officer, and a chief of staff. He has also a grand and -honorary almoner, a chaplain and a chamberlain, several state -secretaries, a librarian, and an archivist,--besides another staff -devoted to his oceanographical hobby. There are, of course, many other -functionaries, like those one reads of in swashbuckler novels, and the -list closes with an "Architect-Conservator of the Palaces of His Serene -Highness." - -After the prince comes the Principality, and it, too, has a long list of -guardians and office-holders. There is a governor-general, who is -usually a titled person, a treasurer, and, of course, an auditor, and -there is a registrar of the tobacco traffic and a registrar of the match -trade, two monopolies by which all well-regulated Latin governments set -much store. - -Finally there is the municipal governmental organization, with the -regulation coterie of little-worked office-holders. They may have their -bosses and their games of "graft" here, or they may not, but they are -sure to have a never-ending supply of red tape if you want to cut a -gateway through your garden wall or sweep your chimney down. - -There is also an official newspaper known as _Le Journal de Monaco_. - -The church is better represented here than in most communities of its -size. A monseigneur is chaplain to the prince, and Monaco, through the -consideration of Leo XIII., in 1887, is the proud possessor of its own -cathedral church and its dignitary. - -To arrive on the terraces of Monte Carlo at twilight, on a spring-time -or autumn evening, is one of the great episodes in one's life. You are -surrounded by an atmosphere which is balsamic and perfumed as one -imagines the Garden of Eden might have been. All the artificiality of -the place is lost in the softening shadows, and all is as like unto -fairy-land as one will be likely to find on this earth. The lovely -gardens, the gracious architecture, the myriads of lights just twinkling -into existence, the hum of life, the moaning and plashing of the waves -on the rocky shores beneath, and, above, a canopy of palms lifting their -heads to the sky, all unite to produce this unparalleled charm. - -When one considers that fifty years ago the Monte Carlo rock was as bald -and bare as Mont Blanc or Pike's Peak, it speaks wonders for art, or -artificiality, or whatever one chooses to call it, that it could have -been made to blossom thus. - -On a fine morning the effect, too, is equally entrancing,--"_Onze heure, -c'est l'heure exquise._" The miracle of brilliancy of sea and sky is -nowhere excelled in the known world, and, if the raucous sounds of the -railway and the electric tram do break the harmony somewhat, there is -still left the admirable works of the hand of nature and man, who have -here planned together to give an ensemble which, in its appealing -loveliness, far outweighs the discord of mundane things. - -One is astonished at it all, and, whether he approves or disapproves of -the morality of Monte Carlo, he is bound to endorse the opinion that its -loveliness and luxury is superlative. - -The Principality of Monaco, like those other petty states, Andorra and -San Marino, comes very near to being a burlesque of the greater powers -that surround it. It is not France; it is not Italy; it is a power all -by itself; the most diminutive among the monarchies of the world, but, -all things considered, one of the wealthiest and best kept of all the -states of Europe. Monaco, the town, has a population of over eight -thousand per square kilometre, while its nearest rival among the states -of Europe, for density of population, is Belgium, of a population of but -two hundred to the same area. - -From the heights above Monte Carlo one sees a map of it all spread out -before him in relief, the three towns, Monte Carlo, Condamine, and -Monaco, with their total of fifteen thousand souls and the most -marvellous setting which was ever given man's habitation outside of -Eden. - -[Illustration: _Overlooking Monaco and Monte Carlo_] - -The capital sits proudly on its sea-jutting promontory, with Condamine, -its port, where the neck joins the mainland, and Monte Carlo, the -faubourg of pleasure, immediately adjoining on the right. All is white, -green, and blue, and of the most brilliant tone throughout. - -Monaco was a microcosm in size even when Roquebrune and Menton made a -part of its domain, and to-day it is much less in area. It was in the -dark days of the French Revolution that the little principality was rent -in fragments, and there were left only the rock and its two dependencies -for the present Albert de Goyon-Matignon, the descendant of the Maréchal -de Matignon, to rule over. It was this Maréchal de Matignon, then Duc de -Valentinois, who espoused the heiress of the glorious house of Grimaldi, -thus bringing the Grimaldi into alliance with the present power of this -kingdom-in-little. - -What a kingdom it is, to be sure! What a highly organized monarchy! -There is a council of state; a tribunal, with its judges and advocates; -a captain of the port; a registry for loans and mortgages; an inspector -of public works, etc., etc.; and all the functionaries are as -awe-inspiring and terrible as such officers usually are. Even the -"Commandant de la Garde," to give him his real title, is a sort of -minister of war, and he is, too, a retired French officer of high rank. - -The Frenchman when he crosses the frontier into Monaco literally -journeys abroad. The frontier patrol is a gorgeous sort of an individual -by himself, a sort of a cross between the _gardien de la paix_ of France -and the Italian customs officer who comes into the carriages of the -personally conducted tourists to Italy searching for contraband matches -and salt,--as if any civilized person would attempt to smuggle these -unwholesome things anyway. - -As one enters the Principality, by the road coming from Nice, he passes -between the rock and the steep hillsides by the Boulevard Charles III., -and, turning to the right, enters the town where is the seat of -government. - -The town has some three thousand odd inhabitants, which is a good many -for the "_mignonne cité_," of which one makes the round in ten minutes. -But what a round! A promenade without a rival in the world! Well-kept -houses, villas, and palaces at every turn, with a fringe of rocky -escarpment, and here and there a plot of luxuriant soil which gives a -foothold to the fig-trees of Barbary, aloes, olive and orange trees, -giant geraniums, lauriers-roses and all the flora of a subtropical -climate. - -The inhabitant of the Principality of Monaco is fortunate in more ways -than one; he is not taxed by the _impôt_, and he does not contribute a -sou to the civil list of the prince. "The game" pays all this, and, -since its profits mostly come from those who can afford to pay, who -shall not say that it is a blessing rather than a curse. Another thing: -the Monégasques, the descendants of the original natives, are all -"_gentilshommes_," by reason of the ennobling of their ancestors by -Charles Quint. - -By a sinuous route one descends from Monaco to La Condamine, the most -populous centre in the Principality, built between the rock of Monaco -and the hill of Monte Carlo. Five hundred metres farther on, but upward, -and one is on the plateau of Spélugues, a name now changed to Monte -Carlo. - -It is with a certain hypocrisy, of course, that the frequenters of Monte -Carlo rave about its charms and its resemblance to Florence or to -Athens; they come there for the game and the social distractions which -it offers, and that's all there is about it. It is all very fascinating -nevertheless. - -All the splendour of Monte Carlo, and it is splendid in all its -appointments without a doubt, is but a mask for the comings and goings -of the gambler's hopes and those who live off of his passion. - -A true philosopher will not cavil at this; the sea is the most -delightful blue; the background one of the most entrancing to be seen in -a world's tour; and all the necessaries and refinements of life are here -in the most superlative degree. Who would, or could, moralize under such -conditions? It's enough to bring a smile of contentment to the -countenance of the most confirmed and blasé dyspeptic who ever lived. - -But is it needful to avow that one quits all the luxury of Monte Carlo -with a certain sigh of relief? All this splendour finally palls, and one -seeks the byways again with genuine pleasure, or, if not the byways, the -highways, and, as the road leads him onward to Menton and the Italian -frontier, he finds he is still surrounded by a succession of the same -landscape charms which he has hitherto known. Therefore it is not -altogether with regret that he leaves the Principality by the back door -and makes a mental note that Menton will be his next stopping-place. - -It is to be feared that few of the mad throng of Monte Carlo -pleasure-seekers ever visit the little parish chapel of Sainte Dévote, -though it is scarce a stone's throw off the Boulevard de la Condamine, -and in full view of the railway carriage windows coming east or west. -The chapel is an ordinary enough architectural monument, but the legend -connected with its foundation should make it a most appealing place of -pilgrimage for all who are fond of visiting religious or historic -shrines. One can visit it in the hour usually devoted to lunch,--between -games, so to say,--if one really thinks he is in the proper mood for it -under such circumstances. - -Sainte Dévote was born in Corsica, under the reign of Diocletian, and -became a martyr for her faith. She was burned alive, and her remains -were taken by a faithful churchman on board a frail bark and headed for -the mainland coast. A tempest threw the craft out of its course, but an -unseen voice commanded the priest to follow the flight of a dove which -winged its way before them. They came to shore near where the present -chapel stands. The relics of the saint were greatly venerated by the -people of the surrounding country, who lavished great gifts upon the -shrine. The corsair Antinope sought to rob the chapel of its _trésor_, -in 1070, but was prevented by the faithful worshippers. - -Each year, on January 27th, the fête-day of the saint, a procession and -rejoicing are held, amid a throng of pilgrims from all parts, and a bark -is pushed off from the sands at the water's edge, all alight, as a -symbol of protestation against the attempted piratical seizure of the -statue and its _trésor_. For many centuries the Fête de Sainte Dévote -was presided over by the Abbé de St. Pons. To-day the Bishop of Monaco, -croisered and mitred, plays his part in this great symbolical -procession. It is a characteristic detail, in honour of the efforts of -the sailor-folk of olden days in rebuffing the pirate who would have -pillaged the shrine, that the bishop subordinates himself and gives the -head of the procession to the representatives of the people. Altogether -it is a ceremony of great interest and well worthy of more outside -enthusiasm than it usually commands. The princely flag flies from -Monaco's Palais on these occasions, whether the ruler be in residence or -not. At other times it is only flown to signify the presence of the -prince. - -[Illustration: _The Ravine of Saint Dévote, Monte Carlo_] - -With all its artificiality, with all its splendour of nature and the -works of man, and with all the historic associations of its past, one -can but take a mingled glad and sad adieu of Monaco and Mont Charles. -"_Monaco est bien le rêve le plus fantastique, devenue la plus -resplendissante des réalités!_" - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -MENTON AND THE FRONTIER - - -Menton is more tranquil than Nice or Cannes, and, in many ways, more -adorable; but it is a sort of hospital and is not conducive to gaiety to -the extent that it would be were there an utter absence of Bath chairs, -pharmacies, and shops devoted to the sale of nostrums and invalid foods. -There is none of the feverish existence of the other cities of the -Riviera here, and, in a way, this is a detraction, for it is not the -unspoiled countryside, either, but bears all the marks of the advent of -an indulgent civilization. One might think that one's very existence in -such a delightful spot might be a panacea for most of flesh's ills, but -apparently this is not so, at least the doctors will not allow their -"patients" to think so. - -Menton's port is quite extensive and is well sheltered from the pounding -waves which here roll up from the Ligurian sea, at times in truly -tempestuous fashion. To the rear the Maritime Alps slope abruptly down -to the sea, with scarce a warning before their plunge into the -Mediterranean. All this confines Menton within a very small area, and -there is little or no suburban background. In a way this is an -advantage; it most certainly tends toward a mildness of the winter -climate; but on the other hand there is lacking a sense of freedom and -grandeur when one takes his walk abroad. - -Just before reaching Menton is the garden-spot of Cap Martin, once a -densely wooded "_petite forêt_," but now threaded with broad avenues cut -through the ranks of the great trees and producing a wonderland of -scenic vistas, which, if they lack the virginity of the wild-wood as it -once was, are truly delightful and fairylike in their disposition. Great -hotels and villas have come, for the Emperor of Austria and the -ex-Empress Eugénie were early smitten by the charms of the marvellously -situated promontory, making of it a Mediterranean retreat at once -exclusive and unique. - -The panorama eastward and westward from this green cape is of a varied -brilliancy unexcelled elsewhere along the Riviera. On one side is -Monaco's rock, Monte Carlo, and the enchanting banks of "_Petite -Afrique_," and on the other the white walls and red roofs of Menton. - -Between Cap Martin and Menton the road skirts the very water's edge, -crossing the Val de Gorbio and entering the town via Carnoles, where the -Princes of Monaco formerly had a palace. Modern Menton is like all the -rest of the modern Riviera; its streets bordered with luxurious -dwellings and hotels, up-to-date shop-fronts, and all the appointments -of the age. At the entrance to the city is a monument commemorative of -the voluntary union of Menton and Roquebrune with France. - -Menton is a strange mixture of the old and the new. There are no -indications of a Roman occupation here, though some geographers have -traced its origin back through the night of time to the ancient Lumone. -More likely it was founded by piratical hordes from the African coast, -who, it is known, established a settlement here in the eighth century. -Furthermore, the "Maritime Itinerary" of the conquering Romans makes no -mention of any landing or harbour between Vintimille and Monaco, thus -ignoring Menton entirely, even if they ever knew of it. - -The town is superbly situated in the form of an amphitheatre between two -tiny bays, and the country around is well watered by the torrents which -flow down from the highland background. - -After having been a pirate stronghold, the town became a part of the -Comté of Vintimille, after the expulsion of the Saracens, and later had -for its seigneurs a Genoese family by the name of Vento. In the -fourteenth century it fell to the Grimaldi, and to this day its aspect, -except for the rather banal hotel and villa architecture, has remained -more Italian in motive than French. - -Menton is not wholly an idling community like Monte Carlo and Monaco. It -has a very considerable commerce in lemons, four millions annually of -the fruit being sent out of the country. The industry has given rise to -a species of labour by women which is a striking characteristic in these -parts. Like the women who unload the Palermo and Seville orange boats at -Marseilles, the "_porteïris_" of Menton are most picturesque. They carry -their burdens always on the head, and one marvels at the skill with -which they carry their loads in most awkward places. The work is hard, -of course, but it does not seem to have developed any weaknesses or -maladies unknown to other peasant or labouring folk, hence there seems -no reason why it should not continue. Certainly the Mentonnaises have a -certain grace of carriage and suppleness in their walk which the dames -of fashion might well imitate. - -The fishing quarter of Menton is one of the most picturesque on the -whole Riviera, with its _rues-escaliers_, its vaulted houses, and the -walls and escarpments of the old military fortification coming to light -here and there. It is nothing like Martigues, in the Bouches-du-Rhône, -really the most picturesque fishing-port in the world, nor is it a whit -more interesting than the old Catalan quarter of Marseilles; but it is -far more varied, with the life of those who conduct the petty affairs of -the sea, than any other of the Mediterranean resorts. - -Menton is something like Hyères, a place of villas quite as much as of -hotels, though the latter are of that splendid order of things that -spell modern comfort, but which are really most undesirable to live in -for more than a few days at a time. - -Not every one goes to the Riviera to live in a villa, but those who do -cannot do better than to hunt one out at Menton. Menton is almost on the -frontier of Italy and France, and that has an element of novelty in -every-day happenings which would amuse an exceedingly dull person, and, -if that were not enough, there is Monte Carlo itself, less than a dozen -kilometres away. - -When one thinks of it, a villa set on some rocky shelf on a wooded -hillside overlooking the Mediterranean, with an orange-garden at the -back,--as they all seem to have here at Menton,--is not so bad, and -offers many advantages over hotel life, particularly as the cost need be -no more. You may hire a villa for anything above a thousand francs a -season, and it will be completely furnished. You will get, perhaps, five -rooms and a cellar, which you fill with wood and wine to while away the -long winter evenings, for they can be chill and drear, even here, from -December to March. - -Before you is a panorama extending from Cap Martin to -Mortala-Bordighera, another palm-set haven on the Italian Riviera, which -once was bare of the conventions of fashion, but which has now become as -fashionable as Nice. - -You can hire a servant to preside over the pots and pans for the -absurdly small sum of fifty francs a month, and she will cook, and shop, -and fetch and carry all day long, and will keep other robbers from -molesting you, if you will only wink at her making a little commission -on her marketing. - -She will work cheerfully and never grumble if you entertain a flock of -unexpected tourist friends who have "just dropped in from the Italian -Lakes, Switzerland, or Cairo," and will dress neatly and picturesquely, -and cook fish and chickens in a heavenly fashion. - -To the eastward, toward Italy, the post-road of other days passes -through the sumptuous faubourg of Garavan and continues to Pont Saint -Louis, over the ravine of the same name. Here is the frontier station -(by road) where one leaves _gendarmes_ behind and has his first -encounter with the _carabiniers_ of Italy. - -Anciently, as history tells, the two neighbouring peoples were one, and -even now, in spite of the change in the course of events, there is none -of that enmity between the French and Italian frontier guardians that is -to be seen on the great highroad from Paris to Metz, via Mars la Tour, -where the automobilist, if he is a Frenchman, is lucky if he gets -through at all without a most elaborate passport. - -The traveller from the north, by the Rhône valley, has come, almost -imperceptibly, into the midst of a Ligurian population, very different -indeed from the inhabitants of the great watershed. - -At Pont Saint Louis one first salutes Italy, coming down through France, -having left Paris by the "Route de Lyon," and thence by the "Route -d'Antibes," and finally into the prolongation known as the "Route -d'Italie." It is a long trip, but not a hard one, and for variety and -excellence its like is not to be found in any other land. - -The roads of France, like many another legacy left by the Romans, are -one of the nation's proudest possessions, and their general well-kept -appearance, and the excellence of their grading makes them appeal to -automobilists above all others. There may be excellent short stretches -elsewhere, but there are none so perfect, nor so long, nor so charming -as the modern successor of the old Roman roadway into Gaul. - -The Pont Saint Louis was built in 1806, and crosses at a great height -the river lying at the bottom of the ravine. Once absolutely -uncontrollable, this little stream has been diked, and now waters and -fertilizes many neighbouring gardens. - -By a considerable effort one may gain the height above, known as the -"Rochers Rouges," and see before him not only the sharp-cut rocky coast -of the French Riviera, but far away into Italy as well. - -[Illustration: _Pont Saint Louis_] - -All this brings up the Frenchman's dream of the time when France, Italy, -and Spain shall become one, so far as the control of the Mediterranean -lake is concerned, and shall thus prevent Europe from returning to the -barbarianism to which the "_égoïsme britannique et l'avidité allemande_" -is fast leading it. - -Whether this change will ever come about is as questionable as the -preciseness of the accusation, but there is certainly some reason for -the suggestion. Another decade may change the map of Europe -considerably. Who knows? - - -THE END. - - - - -APPENDICES - - -I. - -THE PROVINCES OF FRANCE - -Up to 1789, there were thirty-three great governments making up modern -France, the twelve governments created by Francis I. being the chief, -and seven _petits gouvernements_ as well. - -[Illustration: _The Provinces of France_] - -In the following table the _grands gouvernements_ of the first -foundation are indicated in heavy-faced type, those which were taken -from the first in italics, and those which were acquired by conquest in -ordinary characters. - - NAMES OF GOVERNMENTS CAPITALS - - 1. =Ile-de-France= Paris. - 2. =Picardie= Amiens. - 3. =Normandie= Rouen. - 4. =Bretagne= Rennes. - 5. =Champagne et Brie= Troyes. - 6. =Orléanais= Orléans. - 7. _Maine et Perche_ Le Mans. - 8. _Anjou_ Angers. - 9. _Touraine_ Tours. - 10. _Nivernais_ Nevers. - 11. _Berri_ Bourges. - 12. _Poitou_ Poitiers. - 13. _Aunis_ La Rochelle. - 14. =Bourgogne= (duché de) Dijon. - 15. =Lyonnais, Forez et Beaujolais= Lyon. - 16. _Auvergne_ Clermont. - 17. _Bourbonnais_ Moulins. - 18. _Marche_ Guéret. - 19. =Guyenne et Gascogne= Bordeaux. - 20. _Saintonge et Angoumois[1]_ Saintes. - 21. _Limousin_ Limoges. - 22. _Béarn et Basse Navarre_ Pau. - 23. =Languedoc= Toulouse. - 24. _Comté de Foix_ Foix. - 25. =Provence= Aix. - 26. =Dauphiné= Grenoble. - 27. Flandre et Hainaut Lille. - 28. Artois Arras. - 29. Lorraine et Barrois Nancy. - 30. Alsace Strasbourg. - 31. Franche-Comté ou Comté de Bourgogne Besançon. - 32. Roussilon Perpignan. - 33. Corse Bastia. - -[1] Under Francis I. the Angoumois was comprised in the Orléanais. - -The seven _petits gouvernements_ were: - - 1. The ville, prévôté and vicomté of Paris. - 2. Havre de Grâce. - 3. Boulonnais. - 4. Principality of Sedan. - 5. Metz and Verdun, the pays Messin and Verdunois. - 6. Toul and Toulois. - 7. Saumur and Saumurois. - - -II. - -THE ANCIENT PROVINCES OF FRANCE - -[Illustration] - - -III. - -GAZETTEER AND HOTEL LIST - -Being a brief résumé of the attractions of some of the chief centres of -Provence and the Riviera. - - ABBREVIATIONS - - C. Chef-Lieu of Commune. - P. Préfecture. - S. P. Sous-Préfecture. - h. Habitants (population). - * Hotels at nine francs or less per day. - ** Hotels nine to twelve francs per day. - *** Hotels above twelve francs per day. - - -AIX-EN-PROVENCE - - Bouches-du-Rhône. S. P. 19,398 h. - - Hotels: Nègre-Coste,** De la Mule Noire,* De France.* - - The ancient capital of Provençal arts and letters, and the Cours - d'Amour of the troubadours. - - Sights: Eglise de la Madeleine, Cathedral St. Sauveur, Hôtel de - Ville, Tour de Toureluco, Eglise St. Jean de Malte, Musée, - Bibliothèque, Statue of René d'Anjou, by David d'Augers. Carnival - each year in February or March. - - Excursions: Ruins of Château de Puyricard, Aqueduc Roquefavour, - Ermitage de St. Honorat, Bastide du Roi René, Gardanne and Les - Pennes. - - Distances in kilometres: Marseilles, 29; Arles, 80; Toulon, 75; - Roquevaire, 29. - - -ANTIBES - - Alpes-Maritimes. C. 5,512 h. - - Hotels: Grand Hotel,*** Terminus.** - - Excursions: Presqu'ile and Cap d'Antibes, Fort Lavré, Villa and - Jardin Thuret, La Garonpe, Chapelle, and Phare. - - Distances in kilometres: Paris, 976; Cannes, 12; Grasse, 23; Nice, - 23; La Turbie, 41; Monte Carlo, 44; St. Raphaël, 51. - -ARLES - - S. P. 15,606 h. - - Hotels: Du Forum,** Du Nord.** - - Delightfully situated on the left bank of the Rhône. - - Sights: Les Arènes, Roman Ramparts, Antique Theatre, Cathédrale de - St. Trophime and Cloister, Les Alyscamps and Tombs, Musée d'Arletan - and Musée de la Ville, Palais Constantin. - - Excursions: Les Baux, Montmajour, Les Saintes Maries. - - Distances in kilometres: Paris, 730; Tarascon, 17; Avignon, 39; - Salon, 40; Marseilles, 91; Aix, 80. - -AVIGNON - - Vaucluse. P. 33,891 h. - - The ancient papal capital in France. - - Hotels: De l'Europe,*** Du Luxembourg.** - - Sights: Ancient Ramparts, Palais des Papes, Musée, Pulpit in Eglise - St. Pierre, Cathedral of Notre Dame des Doms, Ruined Pont St. - Bénézet (Pont d'Avignon). - - Excursions: Villeneuve-les-Avignon, Fontaine de Vaucluse, Aqueduct - of Pont du Gard. - - Distances in kilometres: Sorgues, 10; Orange, 27; Carpentras, 24; - Fontaine de Vaucluse, 28. - -BANDOL-SUR-MER - - Var. 1,616 h. - - Winter and spring-time station, situated on a lovely bay. Small - port, and in no sense a resort as yet. - - Hotel: Grand Hotel.** - - Distances in kilometres: Marseilles, 51; Toulon, 21; La Ciotat, 23; - Sanary, 5. - -BEAULIEU-SUR-MER - - Alpes-Maritimes. 1,354 h. - - Winter station. Beautiful situation on the coast, with groves of - pines, olives, etc. - - Hotels: De Beaulieu,** Empress Hotel.*** - - Distances in kilometres: Nice, 8; Monte Carlo, 18; Grasse, 46; - Menton, 49. - -CAGNES - - Alpes-Maritimes. C. 2,040 h. - - Winter station and town "pour les artistes-peintres" in other days; - now practically a suburb of Nice, to which it is bound by a - tram-line. - - Hotels: Savournin,** De l'Univers.* - - Sights: Château des Grimaldi. - - Excursions: Vence, Antibes, Villeneuve-Loubet. - - Distances in kilometres: Nice, 12; Vence, 10; Antibes, 20. - -CANNES - - Alpes-Maritimes. C. 25,350 h. - - On the Golfe de la Napoule, with Nice the chief centre for Riviera - tourists. - - Hotels: Gallia,*** Suisse,** Gonnet.*** - - Excursions: Iles de Lerins, La Napoule, The Corniche d'Or and the - Estérel, Le Cannet, Vallauris, Californie, Croix des Gardes, - Grasse, Antibes, Auberge des Adrets. - - Distances in kilometres: Grasse, 17; Fréjus, 47; St. Raphaël, 43; - Nice, 35; Antibes, 12. - -CASSIS - - Var. 1,972 h. - - A charming little Mediterranean port; near by the ancient château - of the Seigneurs of Baux. - - Hotel: Lieutand.* - - Distances in kilometres: Marseilles, 31; La Ciotat, 11; Bandol, 34. - -CIOTAT (LA) - - Bouches-du-Rhône. C. 9,895 h. - - Great ship-building works, but beautifully situated on Baie de la - Ciotat. - - Hotel: De l'Univers.** - - Distances in kilometres: Cassis, 11; Marseilles, 43. - -COGOLIN - - Var. 2,102 h. - - Delightfully situated in the valley of the Giscle, at the head of - the Golfe de St. Tropez. - - Hotel: Cauvet.* - - Sights: Butte des Moulins, Château des Grimaldi. - - Excursions: Grimaud and La Garde-Freinet. - - Distances in kilometres: St. Tropez, 10; Fréjus, 34; Nice, 104; St. - Raphaël, 37; Hyères, 44; Toulon, 62. - -FRÉJUS - - Var. C. 3,612 h. - - Hotels: Du Midi.* - - Sights: Roman Arena (Ruins), Old Ramparts, Citadel, Cathedral (XI. - and XII. centuries), and Bishop's Palace. - - Excursions: St. Raphaël and the Corniche d'Or, Auberge des Adrets - and Route de l'Estérel, Mont Vinaigre (616 metres). - - Distances in kilometres: Cannes, 35; Nice, 78; St. Raphaël, 3; Ste. - Maxime, 21. - -GRASSE - - Alpes-Maritimes. S. P. 9,426 h. - - More or less of a Riviera resort, though seventeen kilometres from - the coast at Cannes, situated at an altitude of 333 metres. - - Hotels: Grand Hotel,*** De la Poste.** - - Sights: Cathedral (XII. and XIII. centuries), Jardin Public, La - Cours, Source de la Foux, Sommet au Jeu de Ballon. - - Excursions: Ste. Cezane, Dolmens, Grottes, Source de la Siagnole, - Le Bar and Gorges du Loup. - - Distances in kilometres: Cannes, 17; Cagnes, 20; Le Bar, 10; Vence, - 28; Draguignan, 59. - -HYÈRES - - Var. C. 9,949 h. - - The oldest and most southerly of the French Mediterranean resorts. - - Hotels: Grand Hotel,*** Hôtel des Hespérides.** - - Sights: Eglise St. Louis (XII. century), Château, Place, and Ave. - des Palmiers, Jardin d'Acclimation. - - Excursions: Mont des Oiseaux, Salines d'Hyères, Giens and the Iles - d'Or (Iles d'Hyères). - -MARSEILLES - - Bouches-du Rhône. P. 396,033 h. - - The second city of France, and the first Mediterranean port. - - Hotels: Du Louvre et de la Paix,*** Grand Hotel,*** De la Poste, Du - Touring (the two latter for rooms only--2 francs 50 centimes and - upwards). - - Sights: Cannebière, Bourse, Vieux Port, Pointe des Catalans, N. D. - de la Garde, Palais de Longchamps, Chemin de la Corniche, Le Prado, - Cathedral Ste. Marie Majeure. - - Excursions: Château d'If, Martigues, Sausset, Carry, Port de Bouc, - Aubagne, Roquevaire, Grotte de la Ste. Baume, Estaque. - - Distances in kilometres: Paris, 818; Avignon, 97; Arles, 91; Salon, - 51; Martigues, 40; Aix, 28; Toulon, 64. - -MARTIGUES - - Bouches-du-Rhône. C. 4,689 h. - - "La Venise Provençale," celebrated for "_bouillabaisse_." - - Hotel: Chabas.* - - Sights: Canals and Bourdigues, Eglise de la Madeleine, Etang de - Berre. - - Excursions: Port de Bouc, St. Mitre (Saracen hill town), Istres, - Fos-sur-Mer, Châteauneuf-les-Martigues, St. Chamas and Cap - Couronne. - -MENTON - -Alpes-Maritimes. C. 8,917 h. - - The most conservative of all the popular Riviera resorts. - - Hotels: Des Anglais,*** Grand.* - - Sights: Jardin Public, Promenade du Midi, Tête de Chien. - - Excursions: Cap Martin, Italian Frontier, Castillon, Gorbio, - Roquebrune. - - Distances in kilometres: Monte Carlo, 8; La Turbie, 14; Roquebrune, - 4; Nice, 30; Grasse, 64. - -MONTE CARLO - - Principality of Monaco. - - Hotels: Metropole,*** De l'Europe,** Du Littoral.* - - Sights: Casino and Salles de Jeu and de Fête, Palais des Beaux - Arts, Serres Blanc. - - Excursions: La Turbie, Mont Agel, Cap Martin. - - Distances in kilometres: Paris, 1,017; Menton, 8; Nice, 19. - -NICE - - Alpes-Maritimes. P. 78,480 h. - - The chief Riviera resort and headquarters. - - Hotels: Gallia,*** Des Palmiers,*** Des Deux Mondes.** - - Sights: Casino, Promenade des Anglais, Jardin, Mont Baron, and Parc - du Château. - - Excursions: Cimiez, Villefranche, St. Andre, Cap Ferrat, La Grande - Corniche, Eze. - - Distances in kilometres: Paris, 998; Cannes, 35; Grasse, 38; - Cagnes, 12; Fréjus, 66; Menton, 30; Monte Carlo, 19. - -SAINT RAPHAËL - - Var. 2,982 h. - - Hotel: Continental.*** - - Sights: Boulevard du Touring, Lion de Terre, and Lion de Mer, - Eglise, Maison Close (Alphonse Karr), Maison Gounod. - - Excursions: La Corniche d'Or, Agay, Ste. Baume, Cap Roux, - Valescure, Anthéore, Thèoule, Forêt and Route d'Estérel. - - Distances in kilometres: Nice, 60; Cannes, 43; Fréjus, 3. - -SAINT TROPEZ - - Var. C. 3,141 h. - - Hotel: Continental.* - - Excursions: La Foux, Grimaud, Cogolin, Ste. Maxime, Baie de - Cavalaire. - - Distances in kilometres: Marseilles, 120; Nice, 90; Cogolin, 10; - St. Raphaël, 43. - -SALON - - Bouches-du-Rhône. C. 9,324 h. - - Hotel: Grand Hotel.* - - Sights: Eglise (XVI. century), Ramparts, Tomb of Nostradamus. - - Excursions: St. Chamas, Berre, Pont Flavian, La Crau, Les Baux. - - Distances in kilometres: Marseilles, 53; St. Chamas, 16; Aix, 33; - Orgon, 18. - -SOLLIÈS-PONT - - Var. C. 2,100 h. - - Hotel: Des Voyageurs.* - - Excursions: Valley of the Gapeau and Forêt des Maures, Cuers, - Montrieux. - - Distances in kilometres: Marseilles, 90; Toulon, 15; Besse, 25; St. - Raphaël, 77. - -ST. RÉMY - - Bouches-du-Rhône. C. 3,624 h. - - Hotel: Grand Hotel de Provence.* - - Sights: Fontaine de Nostradamus, Temple de Constantin, Mausolée and - Arc de Triomphe. - - Excursions: Tarascon, Les Alpilles, Montmajour, Les Baux, Fontaine - de Vaucluse, Pont du Gard. - - Distances in kilometres: Arles, 20; Les Baux, 8; Avignon, 19; - Cavaillon, 18. - -TOULON - - Var. S. P. 78,833 h. - - Hotel: Grand Hotel,*** Victoria.** - - Sights: Cathedral Ste. Marie Majeure (XI. century), Harbour, Hôtel - de Ville, Maison Puget. - - Excursion: Gorges d'Ollioules, Tamaris, Batterie des Hommes Sans - Peur, St. Mandrier, Cap Brun, Cap Sicié, La Seyne, Six-Fours, - Sanary. - - Distances in kilometres: Aix, 75; Marseilles, 65; Nice, 163; - Cannes, 128. - - -IV. - -THE ROAD MAPS OF FRANCE - -The traveller by road or by rail in France should, if he would -appreciate all the charms and attractions of the places along his route, -provide himself with one or the other of the excellent road maps which -may be purchased at the "Libraire" in any large town. - -Much will be opened up to him which otherwise might remain hidden, for, -excellent as many guide-books are in other respects (and those of Joanne -in France lead the world for conciseness and attractiveness), they are -all wofully inadequate as regards general maps. Really, one should -supplement his French guide-books with the remarkably practical -"Guide-Michelin," which all automobilists (of all lands) know, or ought -to know, and which is distributed free to them by Michelin et Cie., of -Clermont-Ferrand. Others must exercise considerable ingenuity if they -wish to possess one of these condensed guides, with its scores and -scores of maps and plans. The Continental Gutta Percha Company does the -thing even more elaborately, but its volume is not so compact. - -Both books, in addition to their numerous maps and plans, give much -information as to roads and routes which others as well as automobilists -will find most interesting reading, besides which will be found a list -of hotels, the statement as to whether or not they are affiliated with -the Automobile Club de France, or The Touring Club de France, and a -general outline of the price of their accommodation, and what, in many -cases, is of far more importance, the kind of accommodation which they -offer. It is worth something to modern travellers to know whether a -hotel which he intends to favour with his gracious presence has a "Salle -de Bains," a "Chambre Noire," or "Chambres Hygiéniques, genre du Touring -Club." To the traveller of a generation ago this meant nothing, but it -means a good deal to the present age. - -As for general maps of France, the Carte de l'Etat-Major (scale of -80,000, on which one measures distances of two kilometres by the -diametre of a sou) are to be bought everywhere at thirty centimes per -quarter-sheet. The Carte du Service Vicinal, on the scale of 100,000 -and printed in five colours, costs eighty centimes per sheet; and that -of the Service Géographique de l'Armée (reduced by lithography from the -scale of 80,000) costs one franc fifty centimes per sheet. - -There is also the newly issued Carte Touriste de la France of the -Touring Club de France (on a scale of 400,000), printed in six colours -and complete in fifteen sheets at two francs fifty centimes per sheet. - -[Illustration] - -Finally there is the very beautiful Carte de l'Estérel, of special -interest to Riviera tourists, also issued by the Touring Club de France. - -The Cartes "Taride" are a remarkable and useful series, covering France -in twenty-five sheets, at a franc per sheet. They are on a very large -scale and are well printed in three colours, showing all rivers, -railways, and nearly every class of road or path, together with -distances in kilometres plainly marked. They are quite the most useful -and economical maps of France for the automobilist, cyclist, and even -the traveller by rail. - -The house of De Dion-Bouton also issues an attractive map on a scale of -800,000 and printed in four colours. - -[Illustration: _The "Taride" Maps_] - -The four sheets are sold at eight francs per sheet, but they are better -suited for wall maps than for portable practicability. - - -V. - -A TRAVEL TALK - -The travel routes to and through Provence and the Riviera are in no way -involved, and on the whole are rather more pleasantly disposed than in -many parts, in that places of interest are not widely separated. - -The railroad is the hurried traveller's best aid, and the all-powerful -and really progressive P. L. M. Railway of France covers, with its main -lines and ramifications, quite all of Provence, the Midi, and the -Riviera. - -Marseilles is perhaps the best gateway for the Riviera proper and the -coast towns westward to the Rhône, and Avignon or Arles for the interior -cities of Provence. Paris is in close and quick connection with both -Arles and Marseilles by _train express_, _train rapide_, or the more -leisurely _train omnibus_, with fares varying accordingly, and taking -from ten to twenty hours _en route_, there being astonishing differences -in time between the _trains ordinaires_ and the _trains rapides_ all -over France. Fares from Paris to Arles are 87 francs, first class; 58 -francs 75 centimes, second class; and 38 francs 30 centimes, third -class; and from Paris to Marseilles, 96 francs 55 centimes, 65 francs 15 -centimes, and 42 francs 50 centimes respectively. In addition, there are -all kinds of extra charges for passage on the "Calais-Nice-Ventimille -Rapide" and other trains _de luxe_, not overlooking the exorbitant -charge of something like 70 francs for a sleeping-car berth from Paris -to Marseilles--and always there are too few to go around even at this -price. - -[Illustration: _Three Riviera Itineraries_ - -No. 21--First class, 29 fcs.; -No. 22-- " 8 fcs. 50c. -No. 23-- " 17 fcs. - -Second class, 21 fcs.; - " 6 fcs. - " 14 fcs. 50c. - -Third-class, 14 fcs. - " 4 fcs. 50c. - " 10 fcs. 50c.] - -From either Arles or Marseilles one may thread the main routes of -Provence by many branches of the "P. L. M." or its "Chemins Regionaux du -Sud de France;" can penetrate the little-known region bordering upon the -Étang de Berre and enter the Riviera proper either by Marseilles or by -the inland route, through Aix-en-Provence, Brignoles, and Draguignan, -coming to the coast through Grasse to Cannes or Nice. - -The traveller from afar, from America, or England, or from Russia or -Germany, is quite as well catered for as the Frenchman who would enjoy -the charms of Provence and the Riviera, for there are through -express-trains from Calais, Boulogne, Brussels, Berlin, St. Petersburg, -Vienna, and Genoa. Now that the tide of travel from America has so -largely turned Mediterraneanward, the south of France bids fair to -become as familiar a touring ground as the Switzerland of old,--with -this difference, that it has an entrance by sea, via Genoa or -Marseilles. - -For the traveller by road there are untold charms which he who goes by -rail knows not of. The magnificent roadways of France--the "Routes -Nationales" and the "Routes Départmentales"--are nowhere kept in better -condition, or are they better planned than here. East and west and -across country they run in superb alignment, always mounting gently any -topographical eminence with which they meet, in a way which makes a -journey by road through Provence one of the most enjoyable experiences -of one's life. - -The diligence has pretty generally disappeared, but an occasional -stage-coach may be found connecting two not too widely separated points, -and inquiry at any stopping-place will generally elicit information -regarding a two, three, or six hour journey which will prove a -considerable novelty to the traveller who usually is hurried through a -lovely country by rail. - -For the automobilist, or even the cyclist, still greater is the pleasure -of travel by the highroads and by-roads of this lovely country, and for -them a skeleton itinerary has been included among the appendices of this -book with some useful elements which are often not shown by the -guide-books. - -The "_Voitures Publiques_" in Provence, as elsewhere, leave much to be -desired, starting often at inconveniently early or late hours in order -to correspond with the postal arrangements of the government; but, -whenever one can be found that fits in with the time at one's disposal, -it offers an opportunity of seeing the country at a price far below that -of the _voiture particulière_. Here and there, principally in the -mountainous regions lying back from the coast, the "Societies and -Syndicats d'Initiative," which are springing up all over the popular -tourist regions in France, have inaugurated services by _cars-alpins_ -and char-à-bancs, and even automobile omnibuses, which offer -considerably more comfort. - -Concerning the hotels and restaurants of Provence and the Riviera much -could be said; but this is no place for an exhaustive discussion. - -Generally speaking, the fare at the _table d'hôte_ throughout Provence -is bountiful and excellent, with perhaps too often, and too strong, a -trace of garlic, and considerably more than a trace of olive-oil. - -At Aix, Arles, Avignon, and Orange one gets an imitation of a Parisian -_table d'hôte_ at all of the leading hotels; but in the small towns, -Cavaillon, Salon, Martigues, Grimaud, or Vence, one is nearer the soil -and meets with the real _cuisine du pays_, which the writer assumes is -one of the things for which one leaves the towns behind. - -At Marseilles, and all the great Riviera resorts, the _cuisine -française_ is just about what the same thing is in San Francisco, New -York, or London,--no better or no worse. As for price, the modest six or -eight francs a day in the hotels of the small towns becomes ten francs -in cities like Aix or Arles, and from fifteen francs to anything you -like to pay at Marseilles, Cannes, Nice, or Monte Carlo. - - -VI. - -THE METRIC SYSTEM - -METRICAL AND ENGLISH WEIGHTS AND MEASURES - - Mètre = 39.3708 in. = 3.231. 3 ft. 3 1-2 in. = 1.0936 yard. - Square Mètre (mètre carré) = 1 1-5th square yards (1.196). - Are (or 100 sq. mètres) = 119.6 square yards. - Cubic Mètre (or Stere) = 35 1-2 cubic feet. - Centimètre = 2-5ths inch. - Kilomètre = 1,093 yards = 5-8 mile. - 10 Kilomètres =6 1-4 miles. - 100 Kilomètres = 62 1-10th miles. - Square Kilomètre = 2-5ths square mile. - Hectare = 2 1-2 acres (2.471). - 100 Hectares = 247.1 acres. - Gramme = 15 1-2 grains (15.432). - 10 Grammes = 1-3d oz. Avoirdupois. - 15 Grammes = 1-2 oz. Avoirdupois. - Kilogramme = 2 1-5th lbs. (2.204) Avoirdupois. - 10 Kilogrammes = 22 lbs. Avoirdupois. - Metrical Quintal = 220 1-2 lbs. Avoirdupois. - Tonneau = 2,200 lbs. Avoirdupois. - Litre = 0.22 gal. = 1 3-4 pint. - Hectolitre = 22 gallons. - -[Illustration: _Comparative Metric Scale_] - -ENGLISH AND METRICAL WEIGHTS AND MEASURES - - Inch = 2.539 centimètres = 25.39 millimètres. - 2 inches = 5 centimètres nearly. - Foot = 30.47 centimètres. - Yard = 0.9141 mètre. - 12 yards = 11 mètres nearly. - Mile = 1.609 kilomètre. - Square foot = 0.093 mètre carré. - Square yard = 0.836 mètre carré. - Acre = 0.4046 hectare = 4,003 sq. mètres nearly. - 2 1-2 acres = 1 hectare nearly. - Pint = 0.5679 litre. - 1 3-4 pint = 1 litre nearly. - Gallon = 4.5434 litres = 4 nearly. - Bushel = 36.347 litres. - Oz. Troy = 31.103 grammes. - Pound Troy (5,760 grains) = 373.121 grammes. - Oz. Avoirdupois = 8.349 grammes. - Pound Avoirdupois (7,000 grains) = 453.592 grammes. - 2 lbs. 3 oz. = kilogramme nearly. - 100 lbs. = 45.359 kilogrammes. - Cwt. = 50.802 kilogrammes. - Ton = 1,018.048 kilogrammes. - - -VII. - -[Illustration: The Log of an Automobile] - - - - -INDEX OF PLACES - - -Agay, 286-287, 288. - -Agde, 20. - -Aigues Mortes, 28, 93. - -Aix, 5, 17, 18-19, 31, 101, 156-160, 161, 165, 173, 215, 250, 322, 412, -424, 425, 426, 429. - -Allauch, 134. - -Anthéore, 288-289. - -Antibes, 101, 305-306, 308-312, 330, 412, 429. - -Arles, 5, 6, 17, 22, 29, 30-38, 64, 73, 83, 99, 101, 107, 110, 160, 268, -271, 276, 346, 413, 422, 425, 426, 429. - -Aubagne, 18, 129, 167-168. - -Auriol, 163, 170. - -Avignon, 4-5, 10, 16, 17, 22, 24, 25, 31, 56, 57, 73, 160, 183, 413, -422, 425, 429. - - -Baie de Cavalaire, 254-255. - -Baie de la Ciotat, 184-185. - -Baie de Sanary, 202. - -Baie des Anges, 233, 309. - -Bandol, 189-194, 413. - -Beaucaire, 24, 25, 27, 28, 33, 107. - -Beaudinard, 129. - -Beaulieu, 229, 233, 344, 352, 353, 356, 358, 359, 413. - -Bec de l'Aigle, 177, 184-185. - -Bellegarde, 25, 27. - -Berre, 88, 92, 97-99, 120. - -Berteaux, Château de, 260. - -Biot, 312-314. - -Bormes, 249-253, 254, 255. - -Bouches-du-Rhône, 20, 56, 85, 107, 109, 113, 115, 224, 402. - -Boulouris, 286. - - -Cagnes, 231, 324-326, 330, 414. - -Camargue, The, 7, 38, 57-65, 66, 107. - -Cannes, 18, 22, 212, 228, 229, 231, 236, 237, 249, 255, 269, 279, 283, -285, 287, 288, 290, 292, 293, 296-302, 304, 305, 314, 333, 336, 398, -414, 424, 426, 429. - -Cap Canaille, 180, 181-182. - -Cap Couronne, 113-116, 131. - -Cap d'Antibes, 308, 341. - -Cap de l'Aigle, 131. - -Cap Ferrat, 233, 341, 349. - -Cap Martin, 229, 233, 245, 351, 358, 399-400, 403. - -Cap Mouret, 211. - -Cap Nègre, 201. - -Cap Notre Dame de la Garde, 211. - -Cap Roux, 293-294. - -Cap Sepet, 211. - -Cap Sicié, 200-201, 202, 206, 211. - -Carnoles, 400. - -Carpentras, 16. - -Carry, 116-117. - -Cassis, 177-181, 183, 414. - -Cavaillon, 17, 45, 82, 83, 425. - -Cavalaire, 254-255. - -Ceyreste, 183-184. - -Château Grignan, 12. - -Chateauneuf, 114. - -Cimiez, 344-347. - -Ciotat (see La Ciotat). - -Cogolin, 260-264, 414. - -Condamine (see La Condamine). - -Côte d'Azur, 72. - -Crau, The, 6, 7, 24, 38, 57, 58, 65-69, 74, 92, 93, 95. - -Cuers, 221, 222. - - -Draguignan, 321. - - -Elne, 20. - -Embiez (see Iles des Embiez). - -Estaque, 134. - -Estérel, 232. - -Étang de Berre, 6, 14, 24, 63, 72-73, 78, 79, 85, 87-106, 109, 118, 120, -172, 424. - -Étang de Bolmon, 105. - -Étang de Caronte, 91, 113. - -Étang de l'Olivier, 92. - -Eze, 350, 351, 353, 359-361, 363, 365. - - -Feuillerins, 350. - -Fos-sur-Mer, 24, 73-74, 110-112. - -Freinet (see La Garde-Freinet). - -Fréjus, 221, 222, 248, 249, 261, 270, 271-278, 279, 283, 290, 292, 293, -322, 415, 429. - - -Garavan, 404. - -Gardanne, 161, 162, 168. - -Giens, 243-244. - -Golfe de Fos, 73, 107, 109. - -Golfe de Fréjus, 271. - -Golfe de Giens, 239-240. - -Golfe de la Napoule, 233, 290, 293, 307, 309, 314. - -Golfe des Lèques, 179. - -Golfe de Lyon, 107-109, 110, 113, 144, 201, 245. - -Golfe de St. Tropez, 256-261, 264, 265, 269. - -Golfe Jouan, 19, 302, 305, 306, 307, 314. - -Gorges d'Ollioules, 194-195, 197, 198. - -Gourdon, 328. - -Grasse, 307, 319-323, 326, 329, 415, 424. - -Grimaud, 261, 264-266, 269, 425. - -Grotte des Fées, 55. - -Grotte de St. Baume, 287. - - -Hyères, 191, 193, 197, 208, 219, 230, 239, 240-243, 244-249, 261, 333, -402, 415, 429. - - -If, Château d', 136, 137, 150-152, 243. - -Ile de Riou, 136. - -Ile Pomegue, 136. - -Ile Rattonneau, 136. - -Iles d'Hyères (see Hyères). - -Iles des Embiez, 202-204. - -Istres, 88, 92-95. - -Iles de Lerins, 309-318. - - -Jouan-les-Pins, 305-307. - - -La Ciotat, 184-189, 414, 429. - -La Condamine, 352, 390, 391. - -La Crau (see Crau, The). - -La Croix, 255. - -La Foux, 259-260, 261, 269, 270. - -La Garde-Freinet, 239, 266-269. - -Laghet, 361-362. - -La Londe, 249. - -Lambesc, 24. - -La Napoule, 233, 269, 283, 288, 289, 290, 292. - -La Revere, 350. - -La Seyne, 207, 208, 213. - -La Turbie, 233, 336, 351, 357-358, 361, 362-366, 367, 368. - -Le Bar, 327-328. - -Le Brusc, 203. - -Le Cannet, 231, 297-298, 301. - -Le Gibel, 181. - -Le Lavandou, 255. - -Le Luc, 221. - -Les Adrets, 294-296. - -Les Aygalades, 134. - -Les Baux, 17, 53-55, 103. - -Les Lèques, 189. - -Les Martigues (see Martigues). - -Les Pennes, 160. - -Les Sablettes, 207. - -Les Saintes Maries, 24, 60-63. - -Les Solliès, 222. - -Le Trayes, 288, 289. - -Lyons, 3, 7, 15, 16, 56, 193, 255, 307, 335, 344, 381. - - -Marignane, 88, 92, 103-106. - -Marseilles, 5, 6, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 25, 27, 31-32, 63, 72, 75, 82, -85, 86, 88, 89, 91, 92, 99, 101, 103, 106, 109, 110, 113, 115, 116, -117-155, 156, 157, 160, 161, 162, 163, 165, 167, 168, 169, 170, 173, -177, 178, 179, 181, 182, 183, 186, 187, 188, 191, 193, 194, 197, 200, -202, 212, 215, 234, 246, 278, 309, 335, 348, 373, 401, 402, 415, 422, -424, 426, 429. - -Martigues, 15, 22, 70-72, 74-86, 87, 88, 92, 98, 104, 105, 113, 115, -120, 160, 178, 402, 416, 425, 429. - -Menton, 19, 191, 228, 229, 230, 233, 235, 236, 237, 245, 344, 351, 352, -358, 366, 368, 391, 394, 398-404, 416, 429. - -Miramas, 88, 95. - -Monaco, 190, 227, 233, 284, 344, 351, 364, 370, 379, 380, 386-388, -390-393, 396-397, 399, 400, 401, 429. - -Monte Carlo, 21, 161, 183, 191, 227, 229, 233-235, 244, 259, 284, 305, -308, 336, 337, 344, 350, 351, 352, 358, 359, 362, 363, 370-386, 388-391, -393-397, 399, 401, 403, 416, 426. - -Montmajour, Abbey of, 38-40. - - -Nice, 18, 20, 21, 22, 191, 195, 212, 221, 229, 231, 236, 237, 245, 249, -254, 255, 259, 284, 290, 309, 314, 321, 324, 326, 332-344, 348-353, 356, -358, 364, 381, 392, 398, 403, 417, 424, 426, 429. - -Nîmes, 5, 6, 22, 31, 73, 103, 276. - - -Ollioules, 194-198. - -Orange, 3-4, 5, 31, 35, 346, 425, 429. - - -Pas-de-Lanciers, 86. - -Passable, 233. - -Pays d'Arles, 24-41. - -Pays de Cavaillon, 24. - -Perpignan, 20. - -Pignans, 221. - -Pont du Gard, 27, 103. - -Pont Flavien, 96. - -Pont St. Louis, 404-406. - -Porquerolles, 240-243. - -Port de Bouc, 73-74, 112-113, 178. - -Port Miou, 182-183. - -Port St. Louis, 63-65, 121. - -Pradet, 239. - -Presqu'ile de Giens, 240, 243-244. - -Puget-Ville, 221. - - -Roquebrune, 19, 351, 358, 363, 366-369, 391, 400. - -Roquefavour, 102-103. - -Roquevaire, 129, 165-167. - - -Sabran, Château de, 204. - -Sainte Baume, 169-173, 294. - -Salon, 99-102, 105, 158, 417, 425. - -Sanary (see St. Nazaire-du-Var). - -Seon-Saint-André, 135. - -Septèmes, 161-162. - -Simiane, 161. - -Six-Fours, 200, 204-207. - -Solliès-Pont, 221, 222-225, 246, 417. - -St. Chamas, 88, 92, 95-97. - -Ste. Croix, Chapelle, 40-41. - -Ste. Maxime, 269-270, 271. - -St. Gilles, 17, 34. - -St. Jean-sur-Mer, 233, 356-357. - -St. Julien, 135. - -St. Mitre, 24, 88. - -St. Nazaire-du-Var, 198-200, 202. - -St. Pierre, 113-115. - -St. Raphaël, 232, 256, 271, 278-281, 283, 285, 286, 288, 290, 417, 429. - -St. Rémy, 5, 42-53, 100, 418, 429. - -St. Tropez, 18, 228, 254, 256-259, 261, 269, 417, 429. - -St. Zacharie, 170. - - -Tamaris, 207, 208-210. - -Tarascon, 24, 25, 26, 27, 429. - -Théoule, 289-290. - -Toulon, 18, 19, 194-195, 202, 204, 207, 208, 211-221, 222, 226, 235, -239, 242, 243, 246, 270, 311, 336, 349, 418, 429. - - -Valence, 3, 12. - -Valesclure, 281. - -Vallauris, 302-304, 310. - -Vaucluse, 24, 25, 43, 101. - -Vence, 326, 345, 425. - -Ventabren, 102-103. - -Vienne, 5. - -Villefranche, 233, 311, 353-356, 358. - -Villeneuve-Loubet, 323-324. - -Vintimille, 351, 400. - - * * * * * - -Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: - -théátre romain=> théâtre romain {pg 35} - -the chapel become a place=> the chapel becomes a place {pg 41} - -toutes les menagères=> toutes les ménagères {pg 85} - -bouillabaise=> bouillabaisse {pg 92} - -goelette=> goélette {pg 92} - -svelt figure=> svelte figure {pg 126} - -little houses glistening white in the sunlight, and red hoofs=> little -houses glistening white in the sunlight, and red roofs {pg 200} - -twenty-three thousands souls=> twenty-three thousand souls {pg 221} - -from St. Raphael to San Remo=> from St. Raphaël to San Remo {pg 232} - -the slow-runing little train=> the slow-running little train {pg 248} - -DANS LE PROPRIÉTÉ=> DANS LA PROPRIÉTÉ {pg 272} - -clientèle élégant du littoral=> clientèle élégante du littoral {pg 304} - -tortuous picturesqueness=> tortuous picturesquenes {pg 310} - -disaproves of=> disapproves of {pg 390} - - - - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Rambles on the Riviera, by Francis Miltoun - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAMBLES ON THE RIVIERA *** - -***** This file should be named 42941-8.txt or 42941-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/9/4/42941/ - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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