diff options
Diffstat (limited to '75369-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 75369-0.txt | 10117 |
1 files changed, 10117 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/75369-0.txt b/75369-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1b4701d --- /dev/null +++ b/75369-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10117 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75369 *** + + + + + + +THE PYRENEES + + +BY THE SAME AUTHOR + + PARIS + MARIE ANTOINETTE + EMMANUEL BURDEN, MERCHANT + A CHANGE IN THE CABINET + HILLS AND THE SEA + ON NOTHING AND KINDRED SUBJECTS + ON EVERYTHING + ON SOMETHING + FIRST AND LAST + THIS AND THAT AND THE OTHER + ON + A PICKED COMPANY + + + + +[Illustration: THE GATE OF THE ROUSILLON + +_H. Belloc, del._] + + + + + THE PYRENEES + + BY + H. BELLOC + + WITH NUMEROUS SKETCHES + BY THE AUTHOR + AND TWENTY-TWO MAPS + + FOURTH EDITION + WITH A NEW PREFACE + + [Illustration] + + METHUEN & CO. LTD. + 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. + LONDON + + _First Published (Demy 8vo)_ _June 3rd 1909_ + _Second Edition_ _June 1916_ + _Third Edition (Crown 8vo)_ _April 1923_ + _Fourth Edition (Crown 8vo)_ _1928_ + + PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN + + + + +TO + +GILBERT MOORHEAD + +IN PIOUS MEMORY OF PAMPLONA, ELIZONDO, THE CANON WHO SHOT QUAILS WITH A +WALKING-STICK, THE IGNORANT HIERARCH, THE CHOCOLATE OF THE AGED WOMAN, +THE ONE-EYED HORSE OF THE PEÑA BLANCA, THE MIRACULOUS BRIDGE, AND THE +UNHOLY VISION OF ST. GIRONS. + + + + +PREFACE + + +The only object of this book is to provide, for those who desire to do +as I have done in the Pyrenees, a general knowledge of the mountains in +which they propose to travel. + +I have paid particular attention to make clear those things which I +myself only learned slowly during several journeys and after much +reading, and which I would like to have been told before I first set +out. I could not pretend within the limits of this book, or with such an +object in view, to write anything in the nature of a Guide, and indeed +there are plenty of books of that sort from which one can learn most +that is necessary to ordinary travel upon the frontier of France and +Spain; but I proposed when I began these few pages to set down what a man +might not find in such books: as—what he should expect in certain inns, +by what track he might best see certain districts, what difficulties he +was to expect upon the crest of the mountains, how long a time crossings +apparently short might take him, what the least kit was which he could +carry into the hills, how he had best camp and find his way and the rest, +what maps were at his disposal, the advantages of each map, its defects, +and so forth. The little of general matter which I have admitted into my +pages—a dissertation upon the physical nature of the chain, and a shorter +division upon its political character—I have strictly limited to what +I thought necessary to that general understanding of a mountain without +which travel upon it would be a poor pleasure indeed. + +If I have admitted such petty details as the times of trains, and the +cost of a journey from London, it is because I have found those petty +details to be of the first importance to myself, as indeed they must be +to all those who have but little leisure. I have in everything attempted +to set down only that which would be really useful to a man on foot +or driving in that country, and only that which he could not easily +obtain in other books. Thus I have carefully set down directions as +minute as possible for finding particular crossings and camping grounds, +for the finding of which the ordinary Guide Book is of no service. My +chief regret is that the book will necessarily be too bulky to carry in +the pocket; for it is meant to be not so much a lively as an accurate +companion to the general exploration of those high hills which have given +me so much delight. + + +PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION + +This third edition of my book on the Pyrenees necessarily suffers +somewhat from the fact that it is published after the interval of the +Great War. + +The book in its original form was written in the course of 1908-09, and +contained a number of particular details on prices, etc., which the war +has completely changed. These I have had to revise _only approximately_, +for the value of the franc still fluctuates violently. But the present +conditions of currency in Europe are not permanent. In other matters the +book is as applicable to the present condition of the Pyrenees as it was +to that thirteen or fourteen years ago. The road system is the same, +and though one or two of the inns may have changed hands, the account +of these I give holds in the main. There have been no new maps issued, +either, since the date on which the book was written. I have not added +anything on the present system of passports, because that also presumably +will be out of date in a short time; but I may mention that at the moment +of writing these lines (September, 1922), it is advisable to have one’s +passport _viséd_ to Spain before visiting the mountains. Even if the +reader has no intention of crossing the frontier he may be compelled to +do so under stress of weather, or he may easily do so by error in the +confusion of the higher valleys, and in the first Spanish town he comes +to his passport is sure to be demanded. + +The train service differs little now from what it was before the war. +The night and day services and the average number of hours required for +approaching the mountains from Paris or London, are again much what they +were fourteen years ago. + + +PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION + +I write this Preface to the Fourth Edition after five years. + +My last note upon this book was written, as the reader will see, for the +Third Edition, in September, 1922. These lines are written in November, +1927. + +When I wrote my Preface to the Third Edition, Europe, its currencies, and +the rest, were still under the heavy disturbances of the Great War. But +things are now more settled, notably currencies. Also a few more years of +peace have given both French and Spaniards the opportunity for building +new roads, and for extending the railway system. + +In the notes I am about to add here I ought to make it clear that I +am writing principally by information rather than by direct personal +experience, and anyone who finds that some point ought to be corrected or +something added, and who will communicate with the publishers, or with +myself care of the publishers, will be doing the future readers of this +book a great service. I am sure to be making some mistakes, and the less +there are in any future edition the better. + +I humbly beg the reader to remember that the book was written in the old +days of peace, “before ever the sons of Achaia came to the land.” It +was also written when I was a young man and could go over any number of +miles on foot in any weather and over pretty well anything—even the worst +steeps of the Canal Roya, though I have no claim to climbing. To-day I +can do none of these things, and have to go by hearsay. I propose to +divide what I have to say into (1) general remarks, (2) additions to +the road system, (3) the (comparatively slight) changes in the railroad +system (including the change in the value of money and present prices of +tickets), (4) changes in inns (here I shall have to be very tentative, +for I have to go mainly by reports), and (5) maps. + + +(1) GENERAL + +The political situation has so developed that it is no longer advisable, +as I formerly said, but _necessary_ to have one’s passport _viséd_ for +Spain before starting for the Pyrenees, even if one has no intention of +crossing the frontier. For, as I said when the book was written, there +are occasions when the traveller on foot in the mountains may cross +the frontier unwittingly, and have to deal with the authorities on the +farther side. To this must be added the consideration that a stricter +central government in Spain, coupled with occasional plots against +it, has made the frontier authorities particularly vigilant. They may +take from a traveller anything which looks like an offensive weapon—an +acquaintance of mine was deprived, for instance, of a very large stick, +and he might have fared worse with a very large knife. It is well to +remember that when you enter Spain by this frontier you are coming in +by its most remote, least peopled, and most difficult area, and that +one must have nothing to explain if one can help it. I mean, of course, +when you enter over the main range; for the two main roads and railways +at either end of the chain by the sea-coasts of the Atlantic and the +Mediterranean are common international highways. + +Another point to remember, which is a small one but now and then, though +very rarely, important to the traveller, is that the variation in the +compass has changed since this book was written. It was written twenty +years ago, and was published nearly nineteen years ago, and since then +the variation of the compass has lessened (for this part of the world) +by something like three degrees. The traveller must further remember +that (though it is not very strictly enforced) there is a new law in +France both for travellers proposing to reside a certain time in the +country and (this is strictly enforced) a daily tax for travellers using +foreign motor-cars in the country; while all the Spanish corresponding +regulations have been tightened up. The wise thing to do, therefore, if +you mean to spend more than a fortnight in these hills on either side +of the border, is to inform yourself thoroughly upon arrival of what +is required of you. You can do it in France easily enough; but as on +the Spanish side the main towns are a long way from the range, you will +do well, if you intend to spend any number of days to the south of the +frontier, to find out at the Spanish Consulate in London or at your +nearest large town what formalities may be needed. + +On the effect of the change in prices I deal elsewhere. But there are two +things to be remembered here, with one of which most people are familiar, +but the other of which most people have not as yet appreciated. The first +is that on the French as on the Spanish side, but much more on the French +side than on the Spanish, the old unit of currency does not mean, in +gold, what it meant when this book was written. + +In France it means _in gold_ only _one-fifth_ at the present apparently +stabilized rate of what it meant when I first put these pages together. +We are on a gold basis in England. A franc used, before the war, to be +nearly 10_d._ It is to-day almost exactly 2_d._ On the Spanish side the +peseta fluctuates somewhat, but at the moment of writing it is well below +thirty (twenty-eight odd), which means that the peseta, once nominally +equal to the franc, is between 8_d._ and 9_d._, or rather more than four +times the present value of the franc. + +But the second point, which is much less generally appreciated, is even +more important to retain. _Prices in gold have changed._ There are all +sorts of views as to the real amount of the change; but I think we are +not very far wrong in basing any calculation of expense upon a basis of +doubling. At any rate, if you do that you will not be disappointed. The +gold franc or gold peseta buys in 1927 more than half as much, but not +much more than half as much, as it did before the war. In other words, +the franc to-day is not in practice half of a fifth, that is, one-tenth, +of what it was before the war, nor is the peseta in practice as little as +fourpence halfpenny compared with prices before the war. You get more for +your money than such a rough rule of thumb would warrant. But remember +that you are getting things cheaper than the strict gold basis would +allow. For instance, I know of one particular inn on the French side of +the frontier, high up in the valleys (it is a very good one and a typical +one), where they charge for food, including wine, and lodging, fifty to +sixty francs a day. You would not have got the same thing for five or six +francs in 1914; but you would have got it for seven or eight. My object +in emphasizing this is to prevent the traveller from thinking that under +modern conditions he is being bled. It is rather the other way. He is +getting things somewhat cheaper still in these mountains than world +prices would warrant. He must expect to pay on the very different scale I +have indicated. + +Lastly, let me add in connexion with prices that, for a variety of +reasons which it would take too long to go into, he must expect a very +distinct rise in general expenses as measured in English exchange when he +passes from French into Spanish territory. He must allow for something +like an increase of a third, and perhaps in the larger towns of a half of +what he pays on the French side. + +Further, when he is looking for anything like luxury, even in the +humblest sense of that term, he must be prepared to pay (e.g. for foreign +wines, or for well-appointed travel by car) nearly double on the Spanish +side what he would have to pay on the French. + +The traveller should remember that there has been a very great expansion +of good roads on the Spanish side compared with what there was when this +book was written, and with that has gone an almost universal system of +motor-buses, which have quite changed travel on the southern side of the +range. He will do well always to ask before trying to go by the slow and +few trains what the motor-bus services are. Thus, in the old days when +this book was written, a man had either to go on foot or by slow horse +vehicles across Roncesvalles to Pamplona. To-day there is a first-rate +service of rapid motor-buses, and he will find that to be the case pretty +well everywhere between the Mediterranean end and the Atlantic. + + +(2) ROADS + +In the matter of new roads a great deal has been done since this book +was written. First and most important, one can go by a good road now +over the Bonaigua. I regret it, but so it is. The road does not, indeed, +follow the old track of adventure from the Noguera to the Upper Garonne. +It goes somewhat to the north of it. But it constitutes, what did not +before exist, a proper crossing supplementary to the two roads of Sallent +and Jaca. It leads down through the hitherto impassable centre of the +range to Lerida, and makes of the Val d’Aran, which used to be a most +secluded pocket, a thoroughfare. + +Next, there is now a road which a motor car can follow from Seo de Urgel +to Andorra the Old. In my time no wheeled vehicle had entered Andorra. +They used to boast also that no man had ever been put to death there by +process of law. I hope that progress has not changed that. + +Next note that there is a road for motors now through Bourg Madame, +through Puigcerdá to Seo, and so down into Spain, and further a +first-class road from Puigcerdá to Barcelona over the Pass by Ripoll, +which I think did not exist when I was a younger man. The main road from +Burguete to Pamplona, cutting off the great corner at Aoiz and passing +through Erro and Larrasoaña, has long been completed; it is now served by +a good service of motor-buses. + +Of secondary roads that up the valley of Salazar reaches as far north +as Izalzu; that up the valley of Roncal as far as Uztarroz. So if you +are crossing the Basque ridge anywhere between St. Jean Pied de Port and +Tardets you will find the beginning of a road on the southern side at +either of these points. + +On the French side there are few important changes. I am afraid that the +very difficult road overhanging the precipices between Argelès and Larunz +has not been made less difficult. It is well called Mount Ugly. If you +care for the experience, it is exciting enough. Nothing, I fear, could +make this road easy without a high parapet at its worst stretch; and that +might be a danger of a new kind, by giving the driver too much confidence. + +There is some secondary extension of the road beyond Gavarnie up to the +frontier. I see it marked: I have not myself tried it. You can get up +from Tardets nowadays by a road both to Ste. Engrace and Larrau, and +there is something of a road up the Arette from Aramitz. For the rest, +I believe there is on the French side no change, but developments were +proposed some little time ago, and if there have been any quite recent +changes which any of my readers can acquaint me with they will oblige me +by mentioning them for a further edition. + + +(3) RAILROADS + +The railroad system is, for the practical purposes of travel, what it was +when I wrote the book so many years ago. But we are on the eve of very +important changes. One cannot yet travel by train under the Pass of the +Somport and so directly to Saragossa from Toulouse or Bordeaux. But the +tunnel has long been completed, the rails are being laid—indeed, perhaps +at the moment of writing they may be already in position. I cannot find +out from the authorities when they think the first train will go through. +Perhaps they do not know themselves. It is amusing to hear that the +tunnel is now continually used by foot-passengers, who are escorted in +a gang and who (so I am assured) have their passports examined in the +bowels of the earth, some thousands of feet below the summit of the main +ridge. + +The railway from Ax over the Hospitalet is in a more backward +state—hardly more than surveyed—and I know not when it is designed to +open. On the other hand, the through railway by the Cerdagne is now +virtually completed; there are only a few hundred yards to be finished; +one still has to go in a vehicle or walk from Puigcerdá station to Bourg +Madame, a matter of a mile or so; but whenever the authorities choose one +can have through traffic through this very fine piece of scenery round +from Perpignan to Ripoll and Barcelona. + +I append what may be of use, though of course it is a changeable thing, +a note on the main trains for approaching the Pyrenees as the time-table +now stands, with the prices under the new currency and their equivalents +in English money; this time-table changes of course, and inquiry must +always be made, but the main trains (e.g. the Sud Express) are much the +same year after year. + +The three main lines of approach to the Pyrenees remain what they were +when this book was written, the western one by Bordeaux, the central one +by Toulouse, the eastern one by Lyons, Nîmes, and Perpignan. Of these the +first is the most rapid; and of the two routes to Bordeaux—the State Line +and the Orleans Line—the latter is the quicker. The day train leaves at +8.8 in the morning from the Quai d’Orsay, and gets you to Pau, which is +the jumping-off place for the Western Pyrenees, at 10.45 at night. The +distance is a little over five hundred miles; the cost, with the franc +apparently stabilized at 124 at the time of writing, is just over 250 +francs second class, just over 370 francs first class, and not quite 165 +third class, that is, about £1 7_s._ 6_d._ to £1 8_s._ English third +class from Paris, about £2 2_s._ second class, and about £3 2_s._ first +class. If you are making a very short stay in the Pyrenees it may pay +you to take a return ticket, the duration of which varies on the French +lines with the length of your journey. In this case it would give you +about ten days, counting the day on which you leave Paris. There are all +sorts of arrangements on the French lines for round trip tickets, family +tickets, etc., at reduced prices, but on these one must get information +specially from an agency or the French tourist office in London or the +main stations in Paris. + +Going first class and paying a supplementary price of about £1 4_s._ to +£1 5_s._ and changing at Dax, into an ordinary first class, one can go +from Paris by the Sud Express leaving the Quai d’Orsay at 10 a.m. and get +to Pau at 8.30 in the evening. + +If you are making for the extreme west of the range at St. Jean Pied de +Port, the same trains get you, the one to Bayonne, where you must sleep, +at 9.45 at night, and the other, the Sud Express, without changing, at +7.45 p.m. + +Next morning there is a train on at 8, and another at 11.30, for St. +Jean, the first getting in at 9.45, the other at 1.15. The distance from +Bayonne to Paris is about 485 miles, and the cost therefore, rather less +to Pau, being 350 francs (about) first class, 235 or 236 second class, +and 154 third class. + +The night trains by this line are the 7.10 (which has no third class), +which gets you to Pau at 7.20 the next morning; there is a luxury train +with supplementary payments for sleeping berth which gets you there no +earlier, but has the advantage of giving you time to dine in Paris. It +does not start till 8.40; however, it costs nearly £2 more than the first +class fare to Pau. Another night train with third classes in it starts at +9.50, gets you to Bordeaux at 7 in the morning (where you have nearly +half an hour for coffee) and to Pau for lunch just after noon. + +The Central Line leading to Toulouse is a very slow one because it has to +go over the central mountains of France. You start from the Quai d’Orsay +also at 10.20 in the morning, and you do not get to Toulouse till just on +10.30 at night. The fares are 142 francs third class, 218 second class, +and 324 first class. + +The two night trains are, one at 7.50, the other at 9.15—the latter with +sleepers if required; the first gets into Toulouse at 8.30 the next +morning, the other at 9.15. + +From Toulouse you have a choice of three ways: to the Central Pyrenees, +to the Valley of the Ariège and Ax, which is to the west, and to Narbonne +and so to Perpignan on the Mediterranean at the extreme east of the range. + +The first is a distance of about 100 miles to Tarbes, or another 12 miles +on to Lourdes. + +The second, about 75 miles, but with only one fast train a day, a morning +one, at 9, getting you to Ax at 11.40, in time for lunch; while the third +one is the main through line with plenty of trains, but a distance of 125 +miles. On the other hand, it has the fastest trains. For instance, you +can leave Toulouse at 9.30 and be in Perpignan by 1.30. + +As for the line by Lyons, it is a long way round and not to be taken +unless you want to see anything on the way. On the other hand, it has +the best service of fast trains. The best morning train is the 9 o’clock +from P.L.M. station in Paris, which gets you to Avignon at 7.45 in the +evening, and there you must sleep, going on next morning to Perpignan. +You usually have to change at Tarascon. It is the better part of two +days, for save in the case of one train, there is another change at +Narbonne. There is no need to dwell on this line, as no one would take +it for the Pyrenees unless they were visiting other places on the way, +such as Nîmes or Narbonne. The cost also is about thirty per cent greater +than by the more direct line. + + +(4) INNS + +The little I have to say on the changes in the inns since the first +edition of this book was published must be very tentative, as I have to +depend upon reports of others, save for a certain amount of recent travel +at the two ends of the range. Most of the old recommendations still +stand. Gabas is what it always was, and the Golden Lion of Perpignan as +admirable as it has been for these thirty years and more. The inn at +Burguete and that of Val Carlos have been somewhat modernized since the +new motor-bus service began, but they are still excellent. An inn I did +not mention in the first edition on the Spanish side of the range, in +Catalonia, is that of Ribas Prattes, standing over the torrent, and one +where I, at least, have always been very comfortable. Since the opening +of the new road and railway over the Sierra del Cadi it has become +unfortunately rather famous, and it is not cheap; but the people treat +you charmingly, and that is a great thing. + +At Bourg Madame I have quite recently found myself very comfortable +at Salvat. I am told that the principal inn at Andorra is rather more +sophisticated since the motor road has been built to the town, but is +still as good as it was in the old days. Of course the cooking and +everything else is Catalan; and I am talking from hearsay, as I have not +been to Andorra for many years. + +As you stop at Bayonne on your way you will find good meals at the Grand +Brasserie facing the end of the bridge, while the hotel for sleeping is +the Capagorry; at least that is my favourite, though there is also the +rather more expensive Grand Hotel. + +Nearly all the places on which I have made inquiries seem to have +maintained the old service intact. You still have the Mur in Jaca, and +the more primitive but hospitable inn of Canfranc; and the little inn +at Urdos, where I stopped some years ago, is passable enough, though I +still recommend as a base the Hotel de la Poste lower down the valley at +Bédous. By the way, if you do stop at Urdos, beware of the drinking water +which for some reason is not very safe—or was not. + +Before leaving these very brief notes I should like to emphasize again +for travellers the change in prices. On the whole, they are lower, +reckoning the real purchasing value of money, than they were in the old +days. + +Thus, the place I know best, and where I have stopped most often, is +charging now as a regular _pension_ per day in francs including wine, +and counting in francs, six times what it charged before the war. Now +the nominal value of the franc in gold is only a fifth of what it was +before the war, and the purchasing power of gold is very nearly half, +so a multiple of six means that you are getting your board and lodging +really cheaper than you did in 1913; but I know it is difficult to +persuade people of this, just as it is difficult to persuade people in +England that railway fares and postage at home are really less than they +were before the war. At any rate, those who may have had experience +of the Pyrenees before the war may roughly multiply by six for the +present price, at least in modest places; and in some cases by less. +Of course in the very large hotels in places like Bagnères you may be +charged anything. But they are places which I never go to and on which I +therefore can give no advice. + +It remains, by the way, as true as ever that on the French side of the +range you must always ask the price of your room before taking it, and on +the Spanish side be quite clear as to whether the price quoted is for the +room and all the day’s meals including wine (as is the national custom) +or for only a part. On both sides of the frontier service is usually +included in the bill nowadays at 10 per cent on the total, and it is +foolish to pay anything more. + + +(5) MAPS + +The war interfered with map-making in France so much that recovery is +only beginning, and the revision of the main surveys is still in arrears. +What I have said, however, in this book still stands for the most part. + +I append a list of the maps recommended, with their prices, to be +obtained from Messrs Sifton, Praed & Co., The Map House, 67, St. James’s +Street, S.W. 1. + +With regard to this list I would make the following comment: + +(1) This is the standard French ordnance map, the one most necessary for +the pedestrian, especially if he is dealing only with a limited area. + +(2) This is the map for motoring and road work. + +(3) This is the map for climbers, but unfortunately the first three +sheets have been allowed to go out of print. I hear that there is some +hope of a reprint being made, and on my next visit to the publishers I +will urge them to advance it. The map was made years ago for Messrs. +Barrere, and is very useful on account of its numerous contours. + +(4) is to be reckoned with (3). + +(5) This is the general map for a conspectus of the whole range. + +(6) I have not seen this map, but it can be obtained from the firm +mentioned above. It is I believe detailed and exceedingly useful, but as +yet only applies to this small section of the mountain. + +(7) The Michelin map is a motoring map, but contains a great deal of +useful information, and is very accurate as to motoring roads. + +(8) The Taride is a much rougher map, with general indications; not so +accurate as the Michelin, but useful for long tours. + +With this said I append the list. + + (1) 1/100,000 France, covering the Pyrenees in 27 sheets. Price + 1_s._ per sheet unmounted; mounted on cloth to fold for the + pocket, 2_s._ 6_d._ per sheet. + + (2) 1/200,000 France. 7 sheets. Price, 2_s._ each unmounted; + mounted on cloth to fold, 4_s._ 6_d._ each. Sheet 69 mounted + on cloth to fold, 4_s._ + + (3) Schrader’s map of the Pyrenees Centrales par F. Schrader. + Sheets 4, 5, 6 only available. The three northern sheets 1, + 2, 3 are out of print. + + (4) Schrader’s map “Massif de Gavarnie et du Mont Perdu,” Scale + 1/2000. Paper, folded in cover. Price, 2_s._ 6_d._ + + (5) Touring Club de France. Scale 1/400,000. Two sheets cover + the whole of the Pyrenees. Mounted on cloth to fold for the + pocket, 5_s._ each. + + (6) Mapa Militar de Espana. Sheet 86 and part of 62. Seo de Urgel. + This is the only sheet published so far of the Pyrenees. + Price, 2_s._ 6_d._ unmounted; mounted on cloth to fold, 4_s._ + 6_d._ + + (7) Carte Routière Michelin. Scale 1/200,000. Two sheets cover + the whole of the Pyrenees on the French side. Mounted to fold, + 4_s._ each. + + (8) Taride Road Maps. Scale 4 miles to 1 inch. Two sheets cover + the whole of the Pyrenees. Paper, folded in cover, 2_s._ each. + Mounted on cloth to fold, 5_s._ each. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAP. PAGE + + I. THE PHYSICAL NATURE OF THE PYRENEES 1 + + II. THE POLITICAL CHARACTER OF THE PYRENEES 36 + + III. MAPS 59 + + IV. THE ROAD SYSTEM OF THE PYRENEES 79 + + V. TRAVEL ON FOOT IN THE PYRENEES 106 + + VI. THE SEPARATE DISTRICTS OF THE PYRENEES 144 + + i. The Basque Valleys 145 + + ii. The Four Valleys (Béarn and Aragon) 155 + + iii. Sobrarbe 167 + + iv. The Tarbes Valleys and Luchon 179 + + v. Andorra and the Catalan Valleys 187 + + vi. Cerdagne 199 + + vii. The Tet and Ariège 204 + + viii. The Canigou 210 + + VII. INNS OF THE PYRENEES 217 + + VIII. THE APPROACHES TO THE PYRENEES 234 + + INDEX 239 + + + + +LIST OF MAPS + + + FACING PAGE + + GENERAL SKETCH MAP OF THE PYRENEES 1 + + THE BASQUE VALLEYS 154 + + THE FOUR VALLEYS 166 + + THE PASSAGE OVER THE COL DE LA CRUZ AND THE COL DE GISTAIN 174 + + THE SOBRARBE 178 + + THE TARBES VALLEYS AND LUCHON 186 + + THE CATALAN VALLEYS AND ANDORRA 198 + + THE CERDAGNE 202 + + THE ARIÈGE AND TET VALLEYS 208 + + THE CANIGOU 216 + + THE GATE OF THE ROUSSILLON _Frontispiece_ + + + + +[Illustration: GENERAL SKETCH MAP OF THE PYRENEES] + + + + +THE PYRENEES + + + + +I + +THE PHYSICAL NATURE OF THE PYRENEES + + +[Illustration] + +To use for travel or for pleasure a great mountain system, the first +thing necessary is to understand its structure and its plan; to this +understanding must next be added an understanding of its appearance, +climate, soil, and, as it were, habits, all of which lend it a character +peculiar to itself. + +These two approaches to the comprehension of a mountain system may be +called the approaches to its physical nature; and when one has the +elements of that nature clearly seized, one is the better able to +comprehend the human incidents attached to it. + +From an appreciation of this physical basis one must next proceed to a +general view of the history of the district—if it has a history—and of +the modern political character resulting from it. At the root of this +will be found the original groups or communities which have remained +unchanged in Western Europe throughout all recorded time. These groups +are sometimes distinguishable by language, more often by character. +Changes of philosophy profoundly affect them; changes of economic +circumstance, though affecting them far less, do something to render the +problem of their continuity complex: but upon an acquaintance with the +living men concerned, it is always possible to distinguish where the +boundaries of a country-side are set; and the permanence of such limits +in European life is the chief lesson a deep knowledge of any district +conveys. + +The recorded history of the inhabitants lends to these hills their only +full meaning for the human being that visits them to-day; nor does anyone +know, nor half know, any country-side of Europe unless he possesses not +only its physical appearance and its present habitation, but the elements +of its past. + +These things established, one can turn to the details of travel and +explain the communications, the difficulties, and the opportunities +attaching to various lines of travel. In the case of a mountain range, +the greater part of this last will, of course, for modern Englishmen, +consist in some account of wilder travel upon foot, and the sense of +exploration and of discovery which the district affords. + +Such are the lines to be followed in this book, and, first, I will begin +by laying down the plan and contours of the Pyrenees. + + * * * * * + +The first impression reached by modern and educated men when they +consider a mountain system is one over-simple. This over-simplicity +is the necessary result of our present forms of elementary education, +and has been well put by some financial vulgarian or other (with the +intention of praise) when he called it “Thinking in Maps,” or, “Thinking +Imperially”; for the maps in a man’s head when he first approaches a new +range are the maps of the schoolroom. + +Thus one sees the Sierra Nevada in California as one line, the Cascade +Range as another parallel to it. The Alps and the Himalayas alike arrange +themselves into simple curves, arcs of a circle with a great river +for the cord. The Atlas is a straight line cutting off the northern +projection of Africa, the Apennines are a straight line running down the +centre of Italy. Such are the first geographic elements present in the +mind. + +The next impression, however, the impression gathered in actual travel, +or in a detailed study, is one of mere confusion, a confusion the more +hopeless on account of the false simplicity of the original premise. +Deductions from that premise are perpetually at variance with the +observed facts of travel or of study, the exceptions become so numerous +as to swamp the rule, and an original misconception upon the main +character of the chain prevents a new and more accurate synthesis of +its general aspect. Thus, the conception of the Cascade Range upon the +Pacific Coast of the United States as parallel and separate from the +Sierras, confuses one’s view of all the district round Shasta, and of +all the watersheds south of the Mohave where the two systems merge; or +again, one who has only thought of the Alps as a mere arc of a circle +misconceives, and is bewildered by the nature, the appearance, and the +whole history of the great re-entrant angles of the Val d’Aosta with +its Gallic influences; the anomaly of the Adige Valley will not permit +him to explain its political fortunes, and the outlying arms which have +preserved the independence of Swiss institutions upon the southern slope +will not fall into his view of the mountains. + +This confusion, I say, is not due so much to the multitude of detail as +to the permanent effect of an original strong and over-simple conception +remaining in the mind as it continues to accumulate increasing but +sporadic knowledge of a particular district; and it is a confusion in +which those who have formed such an erroneous conception commonly remain. + +In order to avoid such confusion and to allow one’s increasing knowledge +a frame wherein to fit, it is essential to grasp in one scheme the few +elementary lines which underlie a mountain system, and such a scheme will +be a trifle more complex than the too simple scheme usually presented, +but once one has it one can appreciate the place of every irregularity in +the structure of the whole chain of hills. + +In the case of the Pyrenees the common error of too great simplicity +may be easily stated. These mountains are regarded as a wall separating +France from Spain, and running direct from sea to sea. Such an aspect +of the range will more and more confuse the traveller and reader the +more he studies the actual shape of the valleys. Another picture should +occupy the mind, and it will presently be seen that with this picture +permanently fixed as a framework for the whole system, an increased +knowledge of its details does but expand the sense of unity originally +conveyed. The Pyrenees must not be regarded as a sharp heaped ridge +forming a single watershed between the plains of Gaul and those of +Northern Spain, and running east and west from the Atlantic to the +Mediterranean. They form a system, the watershed of which does not +exactly stretch from one sea to the other. The axis of it does not +consist of one line; the general direction is not due east. The axis of +the Pyrenean chain is built up of two main lines, of approximately equal +length: the one running south of east from a point at some distance from +the Atlantic, the other north of west from a point right on the shores of +the Mediterranean. These two lines do not meet. They miss by over eight +miles, and the gap between them is joined by a low saddle. + +[Illustration: PLAN A.] + +The first of these lines starts from a point (Mount Urtioga) 25 miles +south of the corner made by the Bay of Biscay at Irun, and some 15 miles +west of its meridian; it runs about 9° 15′ south of east to the peak +called Sabouredo, the last of the Maladetta group, the direct distance +from which to Mount Urtioga is precisely 200 kilometres, or 124 miles. +The second runs from Cape Cerberus on the Mediterranean to a peak called +the Pic-de-l’homme, which stands a trifle over 12 kilometres, or 7¾ +miles, north of the Sabouredo; its direction is 9° 25′ north of west, and +the total length of this second line is just over 190 kilometres, or 117 +miles. + +[Illustration: PLAN B.] + +The simplest scheme, then, in which we can regard the Pyrenees, is as a +system of not quite parallel lines of equal length, running one towards +the other, but missing by not quite 8 miles; the gap or “fault” joined by +a zigzag saddle on the watershed. The westernmost of these lines splits +into several branches before it reaches the Atlantic, so that the true +western end of the chain lies well to the south and east of that ocean +(at Mount Urtioga); the other starts from, and forms a projection in, the +Mediterranean. The full distance as the crow flies from Mount Urtioga +to Cape Cerberus upon the Mediterranean is 390 kilometres, that is 241 +miles. And there is but 10 kilometres, or 6½ miles, difference in length +between the two halves of the chain. + +If U be the point called Mount Urtioga, S the Sabouredo, L the +Pic-de-l’homme, and C Cape Cerberus, these two lines and the gap between +them will lie precisely as in this plan. + +With this main guide by which to judge the structure of the chain, all +details will be found to fit in, and the two first variations which we +must superimpose upon so general a view, are to be found in the “step” or +“corner” formed by the watershed round the Pic d’Anie. The southward turn +of the range is here not gradual but sharp, and the Somport, the pass at +the head of the Val d’Aspe, lies almost a day’s going below the Port St. +Engrace, which is the Pass near the Pic d’Anie. Next, one should note the +two re-entrant angles, one to the north of the chain, one to the south, +which distinguish the Spanish valley of the Gallego and the French valley +of the Gave de Pau respectively. These features modify the simplicity of +the first or western branch of the chain; one exceptional feature only +modifies the second or Eastern branch, and this is the deep re-entrant +wedge of the Ariège valley upon the French side. We may therefore regard +the elements of the watershed somewhat according to the sketch plan B on +the preceding page. + +[Illustration: PLAN C.] + +The details of the watershed when they are given in full are of course +indefinitely more numerous and complicated, and it may be of advantage +for those who would understand the structure of the Pyrenees to glance +also at the plan opposite where the dotted line represents the exact +trace of the watershed, the dark lines the simple structure described +above. + +[Illustration: PLAN D.] + +The watershed then should be regarded as the chief feature in the range, +and as the backbone of the whole system. Geologically, it is not the +foundation of the range. Geologically, the range was piled up by the +junction of a number of short separate ranges, each of which ran with a +sharper south-eastern dip (about 30°) than does the present long line +of saddles which has joined them and forms the existing watershed, and +probably the process of the formation of the Pyrenees was upon the model +sketched in the following diagram. + +But for the purpose of understanding the Pyrenees as they now are, it is +the existing watershed which we must consider, and that runs as I have +said. + +Next, the rule should be laid down that the Pyrenees must be separately +considered on their northern and upon their southern slopes. It will be +seen later that the physical and historical contrast between the two +sides of the mountains is sometimes acute and sometimes slight, but the +contrast between the general contour upon either side is such as to make +it impossible to unite both in one similar system. + +The Northern slope of the Pyrenees is narrow and precipitous. The plains +are for the greater part of its length clearly separated from the +mountains; the easy country in some places (at St. Girons, for instance, +and in the Flats between Lourdes and Tarbes) is not 20 miles as the crow +flies from the highest peaks. + +On the Spanish side, on the contrary, the mountainous district will run +from two to three times that distance. Its extreme width between the open +country at the foot of the Sierra Monsech and the Salau Pass is over 60 +miles, and it is nowhere less than two days’ good journey on foot from +the summits to the plains. + +This differentiation between the northern and the southern slopes is not +merely one of width, it is due to profound differences in the contours +which make the Spanish side of the system a different type of mountain +group from the French. For, on the French side the Pyrenees consist +in a series of great ribs or buttresses running up from the plains +perpendicularly to the main heights of the range, and it is between these +ribs or buttresses that the separate and highly distinct valleys which +are the characteristic habitations of the French Basques and Béarnais +lie. On the Spanish side the main structure is in folds _parallel_ to +the watershed; the lateral valleys descending from the watershed run +southward for but a very short distance, they come, within a few miles, +upon high east-and-west ridges which sometimes rival the main range +itself in height and which succeed each other like waves down to the +plains of the Ebro. The contrast in structure north and south of the +watershed may be expressed in the formula of this plan. A man looking at +the Pyrenees from the French towns at their base sees in one complete +view a belt of steep rising slopes, and a long fairly even line of +summits against the sky. A man looking at the range from the Spanish +plains can only in a few rare places so much as catch sight of the main +range. In far the greater number of such views he will have before him +a high ridge which masques the country beyond. If, then, the reader or +the traveller regards the French slope as being essentially a series of +profound valleys parallel to each other and running north and south, he +will have grasped the main aspect of this side of the range. If he will +regard the Spanish slope as a series of parallel outliers which begin +quite close to the watershed, and which, though falling at last into the +plains of the Ebro, are, even the most southern of them, of considerable +height, he will have grasped the structure of the Pyrenees upon the side +which looks towards the sun. + +[Illustration: PLAN E.] + +To these two main aspects the reader must again admit considerable +modifications, the first of which concerns the French side. + +[Illustration: PLAN F.] + +This Northern slope and its valleys, of which the sketch map over page +indicates the general arrangement, may be divided into two sections: +the first a western section, the second an eastern one, and these two +are separated at A-B by a division roughly corresponding to the “fault” +between the two axes, which, as we have seen, determine the lie of the +range. + +From the first, or western axis, descend with a regular parallelism, +eight valleys. Each valley bifurcates in its higher part into two main +ravines, and a whole system of minor streams, spread over an indefinite +number of tortuous dales and gullies, attach to each valley. + +There is a mark or limit for each of these western French valleys, +which is the spot where it debouches upon the open country. Thus the +Gave d’Ossau falls into the Gave d’Aspe at Oloron; nevertheless the two +valleys must be regarded as separate, because the meeting of the two +streams takes place in the open plain. On the other hand the valley of +Baigorry, and the neighbouring valley of St. Jean, though containing two +large separate streams, must be treated as one system, because these +streams meet at Eyharee near Ossés, and the open plain is not reached +before a point some miles further down beyond Canbo. + +The test, though it may sound arbitrary upon paper, is quite easily +appreciated in the landscape, and the separate valleys are more clearly +marked, perhaps, than those of any other European mountain chain. + +These eight valleys (see plan G over page), going from west to east, +are first that of the Nive (the bifurcations of which give St. Jean +and the Baigorry), next that of the Gave-de-Mauléon (Larrau and Ste. +Engrace), and both of these are Basque; next comes the valley of the +Gave d’Aspe (with the bifurcation of Lourdios and Urdos), up which went +the main Roman road into Spain and which is the first of the Béarnese +valleys; next is the Val d’Ossau (with the bifurcation of Gabas and the +lac d’Arrius), next the valley of the Gave de Pau (with the bifurcations +of Cauterets and Gavarnie), next the valley of Bigorre, a short valley +bifurcating in two minor streams at its head. Next, or seventh, comes the +Val d’Aure, with Vielle upon its western bifurcation and Bordères upon +its eastern; and lastly the bifurcated valley of the Garonne, whose level +and deep floor comes nearest of all to the main chain, and holds on the +west Luchon, on a branch called the Pique, on the east Viella in the Val +d’Aran. + +[Illustration: PLAN G.] + +[Illustration: PLAN H.] + +Once past this point, the structure of the hills along the eastern run +of the broken Pyrenean axis changes. The mountains here are penetrated +by only two valleys, but each is much longer and more important than +any of the eight just mentioned, and these two great valleys run, not +parallel to each other, nor north and south as do the eight western ones, +but at a steep slant: the one (that of the Ariège) goes westward, and +the other (that of the Tet) eastward. Save for these two main valleys no +regular features can be discovered in the eastern portion; all is here a +labyrinth of dividing and subdividing lateral ridges, and the only thing +giving unity to the group is this system of two great trenches which run +up towards each other, the one from the Plain of Toulouse, the other +from that of Perpignan, to meet on the high land of the Carlitte group. +Strictly speaking, the western valley is not wholly that of the Ariège, +but those of the Ariège and Oriège combined, and it is further remarkable +that no regular passage exists from the one depression to the other, but +by a curious topographical accident, which will be described later in the +book, the crossing from the Ariège to the Tet has to be made by going +over on to the south side of the range, and then back again on to the +north side. + +The importance of these two main valleys upon the eastern half of +the northern slope of the Pyrenees is sufficiently evident from the +historical fact that each determines a great historical district: the +one, that of the Ariège, was the country of _Foix_, the other, that of +the Tet, was the _Rousillon_. And while the eight small western valleys +running parallel to each other separate local customs and dialect alone, +the ridge of the Ariège and the Tet may almost be said to have separated +two nationalities, and owed ultimate allegiance for a thousand years, the +one to a Gallic, the other to an Iberian lord. + +Beyond the valley of the Tet and eastward of the Canigou runs the little +fag end of the range, which falls into the sea at Cape Cerberus, and is +called the “Alberes.” Here there is but little distinction between the +northern and the southern side, the general shape of a sharp ridge is +maintained throughout, but the height lowers more and more as the sea is +approached. These hills are everywhere passable; the ancient road into +Spain which crosses them, should count, geographically and historically, +rather as a road crossing round the Pyrenees at their sea end, than as a +road crossing the chain. + + * * * * * + +A Pyrenean valley upon the French side always presents the same main +characteristic, and this is true not only of the main valleys, but of the +innumerable lateral valleys which ramify from the main valleys in all +directions. + +The characteristic of these French Pyrenean valleys is that they are +sharply divided by very narrow gorges into two or more level basins. +These level basins in the smaller valleys and on the high levels where +there is pasturage and no habitation are called “Jasses”; the large and +low ones are called “Plains” or “Plans”; but they are the same in their +essential feature, which is a level floor more or less wide, bounded +by the steep hills upon either side, and ending and beginning with a +rocky gate through which the valley stream cascades. The whole formation +suggests the former existence of great and small lakes, which burst their +way through the gorges at some remote time (as in plan I below). + +[Illustration: PLAN I.] + +These gorges are very rarely of any length, a point in which the Pyrenees +differ from the Alps. Here and there, especially in the limestone +formations, you do get long and difficult passages. One, the Cacouette +in the Western Pyrenees, in the upper waters of the Gave-de-Mauléon, is +not only very profound but absolutely impassable, like the Black Cañon +of Colorado, but it does not lead from one part of a valley to another. +It occupies the whole of the upper valley; and in general, you will not +find a Pyrenean stream running, as do the Alpine streams, for some miles +between precipices. + +Each main valley has a clearly marked mouth where it debouches upon the +plain; by this I do not mean that perfectly flat land comes up to and +meets the hills in every case; on the contrary, at the mouth of most of +these valleys are moraines left by old glaciers, but I mean that the +character and aspect of the hills visibly and immediately changes, and +that each of the valleys has a distinct final “gate” where it meets the +lowlands, just as a river will meet the sea at a definite mouth. Now each +of these openings has its characteristic town. Mauléon, for instance, is +at the mouth of the last Basque valley, Oloron at the mouth of the Val +d’Aspe, Lourdes at the mouth of the valley of Argelès, etc. + +Further, these towns at the mouths of the valleys have invariably chosen +for their site, whether they be prehistoric or mediæval, some rock on +which to build a citadel; and in every case a castle is still to be found +holding that rock. Lourdes, Foix, Mauléon are excellent examples of this. + +Higher up the valley, the first plain above the mouth will, as a rule, +contain the first mountain town. Thus Argelès lies above Lourdes, Bédous +and Accous above Oloron, Laruns in the first flat of the Val d’Ossau, etc. + +According to the length of the valley and the number and size of the +Jasses, there may be one or more such towns enclosed by the mountain +sides; thus in the valley of Lourdes we have Argelès, and above it Luz; +in the valley of Soule we have Tardets above Mauléon, and higher still +we have Licq. But all the valleys, whether they contain one or more of +these upland towns, have, just under the last watershed, a hamlet or +village usually giving its name to the Port or Col—that is _the Pass into +Spain_—above it, and the reason of this is evident enough; habitations +were necessary as a place of departure and arrival for the crossing of +the mountains. Of such are Gavarnie, Urdos, Morens, and the rest. These +high villages have least history, least wealth, and until recently had +the worst communications. For much the greater part of the year they are +lost in snow, and there was an interval between the making of the great +roads and the beginning of modern tourist travel when they were in peril +of destruction. The new great roads drew away wealth and visitors from +all but a very few, and but for the beginning of modern mountaineering +they had hopelessly decayed. Even so famous a place as Gavarnie, the +best known of all the valley heads, was dying in the middle of the +century. There are days now when it is at the other extreme: fine days +in August when, for the crowd of rich people, you might be at Tring or +at some reception of the late Whittaker Wright’s. Even to-day, one or +two of them, however clean or kindly, are odd in the way of poverty. I +have known one where they had no butter and never had had any butter, and +another where I was charged 8_d._ instead of 5_d._ for a bed because it +was the season. + +The typical Spanish valley differs, in the centre of the Chain at least, +from the typical French valley. With the exception of Andorra (which +reminds one in all features of the French side; for it has the same +enclosed plain, the same steps and rocky gorges between, the same Jasses, +and the same arrangement of towns and villages) the greater part of the +valleys, whether Catalan or Aragonese, are not only broader and their +streams larger than on the French side, but their arrangement also is +different, most of them lack wide pasturages, nearly all of them lack +enclosed plains, and there has been no motive to penetrate them since the +building of the new roads, for travel upon this road is rare. The Spanish +valley, therefore, often many days’ walking in length, never direct, +and forming a sort of little province to itself, will have towns and +villages scattered in it, haphazard and thinly. Very often a considerable +town will be found at the very end of the valley, as Esterri in that of +the Noguera Pallaresa, or Venasque in that of the Esera. The lateral +communications from one Spanish valley to the next are usually more +difficult than those between the French valleys; for many months they +are impossible, and there is no such general arrangement of towns on the +plain holding the approaches to the valleys as in France, for the reason +that the whole plan of the mountains on the Spanish side is far more +troubled and irregular. + +Thus the first town of the Aragon is Jaca; but Jaca is right in the +mountains, and nothing at the outlet of the hills 50 or 60 miles down the +valley makes a head town for Jaca. Jaca is a bishopric on its own. On the +Gallego there is nothing but a succession of villages of which Sallent +right up at the head of the valley is among the largest: it is almost a +little town and so is Biescas close by. The Cinca and the Esera have +indeed a town upon the plains at Barbastro, but the Noguera Ribagorzana +has none, nor has its sister the Noguera Pallaresa, while the Segre has +its bishopric and chief town right up in the highest hills at Urgel, and +there is nothing to compare with that town until you get to Balaguer. + + * * * * * + +The southern side of the watershed differs greatly in general structure +from the northern, and must be separately recorded. + +There are indeed certain accidental similarities. The enclosed valley of +Andorra to the south recalls the enclosed valley of Bédous or Accous to +the north, and the very high first miles of the torrents, just under the +main range, do not differ much whether they are found on the north or on +the south side of the mountain. But the general plan and contour of the +range presents a great contrast on either side. The main feature of the +southern slope is, as I have said, a series of parallel ranges pushing +out like ramparts in front of the main heights. If you follow a French +valley (on the western part of the Pyrenees at least) you will find it +running fairly north and south to the point where it debouches upon the +plain some 20, or 25 miles at most, from the watershed. + +A Spanish valley will at first appear to have the same character, but +just when you think you are in sight of the plains (for instance, just +after leaving Canfranc upon the banks of the Upper Aragon) you see—beyond +the first lines of flat country, and barring the view like a great +wall—another high range: in this case the Sierra de la Peña, the ridge of +rock which takes its name from the “Peña-de-Oroel,” a mountain with its +eastern end just above Jaca. Beyond this again you have the San Domingo +ridge, and to the east of it, another running also east and west, the +Sierra de Guara. + +Pamplona again is situated at the mouth of a true Pyrenean valley (that +of the Arga), not very different from the valleys to the north. It stands +also on a plain, but immediately in front of it runs another range of +hills, and if you climb these, you find yet another, strictly parallel +and straight, standing before you and masking the approach to the Ebro. +This formation in parallel outliers continues as far east as the Segre +valley, that is for full three-quarters of the length of the Spanish +Pyrenees, and in a sense it continues even further east than the river +Segre; for the Sierra del Cadi, though it joins on to the main ridge +at one point, is essentially an outlier in slope and formation. This +parallel formation sometimes comes quite close to the central range, +as, for instance, in the Colorado peaks close to Sallent and Panticosa, +and the long ridge to the south of Vielsa and El Plan. Indeed the +characteristics of Sobrarbe, as this country-side is called, consist in +these long parallel ridges. + +One result of this formation is, as I have said above, that the river +valleys do not run straight, as they do to the north of the range, +but are thrust round at right angles when they come up against these +ridges. Sometimes they will eat their way through a ridge, as do the two +Nogueras, and the Arga itself south of Pamplona; but the greater part of +the rivers on the Spanish side suffer the diversion of which I speak, +and none more than the river Aragon, which gives its name to the whole +central kingdom; for the Aragon, after having run south and straight for +a few miles, like any northern river, suddenly turns westward, and runs +under the foot to Sierra de la Peña for two days’ march. According to its +first direction, it should fall into the Ebro somewhere near Saragossa; +as a fact it does not come in until far above Tudela. + +Another result of the formation is that the mountain tangle stretches +much further on the Spanish side than it does upon the French. If you +stand upon the Pass of Salau where the French have made, and the Spanish +are making, a high road, you have before you to the north, at a distance +of less than 10 miles, the railway and a fairly open valley. Fifteen +miles at the most, as the crow flies, you have the main line and the true +lowlands at St. Girons. But if you turn and look out in the opposite +direction over the valley of Esterri and the higher Noguera Pallaresa, +you are looking over 60 miles of mountain land. From the high ridge, +which is your standpoint, to the summit of El-Monsech, which is the final +rampart of the hills beyond the plains of Lerida, is more than 50 miles, +and the slopes of that rampart take you nearly another 10. + +A further consequence of this formation is that communications are very +difficult to the south of the Pyrenees. The traveller naturally ascribes +the lack of communications to the character of Spanish government. +It is not wholly due to a moral, but partly to a material cause. The +main Spanish railway from Saragossa to Barcelona may be compared to +the main French railway from Toulouse to Bayonne, but the Spanish side +everywhere suffers from its great wide stretch of wild mountain land. +Toulouse itself is little more than 50 miles from the crest of the +mountains. Saragossa is half as much again. The Spanish Pyrenees push +out civilization, as it were, far from them. Lerida, a large town of the +plains, is quite 60 miles from the watershed in a straight line. Pau +or Tarbes are less than 30. The difficulty and expense with which the +civilization of the plains, and the things belonging to it, must reach +the remote upper Spanish valleys largely account for the curiously high +degree of their isolation from the world. Many thousands of men are born +and die in those high valleys, without ever seeing a wheeled vehicle, and +without knowing the gravest news of the outer world for two or three days +after the towns have known it. + +It is not easy in such a system to establish general divisions. We saw +that this was simple enough upon the French side: eight main valleys +to the west of the “fault,” and two large sloping ones on the eastern +limb. In the Spanish Pyrenees, the nearest thing one can get to a +classification is _first_ to group together the Basque valleys of +Navarre, the streams of which all flow down to meet at last near Lumbier +and fall into the Aragon a few miles further south. _Next_ to take the +group of valleys along the mouths of which stands the great Sierra de la +Peña, of which the chief is the ravine of the Upper Aragon. These dales, +which have at their extremities the huge masses of the Garganta and the +Pic d’Anie, form the original stuff of Aragon. These few square miles +were the seat from whence that race proceeded which fought its way down +to the Ebro, and to the sources of the Tagus, and which can claim the +Cid Campeador for its historic type. _Next_ comes the group of valleys +beginning with the Gallego and ending with that of Venasque, which forms +the eastern limb of Aragon, and has borne for many centuries the title +of “Sobrarbe.” _Next_ to consider the two Nogueras as the Western, the +Cerdagne and Andorra as the Eastern Catalonian land. + +[Illustration: PLAN J.] + +It should be noted that the fine tenacity of Spain in general, and of +these hills in particular, has preserved with exactitude the ancient and +natural divisions of the land. The long unbroken ridge which encloses +the Basque valleys is also the frontier of Navarre. The unity of Aragon +survives in the present administrative division of Jaca. The eastern +valleys are still called the “Sobrarbe,” and the “fault,” or break +between the two main lines of the Pyrenees, still forms an historical +and racial break to the South as to the North of the chain. Beyond it +eastward begins the Catalan language, and the next group to consider are +the great Catalan valleys of the two Nogueras and of the Segre. The two +Nogueras ultimately fall into the Segre, but in the mountain regions +the three form three large parallel valleys, each with a character and +nourishment of its own and all Catalan. Of these three, the Segre is the +most striking; its upper waters are the centre of the flat valley of the +Cerdagne, the only natural passage from the North into Spain, and one of +its earliest tributaries nourishes the Republic of Andorra. + +East of the Segre valley, and of the Sierra del Cadi which bounds it, no +classification is possible. It is a labyrinth of little valleys. A flat +welter of hills running down everywhere to the sea, and narrowing at the +extreme end into Cape Cerberus: these last crests, as I have said, take +the name of “Alberes.” + +This contrast in structure between the northern and the southern side of +the range runs through many other aspects of the hills beyond structure +alone. We have seen that it affects the type of civilization, leaving the +deep but short French valleys far more open to the culture and influences +of the plains than were the Spanish just over the watershed. There is +much more. + +The fall of the light is in itself a contrast. The slopes of the Spanish +mountains, and especially of the high mountains, look right at the +blazing sun. They are more bare of wood, much, than are the French +slopes. They are more burnt. Water is less plentiful. Insects are more +numerous, and there is less cultivation; but one cannot say that there +is, as a rule, a scantier population. Small villages and hamlets are +rarer in the remote gorges, but small towns a little lower down are +common, and apart from the population economically dependent upon summer +tourists in France, it might be doubted whether the Spanish side were +not as well garnished as the French; one might venture to imagine that +in the Dark, and early Middle, Ages, when the full effect of the natural +condition of the mountains could be felt, the population of either side +was sensibly the same. + +The highest peaks are upon the Spanish side, but it does not show +splendid isolated masses of rock like the two Pics-du-Midi, or lonely +masses like the Canigou. On the other hand, the general character of the +rocks is more savage and more fantastic, and it is upon the south side +of the range that one most feels creeping over one that sentiment of +unreality or of a spell, which so many travellers in the Pyrenees have +been curious to note. The local names express it upon every side. There +are “The Mouth of Hell,” “The Accursed Mountain,” “The Lost Mountain,” +“The Peak of Hell,” “The Enchanted Hills” or “Encantados,” and hundreds +of other legendary titles that express, as well as do the mountain tunes, +the sense of an unquiet mystery. + + * * * * * + +The Spanish side is again remarkable for true rivers running in +considerable valleys everywhere east of Navarre. Though the rainfall +is less upon the southern side than upon the northern, yet, because +the catchment areas are broader, the streams running at the bottom of +the Spanish valleys are larger and more important. A glance at the map +will show upon the French side a whole series of parallel river valleys +running down from the summit into the plains to join the Adour or the +Gironde. Armagnac and Béarn are crowded with them. A man going eastward +from Bayonne to Pau, from Pau to Tarbes, from Tarbes to Toulouse, will +cross more than forty streams all spreading out like a fan from the +central axis of the Lannemezan Plain; a man going eastward below the +Spanish foot hills from Melida, let us say through Huesca to Lerida, will +find but half a dozen of such water crossings. Again, you have between +the Soule and the Labourd, between the Val d’Aspe and the Val d’Ossau, +between the Val d’Aure and the Garonne, distances of 8, 10, or at the +most 12 miles, but the distance between neighbouring Spanish valleys (if +we except the near approach of the Gallego and the Aragon), is always +much greater. Between the Noguera and the Segre, for instance, there is +at the nearest point, 20 miles; between the two Nogueras, another 20; +between the last of these two rivers and the Esera, quite 20 more. The +whole Spanish side with the exception of Navarre is thus built up of +considerable valleys, comparable to those of the Tet and the Ariège alone +upon the northern slope. + + * * * * * + +The details of Pyrenean structure will concern a man travelling on foot +more than do these general lines, though the whole aspect of the range +must be grasped before one can understand its details. The separate peaks +and valleys, the intimate structure of the range is remarkable everywhere +for its abruptness. It is this physical feature in the Pyrenees, coupled +with the absence of snow, which gives them the highly individual +character they bear. + +Fantastic outlines are not to be discovered in these hills so frequently +as in the Dolomites, nor are wholly isolated hills common, though such +few as exist are very striking, but for day after day a man wandering +in the Pyrenees sees cliffs more regularly high, a greater succession +of rocks more precipitous, and a more permanent succession of connected +summits above him than in any other European range. + +The absence of snow is a further sharp characteristic in the range. The +essential feature of an Alpine landscape is the snow; and it is not only +the essential feature of that landscape to the eye, it is the condition +which controls the lives of those who inhabit, and of those who visit, +the valleys. You can still wander a trifle in Switzerland. Even to-day +I have come to villages where foreigners were still thought comic, and +an ignorance of the German tongue was still thought amazing. But though +you can wander, your wandering is strictly limited. Above a certain line +you can go forward only with technical knowledge and in a special way. +You are upon ice or snow. All climbing in the Alps depends upon this, +and most of travel as well. A man may pass many days for instance in the +upper valley of the Rhone, and then pass many days more in the upper +valley of the Aar, but to go from one to the other he must take one of +two strictly defined paths, unless he is willing to undertake special +work requiring technical knowledge and particular aids. The hills between +the two valleys are not a field for his exploration; they are a great +mass of impassable and unapproachable land, all frozen, and diversified +only by very narrow valleys inhabitable nowhere but at their base. No +one could lose himself for many days upon the Wetterhorn, the Jungfrau, +or the Finsteraarhorn; you can approach these mountains for the glory +of the thing, but they are not a country-side. Now in the Pyrenees +almost all the surface of the mountains, say 250 miles by 60, is at your +disposal. It is this and a local custom of live and let live which make +the pleasure of them inexhaustible; and which, combined with certain +protective methods of their own, make it certain that the Pyrenees will +never be overcome or changed by men. They are too large. + +This surface of some 15,000 square miles is diversified in a manner +fairly continuous throughout the chain. The valley floors are given up +to cultivation in their lower part, their upper parts consist of damp +close pastures, and between the two types of level are to be found, as we +shall presently see, sharp gates of rock through which the river saws its +way in a gorge. Above the valley floor, and at the end of it, where the +stream springs out below the watershed (such springs bubbling up suddenly +through the porous rock are called Jeous), steep banks of two, three +and four thousand feet, broken almost invariably here and there into +precipices, forbid the way; and these, in perhaps half their extent, are +covered with enormous woods of beech below (mixed often with oak) and of +pine above. + +When you have climbed up these slopes through the forest or over the +naked rock, you come, in the last heights, either to large grassy spaces, +which often sweep right over the summit of a lateral ridge, and sometimes +extend over both sides, even, of the main watershed (as between the Val +d’Aran and Esterri) or else—more commonly—upon a jumble of jagged rocks +and smooth, perpendicular or overhanging slabs, which defend the final +secrets of the range. + +The succession of these features is nearly universal. The only places +where they are modified are the two lower ends of the range. There the +rocks sink, the hills are rounded, the precipices disappear in the last +Basque valleys, while the Alberes at the other extremity of the chain +against the Mediterranean are at last mere toothed rocks. All between +(with the exception of the Cerdagne, which is a country to itself) is +built up in successive bands of valley floor, steep forest, or steep +rock, broken with limestone precipices, and finally on the highest ridge +sweeps of grass or jagged edges of stone. + +It is this character in the last ridge of the Pyrenees that determines +the nature of a passage over them, and since a passage from valley to +valley is the chief business of the day when one is exploring the range, +I will next describe these crossings, for the method of them is very +different from that of other mountains, and has largely determined the +history and customs of their inhabitants. + +In other high mountains you will either find snow above a certain level +and covering for most of the year most of the passes, some of the passes +for all the year, or, as you go further south, you will commonly find +many gaps which long years of weathering have reduced to easy slopes, or +you will find great differences in slope between the one and the other +side of the range; as, for instance, the difference between the long +valleys that lead up eastward into the Californian Sierras, and the sharp +escarpment which falls eastward upon the desert side of those heights. +In all other ranges that I have seen or read of, save the Pyrenees, +there is at least great diversity in the opportunities of crossing, +whether natural or artificial. There is great diversity, as a rule, +in the natural crossings; some are quite easy ascents and descents on +either side (as the Brenner Pass over the Alps); some, though difficult, +are notably lower than the average height of the range (as the Mont +Genèvre from the Durance into Piedmont); some, these more rare, are deep +gorges cleft right through the range (as the Danube gorge through the +Carpathians). + +Now it is characteristic of the Pyrenees that in the main part of their +length no such diversities appear, save that there are two kinds of +summit surfaces on the high cols, rock and grass: the grass the rarer. + +If anyone looks closely at the Somport, especially noting the line which +the old track took before the modern road was made, he will agree that +it is a pass which, though steep, had no “edge” to it, so to speak. The +grass would take any kind of traffic. The same is true of course of the +Cerdagne, the only broad valley across the Pyrenees. But the Somport is +well to the west end of the range; the Cerdagne is well to the east end. +All the main part between could take no vehicle, and has crossings of a +kind which I shall presently describe: sharp, the escalade difficult, the +first descent upon the far side, or the last ascent upon the near side, +steep. + +There is perhaps an exception to be found in the case of the Bonaigo, but +this pass also presents difficulties to wheels upon its western side, and +in the lower valley at the gorge. + +In general the crossings of the Pyrenees everywhere display certain +characters rare or absent in other ranges, which are _first_ that they +are very numerous (a feature due to the absence of snow), _secondly_, +that they are very high, _thirdly_, that they hardly ever involve any +true climbing, and _fourthly_, that they nearly always involve some +considerable care on the part of the wayfarer and are somewhere dangerous +either upon the northern or the southern side. + +This can be well illustrated by a particular example in the few miles +between the Pic D’Anéu and the Canal Roya. Here there is a range no part +of which descends much below 2100 metres nor rises much above 2300. There +are two distinct saddles where a man can cross on foot, and neither is +appreciably lower than the peaks of the range, which are but lumps of +rock a little higher than the grassy ridges from which they spring. Any +man knowing the country and with a fairly good head could trust himself +to half a dozen places westward of the two which I have mentioned (which +are called the Col D’Anéu and the Port of Peyreget). Nevertheless the +easiest of them, the Port de Puymaret, easy as it is upon the French +side, gives some pause upon the Spanish. The traveller finds himself, +once over the crest, within a few yards of a rocky edge, beyond which +there is apparently nothing but air, and, thousands of feet beyond, +the precipices of the Negras. If he will approach that rocky edge he +will see that everything below it is easily negotiable, and when he has +once reached the floor of the Spanish valley beneath he will perhaps +wonder why it seemed so difficult from above. In truth it is not really +difficult at all, but the scramble looks dangerous, and it is one which +most men, other than regular climbers, would think twice about when they +first saw it from above. If all this is true of the Peyreget, it is still +more true of the other crossings in its neighbourhood to the right and to +the left. + +Were the Pyrenees surmountable at comparatively few passages, these would +have been so thought out and perhaps improved as to make them regular and +well-known passes, which the traveller could easily deal with. It is the +very number of the crossings which add to their difficulties. The people +who live upon either side are indifferent in their choice among so many +difficult passages, and with the exception of one or two quite modern +made roads with which I shall presently deal, there are some hundreds +of Cols and Ports all having in common a character of difficulty, and +few naturally so much more easy than their neighbours as to concentrate +travel upon them. + +This feature may be summed up in the expression that the crest of the +Pyrenees is rather one long ridge slightly serrated than (as in the case +of most other ranges) a succession of high mountain groups separated by +low saddles. + +Of all the accidents that strike one in connexion with the crossing of +these hills nothing strikes one more than the accident of time. A Port is +always a day and a long day. Here and there quite exceptionally there may +be food and shelter upon either side within six or seven hours one from +the other; but as a rule if you propose to sleep under cover upon either +side, your effort will demand a long summer’s day, and it is best to look +forward to a night camp upon the further side of the range. + +Before continuing the description of these passages, or any rules by +which one should be guided in attempting them, it may be well to speak +for a moment of the few practised and conventional tracks. + +First of these come, of course, the high roads. At present, over the +frontier, these are but four in number (for the low passes to the east of +the Canigou may be neglected), Roncesvalles, the Somport, the Pourtalet, +and the Cerdagne. Of these the Pourtalet has been but recently opened, +and was just before the war still in process of being widened upon the +French side. Moreover, it is so nearly neighbouring to the Somport (there +is but 8 miles between them), that it hardly affords a true alternative +crossing. A fifth high road across the watershed is that which crosses +it at Porté from the valley of the Ariège into the Cerdagne, but this +road is essentially a lateral one. It lies wholly in French territory, it +joins the French road through the Cerdagne, and you cannot go by it down +the valley of the Segre. It only crosses the watershed on account of an +accidental divergence of this to the south, in the upper valley of the +Ariège. + +These four carriage roads are all that lead, at present, over the +political boundary of the Pyrenees. Another is in construction over the +Port of Salau, but it is not finished upon the Spanish side. The French +desire several others to go over by the Macadou, Gavarnie, etc., but +their own preparations are not completed and the Spanish are not even +begun. + +Apart, however, from these high roads, which are carefully graded, +possess an excellent surface, and are traversable by any vehicle, there +are a certain number of crossings which travel has rendered familiar, +and whose facility is well known. Thus, the Embalire from the Hospitalet +on the upper Ariège into the upper Segre in Andorra is a perfectly easy +slope of grass, though high. Again, the Bonaigo, though there have been +natural difficulties in the lower valley to be surmounted, and though +there is not even a track across it, is a perfectly easy roll of grassy +land barely 6000 feet high. A high road leads as far as Esterri on the +Spanish side; another goes from France on the northern side, right up the +valley of the Garonne, beyond Biella, to the paths at the very foot of +the pass, so that the gap between the two highways is but a few miles in +length. + +The Port de Venasque again, though but a mule track, is constantly +used, and, though steep and high (close upon 8000 feet), presents no +difficulties at all, and is almost a highway between the two countries. +The Port de Gavarnie is similarly constantly used and may be taken like +any other mountain path. Certain other passes form an intermediate +category. They present no difficulties to one who is acquainted with +the neighbourhood, but either the whole path is difficult to trace or +its last and highest portion is dangerous, or there are precipices upon +its lower slope, or in one way and another they cannot be regarded as +constant and regular communications of international travel, though the +inhabitants use them continually. Of such a kind is the Port d’Ourdayte; +of such a kind are the passages from the Aston into Andorra, and of +such a kind are most of the passages just west of the Port de Venasque. +If one applied the test of asking where the Pyrenees could be crossed +in doubtful weather, not half a dozen places could be found beyond the +four high roads; and even if one were to ask in what spots they could +certainly be crossed by a stranger without chance of failure, the number +of passages would prove less than a score. All the rest of the ridge from +the Sierra del Cadi to the Basque mountains is the rocky wall I have +described, with innumerable notches more or less practicable, but all +difficult, and nearly all requiring a detailed knowledge of either slope. + +There are one or two other features needing explanation before I close +this introduction to a physical knowledge of the range; thus the reader +should be acquainted with the many groups of lakes and tarns which stand +just under the highest peaks and ridges in groups: they are highly +characteristic of the Pyrenees. There is a cluster of half a dozen at +the western base of the Pic du Midi d’Ossau, another cluster surrounding +the neighbourhood of Panticosa, another in the summit of the Encantados +between the Maladetta group and the valley of the Noguera, another very +famous one well known to fishermen high up in the knot of mountains +whose summit is the Carlitte, and there are many isolated small lakes +which the map discovers. But whether in groups or isolated, one feature +is common to all these lakes of the Pyrenees—first, that none is of any +size; secondly, that all, or very nearly all, are quite in the highest +parts of the hills immediately under the last escarpment; and thirdly, as +a consequence, that it is rare to find a lake which the presence of wood +and the neighbourhood of habitation render suitable for camping. + +It is worth remembering that, unlike most mountain systems, the Pyrenees +do not, even in sudden storms, endanger one as a rule by a rapid increase +in size of the torrents; one has not to fear spates so much as one might +imagine from the multiplicity of the streams on the northern side or +the large area of the valleys on the southern. This truth, of course, +must not be exaggerated nor too much advantage taken of it. That part +of a stream which will be just traversable after several fine days may +become just too violent to cross after a few hours of rain, but I have +never seen those sudden changes of level from a rivulet to a considerable +torrent which one may so often see in British mountains, which are common +enough in Scandinavia and even in the Alps, and which are a regular +condition of travel in the Rockies. + +Why this should be so it would be difficult to say. The great area of +forest upon the north might account for regularity upon that slope, but +it would not account for it upon the Spanish side. And one would imagine +that snow in large masses, which is lacking in the Pyrenees and present +in the Alps, would rather tend to regulate the flow of rivers; but +whatever be the cause, the evenness of level is what one used to other +ranges will first remark when he has to cross and recross under different +conditions the higher streams of this chain in summer. + +There should lastly be noted the absence of any important glaciers, a +feature due to the absence of snow-fields. On the summit of the Cirque de +Gavarnie, on the summits of the Pic d’Enfer and the neighbourhood, on the +summits of the Maladetta group, and in one or two other parts, there are +small glaciers, but they form no general feature in the landscape of the +Pyrenees, and have no effect upon travel. + +Lastly, the climate of these mountains should be noted: it is a very +important part of the conditions which determine travel upon them. + +The rain-bearing winds blow from the Atlantic eastward, and if the +Pyrenees stood upon either slope equally accessible to the sea, it is +possible that the Spanish side would be the more deeply wooded and the +best watered. The sudden trend westward of the Spanish coast, however, +at the corner of the Bay of Biscay, causes the wet winds from the Ocean +to lose most of their moisture to Galicia and the Asturias, before +they can strike the Pyrenees themselves from the south, while the same +winds, coming around the range from the north, come upon the Pyrenees +immediately after leaving the sea. The result of this is that the French +side is throughout its length more heavily watered than the Spanish +side; but on either side there are three zones which, though not sharply +distinguishable one from the other, are sufficiently remarkable. + +The first is that of heavy rains, and, what is more important for +purposes of travel, of continuous rain and frequent mist. It stretches +all along the western end of the range, and only begins perceptibly to +change with the heights of the Pic d’Anie and the precipitous barrier +of the upper valley of the Aspe. West of this line—that is, in all the +Basque-speaking country—you have deep pastures upon either side of the +range, and all the marks of the damp in the timber and the mode of +building, the vegetable growth and the animals of the place. Snow falls +later here than in the other parts of the Pyrenees, for the double reason +that the neighbourhood of the sea makes the climate milder and that the +hills are less high. In most places, for instance, communication is not +cut off between the north and south valleys of the Basques, and men can +usually cross from Ste. Engrace to Isaba at all seasons. + +The next zone (the eastern frontier of which is very vague) may be said +to stretch, according to the year and the accident of weather, certainly +as far as the Catalans and the valley of the Noguera on the east, and +sometimes as far as the valley of the Segre itself. In all this central +part of the range (which may normally be said to include more than half +its length) the French or northern side is densely wooded and heavily +watered, the Spanish side more dry and bare; but even the French side +slowly shows a change of climate as one goes eastward, the forests remain +as dense, the rivers as full, but the days are certainly finer and mist +less frequent. On the Spanish side the change as one goes eastward is +less striking, because the whole climate is drier. It is to be remarked +that if mist gathers upon the northern side of the hills when one is +attempting a pass, one may fairly count upon its disappearance upon the +Spanish side in this section; and, in general, the whole of the southern +slope, from the valley of the Aragon to that of the Noguera, is of a dry +and equal nature, somewhat barren and burnt, not only from the lack of +moisture, but also from exposure to the sun. + +The lack of moisture on the central Spanish slope, by the way, is not a +little aided by the curious formation of the frontier of Navarre, and +the separation between the Basques and the Aragonese; this consists in a +long ridge of high land, the upper part of which is known as the Sierra +Longa, which runs south and a little west from the Pic d’Anie. The effect +of this lack of moisture and excess of heat upon the central Spanish +side is not only felt on the heights of the mountain, but also and more +particularly when one approaches the Plains. These in France are northern +in type, full of greenery, and amply watered. In Spain, on the contrary, +they are quite arid, and if one comes in to Huesca by train upon a +September evening, and looks out the next morning over the flats that +run up to the Sierra de Guara, one has all the impressions of a desert, +though these lands are heavy corn-bearing lands in the summer. + +Finally, the third, or eastern, section of the hills is Mediterranean +in character throughout. The Canigou is much more heavily watered than +the Sierra del Cadi, its corresponding Spanish height. But the olives +on the lower slopes, the carpet of vineyards on the flats, the presence +everywhere of bright insects, the quality of the light and the aridity +of everything which does not happen to be planted with trees, give to +this eastern corner of the Pyrenees the same aspect that you may notice +on the Mediterranean hills of Southern France, Liguria, or Algeria or +the Balearic Islands, for all these landscapes are of one kind, and +binding them all together is not only their burnt red look, but also that +tideless intense blue of the Mediterranean, the hot white towns, and +everywhere the lateen sail upon the coasts. + +These differences of climate also determine the seasons in which the +mountains may best be visited, for the Basque district is at your service +(especially in its western part) from the spring to the late autumn of +the year; the central valleys can be everywhere travelled in only from +late June to mid-September; the eastern end, again, from the Segre and +beyond it, is open to you from spring to autumn. + +[Illustration] + + + + +II + +THE POLITICAL CHARACTER OF THE PYRENEES + + +[Illustration] + +The Political character of the Pyrenees corresponds to the Physical +character which has been described. The high crest is the bond and +division, from the beginning, between two societies which are connected +by such common social habits as mountains impose—which therefore fall +under similar local customs, which have a common jealousy of the +civilized power on the plains below them, and which support each other +in a tacit way against the stranger, yet which, from the beginning, have +different governments and (especially in the high central part) deal with +different corporate traditions—to the north the Béarnese, to the south +Aragon. The easier passes to the west and the east of the chain permit a +more or less homogeneous community to straddle across either end of the +mountains, and to hold upon both slopes the sea roads that pass along the +Atlantic and the Mediterranean. The people thus astraddle of the eastern +end have come to be called the _Catalans_. That astraddle of the western, +a highly distinct group of men with language, traditions, and physical +characteristics wholly their own, has always been known by some title +closely resembling their modern name of _Basques_. + +The foundation, therefore, upon which Pyrenean History is built, or +(to use another metaphor), the germ from which it has developed and +which explains its course, is a tripartite division of the inhabitants, +corresponding, as I shall presently show, to the physical features of the +chain: an eastern or Catalan, a western or Basque, and a central group +whose characteristic it is to subdivide according to the deep valleys +into which it is separated, but which falls into two main societies, the +one north of the chain which becomes the group of French counties whose +typical government is Béarn, the other south of the chain, which assumes +at last for its title “The Kingdom of Aragon.” + +The first matter to be noticed with regard to this tripartite division is +the exactitude of its boundaries. One might imagine that the language, +the habits, and the clear characteristics of any group would merge easily +into those of its neighbours upon either side. This is not the case. The +Basque type—much the most particular—ceases abruptly upon the watershed +between the Gave d’Oloron and the Gave d’Aspe to the north of the range, +upon the watershed between the Veral and the Esca to the south of it. The +Catalans, with a dialect, mind, and dress wholly their own, are found +to the _north_ from the sea up to the Col de Puymorens, and everywhere +east of the Carlitte mountains; in the Ariège valley and just over these +heights, and on the further side of that Col, they are changed. To the +_south_ of the range they extend everywhere from the sea to the valley +of the Ribagorza. Cross westward from that Catalan valley to the Esera. +There, after hours of scrambling, down by the rocks and deserted tarns, +you may towards evening find a man; that man will show the slow gestures, +the silence, and the elaborate courtesy of Aragon. + +The mountain ridges which divide these various peoples are sufficient +to mark their boundaries; but they do not suffice to explain why the +Catalan, the Basque, the Aragonese, the Béarnais should cease suddenly +here or there. True, the high lateral ridges which are so striking a +peculiarity of the Pyrenees form barriers with difficulty passed, but +these barriers are found just as high and just as precipitous and savage +between two valleys of the same speech and nation as between two of +different allegiance. Thus the wild jumble of mountains, “the Enchanted +Range,” cuts off the Catalans of Esterri from the Catalans of the +Ribagorzana. To pass them is something of a feat for anyone not of these +hills—for much of the year they are closed to the native inhabitants. +Their passage is hardly more of a task or more precipitous than the +passage from Aragonese Venasque to Aragonese Bielsa, or from Béarnais +Gabas, in the Val d’Ossau, to Béarnais Urdos, in the Val d’Aspe. + +An explanation of the unity which rules over each group, Basque, Central +and Catalan, can only be given by referring each to the plains at the +mouths of the valleys. It is the towns at the entry of these plains +that form the markets and rallying places of the mountaineers and that +determine their groupings. Oloron is the link between the two Béarnais +valleys I have mentioned. Urgel binds Catalan Andorra to Catalan +Esterri. Why, however, the groups should lie exactly where they do it +is impossible to determine, for no records reach beyond the Romans. All +we can say is that the Pic d’Anie, the first high peak eastward from +the Mediterranean, forms the boundary stone of the Basques, as it does +the chief physical mark dividing the high central ridge from the easier +western passes; that the tangle of difficult and impossible peaks just +eastward of the Maladetta are the boundary of Catalan south of the range, +the similar but less abrupt tangle of the Carlitte, their boundary upon +the north. How these nations arose, whence they wandered, whether their +differentiation has arisen upon the spot out of an earlier homogeneity or +is due to the conflict of invaders—of all this we know nothing. + +The place names of the Pyrenees, like those of all Spain, and half +Gascony, do indeed afford a curious speculation which arises from the +high proportion of names that are certainly _Basque_, though out of +Basque territory. Of this language I shall write later: for my present +purpose the point I would desire the reader to note is the sharp contrast +which exists between that idiom and the idioms around it. There is no +mistaking a Basque word, and yet these are found in all the Pyrenean +range and to the north and south of them in a hundred place names, +attached to hills, rivers and towns where Basque has been unknown +throughout all recorded history. It is even plausibly suggested that the +Latin “Vascones,” the French “Gascon” is equivalent to “Basque,” and +the late Mr. York Powell, the Regius Professor of History at Oxford, +would say in speaking upon this matter that “Gascon was Latin spoken +by Basques.” He possessed that type of education, rare or unknown +in our universities, which made him capable of individual judgment +in departments of living knowledge where his colleagues could but +repeat words taught them from a book. This quality reposed upon a wide +acquaintance with all matters of European interest. His diverse reading +and considerable travel enabled him to balance human evidence in a way +hopeless to his less fortunate neighbours in the University, and his +conclusion on this important detail of history has always recurred to +me when I have examined some new point in the early history of these +mountains. There must, however, be set against the general conclusion +that the Basques are the remnant of a people once universal from the +Garonne to the Pyrenees, and throughout the Iberian Peninsula, the fact +that they present a marked physical type utterly distinct from others +upon every side. That a race of such a character, vigorous, attached to +the soil, in no way nomadic, should have abandoned a large territory is +difficult to believe; moreover, there is no case in all the recorded +history of Western Europe of one people ousting another, and the process +is manifestly physically impossible, save among nomads. Jews or Arabs +could propagate and even believe such a theory. To Europeans it is +laughable: the peasants and cities of Europe never have been, nor ever +can be, largely displaced. + +All we know is that these place names exist throughout Spain and all +over the Pyrenees, and that the million or so who speak the language +whence such names are derived now occupy a tiny corner only of the vast +territory over which those names are spread. The rest is guesswork. + +Ignorant as we are of the origin of the differentiation between Basque, +Béarnais, Catalan and Aragonese, an historical fact quite certain—though +no document proves it—is the extreme antiquity of these classes of men. +That all Pyrenean history reposes upon their separate existence must be +evident to anyone who has watched the commercial manner, the mercantile +vivacity, the whole mentality of the Catalan, and has contrasted it with +the quiet chivalry of Aragon. Different military fortunes, different +economic outlets, and different accidents of central government may +possibly account within the historic period for the contrast between +the Aragonese and the people of Béarn, Bigorre, or Comminges. No such +forces can account for the gulf that cuts off the Catalan and the Basque +at either end of the chain from the inhabitants of its high central +portion. Infinite time is the maker of states, and two thousand years +could never have determined societies so sharply separate. We must regard +their constant and immemorial presence in the Pyrenees as the first and +enduring principle to guide us in the history of those mountains. + +From this fundamental truth, which leads the prehistoric into the +historic, one must proceed to another political fact of high importance, +which is that while the watershed of the range has but partially +separated customs and local thought, and that only in the centre of the +range, it has necessarily served as a political boundary whenever a high +civilization found it necessary to establish such a strict line. The +boundary and the watershed may not exactly coincide—they do not exactly +coincide even in the highly organized condition of modern society; but in +the two historical periods of strict policy, the Roman and our own, the +crest of the range has marked, and marks, an obvious boundary for most +of its length. The political distinction between Hispania and Gaul cut +the Basque nation into two, following the mountains from Roncesvalles +to the Pic d’Anie: it cut the Catalan people into two, following the +water parting from the two Nogueras to the Mediterranean. It followed +the central chain, indifferent to the similarity or difference between +the northern and the southern valleys. To-day the political distinction +between Spain and France follows nearly the same line. + +The reason of this was, and is, twofold. First, that a clear physical +boundary easily definable and of its nature permanent—the crest of a +chain, a broad river, or what not—necessarily recommends itself to a +bureaucracy in search of simplicity and economy in the work of a great +political machine. We see it in the new countries to-day, where the +instinct of organized government for easily definable and exact limits +takes refuge in establishing parallels of latitude as state boundaries +in the absence of marked physical lines. Secondly, in the case of +mountains, and especially of mountains as sharp and as boldly set as are +the Pyrenees, the fatigue of climbing, the absence of carriageways, made +each valley dependent for its connexion with the central government upon +some town of the plains, and the authority of a provincial magistrate +could not but run, as ran the physical instruments of his rule, up from +Huesca northward to Sallent—for instance, or up from Jaca to Canfranc, +and so to the summit of the ridge; or up from Oloron southward to Accous, +and so to Urdos. As the messengers, writs, powers of each proceeded, the +way would become harder, the progress more doubtful. It was obvious and +necessary that the boundary of either jurisdiction should lie upon the +pass. And though the inhabitants of the northern and the southern valleys +might be accustomed to a regular intercourse across the crest, the Roman +agents of a distant central government could not but have depended upon +cities far removed to the south and to the north of the watershed, as +to-day the police of Tardets, let us say, and of Isaba, two towns of one +speech, refer respectively through Pau and through Pamplona to Paris and +to Madrid. + +It is in the interplay of these two jarring political forces, the +permanent national seats of Basque, Catalan, etc., and the use of the +range as a political or official boundary, that the political character +of the Pyrenees resides; and as their history begins with the Romans, +to whom we owe the first knowledge of the Pyrenean people and the first +use of the Pyrenean boundary, it will be well to consider it under +territories divided as the Romans divided them, by the main range, and to +follow first the development of the northern slope. + +The historical origins of the French Pyrenees are sharply divided in +history by that wall which cuts off all that Rome _made_ from all that +Rome _inherited_. Rome made of the barbarians a new world, but before +she began that task Rome had inherited everywhere within a march of +the Mediterranean a belt of land whose civilization was similar to, +always as old as, and sometimes older than, her own. It was a municipal +civilization dependent upon the arts and religion proper to a city +state. It built, whether temples or ships, as Rome would build them: it +was one thing; it is almost one thing to-day; and its bond at Antioch +as at Saguntum, at Marseilles as at Athens or Alexandria, was, and is, +the universal water of the Mediterranean. To such cities and their +territories Rome fell heir. Little proceeded from her to them save +first the sense of unity, and later the Faith, and of the whole system, +the belt which stretches from Valencia to Genoa, now broadening to the +plains of Nemosus (Nîmes), now narrowing to the rocky ledge of the Portus +Veneris (Port Vendres), concerns the first evidence of Pyrenean history; +for it was from a corner of this belt—between Tarragona and Narbonne—that +the advance of civilization inland and along the Chain proceeded. + +A century before the four imperial centuries which made our Christian +world, a century before Augustus Cæsar, Rome had fully occupied and +impressed that soil—to the south Gerona and the Catalan fields, to the +north the rich floor which lies under the Canigou and has come to be +called the _Rousillon_. Thence the Roman advance north of the hills +proceeded. The chief town of the sea-plain—whose name “Illiberis” is so +strongly Basque in form—Rome took for the central municipality of that +plain, and made it the capital of the coastal district. This hill and +citadel, at which Hannibal had halted a hundred years before, preserved +as a bishopric for thirteen hundred years a memory of the Roman order. +Constantine formed its diocese, rebuilt it, gave it his mother’s name of +Helena. The sea by which it lived has withdrawn from it. It has sunk to +be a little country town, “Elne.” Roscino which lay also upon the coast +march of Hannibal, has sunk to something smaller still, yet, by some +accident, gave the province, in the dark ages, its name of Roussillon +which it still retains. These two towns, the fruitful plain about them, +the Port of Venus (which is now Port Vendres), formed the municipal +structure of this district, the last corner of the great province whose +headship lay at Narbonne. Its nominal boundaries included all the vale +of the Tet; it extended as far as now extends the Catalan language, and +was bounded, as that is bounded, by the great form of the Carlitte and +its high lakes and snows. All between that mountain and the sea, all the +eastern decline of the range and the slope north of it, was ancient land, +and had been ploughed and held and walled by men of the Mediterranean +civilization long before Rome inherited it. + +With the much longer stretch that runs from the upper Ariège to the +Atlantic it was very different. This was of what Rome made, not of what +Rome inherited. Before the coming of Roman government it was barbarous, +and the many tribes or petty states, whose number various guesses of +antiquity record (they were perhaps as numerous in their subdivision as +the valleys), stand in three main groups when first the civilization to +the east of them began to record their existence: these three were first +the Convenæ, south of Toulouse, and all about the upper waters of the +Garonne. Next to these came the Auscians, and finally, over the Basque +end of the hills towards the ocean, was the seat of the Tarbelli. + +The whole point of view of antiquity differed from ours in speaking of +such tribes, nor is it easy to pick out from the scraps of observation +that have come down to us the kind of information that we want. Sometimes +a name survives, sometimes it does not; sometimes we get a hint of a +variety of race, most often we lack it. It is the very meagreness and +eccentricity of the information upon a barbarous race and custom which +affords such opportunities to our dons for those forms of speculation +which they love to put forward as dogma, the most absurd example of +which, perhaps, is the interpretation and enlargement of Tacitus’ +“Germania.” It is therefore exceedingly difficult to know of what +kind were these people beyond the old Roman pale. We do not know what +language they spoke. We only know that, like other Gallic communities, +they centred round fortified places, that their pacification was easy, +and that, like everything else in Western Europe, they were of an +unchangeable kind. + +The whole district between the Garonne and the Pyrenees came to be +called, during the first four centuries of our era, “The Nine Peoples.” +The Convenæ are early noted to have attached to them upon their right and +upon their left, to east and to west, the Consevanni and the Bigerriones. +The first of these were (to follow the high authority of Duchesne) +organized as early as the first century; what is now St. Lizier was their +old capital and later their bishopric, which takes its present name from +Glycerius, a saint of the sixth century. They held all those hills of +which St. Girons close by is now the centre. The Bigerriones are not +heard of until the mention of them in the Notitia of the fourth century. +They must have held Bigorre, and the three valleys which I have called +the valleys of Tarbes. Tarbes—then Turba—was their capital, and was and +is their bishopric. + +The Auscians do not concern us. They and the three groups into which +they are later distinguished held the western plains and foot hills. +The Tarbelli held both the foot hills and the mountains of the +west; their capital was at Dax. They also split into, or are later +recognized as three separate groups, making up with the two other +sets of three “The Nine Peoples,” under which title all this country +below the Pyrenees became permanently known. But of the three only +the _Civitas Benarnensium_, whence we get the name Béarn, and the +_Civitas Elloronensium_, with its capital at Iloro, which has become +Oloron, concern us. The capital and soon the bishopric of the _Civitas +Benarnensium_ was at Lescar, as far as we can make out, and Lescar +bore the chief sanctity in Béarn until that country was swept by the +Reformation. The sovereigns of Béarn were buried there, even the +Protestant sovereigns, and it remained a bishopric, whose bishop was the +President of the Parliament of Béarn, until the Revolution; but it was +the Reformation which destroyed its original character of a capital. + +We have, therefore with the earliest ages of our civilization, five +peoples holding the northern Pyrenees, the Consevanni, the Convenæ, the +people of Bigorre, the Béarnese, and the Elloronians. + +It is remarkable that in such a list, our Roman originators and their +geographers overlooked the Basques. The category ends precisely at the +present limit of the Basque tongue. For the Val d’Aspe, of which Oloron +is the town, is the first French-speaking valley. Why it is that we hear +nothing of the Basques it is difficult to say, especially as the second +of the great Roman military roads went right through their country. +Bayonne, which is the Basque’s town of the plains on the north, is heard +of in the fifth century. It has a garrison; but no bishopric until the +tenth. Pamplona, which is their town on the south, was known before the +beginnings of our Christian history. But the Basques themselves are not +known to us from the Romans. The name of the Consevanni survives locally. +The country round St. Girons is still all one country-side and called +the “Conserans.” Of the Convenæ we have a pleasant legend in St. Jerome +telling how Pompey got together all the brigands of the mountains, drove +them northward hither, and forced them into a garrison (a stronghold +which, like Lyons and the rest, was one of the many “Lugdunums”). It was +destroyed early in the dark ages, and later revived by St. Bertrand, +a little way off in his Episcopal town. Their name survives in the +district of Comminges. The Béarnese name of course survives and so does +the Bigorrean, while the Elloronean, though no longer the title of a +district, is preserved in the town name of Oloron. + +All this country, not only that of the five tribes along the mountains, +but the whole territory occupied by the nine peoples (who afterwards +became twelve), lay in a profound peace under Roman rule, and we may +be certain of its increasing wealth throughout the first four great +formative centuries of our era. + +The advance of Rome upon the Spanish side was of a very different kind. +Rome, after the Carthaginian wars, inherited broad belts of civilized +and half civilized land. All the Mediterranean slope below the mouth of +the Ebro, and a belt quite three days’ marches wide inland to the north +of that river, was full of ancient populated towns, alive with the full +civilization common to every shore of the inland sea. So, we may be +certain, were the broad plains of the south where the most complete and +earliest absorption of the Celt-Iberian in Roman speech and ideas took +place. The advance into the north-west and therefore along the Pyrenees +covered more than a century of strict and perpetual warfare, which was +intermixed by the civil wars of the Roman commanders. The extremities of +the Asturias were reached in the century before the birth of our Lord, +but the advance was not, as upon the north, a rapid expansion beyond the +old boundaries. It took the form of siege after siege and battle after +battle, in which those numerous and crushing defeats, which Rome (like +every truly military power) reckoned to be a necessary part of history, +interrupted the slow progress of her law. The Celt-Iberian towns were +walled and strong; their resistance was painful and tenacious; there was +no sudden illumination of a willing people by a new culture, such as had +taken place in Gaul, rather was northern Spain kneaded by generations of +warfare into the stuff of the Empire. + +When the work was accomplished, it was complete throughout the +Peninsula; and though the silent strength of the Basques prevented the +Roman language from invading their valleys, the administration of the +whole territory south of the Pyrenees must have been as exact and as +bureaucratic as that to the north of it. There was, however, this great +difference due to local topography between the Spanish and the French +hills, that the municipalities upon which Rome stretched her power, as +upon pegs, were less common, were farther apart, and approached less +nearly to the central ridge upon the southern than upon the northern +side. What you see to-day south of the Pyrenees is what you might have +seen at any time in the last 2000 years—a very few scattered towns, +still the centres of government, and all the rest rare isolated villages +living their own life, free from the criminal, and, by a regular +payment of small taxes, half independent of the civil law. Alone of the +true mountain sites, Jaca in the middle, Pamplona and Urgel at either +extremity, were bishoprics. Huesca, St. Laurence’s town, a fourth centre, +is in the plains. For the rest the confused storm of hills ending in +those parallel ranges, pushed right out on to the burnt flats of the +Ebro, forbade the establishment of a municipal civilization. + +Upon all this land to the north and to the south of the mountains came, +after five hundred years of a high civilization, the slow decline of +culture, and the infiltration of the barbarians. In a sense the nominal +divisions between the barbaric kingdoms has its importance, for they +help us to understand changes of dynasty and of custom. But they were of +no political effect. The mass of the people knew little of the chance +soldiers who, with their mixed retinues of Roman, Breton, German, Slav, +and the rest—some able, some not able to read the letters of Rome—sat in +the old seats of office, issued their writs through the still surviving +Roman Bureaucracy and from palaces which were but those of decayed Roman +governors. + +For the greater part of Western Europe, and especially of Gaul, this +process of decay was one into which Europe slowly dipped as into a bath +of sleep, and out of which it rose more rapidly through the energy of the +Crusades and of the renewed Pontificate into the splendour of the Middle +Ages. But the Pyrenees suffered in this matter a peculiar fate. When +Spain was overrun by the Mohammedan, and when in the first generation +of the eighth century the Asiatic with his alien creed and morals had +even swept for a moment into Gaul, the Pyrenees became a march: at +first the rampart, later, when they were fully held, the bastion of our +civilization against its chief peril. It is this episode by which the +Pyrenees became the military base of the advance against Islam—an episode +covering the whole life of Charlemagne and after him the ninth, tenth, +and eleventh centuries—which gives them their legendary atmosphere and +fills all their names with romance. + +The northern slope, during the long business by which Gaul became itself +again, was but a remote border province. The new life of Gaul, after +the shock which had so nearly destroyed Europe was over, sprang from +Paris. The influence of Paris radiating upon every side built up again +accuracy of knowledge, unity of government, and general law. To this +influence the Pyrenees seemed the most remote of boundaries. The valleys +were little affected by the growth of the French Monarchy; they remained +for centuries broken into a maze of half-republican customs, of tiny +independent lordships, guarded and menaced by separate and jealous walled +municipalities upon the plains—all of this vaguely and slowly coalesced +into larger districts, doubtful of their sovereignty and perpetually +struggling upon their boundaries and their sub-boundaries. + +In this development nothing was more striking than the way in which this +remote border at first looked rather to the south, where the interest of +religious war was ever present, than to the north, whence government was +slowly coming towards it. The French Pyrenees fought and felt with the +whole range, not with the plains. Jaca in the worst time, when it was +the only mountain bishopric free from the Mohammedan, counselled with +and was perhaps suffragan to Eauze. Urgel sat in the provincial Synod of +Narbonne. As the success of the Reconquista pushed the noise of crusade +further and further from the range, the northern valleys looked more +and more towards their northern towns. Their nominal allegiances grew +stricter—as of Foix to Toulouse—and every French bishopric was bound +more and more to its northern metropolitan, the Spanish sees to the new +metropolitans of the Ebro. + +At last an issue was joined between Northern and Southern France of the +first moment to the unity of Gaul itself and of all Christendom. The +Crusades, the knowledge of the East, the awakening of the intelligence +and of its appetites, had bred throughout the wealthy towns of what had +been from the beginning Roman land, a desire to be rid of the restraints +of fixed religion. The South of France began to move towards its pagan +past. It was a movement which had already had its strange echo in the +north, a movement which in England had only been pulled up at the last +moment by the martyrdom of St. Thomas. Here in Gaul, in the sunlight, +and backed by so much gold, the rational and sensual revolt became a +larger thing, and when various sources of disruption, speculation, +and achievement had met in one stream, it was commonly called the +_Albigensian_ movement. The issue was decided, after heavy fighting, in +the early thirteenth century, and the victory was with the cause of the +unity of Europe. Toulouse (the true centre of the storm) and its lord +were conquered. Northern barons swept down, held no small part of the +southern land, and from that time onward the French Pyrenees are normally +dependent on Paris. + +Two exceptions survived, the straddle of the Basque across the chain and +the straddle of the Catalan. The Basque had his country of Navarre upon +either side of the chain; with it went Béarn, and these were independent +of the French crown. The Catalan, able to traverse the chain by the flat +floor of the Cerdagne, preserved the unity of his mountain province, and +the Roussillon counted with Spain. Apart from this easy passage into the +Roussillon from the south, by way of the Cerdagne, the isolation of the +Roussillon was the more easily accomplished from the long spur of the +Corbieres, which runs north and east towards the sea and cuts off from +France the wealthy plain of which Elne had once been, Perpignan had later +become, the capital. + +This arrangement endured, in name at least, until the seventeenth +century. The last heir of Navarre was also the heir nearest to the French +throne at the close of the religious wars, and as Henry IV of France he +united the two crowns. A man who, as a boy, might have rejoiced at that +union, could have lived to see, under Mazarin, the signing of the Treaty +of the Pyrenees, which gave the Roussillon also to the French Crown. The +date of this final arrangement coincided with what is ironically called +“The Restoration” in England: this date, which definitely closed the +power of the English Monarchy, and substituted for it the power of a +wealthy oligarchic class, coincides throughout Europe with the struggle +between absolute central government for the equal service of all, and +local aristocratic custom. In England the latter conquered; in Spain and +France the debate was decided in favour of the former. + +Such centralized governments could but further define and insist upon +a new boundary, and from that time onward, for 250 years that is, the +Pyrenees have been once more as they were under the clear administration +of Rome, a fixed political boundary; and, save certain exceptions +that will be mentioned later, everything north of the chain has been +administered from Paris, and has slowly accepted, side by side with +the local tongue, the tongue of Northern France and the habit of a +centralized French government. + +South of the chain the process by which Christendom recrystallized out of +the flux of the dark ages, followed a different course; it was a process +to which Spain owes all her national characteristics, for out of the +mountains a Spanish nation was formed, and from its various communities, +as from roots, the Catholic kingships grew southward until they once more +reached Gibraltar. + +To understand this process, it is necessary to consider factors absent in +the topography of the Gaulish plains, and especially the factor of that +unconquerable tangle of mountains which occupies all the north-western +triangle of the Peninsula. + +The ocean boundaries of the Iberian quadrilateral are nearly square to +the points of the compass. It is not so with the internal divisions that +mark off its central part. Here the edges of the high and arid plateaux, +the deep trenches of the rivers, the mountain ranges, the boundaries +of the plains at their feet, run slantways from north-east to the +south-west. This slant determined the boundaries of Mohammedan expansion, +while the Asiatics and Africans still retained the energy to advance; +it determined the successive frontiers of the Reconquest, as our race +slowly ousted the invader and reached at last the sea-coast of Granada. +The Arab and the Moor were masters of Narbonne and all the Roussillon on +the east, when, on the west, they could not cross the mouth of the Mulio +a hundred miles to the south. They were at Jaca within a day’s march of +the watershed along the Roman Road, when, to the immediate west of it, +they could not hold Fuente; they could not even reach Pamplona, though +that western town is two marches at least from the main crest. Toledo was +reconquered a generation before Saragossa, though Saragossa is by nearly +two degrees more northerly, because Toledo was west of Saragossa. The +last Mohammedan kingdom was crowded, after the thirteenth century, into +the extreme south-east, as the surviving remnant of the free Europeans of +the Peninsula had been crowded into the extreme north-west in the eighth. + +If the boundaries of undisputed Mohammedan rule be traced for various +dates, the receding wave will be found in general to follow curves that +lead, like the main features of the land, from the north-east downwards +towards the Atlantic. + +[Illustration] + +This main character in the geography and history of Spain, the +south-westerly trend of the mountain ridges, largely determined the +fortunes of those fighting bands of mountaineers who ceaselessly pressed +southward until they had wholly driven out the invader and reconstituted +the unity of Europe. It determined the first advance to be, not from the +Pyrenees, but from the Asturias, and the first captain connected with the +Christian resistance after the overwhelming of all that civilization, +_Pelayo_ (from whose blood Leon, Castille, Aragon, and Navarre descend) +had his stronghold, not in the Pyrenees, but a week’s march to the west, +along the Biscayan coast at Cangas. Within the decade of the invasion he +had checked the invader in his own hills at Covadonga. + +All the eighth century is full of that successful spirit in the +north-west—but nowhere else. Alfonso, the husband of Pelayo’s daughter, +struck the note with his boast, “No pact with the infidel,” and the +tradition or prophecy that Christendom would regain the south, springs +from him. He conquered down to the Douro, over what is to-day the +mountain frontier of Portugal; he began those long cavalry raids into the +heart of Moorish land. He rode into Astorga, into Zamora, into Segovia +itself—within sight of the central range of the Guadarama: riding back +with booty, harassed and harassing, nowhere permanently fixing himself +save in the towns of the west, upon the Lower Douro, but building on the +ridges of his defence, those block-houses, the “Castille” from which, +long after, the frontier province began to take its name. + +All the ninth century that spirit grew. The body of St. James was found +under the Star at Compostella—its shrine became the national sacrament +as it were, a perpetual refreshment for arms, and a symbol, in its +wild isolation among the rocks of Galicia, of the impregnable places +from which the Reconquista drew its ardour. The advance continued. The +frontier counties consolidated and were named. + +Leon was permanently held, Burgos was founded. If one takes for a date +the opening years of the tenth century, just after Alfred had saved +England also from the pagan, and just after the Counts of Paris had saved +northern Gaul, there is a full Spanish kingdom standing up against the +Mohammedan power, a king has been crowned in Leon and has died in peace +at Zamora. The cavalry raids have pushed—once at least—to Toledo. All +the north-west lay permanently Christian beyond a line that ran from +the corner of Gaul to the Douro and down the Douro to the sea; and this +united triangle of Roman land formed a base from which the pushing back +of the alien could proceed. + + * * * * * + +How did this disposition of forces affect the Pyrenees? Let it first +be noted that the newly organized Christian country lay wholly to the +west of the range. In the Pyrenees themselves the Mohammedan flood had +washed every valley. The crest had been traversed and retraversed; both +slopes were for a moment held by the invaders. Abd-ur-Rahman had sent or +led his thousands by the Roman roads of Roncesvalles and Urdos and over +the Ostondo and the lower passes of the west. The mule tracks of these +rocks had been twice crowded with the white cloaks of the Arabs. In the +east, Narbonne was held for fifty years, and with it all the Catalans. +Even in the high centre of the chain, where there is no passing between +the Somport and the Cerdagne, wherever there was something to rob or +to destroy, the invaders had penetrated. There was not here, as in the +Asturias, untouched land. + +When the crest of the wave retreated, when the Mohammedan came back +defeated from Gaul, the high valleys attained—it may be guessed—a savage +independence. + +Jaca has legends of its battle at the very beginning of the Independence, +before Charlemagne had come to the rescue, and from all the valleys +of the Sobrarbe, bands of men must have been perpetually volunteering +for skirmishes down into the plains. Navarre was the natural leader of +the movement, the largest and the most fertile belt of Christian land, +but the little lordship upon the Aragon, fighting down south and east +towards the Ebro, the western count of the Asturias fighting down south +and west, cut off the advance of the Basques; and though Navarre in the +period of birth and turmoil which is that of Gregory VII’s reform of the +Papacy, of the establishment in England and in Sicily of Norman power, +and of preparation for the Crusade, was the head of all the southern +Pyrenees and called itself an “Empire,” it was blocked by the double +line of advance, and the Basques, upon the foundation of whose tenacity +and courage, as upon a pivot, the Reconquest had proceeded, took little +more part in the wars; but the Basque strip of Navarre gave its first +king to Aragon, and the son of that first king, Sancho, raided so far as +Huesca and was killed beneath its walls; his son again, Peter, took the +town two years later just as the hosts of Europe were gathering for that +first great march upon Jerusalem which threw open the curtain of the +Middle Ages; and _his_ son, Alfonso (who had united in one crown Leon and +Aragon), went forward under his great name of the Batallador, and twenty +years later (1119) swept into Saragossa, the last of the Mohammedan +strongholds in the north. + +Thus were the west and the centre of the Spanish slope recovered for our +race and civilization. + +Meanwhile Catalonia upon the east had been since Charlemagne, since +the early ninth century, a march of Christendom; but it was not until +the same creative period which had brought forth the leadership of +Navarre and the advance from Aragon, the Normans, Hildebrand, and the +resurrection of Europe, that Catalonia began to go forward. Its first +true monarch was Berenguer the Old, who lived round and about the date +of Hastings, and was first master of the whole province. He also founded +and maintained the Cortes of Barcelona. His son, for a moment, raided +the Balearics, and when he died Catalonia and Aragon, united under one +crown, saw the alien finally driven from these mountains. All the plain +from far beyond the base of the hills was now permanently held by strong +and united kingships which pressed forward to the Ebro valley, and +finally saved all the Spanish province of Europe. A lifetime later, the +last of the foreign armies had been broken at Navas de Tolosa. Far off +in the south Islam lingered, tolerated and on sufferance, but Spain was +reconquered. For just 500 years Spain, a quarter of all that makes up our +civilization, had lain in peril between our religion and the other. + +I have said that with the thirteenth century, the Albigensian crusade +upon the north, the destruction of Islam upon the south (the two +successes were contemporaneous), the Pyrenees ceased for ever to be a +march between two civilizations, and became a mere political boundary +between two provinces of Europe; and I have said that the nature of that +boundary was finally fixed in the seventeenth century, or rather during a +period which stretches from the close of the sixteenth to just after the +middle of the seventeenth. + +[Illustration: PLAN K.] + +If that political boundary be examined to-day it will be found to +coincide with the watershed, save at certain particular points, the +character of which merits examination. + +I take for my boundaries, as throughout this book, Mount Urtioga on +the west, and the beginning of the Alberes on the east, which may +conveniently be placed at the Couloum. + +In this distance, there is a slight discrepancy between the political +boundary and the watershed here and there in the Basque valleys. Mount +Urtioga itself, though upon the watershed, is entirely in Spain, and the +sources of the torrents which feed the valley of Baigorry all rise a +mile or so beyond the political frontier, which is here composed of two +straight conventional lines. + +The head waters of the Nive are wholly in Spain also, as is all the +left bank of that river to a point four miles below Val Carlos. The +right bank, however, is French, so far as the torrent Garratono. Thence +forward from the sources of that torrent (that is, upon the Atheta) the +frontier now follows the watershed, now leaves the very head-springs +of the torrents in Spain until, a few miles further east, it makes a +considerable invasion of Spanish territory, not because the frontier +itself bends, but because the watershed here goes northward in a half +circle. All the upper valley of the Iraty is politically in France; +but from the Pic d’Orhy, where a definite ridge begins, it follows the +frontier strictly for mile after mile (with the exception of a curious +little enclave which gives Spain two or three hundred yards of the +head-waters of the Aspe), and there is no further exception throughout +all the high Pyrenees until one strikes the curious anomaly of the _Val +d’Aran_. + +I have said in describing the physical structure of the Pyrenees that +the two main axes of those mountains were joined by a sort of fault, a +serpentine bridge of high land which united them from the Sabouredo to +a point ten miles northward, the Pic de l’Homme overhanging the Pass +of Bonaigo. The valley caught on the French side of this twist is the +Val d’Aran, containing the upper waters of the French river Garonne. +Geographically of course it is French, but politically it is Spanish so +far as a certain gorge where is a bridge called the King’s Bridge, and +where the Garonne pours through a narrow gate of rock into its lower +valley. The story goes that when the Treaty of the Pyrenees was in act +of negotiation someone said diplomatically and casually to the French +negotiators, “The Val d’Aran of course you regard as Spanish,” and +they, knowing no more of these mountains than of the mountains of the +moon, said, “Of course.” The true reason is rather that the gate in the +mountains cuts off this upper valley from the lower gorges of the river +much more than the low, easy, and grassy saddle of the Bonaigo cuts it +off from the Spanish valley of Eneou just to the east of it: and though +the Val d’Aran may be geographically or rather hydrographically French, +it is topographically Spanish, which is as though one were to say that +Almighty God made it so. + +Another exception and a big one to the rule that the frontier follows the +watershed, is, of course, to be found in the French Cerdagne. The true +watershed here is coincident with the frontier as far as the Pic de la +Cabanette in latitude 42° 35′ 30″. The watershed then goes on over the +Port de Saldeu, along the crest of the Port d’Embalire to the Pic Nègre, +and there it turns to the east along the ridge across the saddle of which +goes the high road over the Col called Puymorens. It follows that ridge, +_not_ to the summit of the Carlitte, but to a lower peak called the +Madides, three miles to the north-east, runs along two miles of a high +rocky ledge to the Pic de la Madge and then there follows a difficult +sort of hydrographical No Man’s Land, the centre of which is the great +marsh of Pouillouse, nor can you tell exactly where the watershed is for +some miles in the forest below that marsh, for the same damp flat ground +sends water into the valley of the Tet and into the valley of the Segre. +Three miles to the south-west, however, it is clearly defined again in a +low rounded lump of wooded land, it passes over the flat Col de la Perche +and then follows the crest still going south-west up to the Pic d’Eyne, +where again it becomes the frontier, and the frontier it remains until it +reaches the Mediterranean. + +From the Pic de la Cabanette, all the way to the Pic d’Eyne, France and +Mazarin politically took in by the Treaty of the Pyrenees a belt to the +south of the watershed and extending down to a conventional line which +left Bourg-Madame French and Puigcerdá Spanish; an exception in this is +a small strip beyond the Pic de la Cabanette, on the left bank of the +Ariège, which, though geographically French, was given to Andorra, so +that Andorra might smuggle more comfortably over the passes. + +The causes of this annexation of the French Cerdagne by Mazarin are clear +enough when one remembers that the Roussillon (which is geographically +French) passed to France by the same treaty. There is no way from the +valley of the Ariège into the Roussillon except by going round this +corner of the Cerdagne, at least no practicable carriage way; the +only other way is the difficult and high short cut described later in +this book. If the frontier be carefully noted, it will be seen that +it is designed merely to preserve a right of passage over this road. +Jurisdiction was only claimed by France over the villages, and Llivia, +being a town, stands in an island of Spanish territory in the midst of +the French Cerdagne, as will be seen later when I speak of this district +in detail. + +Such is the present political aspect of the Pyrenees, with Toulouse +for their great French town in the plains, 60 miles away to the north, +Saragossa for their great Spanish town in the plains, 100 miles away to +the south, a string of towns just at their feet (Bayonne, Pau, Tarbes, +St. Girons, etc.) on the northern side; on the south a rarer and less +connected group (Pamplona, Huesca, Barbastro, Lerida, etc.); and against +the Mediterranean the district of Gerona, shut in by the Sierra del Cadi +(with its outposts) and the Alberes upon the Spanish side, the town of +Gerona its capital; the Roussillon, with Perpignan for its capital, shut +in between the Alberes and the Corbieres on the French side. + +[Illustration] + + + + +III + +MAPS + + +One of the first ideas that come to a man when he thinks of wandering +about an unknown bit of country is that it will be more fun if he does +not take a map. There are places of which this is true: you discover for +yourself, and it is more exciting. But it is not true of the Pyrenees. +So little is it true of the Pyrenees that those who have no maps, that +is, the local peasantry, never traverse a country until they know it +well, and when they get into new country learn all they can from its +inhabitants, get themselves accompanied if possible, and keep to a path. +You will find that the hunters who know the mountains are always local +men. The Pyrenees are built in such a fashion and on such a scale that +you not only can, but must, lose yourself in the course of any long +wandering unless you have some sort of guide to your hand. There is only +one kind of travel off the road which you can possibly undertake without +a map, and that will be pottering about one small district with a porter, +a friend, or a mule to carry a tent and plenty of provisions; but if you +are attempting several crossings of the ridges, and especially if you are +attempting such a task on foot, a map is absolutely necessary to you. + +Whatever kind of map you take with you into the hills, you must also +take with you a small compass, and that is why I mention that toy later +in talking of equipment. You are perpetually asking yourself, as you +compare the map with the landscape, which peak is which, and it is often +essential to get the right one on the right bearings. Nothing is easier +than to mistake one part of a ridge for another. + +If you are in bad weather or in the dark or enclosed, the compass gives +you a general direction, as for instance upon the track I describe later +in the great wood going to Formiguères, and the compass further tells +you at what point your valley begins to turn in a certain direction. Now +a bend of this sort is very often the only indication you have for the +exact place in which to branch off for a port, or to look for a cabane. +Remember the variation, which is on the average for this range about +14 degrees, that is, the true north is 14 degrees to the right of the +direction the needle points to. + +A map or maps, then, you must determine to take, and it next remains to +examine what sort of maps are available for the whole range. + +There are but three of the greater countries in the whole world (to my +knowledge, at least) which have sufficient and numerous maps, these are +England, France, and Germany. I can imagine what reproach and criticism +such a statement may bring from those who know the admirable work done in +India, and the special but laborious surveys of Italy and of the United +States. But I do say (as far as my travels extend) that maps valuable for +the purposes of a man on foot and covering a whole country are confined +to these three among the greater states. To tell the truth, there is +but one large country that possesses perfect ones, and that is our own. +Nowhere else in the world (to my knowledge, at least) has a complete +survey of every detail of the soil been made, as it has been made under +the Crown of the United Kingdom. And if foreigners judge, as they are apt +to judge, of our cartography by the excellent one-inch scale map alone, +they should remember that we also possess the six-inch, and in some cases +the twenty-five inch to supplement it. Neither France nor Germany can +boast of such a survey. + +Now let me abandon this digression and discuss what maps are valuable in +the Pyrenees. + +First, upon the Spanish side, there is nothing. Every one who tries to +get a good cartographical indication of the approaches to the Pyrenees +upon the Spanish side is baffled. Outside of my own experience, I have +heard of many attempts and they have all failed. There is indeed a legend +of a wonderful military map in Madrid or elsewhere, but I have never +seen it, nor have I ever seen anyone who has seen it. There is a good +contour map extending outwards from Madrid in various sections, but it +does not get anywhere near the Pyrenees. There is a geological map of +Spain upon which some people fall back in despair, but it tells you very +little about Spain except the geology. It is on an extremely large scale, +1/400,000 if I remember right, and it is horrible to have to use it even +for the most general purposes of travel. + +There is a large general map of Spain, drawn in Germany, which is equally +useless for the pedestrian; it comprises the whole country within a space +that could easily be hung over the chimney-piece of a small room. + +In a word, there is no map of Spain for the foot traveller upon the +Spanish side. Everything of that kind which exists so far is (I again +qualify the statement by adding “to my knowledge”) of French workmanship. + +It is therefore the French maps which the traveller must consider, and I +will detail these in their order with their respective advantages. + +It must first be remarked that these maps are to be regarded as official +and unofficial; the official ones should be divided into those proceeding +from the French War Office and those proceeding from the French Home +Office. The importance of this will appear in a moment. + +Of the unofficial maps (which are very numerous) the most important by +far is that published and printed by Schrader, and this is important only +because it gives contours (at rather large intervals, it is true) on the +Spanish side as well as upon the French. + +The map can be ordered of Messrs. Sifton & Praed, The Map House, St. +James’s Street, and costs (pre-war) twelve shillings for the six sheets. +Its value consists in giving the traveller details of all the difficult +central bit between Sallent and the Encantados. The French contours, as +will immediately appear, are easily obtainable elsewhere; but to know +the Spanish side, the difficulties of the way between Panticosa (for +instance) and Bielsa, Schrader’s map is a great advantage; it is final +on the heights, the steepness, and the changes in direction of the way. + +The official maps consist _first_ of the War Office maps, the scale of +which is 1/80,000 and 1/320,000. + +The first thing to appreciate with regard to the French maps, is that +all of them, whether from the Home Office or from the War Office (and +in a country such as France the work of these two departments is very +different), are based upon the 1/80,000 survey. It was this survey, +undertaken by the General Staff in the course of the nineteenth century, +which formed the basis of every other map that Frenchmen use. Certain of +its early details were slightly inaccurate, as the heights of the Pelvoux +group in Savoy, which Mr. Whymper, when he climbed those mountains, +corrected. It is, however, the best monument of cartography left by +the nineteenth century. Nothing has since appeared to rival it in any +country upon the same scale. We must except of course the highly detailed +large-scale survey of special districts, which may happen to be, by a +political accident, autonomous and wealthy. Belgium has a far better map, +upon which indeed all modern work upon the Belgian battlefields is based. +Switzerland also has a better map. But no such large area as that of the +French Republic has upon so small a scale (much less than one inch to the +mile), so complete a record of every track, wood, habitation, height, and +watercourse. + +The 1/320,000 is merely a reduction of this map; it is of service to +people who motor or bicycle, to anyone who uses the high road, and who +wishes to be able occasionally to wander into by-paths; but for little +local details and difficulties it should not be consulted. It is useful +advice to anyone who desires to know the Pyrenees that he should consult +before leaving home a map of the whole range upon the 1/320,000 scale, +but travel in the hills with the 1/80,000 scale. + +The disadvantage, however, of the military map, accurate though it is, +and full of detail though it is, lies in two points inseparable from +the early conditions under which it was produced; the first of these is +the use of one colour, that of printers’ ink, so that the line marking +a stream, a wall, or a path are similar; the second derives from this, +and is the confusion of so many small details, all in _one_ colour and +in black. There are no contour lines. The hatching, though bold, does +not give exact heights, save where such heights are marked in figures, +and what with the lines marking the paths in mountainous districts, the +water-courses, the roads, the marks indicating the rocks, habitations, +etc., the 1/80,000 map tends (though it still remains the best map for a +very careful student, e.g., for a soldier on manœuvres) to be somewhat +crowded and confused. + +An appreciation of the demerits of these maps, and perhaps a certain +rivalry between the two departments, led the French Home Office to +undertake an Ordnance Map of its own. This map is in various scales, of +which the sheets showing the Pyrenees—the only ones that concern us—are +in 1/100,000 and 1/200,000. Let me explain the general qualities of both +and the advantages and disadvantages attaching to either of these. + +Both are in colours, giving water-courses and lakes in blue, woods +in green, roads in red, etc., and that is an enormous and immediate +simplification upon the old-fashioned black map. + +Both are brought up to date with more care than the military map; both +are less crowded with detail, and both indicate such civilian necessities +as the telephone, telegraph, post-office, etc. On the other hand, neither +contains hatching—the only true way of representing a country-side to the +eye—and neither give that minute and exact multiplicity of markings which +it is the boast of the military map to afford. The civil map is more +practical, the military map more full of duty and more accurate. + +It must finally be remembered that the scale of the civil maps, even of +1/100,000 is so small as to impede the setting down of details such as +we have on a one-inch Ordnance Map. It is three to four times smaller +superficially than our official map in England. Nevertheless, for reasons +that I shall presently show, it is on the whole the best map to carry in +the Pyrenees. + +The 1/200,000 map is but a reproduction on a smaller scale of the +1/100,000 map. It has the great advantage of contour lines, but the +scale is so small and the contours so pressed together, that, though it +is invaluable for giving a general and plastic impression of the chain +(to look down on a general map of the Pyrenees on this scale is like +looking down on a model of the French side of the range), it is of little +use for telling one, as a contour map should tell one, exactly how much +higher this spot is than that other spot. When you are climbing and you +wish to identify your position, you have usually to estimate comparative +heights on a delicate scale and at a short distance, for which the +1/200,000 map is of very little use to you. + +One way of using the contours of the 1/200,000 which is laborious, +but not without value, is to trace the _deeper_ contour lines in some +particular district, which you are specially studying. These deeper +contour lines stand out much more clearly than the intermediate faint +ones, which, as I have said, are too numerous for a mountain district. +They can be followed clearly even in the dark shading of a steep ridge, +and are set every hundred metres apart. When such a tracing has been +made, neglecting the finer intermediate lines, you have a good working +relief plan of the mountain you propose to deal with. + +Of all the area open to the climber and the man on foot in the Pyrenees, +that upon the Spanish side of the frontier is the larger and wilder, +and this for two reasons. First, because property and its attendant +limitations is more developed upon the northern slope, so that the vast +areas common to all, are, if anything, vaster upon the southern side, +and secondly, that the formation of the range between the ramparts above +the Ebro and the main chain, covers a larger space than that between the +main chain and the French plains. Yet, as I have just said, it is on the +Spanish side that proper maps are lacking, and one must do the best one +can to supplement them by the French extensions. + +A common plan guides all the French maps in their delineation of +territory south of the frontier. Colours, contour lines, hatching, and +every detail are omitted. Heights are given in certain cases (but those +are rarer of course than on the French side). The names of towns and, in +some cases, their telegraphic and postal communications are marked, but +upon the whole the Spanish side upon the French maps has far less detail +than is accorded for the territory to which the maps directly relate. + +However, let me explain the various advantages and disadvantages, for use +upon the Spanish side, of the four types of French maps I have mentioned. + +The 1/320,000 of the Ministry of War may be neglected; whatever use it +has upon the French side, it is negligible upon the Spanish. + +The 1/80,000 map of the Ministry of War marks the main water-courses upon +the Spanish side, the main peaks, and the main important ports and cols, +with their heights, but it does not afford any indication of the shape +of the country. It is a bare white space of paper with but few lines +traversing it, one or two names, and one or two numbers on each sheet. + +On the whole it is better not to use the French military maps for the +Spanish side; here it is the maps of the Ministry of the Interior which +must chiefly be relied upon. Of these the 1/100,000 map is the best. It +is true that the colours, which are so valuable in the differentiation +of the French side, are absent upon the Spanish, save in the case of +water-courses, which are marked in blue upon either slope of the range. +There is no indication of woods upon the Spanish side, as there is upon +the French, and as this indication is useful for purposes of camping, +the loss of it on the south side is often felt. Moreover, the absence of +colour upon the Spanish side often makes one misinterpret the nature of +the mountains upon these maps, giving to the whole a bare look, since the +rocky and bare spaces on the French side are similarly left uncovered. +On the other hand, the 1/100,000 French map does afford upon the Spanish +side a very large number of detailed points of information. I will +enumerate them in their order. + +1. The general shape of the country is indicated by shading, the light +being supposed to come (as is the case throughout this series of maps) +from the north-west. + +2. Steep rocks and cliffs, the presence of which should always be +indicated to the traveller, are carefully marked upon either side of the +frontier. + +3. Paths, the importance of which the reader will presently appreciate, +are clearly marked, with all details, as exactly as on the French side. + +4. Every habitation is marked, and in the case of villages and towns, the +number of inhabitants, the postal and other facilities. + +5. Most of the heights are marked, though not so many as on the northern +slope, but at any rate the height of every important port, col, and peak +appears. In general, it may be said that there is no map of the Pyrenees, +immediately to the south of the frontier, equivalent to those of the +districts which happen to fall within the French 1/100,000 survey. + +This leads me to the principal drawback connected with the use of the +French 1/100,000 map upon the Spanish side, which is, that it only +includes such Spanish territory as accidentally happens to fall within +each square blocked out in the French survey. + +The English reader is acquainted, it may be presumed, with the one-inch +Ordnance Map, and he will have remarked, how, if it so happens that a +little corner of land escapes the regular series of rectangles into which +the one-inch Ordnance Map is divided, that little corner of land will +have a map all to itself, though the greater part of the rectangular +space so marked may be taken up by the sea. In the same way any little +bit of French territory which projects beyond the scheme of rectangles +into which the whole survey is divided, has, added to it, an outer part +completing the map and extending into Spain; where (as for instance +on the sheet called “Gavarnie”) the little piece of French territory +so projecting is small in comparison with the whole rectangle, a +considerable piece of Spanish territory will be included; but where (as +for instance on the sheet called “Bayonne”) the frontier very nearly +corresponds with the survey, very little of the Spanish side will be +included. + +From this it is easy to perceive that the maximum amount of Spanish +territory in any one map must be inferior either in width or in length +to the full dimensions of each sheet, and that the total distance into +Spain, which any one sheet can mark, south of the frontier, is less than +the width of any one sheet. Now each sheet of the French 1/100,000 map +includes 15 minutes of a degree from north to south, that is, about 17 +miles. One may say, therefore, that the amount of Spanish territory shown +to the south of the frontier in this excellent survey is always less than +one full day’s journey. In many parts it narrows to far less than this. +There are not a few parts of the range where even for those who make but +short excursions on to the Spanish side, this drawback is of considerable +effect. For instance, in the easy and pleasant excursion which takes one +from Andorra to Urgel, the 1/100,000 map cuts one short at 42° 30′ below +Andorra, and 42° 15′ beyond the main road to Urgel, and no small part of +the road lies south or west of this limitation. + +The 1/200,000 map somewhat makes up for the deficiency of the 1/100,000 +map, but not in a complete manner. The frontier sections of this survey +(five in number) show Spanish territory to the extent of some 30 miles in +the Basque country, they give but a tiny corner of the extreme east of +the territory of Aragon, they give over 30 miles for the greater part of +the north of that province, but in Catalonia the belt is restricted to +far less. Moreover, the Spanish details afforded are much slighter than +in the 1/100,000. There is no indication of the relief of the country, +no shading, only the principal water-courses and the principal highways +and mule roads are marked. But it is here that the 1/200,000 is useful, +if one has the intention of walking for some days upon the Spanish side. +Thus the direction from Castellbo in Catalonia to Esterri can be roughly +drawn upon the 1/200,000 and will not be discovered so clearly in any +other survey. + +It now remains to sum up the respective advantages of these four maps for +the general purposes of travel, and to give a few comments upon the uses +of each. + +The 1/320,000 military map will not be of great use to the traveller. +It can only show him the main roads if he is motoring or cycling, and +present him with a general view of the country for which the clearer +1/200,000 map will serve his purpose better. + +The 1/80,000 military map is the best for minute details, and if a man +desires to ramble off and explore some special districts of this great +range, it is the 1/80,000 map which will be of most use to him, though +its value will be supplemented and greatly extended by using it in +conjunction with the colour 1/100,000 map of the Ministry of the Interior +or Home Office. + +This last, as the reader will have seen, is the staple map, upon which +every form of travel depends. If no other be purchased, this at least is +always indispensable. + +It is well here to summarize briefly certain points in the reading of +this map, which do not immediately appear on one’s first acquaintance +with it. + +First, the map is on too small a scale to show a certain number of +features, which, though unimportant in the general landscape, are +essential to the traveller on foot. This is true of rocks, for instance; +open rock, extending over a considerable surface, will always be marked, +but hidden ledges, especially small ones, are more often not marked, +and this may lead to disaster if one trusts the map too exactly. For +instance, in the sheet numbered xi. 37, a range will be seen rising to +the left of the main road, which bisects the map from north to south: I +mean the range running from the Spanish frontier to the Pic-du-Ger. This +ridge is intersected by two profound valleys, and the whole of it is a +mass of greater or smaller limestone ledges, more or less masked in the +density of the forests. Yet it is impossible to indicate these on such a +scale, save here and there by sharp hatching. These limestone ledges are +in this particular case such, that unless one knows the paths extremely +well, it is impossible to cross the ridge at all, but one would have no +idea of that from merely consulting the map. On the other hand, every +rivulet, however small, is distinctly marked, and that is something of a +guide when one has tried to ascertain one’s position in a valley. This +map has a further advantage of marking in the clearest way the paths by +which the various ports are approached, and after a considerable use +of it in many places, I can say that when you have lost the path, the +indication afforded you by the 1/100,000 map is invariably right—upon the +French side. However unreasonably the line seems to acting upon the map, +if it lies to the left of a stream, or beneath a particularly clearly +marked rock, then it is to the left of that stream, or beneath that rock +that you must cast about if you want to find it, and if you find another +path in another direction, you may be certain it is but a random track, +which will mislead you, however clearly it may appear for the moment. +When, in first using these maps, my companions and I neglected such +information, it invariably led to trouble. For instance, in the lower +crossings of the Sousquéou, the map gives the path everywhere on the +north, or right bank of the stream. There is a spot just before the first +rocky “gate” of this ravine where all indication of further travel upon +the right bank disappears, and on the contrary a fine-made path crosses +over by a strong bridge to the further or left bank. We thought the map +must be in error, and crossed by the bridge, with the result that we +spent a whole day cut off by a bad spate from the further side, and were +for some hours in peril; for the bridge once crossed, this false path +disappeared within half a mile. If we had pinned ourselves to the map, +kept to the north bank, and cast about in circles, we should have found +the path again but a hundred yards or so further on, running precisely as +it was indicated on the survey. The importance of the 1/100,000 map in +thus giving all tracks accurately will hardly appear to the reader unused +to the Pyrenees, but it will be seen clearly enough when we come later to +speak of travel upon foot in the mountains. + +It is a defect of the 1/100,000 map that heights, though accurately +marked, cannot always be as accurately referred to the exact spots +standing near the figures. This is because the heights are marked in +pale blue ink, and the ambiguity is accentuated by that absence of +contour lines which is the chief fault of the series. The method of +marking is to point a small blue point close to the figures, and this +dot marks the exact spot to which the figures refer. Where the figures +are printed in a white space, and where there are no other features to +interfere with them, this small blue spot is plain enough, but where +they come upon woodland or steep shading, or other print, it is almost +impossible to discover the dot. Thus, for instance, in the xi. 37 sheet +to which allusion has just been made, a little lake will be found right +upon latitude 42° 50′, just before its intersection with longitude 2° +40′. The height of this lake is given as 2170 metres, and the small blue +point to which that altitude exactly refers is unmistakably marked at the +southern extremity of the lake; but immediately to the right of those +very figures, one of the highest peaks of the Pyrenees, the Bat Lactouse, +marked 3146 metres, presents no point of which one can be certain. The +frontier happens to cross this peak, and the little blue spot has got +lost in the chain of black dots marking the frontier and in the print of +the name of the mountain. + +As a general rule, however, if you are in doubt as to what a figure may +refer to, you are pretty safe in referring it to a peak, rather than to +a pass or a group of houses in the neighbourhood. I have said that the +accuracy of the map is undoubted for the French side; it is less certain +upon the Spanish, where indeed its accuracy is not guaranteed. It is the +best map to use upon the Spanish side (save for that restricted district +over which Schrader’s contour map applies), but do not, upon the Spanish +side, take the map against the evidence of your senses, as you will be +wise always to do upon the French side. The map is notably wrong upon the +Spanish side where unfinished works are concerned; it is not revised with +the same frequency and care as upon the French side; for instance, the +big new road from Sallent up to the French frontier goes in long winding +zigzags, which make the total distance between eight and nine miles. The +1/100,000 map marks it in dots as though it were not finished, makes it +far straighter than it is, and thus reduces the distance by nearly half. + +Finally, the 1/200,000 map gives the best bird’s-eye view of the whole +district, and is the only one showing contours, and penetrating further +upon the Spanish side than any other. It will be my advice to those who +desire to take a walking tour of some length in various parts of the +range, to equip themselves with the whole set of the 1/200,000 maps (5 +sheets), with the whole of the 1/100,000 map, but only with such of the +1/800,000 (the uncoloured map of the Ministry of War) as cover small +districts of the nature of which one is in doubt. Those, on the other +hand, who purpose spending their time in one or two valleys only, should, +without fail, purchase the sheets of the 1/100,000 survey covering that +district, and would do very well to add to these all the corresponding +sheets of the 1/80,000 survey. + +With these remarks, most that can be usefully told to my readers with +regard to the maps of the Pyrenees has been told them, but perhaps a few +final notes will not be without their use, thus: The English traveller +must always remember that none of these maps comes up to the English +one-inch Ordnance for accuracy and detail—the scale forbids this. Next, +let him remember that the dates of revision of each map will differ, +as do the dates of revision of ordnance maps in every country. For +instance, I have before me, as I write, the 1/200,000 of Luz, purchased +in this year (1908); no date of revision is attached to it, but the +new road (which is at present an excellent carriage road, one of the +best in Europe, up the Gallego to the French frontier) is marked, at +first as a lane, afterwards as a mule track. On the 1/100,000 (Laruns +sheet), purchasable this year, the new road is marked as existing for +traffic, but not fully completed beyond a point about three miles from +the frontier, and its true form is not given but merely indicated. It is +evident that these sheets were revised at different times (the Laruns +sheet bears a date six years old), and that we must always take the later +of any two impressions, if we can obtain it. The highways of the Pyrenees +upon the French side especially, both by road and by rail, are being +extended with such rapidity that every year makes a difference to the +accuracy of the information conveyed. + +It remains to enumerate with their titles the maps covering the district: +in England they may be most easily obtained from Messrs. Sifton & Praed, +The Map House, St. James’s Street. This firm provides the 1/200,000 for +the whole chain of the Pyrenees range mounted on canvas, the most useful +map perhaps for motoring and cycling. Any sheet of the 1/100,000 can +also be obtained from them, as all are kept in stock, but by far the +most convenient form in which to carry them is to have them folded in +the stiff cover issued by the French Government: to get them in this +form, a few days’ notice in London will be needed. From the same firm +the military maps can be procured in a similar manner, but I do not know +whether all are kept in stock as a regular thing. + +In ordering the sheets of the 1/200,000 (if one does not purchase them as +a whole), reference is made not to numbers, but to names. There are five +sheets, “Bayonne,” “Tarbes,” “Luz,” “Foix,” and “Perpignan,” the price of +which in England is 10_s._; the whole series can also be purchased mounted. + +The sheets of the 1/100,000 map may be referred to either by the names of +their central towns, or by the index number of the series in which they +are printed. It is difficult to say what numbers of these maps exactly +cover the range, unless one knows how far from the watershed towards +the plain the traveller intends to go. The smallest number sufficient +to cover the actual watershed and the highest peaks is 16, or, for the +whole frontier, 17. These sheets are by name (going from the Atlantic +to the Mediterranean, from west to east), St. Jean-de-Luz, Bayonne, +St. Jean Pied-de-Port, Mauléon, Ste. Engrace, Laruns, Luz, Gavarnie, +Bagnères-de-Luchon, Val-d’Arouge, St. Girons, Mont Rouch, Perles, +Ax-les-Thermes, Saillagouse, Ceret, and Banyuls. Referring to their +numbers in the series upon the index map, they are respectively viii. 35, +ix. 35, ix. 36, x. 36, x. 37, xi. 37, xii. 37, xii. 38, xiii. 37, xiii. +38, xiv. 37, xiv. 38, xv. 38, xvi. 38, xvi. 39, xvii. 39, and xviii. 39. +It will be observed that in the index map of the 1/100,000 series, the +divisions running from north to south are marked in Roman numerals, those +from east to west in Arabic numerals, and that the gradual increase in +Arabic numerals from 35 to 39, corresponds to the gradual trend southward +of the Pyrenean chain from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. + +Very few of my readers will be concerned with the main crest of the range +alone; it will therefore be necessary to add to that list northward of +the frontier (the lower Arabic numerals) the further sheet according to +the district each may have chosen to travel in. A certain number of extra +sheets are necessary to those who travel in the main chain only, for +instance, “Perles” (xv. 38) includes within the limits of its sheet the +frontier upon either side, but this frontier so nearly approaches the +northern limits in one spot, that it will be quite impossible to travel +in this part until we also add the sheet “Foix” (xv. 37), to the north +of it. Even the little lake of Garbet, which is not three miles from the +crest of the range, is half out of the map and half in. + +Those who desire a complete collection of all the sheets of the 1/100,000 +survey, extending from the furthest mountain over the Spanish side up on +the foothills into the French plain, may remark the following lists: in +series viii. 35; in series ix. 35 and 36; in series x. 35, 36, and 37; in +series xi. 35, 36, and 37; in series xii. 36, 37, and 38; in series xiii. +36, 37, and 38; in series xiv. 37 and 38; in series xv. 37 and 38; in +series xvi. 37, 38, and 39; in series xvii. 38 and 39; in series xviii. +39; in all twenty-five sheets will cover the mountainous region in this +survey, and anyone who desires a complete map of the French Pyrenees, +with as much of the Spanish side as the survey includes, should possess +them all. + +Schrader’s map is in six sheets upon the scale of 1/100,000 and with +contours. It is essentially a climber’s map. Detailed maps of special +districts of course exist in many shapes, but they must be sought for in +the periodical reviews, and in monographs in which they have appeared. +Finally, it may interest the reader to know that in the Casino of +Bagnères-de-Luchon he may inspect a fully detailed relief map of the +whole range on a scale somewhat larger than one inch to a mile, though +the inspection of it rather satisfies curiosity than affords any guide to +travel. + +Schrader’s map is of the greatest value for one particular piece of +touring, which I shall describe later in these pages. Meanwhile it may be +as well to add a further note upon it here. It is by far the best, so far +as it goes, of all the Pyrenean maps; it is due to private enterprise, +and if the whole range had been done in the same way there would be no +need to discuss any other type, it would amply suffice for all purposes. +Unfortunately, whereas the range, within the limits laid down in this +book, stretches in length from a degree east of Paris to nearly four +degrees west of that meridian, covering, that is, four or five degrees +of longitude, and stretches in latitude from 43° 25′ to at least 42°, +Schrader’s survey covers only 1½° in longitude (namely, from 1° 10′ west +of Paris to 2° 40′), and in latitude extends over no more than half a +degree, namely, from 42° 20′ to 42° 50′. + +As the reader may see by comparing these bearings with a general map, +Schrader’s map is intended to include no more than the very high Pyrenean +peaks: it is the result of many years of careful individual survey, begun +before the war of 1870 and carried on to quite the last few years. + +Like the French Home Office map, it is in the scale of 1/100,000, and, +like it, it is printed in colours, but unlike the Home Office map, it +shows the invaluable feature _of contours_. You have an exact plan of +the country before you, and in clear weather, with the aid of this map, +you can fall into no error in connexion with the relief of the land. +The contours are at some distance, at 100 metres or 328 feet apart, but +this in such country is an advantage; indeed, the cramping of the closer +contours on the official 1/200,000 map, greatly detracts from their +usefulness. Not only are contours marked, but all rocky places are given +with the greatest care, and the impression of relief is helped by shading +as well as contour lines. The only drawback of the map, apart from its +restricted area, lies in the absence of any indication of woods. As to +the steepness, to which woods are often a guide, his contours amply make +up for the deficiency, but for camping it affords you no indication. On +the other hand, all cabanes and all paths are very clearly marked. + +All heights and distances with which you will have to do in these hills +upon either side are marked in metres, save in the popular talk, which +measures distances by the time taken to traverse them. With this I shall +deal in a moment. Let me first deal with what is a constant source of +trouble to Englishmen on the Continent, the turning of the metrical +system of measure into its English equivalent. + +There are two ways of doing this. One is the application of quite easy +and rough rules of thumb, the other is the more complicated process which +aims at a fairly high degree of accuracy. It is the first of these of +course which most people will want to know, and there are two simple +rules, one for heights and one for distances. + +The rule for heights is, divide by 3, shift the decimal point one place +to the right, and you have the height in English feet, _within a certain +limit of error_, which I shall presently detail. + +The rule of thumb as applied to measures of distance is to take the +number of kilometres (a kilometre is 1000 metres, and is, as one may +say, the French mile), divide by 8, and multiply by 5, and you have the +corresponding number of English miles _within a certain limit of error_, +which I shall describe presently. + +For all ordinary purposes these two rules are sufficient, though in both +cases they somewhat exaggerate. They make a French distance measured in +English miles a little too far, and a French height, measured in English +feet, a trifle too high. + +The exact constant of error is, in the case of the heights, 1.6 feet in +every 100. Thus if your rough calculation gave you a height of 10,160 +feet, the exact height ought to be just 10,000; you see upon the map in +the blue figures referring to metres, “3048” (which happens by the way to +be within two steps of the height of the Bac Lactous). You divide by 3, +add a 0, and get 10,160, and you know by the constant of error that the +true height is just exactly 10,000 feet. + +The knowledge of this constant gives us a rough-and-ready method of +getting a height within a very small degree of accuracy, and for any +purposes where such accuracy is required, I recommend it. It consists in +cutting off the last three figures, multiplying what is left by 4, and +then again by 4, and subtracting that from your first rough calculation. +It sounds complicated, but it does not take half a minute, and you will +be well within two feet of any height; for most heights you are likely to +calculate, you will be right within a few inches. + +For instance, you see 2403, in blue figures upon the map dividing by 3 +and shifting your decimal point, you at once get 8010; there is your +rough calculation, which you know to be a trifle in excess of the truth. +Cut off the last three figures and you have left 8, multiply 8 by 4, and +then again by 4, and you have 128 as the amount of your error. The peak +is by this calculation 7882 feet high, and rough as the rule is you are +within 20 inches of the truth: the exact height of such a peak in English +feet is 7883.7624.... + +However, if you want absolute accuracy, multiply the French measure by +3.2808992, and you will be sufficiently near the truth to save your soul. + +As to distances, the exact proportion of error, when you turn miles into +kilometres by dividing by eight and multiplying by 5, is 2 inches or so +short of 50 feet too much in every mile; when, therefore, you are dealing +with a hundred miles, you are very nearly, but not quite a mile out in +this form of calculation. The error is, within a very small fraction, 1%. + +If therefore you want an easy rule for turning your rough calculation +into an accurate one, you cut off the last two figures and subtract from +your total the figures thus left. For instance, 244 kilometres divided by +8 gives 30½, and that multiplied by 5 is 152.5; cut off the 52, leaving +“1” on the left, subtract that 1 (making 151.5), and you are within a few +yards of accuracy. As questions of distance count nothing in mountains +compared with questions of height, I will make no mention of decimals, +but proceed to a very different matter, which is the way of counting that +the _mountaineers_ have, and this you will do well to heed blindly. + +When you are tired and distracted and wondering perhaps whether you can +push on, if you have the good luck to find a shepherd, he will tell you +your distance to such and such a place in _hours_. The Spanish, the +Gascon, the Béarnais, and the Catalan dialects all use the same words, +so far as sound goes, for this kind of measure, and the Basque will +never speak to you in Basque: it is part of the Basque tenacity never +to do this. So if you find yourself in any part of the high hills where +a man can talk to you of distances, you always hear the same sounds +“Dos Oras,” “Quart’ Ora,” “Mi’ Ora,” and the rest. This habit, as every +reader knows, is universal throughout the world wherever true peasants +exist; but in mountains, whether they be Welsh or African, it is not only +universal, but it withstands all the invasion of the modern world. + +What I would particularly impress upon anyone going into the Pyrenees +is this, that such a method of counting is exceedingly accurate, and is +moreover the only accurate method. Nothing is more fatal to a civilized +man of the plains than to take his little measuring stick and measure +upon the map by the scale the distance between two points, saying, “It +will take me so many hours.” There was a Basque at Ste. Engrace who very +well expressed to me the contempt which mountaineers have for that method +of the plains. A deputy of the French Parliament had stopped in his inn, +had thus measured the distance from the village to the pass, and would +not believe that it could take three hours. It always takes exactly three +hours. I have done it in four by careful dawdling, and the dawdling, when +I came to reckon it up, had taken exactly one hour out of the four. Now, +measured upon the map, that distance, as the crow flies, is precisely +three miles, but it takes three hours none the less. You will not do it +in less, and what is odder, you can hardly do it in more, for if you +deliberately go too slowly, you are done for in no time, and if you halt, +you will find that your halt fits in exactly to make the walking time +three hours. Similarly, over the Pourtalet, from the last Spanish hamlet +to the first French one, is six hours; part of the way you may choose +between a good road and a mule track, but whichever you choose it is six +hours; and there is nothing more astonishing in Pyrenean travel than +the accuracy of this rough method. As I said just now, you must heed it +blindly; it is by far your best guide. + +The use of maps has one last thing to be said about it, which applies +particularly to the Schrader map and to the 1/100,000, and this is that +where you think you see a short cut, and the map gives you no track, +there the short cut is to be avoided. I say it applies particularly to +the Schrader and 1/100,000, because these two maps are so particular +in detail that you think their information must be enough without +the further aid of a path. Moreover, the path sometimes takes such +apparently needless turns that you are for escaping it by an easier cut. + +You will never succeed. You may indeed succeed in a bit of exceptionally +hard climbing, you may not lose your life, but you will most certainly +wish that you had never attempted the unmarked crossing of the ridge you +have attacked. It is obvious that the exception to this doctrine would +be found in a piece of genuine experiment. If you say to yourself for +instance, “I can get over the shoulder of the Pic d’Anie into the valley +of the rivulet beyond, which has no name, but which runs into the Tarn +of Uterdineta,” you will probably do it, but it will not be a short cut +from the Val d’Aspe into the valley of Isaba, though it is the shortest +way. These temptations for cutting across the hills come very often in +one’s first experiments in the Pyrenees: they get less frequent as one +knows more of them. These mountains are full of vengeance, and hate to be +disturbed. + + NOTE.—A convenient map for viewing the whole range is the 1/400,000 + which is sold by Messrs. Sifton & Praed, mounted in two sheets, + and in a case. It is especially of use in showing a large belt + of the Spanish side. Motorists in particular should see it. + + + + +IV + +THE ROAD SYSTEM OF THE PYRENEES + + +[Illustration] + +There are two kinds of platforms for travel in the Pyrenees—mule tracks +and great, highly engineered, modern roads. No others exist. When, +therefore, one is describing travel in the Pyrenees, one must separately +describe the opportunities of wheeled travel open to all vehicles, +however elaborate, and of travel on foot or with a mule. As the last will +take up the greater part of my space, I will speak of wheeled travel +first. + +To understand what are the opportunities of this, one may take as one’s +standard the roads which can be traversed by a motor car. Those passages +which a motor car cannot use cannot be used by a bicycle or a carriage, +for the roads of the Pyrenees are, as I have said, either very good broad +roads, well graded, and with a hard surface, or they do not exist; the +change is always abrupt throughout the chain from an excellent highway, +carefully engineered, to a mule track. + +The scheme of Pyrenean roads, as it exists now, is, briefly, _first_: a +couple of great lateral roads on the French side, which may be called the +upper and the lower road; _next_, four roads traversing the chain (six if +you count the roads along the sea-coast at either end, which I omit—the +one goes by St. Jean de Luz, the other by the Pass of Lacleuse or La +Perthuis); _thirdly_, a series of roads, numerous on the French side, +rare on the Spanish, which penetrate the valleys but do not cross the +chain, and end at a greater or less distance from the watershed. + +The main lateral road from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, along the +base of the Pyrenees, links up all the towns upon the plains; it joins +Bayonne to Pau, Pau to Tarbes, Tarbes to St. Gaudens, and so on through +St. Girons, Foix, and Quillan to Perpignan: this may be called _the +Lower Road_. The upper road has been but recently completed. It is made +up of sections, some of which are old highways, some links quite newly +built, and the characteristic of the whole is that it skirts as nearly +as possible the crest of the main chain, crossing at some places very +high passes over the lateral ridges, and everywhere keeping right up +against the high summits of the range. The whole line runs from Perpignan +over the Col de la Perche up the Val Carol and over the Puymorens to +Ax, Tarascon, and St. Girons. At St. Girons, it is compelled by the +conformation of the country to touch the lower road, but it leaves it at +once to pass from Fronsac to Luchon; thence through Arreau, Luz, Argelès, +Laruns, Oloron, and Mauléon—all the high mountain towns—to St. Jean +Pied-de-Port, and thence back again to Bayonne. + +The four roads over the ridge into Spain lie all of them on the western +side of the hills. They are, first, the road through the Baztan valley, +which connects Bayonne with Pamplona; secondly, the Roman road over +Roncesvalles, 12 or 15 miles to the east of this, which used to be the +high road between Bayonne and Pamplona before the Baztan road was built, +and which was during all history the westernmost road of invasion and +communication between Gaul and Spain; thirdly, the road which goes over +the Somport, which was also a Roman road and the chief one, uniting +Saragossa with the French plains; fourthly, a road parallel to this and +not 10 miles east of it, running over the Pourtalet Pass and joining the +Saragossa road lower down. No other roads cross the range from France +into Spain until one reaches the Mediterranean, and all these four lie +within the first westernmost third of the Pyrenees. + +It would be quite easy to open other roads which should unite the last of +the Spanish highways with the first of the French, notably over the easy +pass of Bonaigo, where 20 miles of work would be enough, and through the +Cerdagne, where there are no engineering difficulties. One such road is +now in process of completion between Esterri and St. Girons over the pass +of Salau. Another, which was begun from the valley of the Ariège into +Andorra, was abruptly stopped, and it will probably never be completed. +There are some half-dozen other places, where a road could cross and +where the French are building their side of it: but the Spaniards are +reluctant to meet them. + +Of the roads of the third kind, roads running up the valleys but not +attempting to cross the mountains, one may say that on the French side +every valley has one or more good roads, the one drawback to the use of +which in a motor is that you are compelled, unless you can take a cross +road from one high valley to another high valley, to go back by the way +you came into the plain. + +Not only has every valley its highway leading to the very foot of the +main range, but often the bifurcations of the valley will have roads +as well. Thus along the valley of the Nive you can go in a motor not +only to St. Jean Pied-de-Port, but also right up the eastern valley to +a country-side called the “Baigorry” as far as Urepel; along the next +Basque valley to the east, you can go from Mauléon in the plains right +up into the hills as far as Larrau, but you cannot go to Ste. Engrace, +where the valley splits, because the track thither, though a good one, +will not take wheels. You can go up the branch valley from Oloron as high +as Aritte, and the main road up the Val d’Aspe (which is that leading +to Jaca by the old Roman way), has lateral branches, one taking you to +Lourdios, the other across the foot hills to Arudy and the Val d’Ossau. +The valley of Lourdes has a road which, with the exception of the roads +over the passes, goes nearest to the main watershed. I mean the road to +Gavarnie; and the Val d’Aure, which comes next to the westward, has a +road going as far as Aragnonette, almost as close to the last cliffs as +Gavarnie is; and there is an embranchment to the east which takes one to +the very foot at the Hôpital of Rivanagon in one of the loneliest parts +of the hills. The road to Bagnères de Luchon is carried some miles beyond +that town, as far as the Hospitalet, which stands at the foot of the pass +into Spain. The road to Viella in the Val d’Oran goes on up to within +a mile or two of the pass of Bonaigo. A road from St. Girons takes one +up the valley of the Lez as far as Sentein, which, like Gavarnie, lies +right under the main chain, while the road from the same town up the +main valley of the Sallent goes up to the watershed itself, and is being +constructed to cross it, and to afford (over the pass of Salau) one more +badly needed passage into Spain. The valley of the Ariège has a road all +along it, almost to the sources of that river. It is continued through +the Cerdagne and down the valley of the Tet into the Roussillon. + +There is not a main valley on the French side of the Pyrenees which has +not its great carriage road, and most of the lateral valleys have now the +same kind of communications. The journey up them is nearly always of the +same kind, save the few which are prolonged to carry over the watershed +into Spain. There is the succession of two or three enclosed plains or +jasses after one has left the plains, the sharp pitch up to one flat, +and then another, through short but steep rocky gorges, till we reach +the little terminal mountain village, sometimes not more than a group of +three or four buildings, lying under the last escarpment, and in sight +of the frontier ridge above it. Of this terminal sort was Urdos until +Napoleon III pushed the road out beyond it into Spain; Gabas, until the +Republic did the same with the road there; and of this sort still an old +Hospitalet, Sentein in the Val d’Aure, and though it is in a state of +transition, for the road is now being pushed beyond it, of this sort is +Gavarnie. Little places almost as old as our race, with no history and no +national memories, but with immemorial traditions, rooted as deep as the +mountains, were brought into the life of our time by that new activity +of the French, which is to many foreigners so hateful, to many others so +marvellous. + +[Illustration: PLAN L.] + +On the Spanish side there are no roads of this kind penetrating the +valleys except the incomplete road to Isaba from Pamplona by way of the +Val d’Anso, and the short stretch from Sandinies to Panticosa. + +A road is being made up the Val d’Anéu, but it is not yet finished, and a +road goes just so far up the broad Segre valley as Seu d’Urgel. + +All the other valleys have mule tracks alone. + +The general scheme of existing roads in the Pyrenees is roughly as upon +the map on previous page, where it will be seen that much the greater +length of the chain is impassable to a wheeled vehicle. + +Motoring sets a standard for every other form of wheeled traffic, I will +therefore first speak of this kind of travel. The best road to take with +a motor, if one wishes to obtain a general idea of the Pyrenees, is the +Lower Road (by Tarbes and Foix) from Bayonne to Perpignan; one may then +come back again from Perpignan to Bayonne by the upper road, many parts +of which are of very recent construction and which goes right through +the highest part of the chain across the main lateral valleys of the +Pyrenees. Such a round—about 500 miles altogether—gives one from far and +from near the whole of the French Pyrenees: from the first one sees the +chain as a whole before one: by the second one mixes with its deepest +valleys. + +The first day’s run from Bayonne had best end at Tarbes; it is a town +central with regard to the chain, and it is also a very pleasant place +to stop at under any conditions; not cosmopolitan like Pau, and not in a +hole and corner like Foix. + +The lower road from Bayonne to Tarbes runs through Orthez, Puyoo, and +Pau, and if one starts early, Pau is a good halting-place for the middle +of the day. This part of the road is, during the whole of its length or +nearly the whole of it, a rolling road of the plains with no striking +points of view save in where it tops a slight rise. It first follows but +runs above and north of the valley of the Adour below it, next descends +after the first 20 miles or so to cross the Adour, and so comes to +Peyrehorade, the first town (and railway station) upon its course. During +all this first part of the run one has sight after sight of the range +which stretches out eastward before one to the south rising higher as it +goes; and one sees at first before one upon the horizon, later abreast of +one and due south, the pyramid of the Pic d’Anie, which is the first of +the high peaks. + +From Peyrehorade to Pau, between 40 and 50 miles, the road goes through +Orthez along the valley of the Gave de Pau, for the most part following +the river bank and allowing but few sights of the range; but at Pau +itself it rises on to the high plateau of the town whence the most famous +general view of the Pyrenees is spread before one. + +From Pau there are two roads to Tarbes; for curiosity and for general +travel it is the road round by Lourdes which is generally taken, and that +is during the whole of its length a lowland road though it runs among the +foot hills; but the better road on such a drive as I am describing is the +direct northern road, which, after it has climbed on to the plateau of +Vignan, goes up and down steep small ravines until it comes down again +upon the main valley of the Adour and the plain of Tarbes. + +There are on this road two points, one just after one leaves the railway +line, not quite half-way to Tarbes on the climb up to Vignan, the other +just before the loop and descent above Ibos, which afford fine views of +the range to the south, and one begins to gather one’s general impression +of these mountains, which, more than any other range, present an +appearance of simplicity and the united effect of a barrier. Tarbes, less +than 30 miles from Pau, may seem a short run for one day from Bayonne, +but it breaks the journey exactly and conveniently. + +After Tarbes (where the hotel for you is the Hotel Des Ambassadeurs) the +road goes through much broken country, passing by Tournay up on the high +plateau of Lannemezan to Montréjeau. It is a road full of short hills, +but it is necessary to take this section in order to go eastward from +Montréjeau and to proceed through St. Gaudens, taking an elbow by St. +Martary and so down to St. Girons. + +After St. Girons one follows the new and excellent road which runs along +the valley side by side with the new railway to Foix. From Foix to +Nalzen your way is to go along the main road from Foix up the Ariège +Valley for some 4 miles and then turn to the left, leaving the railway +and making due east. From Nalzen continue to Lavenalet; there take the +right-hand road to Belesta and Belcaire; thence, when you have crossed +the plateau, a very winding road takes you down hundreds of feet, on +to Quillan. After Quillan you have a few miles through the very little +known and wonderful gorges of Pierre Lys to St. Martin, through which +gorges the railway accompanies you. Do not follow it round by Axat, but +cut across by the road which goes eastward to La Pradelle. This road +takes you across a low pass to the watershed of the Mediterranean. From +La Pradelle to Perpignan the road is a perfectly clear one through St. +Paul and Estagel. It is a straight, good road, following the valley all +the way, save the last stretch, which runs across the plains between the +river Agly and the Tet. + +This second day will of course be far longer than the first; it is nearer +200 miles than 120. If you would break it, however, break it rather after +the short run to St. Girons, than at Foix, for though Foix be nearly the +half-way house, yet the accommodation is better at St. Girons, and so is +the cooking. + +A two days’ run of this kind from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, +following such a route, gives you the whole distant range in one general +appearance, and gives it you better than you will have along any other +line with which I am acquainted. + +The way back by the upper road from east to west through the Pyrenees +is a piece of travel quite peculiar to these mountains; nowhere else +in Europe is there a lateral road driven right across the buttresses +or supports of a main range. The Pyrenees possess such a road in their +highest part. What the French have done here is as though the Italians +had driven a road from the sources of the Dora Baltea right under Mont +Rosa, and the Matterhorn to Lake Maggiore, or as though the Swiss had +driven one from Faido and Fusia right over into the valley of Domo +d’Ossola. From Tarascon in the valley of the Ariège to Laruns in the +Val d’Ossau—that is, over all the central part of the chain and for +just over half its length—a mountain road goes right up against the main +heights (only once coming near the lowlands at St. Girons), crossing the +high, perilous passes which lie between the upper valleys. By taking +advantage of this new piece of engineering you can return from Perpignan +to Bayonne through the midst of those hills which the road just described +from Bayonne to Perpignan showed you in a distant general view: when you +have so returned you will have seen the heart, the French Pyrenees. + +I will now describe such a return journey by the upper road. From +Perpignan you will do well to run the first day to Ax. The road is the +great road from the Roussillon into France. You go up the valley of the +Tet (which is the main river of the Roussillon) through Prades with the +Canigou first right in front of you, and at last rising steeply to your +left. You continue through Prades up the gorges and tortuous zigzags of +the Upper River until you come to the head of the pass at Mont Louis: +there the broad and easy valley of the Cerdagne opens to the south, +sloping gently before you. The road runs down, almost as in a plain, to +Bourg Madame, where you must turn to the right up the Val Carol to Porté. +The pass above Porté (called the “Puymorens”) though long, is of an easy +gradient, and once over it you run down all the 18 miles to Ax, following +the valley of the Ariège. + +Ax is, of course, an early stopping-place. The whole distance from +Perpignan is under 140 miles, but Ax is so much more comfortable than +Tarascon that it is better to make one’s halt there. + +Next day go down the valley as far as Tarascon and there take the +mountain road off to the left; it is not a national[1] road but it has a +perfectly good surface in spite of a considerable climb. One little col +comes almost immediately at Bedeillac, after that you climb steadily up +the valley to the Col-du-Port (which is about 4000 feet high) then down +the mountain side to Massat, which lies on the western side of the pass +and about 2000 feet below it. Thence it is an ordinary valley road until +you come to St. Girons again. + + [1] The French metalled roads are of three main kinds, supported + by the State, the County and the Parish respectively. Of these + the first and most important are called “National Road.” + +From St. Girons you continue this progress parallel to the watershed and +right among the high peaks, by taking the cross road from St. Girons to +the valley of the Garonne. Just before the railway station at St. Girons +turn sharp to your left, taking the road which goes up the left bank of +the Lez. At this starting point you are not more than 1300 or 1400 feet +above the sea; at Audressein (300 feet up) turn to the right, cross the +river, and begin to climb the upper valley until you reach the col of +Portet-d’Aspet at about 3400 feet, that is, some 2000 feet above St. +Girons, and between 15 and 20 miles from that town. From this col the +road descends rapidly down the valley of the river Ger, falling in 5 +miles 1500 or 1600 feet. At the end of the 5 miles you take a road that +goes sharp off to the left before reaching the village of Sengouagnet, +this road going off to the left crosses a low watershed, makes, at the +end of another 5 miles, a great loop round the forest of Moncaup (the +church of which village you leave to the left just before making the +turn), and comes down into the great open plain into which the valley of +the Garonne here enlarges. It is one of the finest enclosed plains in the +Pyrenees, and to come down upon it by this road is perhaps the best way +to approach it. + +The first village in this plain is Antichan, thence several long windings +take one down to Frontignan below, and thence it is a straight road +through Fronsac to Chaum where there is a bridge over the river, and +where the plain of which I have spoken terminates in a narrow gateway +through the hills. You cross the river by this bridge, fall at once into +the great national road upon the further or left bank, and a straight +run of not more than 12 miles in which one only rises 300 or 400 feet up +the tributary valley brings one to Bagnères-de-Luchon. Though at the end +of an even shorter day than was Ax from Perpignan, Bagnères will make a +convenient stopping-place after a good deal of hill climbing and roads +the surface of which, especially in the early summer, is occasionally +doubtful. Bagnères has, of course, everything that people motoring can +want, it is the capital of the touring Pyrenees, and even if this cross +journey has not proved enough for one day, the character of Bagnères +makes it the right place to stop at on the second day. + +Though Bagnères is right in the middle of the mountains, but a mile or +two from the frontier of Spain, not 6 miles, as the crow flies, from the +watershed and within ten of the highest peaks of the Pyrenees, yet the +importance of the town has caused good communications to spring up around +it, and there is an excellent road crossing straight over from the high +valley of Bagnères into the next high valley, the Val d’Aure. It starts +at the market-place just opposite the new church, crosses the col called +“Port-de-Peyredsourde,” and comes down into the main road of the Val +d’Aure at Avajan, which follows down the stream at an even gradient to +Arreau, 7 miles further on. + +Arreau is the capital of the Val d’Aure, and when you have reached it you +will have come about 20 miles from Bagnères. + +The next parallel valley to the Val d’Aure is that of the Gave-de-Pau: +the valley which has at its mouth the town of Lourdes, and at its +head, right under the Spanish frontier, the famous village and cliff +of Gavarnie. There is, indeed, a small subsidiary valley in between +where the Adour takes its rise, and of which Bagnères-de-Bigorre is the +capital, but it is shorter and stands lower than the two main valleys +upon either side. The section I am about to describe, the great new road +from the Val d’Aure to the Valley of Lourdes, just touches this upper +valley of the Adour but does not pursue it. + +The cross road from Arreau in the Val d’Aure to Luz in the valley of +Lourdes is the steepest and the most diverse in gradient, as it is also +by far the finest in scenery, of all the new sections which have recently +been pierced through the highest parts of the range and between them +build up what I have called “The Upper Road.” The distance as the crow +flies from Arreau to Luz is not 20 miles, but the long windings of the +road which take it over two passes, and the northern diversion necessary +to turn the great mountain mass of the Port Bieil, lengthen it to nearly +double that distance. + +There is no mistaking this road. It branches off at Arreau, leaving the +valley road not half a mile beyond the bridge and going to the left up a +little side stream, the name of which I do not know. Within 2 miles it +crosses this stream and begins to take the long complicated and graded +turns up the mountain. One must be careful, by the way, at the point +where the road crosses the stream to turn sharp to the right and not go +straight on towards Aspin, for though one can get to the main road again +from Aspin, it is by roads too steep for a motor. If one so turns to +the right, the road goes up to the col in great zigzags and climbs in +some 6 or 7 miles the 2000 feet between Arreau and the summit, thence it +falls rapidly for 3 or 4 miles to a point where the new road cuts off +the corner the old road used to make. It is important to recognize this +point, not only because it saves one at least 6 or 7 miles of travelling, +but also because it saves one going right down into the valley of the +Adour and climbing up again. I will therefore attempt to fix for the +traveller the exact place where he must turn off to the left, though the +description is difficult on account of the absence of any landmark. + +As you come down from the Col d’Aspin, you run through a wood along the +mountain side for perhaps 2 miles. The road sweeps round the curve of a +gulley on emerging from this wood, crosses the rivulet of that gulley, +and comes down close to the stream at the foot of the valley which is +the source of the Adour. Just at this point a road will be seen coming +in from the left, descending the slope of the valley beyond the stream +and crossing it by a bridge. This is _not the road_ you are to take. You +must continue on the same road you have been following down from the +pass, until, in about half a mile, it crosses the stream to the left +bank, and approaches on that bank a wood that lies above one on the hill. +Immediately after this bridge there is a bifurcation; one branch goes +straight on, the other goes off to the left; this last is the one you +must follow. The branch going straight on is the old road which leads +down the valley of the Adour, and from which one used to have to double +back some miles on at an acute angle to reach Luz. The new road, which +you must thus take to the left, cuts off that angle. + +There are no difficulties from this point onward. The road winds a good +deal round the hill-side, and almost exactly 5 miles from the point where +you turned into it you come again upon the main road to Luz over a bridge +that crosses a stream. Just where you join that main road it begins its +long climb up to the pass called Col du Tourmalet. + +This pass is the highest and steepest on the secondary or lateral passes, +over which the new roads have recently been driven. It is just under 7000 +feet in height, is everywhere practicable, and once it is surmounted +there is a clear run down of some 10 miles and more (following the valley +called locally that of the Bastan) to Vielle and to Luz in the main +valley. + +Of all the crossings between the high valleys of the Pyrenees this is the +one best worth taking. The height of the pass, the great mass of the Port +Bieil dominating one side of the road, and of the Pic-du-Midi dominating +the other, give it an aspect different from any other of the secondary +roads, and comparable only to the two main passes of the Somport and the +Val d’Ossau. + +From Luz a great national road takes one down the valley to Argelès and +the railway, a distance of about 18 miles, and the end of about as fine a +piece of engineering as there is in Europe. From Argelès, which is just +above Lourdes and whence Lourdes can be reached at once by road or by +rail, the cross road which I am describing goes on over another high pass +into the Val d’Ossau. + +The motorist must decide whether to make Argelès his stopping-place or +not. In distance from Bagnères he will have gone no more than somewhat +over 70 miles, and that is a short day; but it is a day that will have +included a great deal of climbing and of sharp descents, and that will +have had at the end of it one of the highest passes in the Pyrenees. If +he does not choose to stop at Argelès, he will find in Eaux Bonnes above +the Val d’Ossau, rather more than 20 miles on (but over a high pass), a +very wealthy little modern town, like Bagnères on a lesser scale, with +everything that he or his machine can want; and only an hour or an hour +and a half beyond Eaux Bonnes, by one of the great national roads and +along the lowlands, is Pau. + +This cross road from Argelès and the valley of Lourdes, into the Val +d’Ossau runs as follows. You take at Argelès the road for Aucun, a +village about 5 miles off, up a lateral valley, during which 5 miles you +climb over 1200 feet. + +From Aucun, still climbing, the road passes Marsous, winds up the +hill-side away from the stream, and reaches the first pass, the Col de +Soulor, thence it makes round the head waters of the Ouzan valley and +round the flank of a bare hill called in that country-side “Mount Ugly,” +until it reaches the point called the Col de Casteix. Here the foot +passenger would naturally cross, as he might have crossed still lower +down by the Col de Cortes, but for the sake of a gradient the road goes +right round to the north and over the Col d’Aubisque, falling from thence +in very long curves down to Eaux Bonnes. The town is not 2½ miles from +the top of the col in a straight line. It is more than 5 by the long +zigzags of the road. + +From Eaux Bonnes a road of less than 3 miles takes one down the Pyrenees +to Laruns in the valley, and here the great lateral road of the high +Pyrenees may be said to end. + +One may go to Pau the same night, but, sleeping at Eaux Bonnes, it is a +most interesting journey to continue down the valley of the Gave d’Ossau +to Arudy and to Oloron, thence by the road through Aramits, and Tardets +to Mauléon, thence by Musculdy, Larceveau, and Lacarre to St. Jean +Pied-de-Port, but all that run is through the foot hills, and though one +has fine views of the range from every little pass and hilltop, these +last 80 or 100 miles are not of the same nature as the track I have just +been describing, the chief feature of which is the presence of a good +carriageway running through the very core of high and abrupt mountains. +Still, anyone who has taken the lower road, as I have advised, from +Bayonne to Perpignan and wishes to go back all the way to Bayonne by a +higher road nearer the mountains, cannot do better than go on from Eaux +Bonnes to Laruns, to Oloron, Mauléon, St. Jean Pied-de-Port, and thence +down the lovely valley of the Nive to Bayonne. + +So far I have described the main circular journey, west to east, and from +east back again to west, which one can take in a motor car in the French +Pyrenees. + +To describe or to advise as to a similar journey from north to south is +not so easy, because the Spanish roads are uncertain. Moreover, there is +no Spanish road crossing the lateral ranges as the French one does, so +that, unless one abandons the Pyrenees altogether and goes right down +into the plains, a circular journey from north to south and back north +again is confined to the very narrow choice between Roncesvalles, the +Somport, and the new Sallent road. + +The road over the Somport is the best international road between France +and Spain. It is completely finished, and yet it is sufficiently modern +to present every advantage for travel. On the French side it has been +complete since the time of Napoleon III; on the Spanish side its highest +stretches have been finished only in recent years. It is perfectly +possible to take the whole road from Oloron to Jaca, and so back by +Sallent and Laruns to Oloron again in one day, but it would be a foolish +thing to do, and if the ascents try the machine, it might mean going +through some of the best scenery of the Val d’Ossau in the dark. It is +best therefore to break the journey at Jaca, and no number of hours spent +in that delightful town are wasted. The first part of the road—the first +16 miles or so—are nearly level. It is interesting to see the straight +line which the Roman track makes for the gate of the hills at Asasp. The +pass seems to invite the road: it is the most obvious gap in the whole +Chain. + +The rise, as I have said, is slight. The river, which is rather less +than 800 feet above the sea at Oloron, is not 1400 above it at Bédous; +in the whole 20 miles or so, you rise but 600 feet. There are occasional +hills, but they are insignificant, and the general impression is that of +following the floor of the valley. When, however, one has passed through +the great enclosed plain of Bédous, and left behind him its chief town, +Accous, one passes through a narrow gorge, which rises continually to +Urdos about 12 miles on. The rise is gradual, however, and never steep. +It was at Urdos that the old valley road used to stop, until Napoleon +III continued it to the summit of the pass, and for 7 miles above Urdos +there are continual and steep rises. The pass, however, is low (it is +but slightly over 5000 feet) and the last 2 miles before the summit are +fairly flat. From the summit the road runs down on the Spanish side a +little steeply, but with no really difficult gradient, and after about 2 +miles of this, where the Canal Roya falls in and forms the river Aragon, +the road takes on quite an easy slope. Indeed, the escarpment is so much +steeper upon the French side that Jaca, though it is 25 miles away, +stands no lower than Urdos close by just over the ridge. Rather less than +half-way between the summit and Jaca is the little town of Canfranc. It +would be a pity to stop there, the food is doubtful, and so is the wine, +and if one wants to breakfast on the journey, it is better to make an +early breakfast at Urdos. + +After Canfranc the mountains open out and you are fairly in the lowlands; +17 miles on, through a wide valley, you come to Jaca. + +Your hotel at Jaca will be the Hotel Mur, as good and comfortable a one +as you will find in northern Spain. From Jaca you may go on to Pamplona +westward, or down further south into Spain by Saragossa. As you enter the +northern gate of Jaca, you will have gone exactly 57 miles from Oloron; a +short distance I know, but I repeat, it is foolish to go to Jaca and not +to spend your time in so charming a place. Moreover, the run back has no +opportunities for repose. + +The return journey is first eastward by the Guasa road, which has (or +had, when I went along it last), a most indifferent surface in parts, and +you follow this, with a railway never far from the road, some 10 or 12 +miles, until at Sabiñanigo the railway turns down south and in much the +same neighbourhood (but north of the line) the road turns up north and +reaches Biescas (a smaller town than Jaca), in about another 8 miles. +After that it begins to climb. At Sandinies the road bifurcates. That on +the right goes up to Panticosa; crossing the river by the stone bridge of +Escar, your road goes straight on up the valley and climbs up to Sallent +for 3 or 4 miles. + +I confess I have never been over this bit, but I am assured that it is +practicable for a motor, and I have indeed seen a motor which had come +round from Panticosa. There is nothing at Sallent that you can call +habitable, though as motors live there it is to be presumed that there +are ways of looking after them. You will do well to volunteer at the +guard room (which is on the left of the road as you leave the town) +information as to your whereabouts. It has happened to me not to be +allowed to leave a Spanish town without all manner of formalities, while +on other occasions it has happened to me to walk through one and over +into France without a question being asked. + +From Sallent the new road goes up with rather steep gradients at first, +zigzagging up the side of the Peña Forata. The old road, a mere track, +may be seen cutting off the great bends as one climbs the mountain. +About a mile from the frontier, where the steepness of the road grows +level, is a post of police where they may or may not bother you; they +bothered me on one occasion, and on another they let me alone. From the +summit, which is some 12 kilometres and more—say 8 miles by road—from +the town of Sallent one goes down first gently, then steeply, with the +Pic-du-Midi d’Ossau, a vast isolated rock, right in front of one, and one +is accompanied by a torrent upon one’s left—which is the Gave d’Ossau. +The road follows the right bank of this for some 7 miles, crosses over +to the left bank, and 3 miles after this bridge reaches Gabas, a tiny +hamlet, where is one of the most delightful hotels in the Pyrenees. Gabas +is the highest inhabited point in this valley, and is just the same +distance from the summit that Sallent is upon the other side, that is, +between 8 and 9 miles. From Gabas down to Laruns the road continues all +the way downhill, a matter of another 7 or 8 miles, and from Laruns back +to Oloron, through Buzy, is a lowland road with a flat surface. The whole +round from Oloron back to Oloron again is somewhere between 125 and 150 +miles. + +There is but one other circular journey for which I can vouch that it can +be made in a motor car; it is the journey from Bayonne to Pamplona, by +way of the low passes on the Atlantic side of the range, and back again +through Roncesvalles. + +You find yourself at Bayonne as a starting-place. The main road into +Spain and towards Madrid goes along the sea, much as the railway does, +and bears westward, but there is another road through the tangle of +Basque mountains, or rather those hills which between them make up French +and Spanish Navarre, and this road is the direct road to Pamplona. It +is a short day’s journey of some 60 miles at the most when all the +windings are taken into account, and there are no really high passes or +steep gradients throughout. You leave Bayonne by the main straight road +which leads out south-west towards Biarritz, but, immediately outside +the fortifications, you turn to the left along the high land above the +valley of the Nive. A mile and a half out you cross over the main line +and immediately afterwards take the road to the left which leads you to +Arcangues. There are many branch roads on this little bit, which is well +under 4 miles, but the chief road is plain. At Arcangues, just after you +have left the church on the right, you turn to the left, still following +the high road, and in some 2 miles you strike the forest of Ustaritz, +the confines of which were for so many centuries the sacred centre of +the Basque people. Through this forest there is no doubt of the way. The +road leading to the town of Ustaritz, which goes off to the left in the +midst of the forest, comes in at so sharp an angle that one would not be +tempted to take it, and the high road goes on, without any bifurcations, +to St. Pée. You have, by this time, crossed the low watershed between +the basin of the Adour and that of the Nivelle, upon which river St. Pée +stands at some 13 or 14 miles from Bayonne. + +You turn to the left in St. Pée by the road that leaves that village +due south, and take the left-hand road again at the first bifurcation, +which is immediately outside the village; then follow steadily up the +valley of the river. There is but one doubtful place, not 3 miles out of +St. Pée, where you choose the left of two roads, but even that is not +really doubtful, for your road obviously follows the stream, which it +there crosses by a bridge, while the right-hand road goes over into the +hills. About 3 miles more from this bifurcation you cross the frontier, +and thence onwards there is no doubt of your way. The high road goes over +the Pass of Ostondo, or Maya, quite low, and brings you into the Basque +valley of Baztan. Come on down through Elizondo, a most delightful town +of this people, and climb up continually thence (taking the left-hand +road at Irurita, one and a half miles from Elizondo) until you come to +yet another pass, called the “Port La Betal” or “Vetale” in French, some +2000 feet or more in height. After crossing this col you are in the basin +of the Ebro, and the road thence into Pamplona is a straight stretch all +the way to the plain, which appears suddenly spread out as you round a +corner, a fine sight. + +The old road back from Pamplona into France over Roncesvalles, the road +which the armies of Charlemagne took, and which the Romans built, went +first east and west, and was the first portion of the great road to +Saragossa. It met the road over the mountains and branched north towards +Roncesvalles. There is a modern road which cuts off this corner, and +joins the Roncesvalles road quite close to the hills. It crosses three +low lateral ranges by very easy gradients, and has an excellent surface. +It takes one through Larrasoaña, Erro, and finally, without any doubtful +cross roads or turnings, falls into the old Roman road, just below +Burguete. + +Here you must make ready for one of the greatest sights in Europe. +You are on a very high upland plain, something like the glacis of a +fortification. The last crest of the Pyrenees stands like a long wall +of white cliffs, which seems low and familiar, because you are so very +high up on this sloping plain. You go through a fine northern-looking +wood which might be in England, with great spacious clumps of beeches and +broad glades. You pass the monastery, and then go up through the hamlet +of Roncesvalles, quite an insignificant few hundred feet of road; you +see a ruined chapel upon your right (ruined quite recently by fire, and +yet no one has taken the trouble to rebuild it!), then suddenly you are +at the summit, and a profound trench opens sheer below you and points +straight to the French plains, miles and miles away. + +It is here that Roland died, in the valley below. + +From this summit the roads run down directly on the northern side of +the watershed, but still politically in Spain, till you come to the +last Spanish town, Val Carlos, where you will do well to ask for papers +permitting you to leave the country. These papers are obtained from the +Corregidor. Two miles on you cross the river into France, and four miles +further you are in St. Jean Pied-de-Port, where there is good food and +promptitude and news and all that is necessary to man. + +From St. Jean Pied-de-Port the main valley road takes you, without any +doubtful turnings, down the river and the railway, now on one side, now +on the other, all the way to Bayonne. There is but one place where the +traveller might be a little confused, and that is some 12 miles or more +from St. Jean Pied-de-Port, where the road, which has been running right +along the railway and the river for miles, turns sharp over to the right +to reach a village called Louhossoa; but this village (which is but a +mile from the river) once reached, everything is plain again. Turn to the +left at the church, where the road goes straight back to the river (a +matter of 2 miles), crosses it, and goes along the heights on the left +bank, all the way back to Bayonne. + +The whole of this circle is about equivalent in distance to that which +I have described round from Oloron to Jaca, and back again round by +Sallent; and, as in the former case, you will do well to break the +journey in Spanish territory and at Pamplona, for though this makes two +short days in a motor, they are days in which you ought to see what you +can see. For my part also, I would stop at Elizondo, to eat and to watch +the place; but I would not eat at the hotel in the main street, where the +people are cruel and grasping, but rather at the cheap and genial place +kept by one Jarégui. + +Besides these two circular journeys upon good roads, which a man can take +across the main range, there is the variation of them that can be made +by taking the valley road from Pamplona to Jaca, a journey of at least 70 +miles or more. I know that it can be done, for I have seen motors that +had done it, and for all that I know the road may even be excellent: +or it may be very bad—I am not acquainted with it. Such as it is, it +takes you all along Aragon and the parallel outer ranges of the Spanish +Pyrenees. + +I have mentioned another extension to the roads described, the run +down to Saragossa from Jaca. This of course takes you right out of the +Pyrenean country, but the first half of it at least is in the hills, +and no journey shows you better the nature of the outlier mountains on +the Spanish slope of the main range. Off the direct road one may make a +long elbow eastward to reach Huesca, which was St. Laurence’s town. The +surface is good, and there are few steep gradients, though there is a +long climb out of Jaca itself. From Jaca to Saragossa, by way of Huesca, +along this road, is just about 100 miles, and, as far as Huesca at least, +it provides a complete knowledge of the mountain types upon the Spanish +side of the watershed. Nor is this typical scenery anywhere finer than in +the splendid gorges and chimney-rocks of Riglos, nor is any one of the +parallel ranges more characteristic than the high Sierra de Guara, which +stands up above the burnt plain of Huesca, 30 miles out from the main +ridge, quite separate from the general range, and yet reaching a summit +of nearly 6000 feet. + +All the roads suitable for motoring, especially in such a district as +this, are suitable for bicycling also. I say “especially in such a +district as this,” because the identity between motoring and bicycling +roads is more striking in the Pyrenees than in most parts of France, +since the expense and difficulty of making the great highways here has +been such that it was not worth while building a carriage road on these +hills unless the engineering was to be of the most perfect kind, and the +surface of the best, and the gradients as easy as nature would allow. The +consequence is that there are in the Pyrenees no roads (which he will +find in the plains) where a man on a bicycle can go with difficulty, and +a motor cannot go at all. Stretches of this kind, due to bad surface or +to steepness, are familiar to every one, but I can remember none of +the sort, not even of a few miles, between St. Jean Pied-de-Port and +Puigcerdá, nor between the French plains and the Spanish. + +The question will, however, be asked by anyone who proposes to bicycle +in this district for the first time, whether the long gradients are not +such as to destroy the advantage of using the greater part of the roads. +To this objection a general rule applies, one which will seem a little +unusual when it is first read, but which I have found from experience +to be true. It is this, that the few crossings of the hills from north +to south make easier journeys for the bicyclist than do the lateral +roads across the ribs or buttresses of the main chain. Anyone going for +instance on a bicycle from Laruns to Lourdes, will have some very fine +scenery for his pains, and, if the day is fine, he will not regret his +experience, but he should be warned that on this lateral road most of his +energy will be taken up in slowly climbing the great pass over the Mont +Laid; for though it is but a few miles as the crow flies, it is a big and +toilsome business along the highway. Nor would that be the only pass. It +is characteristic of these lateral roads that they usually contain more +than one big ascent. He will be troubled again at the Col-de-Soulor and +to get from Laruns to Lourdes, though the two towns are in contiguous +valleys and no further apart than London and Windsor, would be a day’s +work for most men. + +Another example of the same sort could be given from the other lateral +roads of the Pyrenees, as, for instance, the low cross road between St. +Jean Pied-de-Port and the valley of Mauléon. Here the pass is much less +high, but a mile or two from St. Jean, when you have gone through St. +Jean-le-Vieux, you begin to climb, and all the long way of the valley +of the Bidouze, and out again, over the next range, that overlooks the +Saison, is a succession of long wheelings uphill. + +For the purpose of seeing some particular place in the next valley, it +may be worth while to follow one of these lateral roads, but a general +tour of that sort is not worth while. If, on the contrary, a bicyclist +chooses the main north and south roads, he will find many advantages +in the choice, and I would recommend in particular, as the best that +he can undertake in these mountains, the round from Oloron to Jaca and +back, which I have already described. Such a journey is a task taking +three full days, four or five easy days, and it gives such an opportunity +of contrasting two civilizations, and of learning the barrier which +separates them, as does not offer itself in so short a space anywhere +else, I think, in western Europe. I will not detain the reader in this +particular with what I have to say upon this road in general, for that +will rather concern the description I will make of it when I speak of +travel on foot, but I will point out in what way it can be dealt with by +the bicyclist. + +All the long road from Oloron to Bédous, though it leads to the very +heart of the mountains, needs no more energy upon a bicycle than does a +two-hours’ ride (and it ought not to take two hours) in any part of the +plains. There are one or two half-miles of hill, all of them rideable, +but the general run of the way is flat, or burdened with a slight rise +which is hardly perceived, and the approach to Bédous, in its magic +circle of hills, is actually _down_ along a fine slope, which faces the +last ridge and the frontier watershed. So far, it is a ride which one +may take even upon a high gear, and have for his pains as fine a survey +of great mountains as he will find in Europe. From Bédous the road cuts +straight across the dead level of the valley floor for 2½ miles, passes +a “gate” of rock, and thence continually runs through gorges up the 7 +miles to Urdos. It rises considerably in this last bit—nearly 1 in 20—and +though the distance from Oloron to Urdos may not take one more than one +afternoon, anyone bicycling into Spain will do well to pass the night at +Urdos, for the big climb begins just after that place. In this hamlet, of +no pretensions, you may choose with advantage the little inn called the +“Hotel of the Travellers,” of which, and whose charming terrace, I speak +in another place. + +Next day, unless you wish to accomplish a feat, you will begin to walk +up to the summit of the road. There are parts that can be ridden—the +last quarter is almost flat—but the earlier part and the larger is too +steep for comfort. The continental road-book makes the whole distance 12 +miles, the kilometres by the roadside, which are somewhat more reliable, +make it 8, and so does the map; anyhow it is a continuous uphill which +should be taken leisurely, pushing one’s machine until one gets to the +flat bit at the top. The short cuts are here, unlike those of some other +cols, quite impossible to a bicycle, even when one is pushing it, and +the whole way must be taken upon the high road; if one can afford it, it +is wise to have the machine carried on a cart as far as the hospital, 2 +miles from the obelisk which marks the frontier and the summit of the +pass; but whether one pushes it, or whether one has it carried, it is a +three-hours’ climb. It is wisest to take these three hours in the early +morning. + +From the summit at the entry into Spain there is 2 miles of steep new +zigzag, falling a little too sharply, and all around is the very novel +aspect of the southern side of the range, where the dryness and the sun +have eaten up the forest; at the foot of this zigzag begins an easy and +continual run down of 7 or 8 miles into Canfranc; your bicycle takes its +own way; there is no place so steep as to fatigue one with the break, +still less to be of any danger. The 17 miles from Canfranc onwards +towards Jaca is a road upon the whole descending, but by that time one +has entered the foot hills, which are flat and undulating rather than +mountainous, and at Jaca you will find the Hotel Mur, which I have called +the kindest little hotel in Europe, and certainly one of the cleanest in +Spain. + +You will leave Jaca early after spending there your second night. I am +not saying that the whole distance from Oloron could not be done in a +day, on the contrary, it could be done quite easily. A man could pass +the night at Oloron, starting in the early morning from that town, be at +Urdos easily by ten, lunch there at leisure, get to the summit by four, +and be down at Jaca before dark on a July day, and before the hour of the +late Spanish meal. But the climbing of the pass would fatigue him, it +would come at an awkward time of the day, and he would have to count upon +what is not so certain in the Pyrenees, fine weather. It is best to break +the journey at Urdos as I have advised. + +From Jaca, a great road leads all the way down to Saragossa, throughout +scenery where you are at first amazed by the contours of the isolated +cliffs above the gorges of the Gallego, and afterwards almost equally +amazed by the aridity of the great plain that slopes down to the Ebro. +The run from Jaca to Saragossa is too much for one day in the hot season. +It had best be broken at Huesca. If he choose to make this excursion, +the traveller will have to return by the same road, and he would perhaps +be wise to save himself the tedium of it and to put his machine upon the +train, for a railway goes back, much as the road does, to Jaca. + +If one does not take the excursion to Saragossa but returns to France, +the way is by Biescas, Sallent, and the Val d’Ossau. + +The Biescas road leaves Jaca to the east and runs so for 10 miles, then +it goes 8 miles northward to Biescas. + +From Biescas it begins to rise, in the last part heavily; and Sallent, +which is not 10 miles from Biescas as the crow flies, is nearly 1500 feet +higher. The gorge of approach to Sallent is a plain embranchment from the +Panticosa road at Sandinies about 8 miles from Biescas. + +Sallent offers a problem to the bicyclist which it does not offer to +the man with the motor, and that is the problem of lodging. It is a bad +place to stop at, and yet the next place where one can sleep is over +the pass, 17 miles on at Gabas. One will have gone nearly 40 miles from +Jaca, and the last bit one will have been climbing all the way; for some +miles up to Sallent quite steeply, and more or less uphill all the way +from Biescas. To push the machine up another 8 miles to the summit (for +it cannot be ridden) is a task, but it is a task worth accomplishing, +especially if you have a long evening before you, for once on the summit +you will have not only a run down of 8 or 9 miles to Gabas without +putting your foot to the pedal, but also the prospect of the best inn +in the Pyrenees, the delightful inn which the Bayous who own it call +the Hotel des Pyrenees; or, if you like to take the whole pass at once, +you have nearly 20 clear miles downhill without stopping, past Gabas +to Laruns; but the inn at Laruns is not to be compared with the inn at +Gabas. + +If one takes on a bicycle the round which I have spoken of for a motor +from Bayonne to Pamplona by the valley of the Baztan and back again by +Roncesvalles, there is no difficulty about inns, but on the other hand +there is a multitude of shorter hills, some of which cannot be ridden. +You could make two short days of the journey out by sleeping at Elizondo, +in which case on your first day you climb up a pass and down into a +valley, and your second day is a repetition of the same process. The +third day back from Pamplona to France has one hill at Erro, which you +will hardly be able to climb, but from that valley through Burguete and +right on to the top of the pass is rideable on any reasonable gear. From +the summit down to Val Carlos all the way to the frontier is one long +easy run down, and you may continue the valley road along the Nive as far +as you like upon the same day. Even Bayonne is not too far at a stretch. + +As for those who wish to know how to get a series of long coasts in +these hills at the least pains, my advice to them is this: start from +Perpignan, take the train from Perpignan to Mont Louis. From Mont Louis +you have a run of 15 miles, falling 1000 feet all through the French +Cerdagne to Bourg Madame, uninterrupted save for two or three short +rises. At Bourg Madame next day an omnibus (with a very bad-tempered +driver—at least he was so in my day) will take you up the Val Carol to +the summit of the Puymorens; from there it is an uninterrupted coast all +the way down the valley of the Ariège to Ax, and beyond as far as you +like to go, 20 or 30 miles of downhill with scarcely an interruption. + +The other way round is good coasting too. By the rail to Ax, up the +Puymorens by coach, coast down Val Carol, _ride_ up (through Llivia) +to Mont Louis and coast down the gorges of the Tet. It is only in this +eastern part of the range that you will get such long uninterrupted +downhills: there is, in the central part, the run down from the Pourtalet +(but no coach to take you up), and there is a coach up the Val d’Aran to +Viella, with a run back of a few miles down the Garonne; but neither of +these are like the Ariège valley or that of the Tet, and the roads up the +enclosed western valleys to Luz, Bagnères, etc., have not sufficient +fall for long coasting. + +One ought not to leave the road system of the Pyrenees without saying +something on driving. Your best town, I think, for beginning a drive is +Oloron, and there is a job-master close to the station from whom you can +get horses and carriages by the day, by the week, or by the month. I do +not speak of this from my own experience but from what I have been told, +and I know that there are relays of horses all up the pass; but whether +the job-master has arrangements for relays I do not know. That sensible +kind of travel has so generally died out that I should think it doubtful. +It is better to depend upon the same horses for the whole journey, and +whether upon the round by Navarre or that by Jaca the posthouses are +frequent everywhere, your longest stretches without one being the bit of +new road, 17 miles long, between Sallent and Gabas, and the similar 14 or +16 miles between Urdos and Canfranc. + +On the other roads, should you determine to drive along them, there is +one rather long piece without a relay up the Tourmalet, between the +eastern foot of that pass and Barèges; but this road is continually +traversed by carriages at all times, and there is sufficient provision +for the distance. These three are the only long gaps without relays which +you have to fear in driving through the Pyrenees. For the rest, except +that your days’ journeys must be so much shorter, what I have said of the +roads for motoring applies to driving also. + +[Illustration] + + + + +V + +TRAVEL ON FOOT IN THE PYRENEES + + +[Illustration] + +The road system of the Pyrenees and the opportunities it affords for +motoring, bicycling, and driving are but a small part of what most +English readers desire to know about travel in these mountains. For most +men the pleasure of such travel is to be found in wandering upon foot +from place to place, in learning a district by slow daily experience, in +camping, and in the chance adventures that attach to this kind of life, +and also in climbing. Of climbing I can write nothing; it is an amusement +or a gamble that I have had no opportunity of enjoying. Those who think +of mountains in this way can learn all they need in Mr. Spender’s book, +“The High Pyrenees.” They can get more detailed knowledge from Packe—if +a copy of the book is still to be bought—and I am told by those who +understand such matters that the rock climbing of this range is among the +best and the most varied in Europe. In the matter of travel upon foot +other than climbing, I have some considerable experience, and this is +the sort of travel which I shall presuppose when I come to speak of the +various districts into which travel in the Pyrenees may be divided. + +There are two ways in which travel on foot in these hills can be enjoyed; +the first is by laying down some long line of travel—as over the Somport, +across from the Aragon to the Gallego, and so through Sobrarbe to +Venasque—the second is by fixing upon a comparatively small district in +which one can slowly shift one’s camp from one day to another. In either +case, the aspect of travel on foot is much the same, and so are its +difficulties and its necessities. + +I have heard it discussed whether a man should travel with a mule +in these hills. The practice has in its favour the fact that the +mountaineers, whenever they have a pack to carry and some distance to +go, travel with a beast of burden. The mule goes wherever a man can go, +short of sheer climbing, and it will carry provisions for some days. The +expense is not heavy; a mule is saleable anywhere in these mountains; +one can buy it at the beginning of a holiday and sell it at the end of +one, never at a great loss, sometimes at a profit. Nevertheless, upon the +whole, the mule is to be avoided. You are somewhat tied by the beast. +He is not always reasonable, and feeding him, though it will be easy +two days out of three, is sometimes difficult, for while he will carry +many days of your provisions, he can carry but few rations of his own. +With a mule one always finds one’s self trying to make an inn, and that +preoccupation is a great drawback to travel in the mountains. Moreover, +the keep of a mule, at a Spanish inn especially, is expensive. It is a +better plan to hire a mule occasionally, as one needs repose, or in order +to carry any considerable weight for a short distance over some high pass. + +I presuppose therefore a traveller upon foot carrying his own pack, and +I will now lay down certain rules which my experience has taught me to +apply to this kind of excursion. + +I shall speak later of what sort of kit one should carry, what amount of +provision, etc.; and I shall also speak later of the nature of camping in +these hills; but these two main things do not cover the whole business, +and the more you know of the Pyrenees, the more you will find them +enemies unless you observe the laws which they teach you in the matter of +exploring them. + +Now, the first and the most essential of these laws to regulate your +travel is to make certain of no one distance in any one time. Do not +say to yourself “I will leave Cabanes” (for instance) “and will sleep +the night in Serrat.” Such plans are too easily made at home or on the +plains. One measures the distance upon the map, and the thing seems +simple enough. One may be lured into security by starting in fine weather +or over easy ground, but _unless you have been over the place before_, +never make a plan of this kind, and even if you know the territory, +beware of the false confidence which comes so easily in the plains, when +one has forgotten the terrors of the high places. + +Here are two examples within my own experience to show what dangers +attend this sort of confidence, the first taken from the Aston, the next +from that very easy place, the Canal Roya; and remember that nothing I am +saying has to do with the fantastic exercise of climbing, but only with +straightforward walking and scrambling. + +A companion and I had settled to force in 36 hours the passage from the +Aston valley into Andorra. There is a path marked upon the map; the +way is apparently quite clear and one might have made sure that with +provision and calculation for one night, nothing could prevent one’s +reaching the first houses of the Andorrans. On the contrary, this is what +happened. + +The first evening was mild and beautiful, the sky was clear, the path +at first plain. It was so plain that we did not hesitate to continue it +after dark. Here was a first mistake, and the breach of a rule I shall +insist upon when we come to camping. Still, it was not this error which +destroyed us. + +We slept the few hours of darkness under a thorn bush before a most +indifferent fire, and the next morning we began our way. + +We came almost immediately after sunrise to a place where the valley +bifurcated, and that in so confused a manner, with so many interlacing +streams and so unpronounced a ridge between the main bodies of water, +that we took the wrong ascent by the wrong stream, and only found, when +we had ended in a precipitous cul-de-sac, that we had made an error. +We went back to the bifurcation (which, remember, was of that confused +sort where nothing but a very large scale map is of any use), and we +made up the other stream. The hours which we had lost had brought us +into the heat of the day, and the day was exceptionally hot. We climbed +a shelving slope at the end of this further valley: a matter of 2000 +feet, very steep and rough. When we were already near the summit there +bowled over towards us from beyond it, without the least warning, a +violent storm. We were so close to the top, and there was so little +shelter on the open rocks we were ascending, that we thought it well to +gain the summit before halting. On the whole the decision was wise. We +found overhanging ledges upon the summit and took refuge there until +the worst of the downpour had ceased. But the storm left behind it a +mass of drifting cloud, now rising and now lifting, which made it quite +impossible to determine what our true way should be. The summit of the +slope was an open grass saddle with great boulders dotted about, and +from this saddle a man might go down one of three declivities which +branched southward from it. There was no seeing any complete view of the +valleys below even in the intervals of the drooping clouds, for, as is +so frequently the case in these steep hills, there was a great deal of +“dead ground” just below us. We had to guess which of the undulations of +the summit we should follow, we could not be certain until we had gone +down some hundreds of feet that we had definitely entered an enclosed +valley, but once on the floor of this we were fairly certain by our +general direction that we had crossed the main watershed and were in +Spain. The storm renewed itself; the late hour made us anxious, we pushed +on through the driving mist and rain, necessarily losing a consistent +view of the contours and the windings of the valley; when the sky cleared +again we saw before us a great open gulf stretching down for miles and +miles, and the very amplitude of the prospect further deceived us into +believing that we were certainly descending into the first of the Spanish +open places, but hour after hour went past and no sign of men appeared. +There were not even any huts in the Jasses. To confuse us still further +and to lead us on in our error, a definite path suddenly appeared; we +naturally made certain that it was the head of the valley road upon the +Spanish side. So confident were we that we _must_ by the map and by all +common sense be now close to habitations that, after consulting together +a little, we thought it wiser to eat what little provisions remained so +as to gather strength for a last effort, than to camp hungry and reserve +our food for the morrow. When we had so eaten it grew dark; hour after +hour of the night passed, and the path was still plain—but there was no +sign of men. By midnight we were dangerously exhausted and incapable of +pushing further: we lay down where we were by the side of a stream and +slept. The morning of the third day we might well enough have failed to +reach succour. We had come to the end of our powers, we had no more food +and it was only the accidental encounter with a fisherman who happened +to be thus far up in the hills that guided us to safety. He told us +that by choosing that particular one of the three slopes we had come +down, not upon the Spanish side, but into a long curving valley that +had led us back again into French territory. We had made a circle in +those forty-eight hours of strain and certainly had we not found him our +getting home at all would have been doubtful. + +Now these errors, for which there seems very little excuse when they are +set down thus in print, were not only natural, but as it were, necessary. +Anyone unacquainted with the district _might_ have made them, and under +our circumstances _would_ inevitably have made them. Nothing but a large +scale map—which does not exist—would have saved us the hours lost at the +bifurcation of the streams, and not even a large scale map could have +properly decided us at the confused summit of the pass where a full view, +which the storm had prevented, was necessary to judging one’s direction. +The true remedy lay not in maps, however perfect, but in allowing for the +chances of error, in taking a full three days’ provision, and in avoiding +that sort of forced marching which had exhausted us, and which we had +only undertaken from fears about our remaining stock of food. + +The other matter, that of the Canal Roya, is the more significant in +that it was quite a little detail that might have betrayed us into a +very nasty situation. I knew the Canal Roya, and acting on the strength +of that knowledge, my companion and I decided late one summer evening +not to camp in the valley but to push on over the pass at the head of +it, for immediately beyond this pass we knew to lie the good new modern +high road which leads down to Sallent. The pass was marked on the map +in the clearest possible fashion, the valley was of a very particular +and decisive shape, and the pass lay straight over the end of it. Now +at that end was a sweep of high land, and rising up from it two rocky +peaks. The map and the general trend of the land made it certain that +the pass would go to the right or to the left of the lowest of these two +rocky peaks. There was no difficulty of approach, and one unacquainted +with the Pyrenees might have thought that it mattered little which side +of the peak one took, but we both knew enough about the mountains to be +sure that there was one way and only one way across; smooth and easy as +the approach appeared from our side, all the chances were that somewhere +upon the other side there would be precipices. The sun was getting low, +and the path which we had been following was suddenly obliterated under +a new-fallen mass of scree. Neither of us can to-day ascribe what we did +to anything but luck. We looked at the peak carefully and determined that +a certain little notch upon the _right_ of it, was the port. We were +fatigued after nearly 20 miles of walking (which had already included +one Col) and we wearily began the last ascent. It so happened that as we +painfully toiled up over and round the loose boulders, the surface to +the _left_ of the peak became more and more inviting. Our doubts as we +surveyed it were like the conflict which goes on in daily life between +instinct and reason. Every bit of thought out reasoning put the port at +the little notch on the _right_, but every temptation which could assail +two tired men, made us hope and wish against reason that it lay over the +smooth grass to the _left_; at last in a cowardly and (as it turned out) +salutary moment, we broke for the grass. We tried to persuade ourselves +that if that smooth round sward was a cheat, and betrayed (as such +enticements often betray in the Pyrenees) nasty limestone cliffs on the +further side we still had daylight and strength enough to come down again +and to go up to the rugged notch to which reason and duty pointed. We +reached the grass and there found two things, first, the path which had +been lost on the stones and the scree suddenly reappeared _there_, and +secondly, the descent on the further side towards Sallent was as easy as +walking down an English hill. + +The reason of this apparent error in the map we soon discovered. Out of +sight, beyond the Col, was yet another rocky mass, to the left. The scale +of the map was not sufficient to indicate every mass of rock, upon this +ridge, but the map, as a fact, did indicate this peak which had been +hidden from the valley and was unable specially to indicate the other +peak which had been more prominent to us as we walked up from below. +The adventure ended well for we got on to the main road before dark and +to Sallent before nine, having covered in that accidentally successful +day close upon 30 miles. But it might have ended, and should in reason +have ended, very differently. For when we looked at the Sallent side of +the range the next morning we saw that this notch on which we had first +directed ourselves would have led to a perfectly impossible fall of rocks +upon the further side. It would have been equally impossible to have gone +back in the dark. We should have spent the night on a high stony ledge, +without a fire and without shelter and without food, and the next day we +should have had no choice but to come down again into the Canal Roya, +utterly exhausted, certainly without the strength to climb up again by +way of experiment upon other issues, but bound to make our way, if we +could, to Canfranc, miles away down the Aragon Valley. It is not certain +that we should have had the strength to do this. These examples and many +more that one might give, prove the inadvisability of any plan that does +not allow for a wide margin of delay: and, as I have said, a margin of +three days is not too ample. + +Not only a misjudgment of topography, to which these hills particularly +lend themselves, may put one into a hole of this sort, but mist may do +it, or worse still, a sprained ankle. Or one may find oneself cut off by +marshy ground, or 20 or 30 feet of sheer cliff, too small for the map +to mark, may take one an hour out of one’s way. In general, allow three +days’ provision for any task, and never plan single days in the Pyrenees +unless you are following a high road. + +A second rule is to take the first part of the day slowly and yet without +halting. It is the morning usually that gives you your best chance +upon the heights, and such examples of mist as have endangered any of +my excursions have fallen usually from mid-day onwards. Apart from the +danger of mist, if you break the back of the day by ten or eleven, before +the first meal, you are safe for the end of it; and breaking the back of +the day usually means getting over a port. + +A third rule is, stick to the _path_, and if the path seems lost, cast +about for it with as much anxiety as you would for a scent. + +I have already said in speaking of the use of maps in the Pyrenees, that +the great advantage of the 1/100,000 map was the clear way in which it +marked the _paths_. The idea of paths does not fit in very well with the +wild life which the Pyrenees promise one as one reads of them at home, +and it is of importance to know what a Pyrenean “Path” is, and why such +tracks are essential to travel in these mountains. + +It is perfectly true that if you are going to camp and fish, or +ramble about certain small districts for your pleasure, the point is +unimportant, but if you are making a journey from one place to another, +upon a set itinerary, a very little experience in the mountains will show +you that a “path” must be known and followed, nor do the inhabitants +of these hills, whose experience is based upon so many centuries, +underestimate the value of these slight and _sometimes imperceptible_ +tracks. On the contrary, you will hear one of the mountaineers carefully +indicating to some fellow of his, who has not yet made a particular +crossing, how to find and keep the _path_. You do not hear him giving +general indications of scenery, nor distant landmarks, but particular +directions as to how the path may be made out in passages where it is +difficult to trace. + +The reason that these tracks are essential to Pyrenean travel lies in +that formation of the hills which I have already often mentioned, a +formation which causes them to be broken everywhere with sharp descents +of rock down which no man can trust himself, and many of which are +overhanging precipices. It also lies in the peculiar complexity of the +tangled ridges so that not even with a good map and a compass can you be +certain of guessing your way from one high valley into another. + +Now the interest of these paths is that they are not, as the mention of +them suggests to one unacquainted with these mountains, definite and +continuous. Even the most frequented of them have difficulties of two +kinds. The first difficulty is the crossing and multiplicity of tracks as +one approaches a pasture, the second is the loss of the way over certain +kinds of soil. + +Wherever people go to cut wood, or to lead their flocks on to enclosed +fields known to them, a divergent path appears and it is often difficult +to tell the main path from the branch one. Save over very well-known +ports these paths are not made-ways; they are never mended or laid +down, they are but the marks left by travel which is sometimes that of +but one man on foot in a week, and that man shod in soft and yielding +sandals that leave little impress. For many months in the year these +faint traces are covered with snow, and in early summer they are soaked +in the melting of it. No money is voted for them, and if here and there +the crossing a rivulet or the getting past a difficult corner of rock has +been artificially strengthened, this will only be upon the main ways and +usually only near the villages. A Pyrenean path is the vaguest of things: +it is a patch of trodden soil here and there, a few worn surfaces of +rock, then perhaps a long stretch with no indication whatsoever. Yet upon +this chain of faint indications with only occasional lengths marked, your +life depends; and the finding and picking of it up has the same sort of +interest and excitement as the following of a scent or a spoor. + +There are three kinds of soil over which the path is almost invariably +lost. The first is swampy land, the second is any broad stretch of clean +grass, the third is scree. + +Loss in swampy land is rare, for the simple reason that the path avoids +such land; loss on scree is often made good towards the end of the summer +by the passage of men and animals whose treading down of the loose +stones can be noticed from place to place, but intervals of grass are +most baffling. The native knows where to pick up the track again upon +the further side; the foreigner has no chance but to guess, from the +last direction it took, where he is likely to find it again. He will +almost invariably be wrong, and then he must cast about in circles until +he finds it upon the further side of the pasture, entering a wood or +picking its way between gaps of rock. There is a lacuna of this sort on +the perfectly easy way up the Peyréguet, and it cost me last year three +valuable hours; for easy as the Peyréguet is—and it is little more than +a plain walk—if you get too much to the right of it, there is a slope on +the further side that a goat could not get down. + +So much for the importance of _Paths_ in the Pyrenees. It is a point +very difficult to make in print, but one which the reader, if he intend +to walk there, will do well to take on faith. Make the 1/100,000 map +your infallible authority, don’t expect to find on the black line it +gives—especially if it is a dotted line—more than the merest string of +indications, often separated by very wide gaps, and regard the discovery +and continuity of these indications as vital to your safety. + +I now turn to equipment. + +The first question asked by an Englishman about to attempt fresh journeys +will be what things he must take with him from England. My answer is. +Two things only, his woollen clothing and a pannikin. With regard to +this last, the best form is one which I myself get from the Army and +Navy Stores, and which is of the following character. The handle is +double-hinged, and curved, so that it fits to the outside curve of the +pannikin. A spirit-lamp is sold which just fits into the interior, +and with it, a curved metal receptacle for methylated spirit which +also fits into the interior. The whole is bound together by a strap, +passing through staples upon the sides, and through one upon the cover. +The advantage of carrying this sort of pannikin lies entirely in its +compactness. Weight counts. Every ounce counts when you are knocked out +upon the third day; and the third day—the forty-eighth hour of losing +your way and of missing human succour—may happen to you oftener than you +think. + +Weight counts even upon the first day, after the first few miles. Weight +counts all the time. Now it so happens (why, I cannot tell) that when +things are packed in a close compass they weary a man less than when they +are loose and straggling, and there is the further recommendation that +when they are closely packed, there is less chance of knocking them about +and hurting them. So this is the kind of pannikin I recommend. Note, that +the people who know most about these hills, the inhabitants of them, +carry no provision for cooking. But there is a reason for this which +does not apply to the traveller I have in view. The inhabitants of these +valleys walk from a house to a house, with the chance of one night at +most in the mountains; they carry with them, bread, cold meat and wine, +and for the night they make a great fire for warmth but not for cooking. +A person exploring at random, and liable to pass several nights in the +open, must have the chance of getting a warm meal, and that opportunity +will make all the difference if ever he finds himself, as he probably +will very frequently, in a tight place. As to the woollen clothing, no +one needs to hear the merit of that, and nowhere can it be got so good +or so cheap as in England. Everything upon you should be of wool, except +your boots. The differences of temperature are excessive, you are certain +to be frequently wet, you will not have a change; good wool is, moreover, +the substance that will wear least in the rough-and-tumble of your going. + +In this connexion I must speak of socks. Those who know most about +marching, wear none, and for marching along roads it is a sound rule +(startling and unusual as that rule may sound) to have the skin of the +human foot up against the animal skin of the boot, that boot being well +soaked in oil and pliable. There is no form of foot covering within the +boot that does not chafe and tear and therefore blister the skin, if +one goes a long way at a time, and for many days of continual tramping +on end. That is the general rule, and in the French service it is +universally recognized in the infantry. Now, to the particular kind of +going which these mountains involve that rule does not apply, because, as +we will see in a moment, boots are not what one commonly wears. You must +therefore take woollen socks—two pairs. + +If woollen clothing and the pannikin I have described are to be purchased +in England, where are you to get the rest of your kit, and of what kind +will it be? + +You must purchase it in any one of the towns of the foothills, and the +nearer to the mountains you buy it, the better for you, since the further +out you are upon the plains, the more they look upon you, with justice, +as a fool who will buy bad or useless material at too dear a rate, and +lose, waste, or destroy it in a very few days, a mere tourist to be +fleeced. Buy at St. Jean Pied-de-Port, at Tardets (admirable town!), +at Bédous, at Laruns (where the people are hard-hearted), at Argelès +(where they are too used to tourists), or at Ax. Buy, if you can, _in the +fairs_: to these the mountaineers come down to sell their wares and one +can bargain, and as for bargaining, I will tell you the prices of things +as I proceed. But of all things do not put off purchasing till you are +_deep_ in the range. Do not buy south of Ax, for instance, nor north of +Jaca. The materials grow scanty and bad. + +The things you will need are four: first you will need a gourd, next +sandals, next a sack, and lastly a blanket. + +[Illustration] + +As to the gourd. The gourd is the universal vessel used throughout these +mountains, and its use extends from an indefinite distance upon the +Spanish side (where it is universal) to the towns of the plains upon +the French side: to Oloron that is, Mauléon, Foix, St. Girons, and the +rest. It is a leather bottle of an oval shape, made in all sizes from a +quart to a gallon, and this picture represents the structure. It is in +three parts: the oval leather case (_a_), which is made of goat’s skin +with the hair inside; the top (_d_), which is made of goat’s horn, with +a mouth from an inch to half an inch across, and the nozzle (_e_), which +screws on to this top and is pierced by a tiny hole (_g_), through which +one drinks, also made of goat’s horn. There is a fourth part if you will, +the little stopper (_h_), which screws on to the nozzle, and is made of +the same material and tied by a string to the mouth of the gourd for fear +of losing it. On the inner edge of the leather bottle are two leather +loops through which to pass the string, by which the whole thing is +carried over the shoulder. + +Remember that the name for this invaluable instrument (one has a right +to call it invaluable, for it saves the lives of men) is _Gourde_ on the +French side, and _Bota_ upon the Spanish. This detail is not unimportant, +for in many French villages they have never heard of a _Bota_, and +certainly in no Spanish villages have they ever heard of a _Gourde_. +It is in this convenience that one carries one’s supply of wine. The +horn nozzle on top (_g_) screws off, the wine is poured into the mouth +(_d_) through a funnel, until the gourd is completely full; one then +screws the top (_g_) on again, and the little stopper (_h_) into that. +When one wants the wine to pour into one’s mouth or into one’s mug, one +screws off no more than the little stopper which protects the hole in the +nozzle. If you can learn the proper way of drinking out of the small hole +pierced in the horn-work, do so. It saves an infinity of delays, and it +is the universal method of drinking throughout the Pyrenees. Here is one +of those practical things in the trade which you can never get by book +learning, and which one can only learn by doing them, nevertheless I will +describe it. + +Unscrew the little stopper (_h_) and let it hang by its string; take the +double horn top piece (_d_ and _g_) in the left hand, and grasp with +your right the bottom of the leather bottle; tilt the whole up, squeeze +slightly with your right hand, held high in the air, and let the thin +straight stream of wine from the little hole (_g_) go straight into your +open mouth; then (to paraphrase Talleyrand’s famous phrase to the Maker +of Religions), “if you can possibly manage it,” let it go down without +swallowing; if you swallow you are lost. + +For Talleyrand well said to the Maker of Religions, after having +described to him how, to found a religion, he should first suffer +obloquy: how he should be ready to stand alone and the rest of it, +then added, “If you can possibly manage it,” work a few miracles: and +this kind of drinking also seems at first miraculous. But it can be +accomplished; all it needs is faith, and that strength of will which +overcomes the subconscious reactions of the body. + +Do not swallow. When you think enough has poured down your throat, do +three things all at the same time: relax the pressure of your right hand, +tilt the gourd that you are holding upright, and put the forefinger of +your left hand smartly down upon the hole in the nozzle. For the first +few hundred times you will spill upon yourself a little wine, but in the +long run you will learn, and you will drink as neatly and as cleanly as +any Basque or Catalan. + +If you do not learn to use this instrument thus, you will be compelled +to carry a glass, which is not only difficult but dangerous; and if you +compromise by using the gourd, but pouring the wine into a cup, it would +either take you infinite time through the nozzle, or else you will have +to unscrew the main top piece (_e_) of the gourd, and if you do that too +often it will certainly leak. + +These are the elements of the use of the gourd, but, like all things +noble, the gourd has many subtleties besides. For instance, it is +designed by Heaven to prevent any man abusing God’s great gift of wine; +for the goat’s hair inside gives to wine so appalling a taste that a man +will only take of it exactly what is necessary for his needs. This defect +or virtue cannot be wholly avoided, but there is a trick for making it +less violent, a trick advisable with an old gourd, when one is starting +out on one’s journey, and absolutely essential with a new one. This +trick consists of pouring into the gourd somewhat over half a pint of +brandy and shaking it well up and down, and after that carrying it for +a few hours, jolting about and irrigating all the hairy inwards of the +bottle as one goes. But do not imagine that the brandy so used can be +drunk; when you have thus used it for a few hours it must all be poured +away, for it is wholly spoilt. By the way, if you can get an old gourd +second-hand that does not leak, it is far preferable to a new one; all +things really worth having are better old than new. As to the price of a +gourd, you will not get a small one of a quart or two for less than 8 to +10 francs, nor a large one from a quarter to a half gallon or upwards at +less than an extra 3 or 4 francs for every quart. Gourds are not things +to haggle about. Satisfy yourself that it does not leak and be grateful +to get a sound one. It will last you all your life. As to weight, a +gallon is ten pounds: a quart is two pounds and a half. + +Further, you will find very often that when your gourd is empty, +especially if you have carried it empty upon a cold and misty morning, +the inside sticks together, and when you try to blow it out through the +mouth (as is advisable, before pouring in the wine), no effort of yours +can swell it; the trick is to put it before a fire and warm it gently; +after it has warmed about ten minutes, it will swell easily. + +As to the sack, nothing is more difficult than to advise upon this +matter. Some men to be happy must carry a block, and pencils, and +colours, and brushes. Others cannot live without combs. Nothing is really +necessary besides bread and meat. Each traveller must decide his own +minimum, but I can give advice both as to the shape and the weight of the +sack. The people of the hills, when they carry a sack, carry a light bag +slung by a strap over the shoulder, and for a light weight, up, say, to +seven or eight pounds, that is the most practical equipment: thus what +we call in England a satchel, and what the French call a Havresac does +very well. For anything heavier a knapsack is often advised; but there +are disadvantages in the knapsack: it is complicated, one cannot get at +it without taking it off, and it is hot to the back. If you will be at +the pains of a knapsack, always have one that is watertight in material, +with a large overhanging flap, and never burden yourself with a knapsack +which has outside pockets. The value of a knapsack for heavy carriage +is that the weight of it comes right down on to the build of the body. +Weight is quite a different thing, when it sags, backward or sideways, +from what it is when it presses right down upon the framework of a +man’s bones. That is why all those used to carrying very heavy weights +habitually carry them upon the head or the shoulders, the human body is +built for taking a strain in this way down the length of the bones. Now +if you carry the haversack by a strap over the shoulder, any appreciable +weight, even one so small as ten kilos, becomes a grievous burden after +a short distance. Light weights, under that amount, can be so borne, but +directly _upon_ the shoulders weights up to forty pounds can be carried +without destroying a man’s marching power, and indeed both French and +English armies have often repeatedly climbed the mule tracks of these +very hills carrying such weights in this fashion. + +It must, however, be remarked in connexion with the knapsack that it will +not save you fatigue unless the weight bears right down upon the crest of +the shoulder blades, and in order to ensure this, make certain of three +things. First, that the shoulder straps come well down the knapsack, so +that a good part of the weight is above the point where they are sewn +on; secondly, that your knapsack is so packed that the weight is at the +top, that no heavy things sag towards the bottom; and thirdly, that you +have strings or straps going from the shoulder straps in front to a belt +round your middle, whereby you can brace up the knapsack whenever it +begins to lean away backwards. Every soldier knows the difference between +a knapsack fitting close to the back and coming well above the shoulder, +and one that drags away backwards. + +To have said so much about the knapsack may mislead some of my readers. +I would not advise it; it is only necessary if for some reason or other +you want to carry weight. If you are wise, and content to take only +the necessary, a haversack slung at the side from the shoulder will do +perfectly well, and it has the advantage of being get-at-able at any +moment. You may balance the weight of it by carrying the gourd slung over +the other shoulder. + +As to sandals—Many an Englishman will understand the need of the gourd +and the sack who will not understand the advantage of sandals. All the +Pyrenean people, for the matter of that, most Spaniards, travel not in +leather boots but in cloth slippers with a sole made of twisted cord, +and to these the French give the name of sandals. But, as in the case +of the gourd, the name suddenly changes on the Spanish side. In France +you must ask for _Sandales_, in Spain for a pair of _Alpargatas_. The +advantage of these is a thing of which you can never convince a man the +first time he attempts these mountains, but he is sure enough of it at +the end of his first day. For some reason or other, the loose stones +and the pointed rocks of a mule path make travel upon foot intolerably +painful and difficult if it is too long pursued in ordinary boots. With +_Alpargatas_ on, you do not feel the fatigue of a track that would finish +you in 5 miles if you tried to do it in leather. And conversely, oddly +enough, a high road with a good surface soon becomes as intolerable in +Alpargatas as is a mule track in boots. There is nothing for it but to +leave your boots at the nearest town, if you propose to return to it, or +if you do not, to carry them with you and change from one footgear to the +other as you pass from the mountain to the road, and from the road to the +mountains. + +Remember that, in Alpargatas, you will _always_ end the day with wet +feet. Let not that trouble you. They dry at once before the camp fire and +they do not shrink. The reason you will always have wet feet is that in +every few miles of hills you have to cross a marshy place or a stream. +But though it is easy to dry Alpargatas in a few minutes, it is advisable +to change socks at night, while those you have worn during the day dry +before the fire. + +As to the blanket—No more than any of the inhabitants can you go through +these hills without a blanket. It is often of the greatest use in the +changes of weather during the day, it is absolutely necessary at night. +Were you to take it from England, you would certainly take one that +would be too heavy, or if you took a light one, one that would be too +cold. The people of the Pyrenees who have thought out these things slowly +for thousands of years, have ended with the right formula. They have a +thin, close, narrow blanket, which just protects a man and protects him +as much by its double fold with the air between as by its texture. Get +one of a neutral colour, a sort of dark slate grey is the commonest, and +pay from 30 to 50 francs for it. + +With these five things, a pannikin from England, a gourd, a sack, +sandals, and a blanket, you are equipped. You cannot take less, you need +not take more, and if you take more you will certainly repent it. + +I have said nothing about tents. The tent like twenty other luxuries +is taken for granted in England. I have heard of people roughing it in +various mountains who took with them not only a tent, but an india-rubber +bath, a Norwegian kitchen, and for all I know, collars as well. But many +a man who will have had the sense to get rid of his luxuries when he +begins scrambling, will be reluctant to give up the tent, for it seems +necessary to be at least dry. Now the arguments against having a tent +have always seemed to me final, so far at least as the Pyrenees were +concerned. + +You are dealing here with a great expanse of mountain in which weather +is very variable, but in which you do not have snow or prolonged furious +weather during the months you are likely to travel in. This argument is +enforced by the peculiar structure of the mountains. Everywhere in the +Pyrenees you can find either rock shelter—and you find this much more +frequently than in any other part of the world I have ever seen—or dense +forests, or, on the bare upland sweeps of grass, those stone cabins of +the shepherds, upon the shelter of which the inhabitants largely depend. +These, of course, are not very near one to another, but they are always +marked on the 1/100,000 French map, under the title of _Cabanes_. The +owners, when they have owners, never mind one’s using them, and the only +drawback about them is that sometimes you make certain of using one +particularly far from mankind, and discover it to be all in ruins. One +way with another I have never known three nights upon the Pyrenees which +could not be passed in succession without a tent, if the rules which I +shall give for camping were properly observed; and that is the experience +also of those who have spent their whole lives in these mountains. + +Next, let it be remarked that a tent is a great hindrance, it is either +very light—in which case it is always fairly useless—or it is heavy, in +which case there is an end to your free going. As will be seen later, +when I speak of the way of settling for the night, there need never be +occasion for such a shelter, which, moreover, in high winds is more +troublesome than an animal or a child. + +If your equipment consist in no more than a gourd, pannikin, blanket, +sack, and sandals, what is your provision to be? + +You must never make your provision for less than forty-eight hours, and +it is better to make it for sixty. However modest is your plan, always +allow for two nights on the mountain and for the better part of the third +day as well. Remember that you will start in the early morning from the +shelter of a roof, that you will therefore have a whole day before you +dependent upon your own resources, that if you are making anything of +an effort you will certainly camp the first night, but if the weather +goes wrong or you miss your way or come upon any accident, you may very +well have to spend the second night out, and if you do this, the chances +are in favour of a long tramp and scramble on the third day before you +reach human beings again. All this will be clearer to the reader when I +come to speak of the accidents of weather in these hills, but I may here +mention as an example of the truth of what I say that two companions and +myself were once held for exactly twenty-four hours in a space of not +much more than a square mile, and almost within earshot of a high road +and a village, and that yet it was merely a piece of good luck towards +evening—a fog lifting just at the right place for a few moments—that +saved us from spending a second night out of doors. In work of this kind +the chief part of strategy is to secure your retreat, but you cannot +make even one day’s excursion without your retreat involving at least +another day and perhaps two. Therefore, inconvenient though it be, you +must have ample provision. + +The first element of this provision is bread, and you will do well to +allow a pound and half per man per day. Those are the rations of the +French army and they are wise ones. If each man of a party carries a +four-pound loaf, you have just enough, but not too much for accidents. +A man must have bread, he can do without meat, and at a pinch he can do +without wine, but I know by experience that he cannot depend upon any +form of concentrated food to take the place of the solid wheaten stuff +of Europe. Half a pound of bread and a pint of wine is a meal that will +carry one for miles, and nothing can take their place. For meat, you will +carry what the French call Saucisson, and the Spaniards, Salpichon. You +will soon hate it, even if you do not, as is most likely, hate it from +the bottom of your heart on the first day, but there is nothing else +so compact and useful. It is salt pig and garlic rolled into a tight +hard sausage which you may cut into thin slices with a knife, and it is +wonderfully sustaining. If you like to carry other meat do so, but you +can live on salpichon and it means less weight than meat in any other +form. + +These two, bread and saucisson, are the essentials of provision, but +other provision hardly less essential should be added to them, and the +first of these extras is _Maggi_. Maggi is a sort of concentrated beef +essence, sold both in France and in England, and to be got anywhere in +the French towns, but you will do well to make quite certain by laying in +a good stock of it in some large town, such as Bordeaux or Toulouse or +Paris itself, on your way south: I have known the grocers of a Pyrenean +town to be out of it. The essence is packed in little oblong capsules +which you buy by the dozen, at about 2_d._ a capsule, and you will do +well to start with three or four dozen a man. They keep indefinitely, +they weigh next to nothing, and the great advantage of them will be +seen in what follows. You can, with two capsules to a quart of water, +make in a few moments a hot and comforting soup which quite doubles +the nourishment of your bread; with three capsules to a quart of water +you have a very strong soup, which will bring a man round a corner of +extreme fatigue. It is a food which can be prepared in a moment under +almost any conditions, and one which is invaluable when you find yourself +lost, especially if you are cut off by thick weather, or in any other way +exhausted. It may seem an insignificant detail to tell the reader how to +prepare so simple a meal, nevertheless I will do so. It took me a little +time to learn, and he may as well be saved the trouble. Each little +cylinder of extract is contained in two gelatine caps which fit together, +you pull these off, you drop the essence into a little water while it is +warming, but it will not melt of itself, you must crush it and mix it +thoroughly with the water, and then add more water, still stirring till +you have full measure. It needs no salt in the proportions I have given. + +Further, you will do well to fill the little curved receptacle in the +pannikin with methylated spirit, and to carry an extra provision of this +in your sack. A pint is enough for many days, and very often you have +no occasion to use it at all, but you may be caught in some wet place, +or in a rocky piece where there is no wood, or in one way or another +have a difficulty in making a fire; and even where you have plenty of +wood, a drop or two of the methylated spirit makes you certain of the +fire catching even in wet weather; of that I shall speak when I come to +camping. By the way, take plenty of English matches and of two kinds, +fusees and others, and if you are carrying a sack and not a waterproof +knapsack, wrap your matches in a little square of india-rubber cloth, for +if there is one thing that imperils a man more than another, it is to be +caught in the hills without the means of making a fire. + +As for brandy, the people of the hills themselves discourage its use; it +is, on the whole, best to have some with you, only you must not depend +upon it; it is quite honestly, under the circumstances of climbing, what +some foolish fanatics think it under all conditions, that is, a medicine. +If you take it when you do not need it it will fatigue you, especially +in high places. Such as you do take carry in a flask. The gourd, as I +have said, spoils it utterly. + +Here then you have the rules for equipment and for provision, and I will +sum them up before continuing. + +For equipment: Haversack or knapsack, a blanket, sandals, a gourd, a +pannikin fitted with spirit lamp and spirit vessel, four pounds of bread +for each man, a pound of sausage, a pint of methylated spirits, and +matches; to which you may add, if you will, a length of candle, and one +of those little mica lanterns which fold into the shape of a pocket-book, +and three or four dozen capsules of Maggi. Fill your gourd with wine +as full as it will hold, you will need it. So much for equipment and +provision. + +As for the packing of it I have already spoken of this in connexion with +the knapsack. A few additional remarks may be of use. See that your bread +is always covered from the air; to wrap it in paper is enough for this, +and if it will fit into the sack so much the better. Work if possible +a broad band of cloth into the straps where they catch the shoulder, +keep the straps short so that the weight hangs high, carry the blanket +loosely over either shoulder: it gives far less trouble thus carried +than it does when it is rolled and tied over the chest. If you carry a +knapsack, however, roll the blanket tight upon the top of it, it will +then incommode you even less than when it is carried loosely. Wrap your +matches as I have said in a waterproof cloth (if you have no knapsack), +and wrap in the same the maps you need for each particular climb; forward +the rest by post to the town for which you are making if it is in France; +if it is in Spain, don’t, for they will not get there. + +I had forgotten to mention that most useful thing, a pocket compass. Take +a large cheap one, and allow for the variation when you put it on your +map: but of using this and of several other little points I will speak +later. I have dealt with what regards equipment: let me now speak of +Camping. + +Camping in the Pyrenees differs from camping under any other conditions +that I know. The structure of the range, its climate, and even the +political condition of the valleys, make it differ from camping in +Ireland or in the Vosges, or in those few parts of England where the +wealthy will allow plain men to indulge in this amusement. It is not the +same as camping in the Alps, in Savoy, or in the Apennines, or in the +Ardennes; and it is the particular conditions of camping in the Pyrenees +which made me say just now that one can do without a tent. + +Though geologists are careful to describe the very varied structure of +the range, yet to the traveller one feature, peculiar to these among +all mountains, perpetually appears common in every part of it, and +that is the continual presence of overhanging rock. I can remember no +considerable stretch in any main valley, not any in a crossing between +two valleys, where you are not perpetually finding examples of this +formation. It is this upon which one must first depend for shelter. Next +to such overhanging rocks one must depend upon the great forests; lastly, +upon the cabanes. But before speaking of their various advantages rules +of time must be given, for upon the time of day chosen for the halt the +success of a camp will depend. + +I am speaking of course throughout these notes of the warm weather +alone; that is, of the end of June, July, August, and the first part of +September. Seasons vary, and there are years when the whole of September +may be included. At the end of the season one may count, especially in +the eastern part of the Pyrenees, upon a sufficient succession of fine +nights to make camping possible; but if one comes upon a streak of bad +weather it will last, especially in the western part, for three or four +days, and it is better, if the people of the valley foresee such weather, +to let it go over before taking the heights. Thunderstorms and very +heavy rain may happen upon any night in these mountains. They are said +(I do not know upon what authority) to be commoner upon the French than +on the Spanish side. More dangerous than these, though less momentarily +annoying, are the mists which gather quite suddenly in the higher parts +of the range, and which as suddenly interfere with every form of travel. + +It is absolutely necessary, unless one is quite certain of the finest +weather, to cross the col or port, in the route one has traced out +for the day, before that day is far advanced. The reason for this is +twofold; first, that wood for a camp fire is not usually to be found upon +the higher slopes, secondly that good water is not easily to be found +there. It is further necessary to choose the place for one’s camp an +hour or so before sunset, and it is wiser to make it even earlier. The +disappointments which I remember within my own experience in this matter +have nearly all proceeded from pushing on from a likely place discovered +in the afternoon; one so pushes on in the hopes of finding a likelier +spot before the end of the day. Such an extension of one’s journey is +nearly always ended in a rough, unsuitable camp, sometimes without a +fire, and under the most uncomfortable conditions. When therefore you +have found in the course of the afternoon, the shelter of good rock, +overhanging a dry place by the stream you are following, pitch upon it +and do not regret the hours you appear to lose. + +When you have chosen the place for your camp your first act must be to +gather at once as much dry, _large_ wood as you can find. The local +customs in this matter are very liberal. Even if you are quite close to +a village, no one grudges you the use of wood, and your only possible +disturbance will come from the frontier guards if you are so foolish as +to choose their neighbourhood, which, by the way, can only be the case if +you encamp near one of the few chief crossings of the range. These may +ask you questions and make trouble, not for your gathering of wood, but +for their suspicion that you are smuggling. + +The temptation to gather only small wood is strong. It always seems as +though the branch you have chosen will be large enough to last for some +hours. But a little experience of these fires will show you that nothing +small enough for you to drag will be too large for your purpose. The +eight hours or more during which you must feed the fire consume a great +deal of wood, and the keeping of the fire in depends upon having large +logs for its foundation. You will not, of course, be able to cut these +into the right length, you will have so to arrange them when the fire is +once well started that they burn through their middles. You can then, +later, shift into the centre of the flame the halves that fall aside. If +there is any breeze pile a few stones to windward of your hearth, for you +will have to sleep to leeward of the fire, and an arrangement of this +kind will break the force of the wind and prevent the smoke and flame +from coming too near you. If the wind is too strong, you must make your +fire and your camp under the lee of some great rock, or it will both burn +out in a very short time and make itself intolerable to those who depend +upon it for warmth. For a wind that rises in the middle of the night, you +have, of course, no remedy; short of heavy rain it is the worst accident +that can befall you. If you have enough wood make your fire of a crescent +shape with the hollow towards the wind. It is the warmest and the best +way. You must so arrange that in sleeping you lie with your feet towards +the fire, and your great provision of wood must be brought quite close +to hand otherwise, most certainly, you will not have the energy to feed +it in the few wakeful moments of the night. That wood should be somewhat +green or wet matters little if you have a great fire well started, but if +you let it get low while you sleep, it will be impossible to revive it, +and when the fire fails, there is an end to sleep for every one. It is +impossible to say what the effect of such a fire is by giving reasons for +it; it does not perhaps warm one so much as do something to the air which +makes sleep possible and easy without a shelter, and it is the universal +aid and solace of all the Pyrenean mountaineers, whom you will often find +in groups, woodcutters or shepherds, gathered round one of these great +blazes for the night. + +The conditions of a good rock shelter, of a neighbouring stream and +plenty of wood, though common, are not universal, and if from the +structure of the hills and from the nature of the map you fear you will +not reach one, or if the greater part of the afternoon is passed without +your finding such a place, your next choice must be a spot in one of the +great woods that everywhere clothe the range. They are more common upon +the French than upon the Spanish slope. Here there is always cover from +the wind, for they are very dense, and even a partial cover from the +rain, but it is important to make your fire in a clearing, and luckily +there is nearly always a succession of open spaces between the forest +and the stream. With such a fire and with such an arrangement to leeward +of it the Pyrenean blanket with which you have provided yourself will be +ample covering for the night. + +As for using cabanes, I have already said that there is no grudge felt +against you for doing so, but you must treat any man coming upon you in +such a shelter as though he were the owner, for the local shepherds will +certainly regard you as their guest, and will think they are doing you +the favour of a host. Moreover, your fire, if you make one here, must be +lit outside the building, though the local people who use the cabanes +most constantly, will often make it inside. On the whole the night is +more comfortably spent in the open than in one of these shelters, unless +one is caught by rain. + +[Illustration] + +The open sandy spaces such as are quite common by the side of the larger +streams may be used with safety. There are no places where a spate will +be so rapid as to endanger one, unless one choose, as a companion and +I were once compelled to choose, a cave almost cut off by the water. +The only places where it is essential that one should _not_ camp, are +the higher flats where wood is rare, and where the cold of the night is +exceptionally severe. It is a choice to which one is often compelled, +if one pushes on too long, after having miscalculated the fatigues and +duration of the climb; but it is an error which one always regrets. + +A further recommendation is, _not to camp by the map_. The map may +look like that on p. 131, and one may say that one will follow up the +stream at one’s leisure. The reality may turn out a series of ascending +precipices, quite unassailable. + +But it is a great temptation. A man may have known the Pyrenees and +experienced time and again the error of trusting to a map for a camping +site, but there is something so convincing about the print and the +colours that after years of experience one may commit the same folly +again. It was but this year that, trusting to the 1/100,000 map, I +planned to camp at the place where the Cacouette falls into the main +stream below Sainte Engrace. I did not know the spot; it seemed to come +at a convenient hour in the ascent of the mountains: I should be there +about 5 o’clock. There was wood marked, good water; it was on the lee +side of the wind that was then blowing from the south. When I came to +it the place was a sharp ledge of limestone higher than Cheddar cliffs, +dotted here and there with trees and affording between the wall of rock +and the water not three feet of ground. It was not to be approached from +above; it could not be reached from below. A more impossible place for +camping never was. I had the same experience some years ago on the Aston, +though that was before I knew the Pyrenees well. There a place was chosen +by my companion and myself for its mixture of wood and meadow upon the +map, there were cabanes and apparently plenty of good water; it was so +plain on the map, that one did not hurry to reach it before darkness; +but when we got there it was a marsh; no cabane appeared until daylight, +and there was even that very rare thing in the Pyrenees, doubtful water. +As for the wood that should have dotted the pasture, it turned out to be +tough little live bushes, and all green, that would neither cut nor burn. + +There is one last and very grave danger of which I would warn the reader +in connexion with travel on foot in the Pyrenees, with a map and even +with a map and a compass. Without map or compass it is more than a +danger, it is a sort of necessary misfortune perpetually attending men, +and the gravity of it is proved by the fact that the local people who +use neither compass nor map when they go into a district with which they +are unacquainted, carefully ask the marks of the path and get themselves +accompanied, if they can, by someone who knows the country-side. This +danger may be called “Getting into the wrong valley.” + +As one sits at home, one thinks of the scheme of mountain valleys too +simply. One thinks of the stream as coming down through a ravine with its +head waters appearing below a definite saddle or notch in the watershed. +This stream, let us say, is flowing north. One sees on the further side +another stream rising just on the other side of the notch and flowing +on through a simple valley, going to the south. The crossing of the +port between these valleys seems to depend upon no more than physical +endurance and fine weather. One goes up one stream to the saddle, crosses +the saddle, follows the other stream downhill, and so makes one’s passage +from France to Spain. + +There are many passes of this simplicity, but there are many more that, +both between the lateral valleys and over the main range, present the +danger of which I speak, and which consists in a complexity at a summit +such that it is difficult in the extreme to know—even when one is certain +one has gone up the right part of the hither slope—what one should do on +the thither. + +This danger of “getting into the wrong valley” cannot be seized without +illustration, and in the following rough sketches I give examples of this. + +In the first example is a bit of country such as one very often gets in +these mountains with summits round about the 2600 metre line and the +last valleys under the ports somewhat above the 2000. I have marked with +hatching the contours below 2200 and in black the summits above 2600. The +main watershed I have indicated by a dotted line. + +When one is crossing a port of this type one sees before one from the +summit a confused and gentle slope leading apparently to one obvious +valley on the far side like the obvious valley out of which one has just +ascended. It seems indifferent whether one should come down on to this +by M or by N, to the left or to the right, yet the two valley floors to +which each leads are quite separate and may lead one round to different +river basins. How deceptive such a place is, the rough sketch appended +may help the reader to grasp. It shows the kind of thing one sees from +the summit of such a pass and how indifferent the choice appears between +the ways by which one may descend. + +[Illustration] + +This type of confusion exists sometimes in a still more dangerous form, +as in the contour lines of sketch on next page. + +[Illustration] + +A man arrived at the port P climbing up from the valley Q, which is +deep and well defined, sees before him another valley R exactly in line +with the last, also deep and also well defined. On either side of him, +as he gets to the saddle, run high ridges perpendicular to the line of +the two valleys. It seems common sense to take the watershed as running +along these ridges and across the port, and if Q is the French valley, +R will be the Spanish one. As a matter of fact the watershed may not +run in this simple way at all, but (as indicated upon the sketch map) +take a sharp turn to the right. R may be a French valley after all, and +the proper way down into Spain may be over the gradual grassy slopes +indicated by the arrow line. A man standing just at the port, and having +a rocky ridge A and the rocky ridge B to his left and right, sees before +him the obvious trench of the valley R and takes for granted that it is +the Spanish valley, whereas his true way is across the vague grassy land +towards S, and the watershed which he thinks runs from B on to A really +turns round from B and runs on to the distant mountains before him. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + +It must be remembered that on these summits all traces of a path as a +rule disappear. What is worse, indications of a path may begin on the +other side into the wrong valley and not into the right one. + +A second type of this peril is that in which some feature upon the +ridge which looks quite unimportant upon the one side turns out to be +all-important upon the other. Thus a man coming from A in the map below, +where the valleys are hatched and the highest summits are black, would +have before him the plain ridge B-C. It is indifferent where he crosses +it from that side, but on the far side he finds a confusion of falling +valleys, and if he does not pick out the right one he may find himself +in a few hours shut in by high walls which constrain him to a journey he +never meant to make. He may have intended to follow valley (1), and so to +reach food and shelter, he may find himself in valley (2) caught for the +night far from men and with walls of 3000 feet between him and them. + +[Illustration] + +Sometimes this confusion takes the form of one’s being led on to an +obvious notch in the ridge before one: a notch lower than the general +line of the ridge which (one thinks) cannot but be the port. When one has +climbed to it, however, one finds that the valley one was seeking lies +far to the right or to the left of such a notch, and that the gap which +was so noticeable on the one side of the pass corresponded to nothing +useful upon the further side. + +There is a good example of this under the peak called Negras where +an obvious notch which one thinks surely must be the way over to the +Gallego, leads to nothing more useful than an enclosed Tarn under the +precipices of the mountains. + +A sketch of the aspect of this particular ridge will make the difficulty +plain. + +[Illustration] + +All the contours upon the Aragonese side invite one to the notch at N, +yet the true way lies over the ridge between A and B, and the nearer to +B the better is the descent upon the further side. Indeed at A it is +perilous, at B it is a very gradual descent of easy grass. + +The third type of mountain structure which may lead one into the wrong +valley is what may be called “The Double Col.” It is damnably common and +a good example of it will be found in the track I describe later on in +this book when I speak of the short cut from the Ariège Valley into the +Roussillon. + +The accompanying sketch will explain the character of this sort of +tangle, and it is most important that anyone unacquainted with these +mountains and wishing to learn them should seize it thoroughly, for it is +the worst of all the lures that get a man astray. + +Observe carefully the numerous contours on the sketch map overleaf. They +are numerous because it is necessary to show the minute details of such +a case. I will suppose them to be about 50 feet apart. The traveller is +coming up the valley marked V, the floor of which is marked in black +upon the sketch, and the apex of which is, let us say, 6000 feet above +the sea; he climbs the last little slope of 250 feet and reaches the col +at C, which is 6250 feet above the sea. On this saddle he has upon either +side of him precipitous slopes, which lead up to two summits of mountains +upon the right and the left, the one towards A, the other towards B. +Right in front of him opens another valley corresponding apparently to +the valley V from which he has come, and which we will call W. The floor +of this also is marked in black upon the sketch. It will be observed +from the contour lines that the descent on to W is easy, though the +walls bounding it on either side become increasingly precipitous as one +proceeds. + +[Illustration] + +Hidden from him by rising ground upon the right, as he stands at C, there +is yet another valley, the floor of which is also given in black. This +valley we will call Y, and it is this valley which leads the traveller +towards his object; valley W only gets him deeper into the wilderness. +Both valleys W and Y, are so precipitous that once engaged in either +of them one is caught and compelled to pursue them for many miles. It +is evident that on a very large scale map such as this, and with full +contour lines giving every few feet of height, the traveller would make +no error. Once at C he would go up to the right around the base of +mountain B, rising continually until, somewhat under 6500 feet, he came +to the second col, D, which would bring him down into valley Y. + +But consider how this corner would look upon an ordinary small scale map! + +The whole distance from the apex of valley V to the apex of valley Y is +not half a mile. It would occupy little more than a quarter of an inch +upon your French map. The general trend and nature of the valleys, which +the traveller shut in by high mountains cannot grasp, would seem obvious +upon such a map and he would take it for granted that he could make no +error and that the passage marked from V to Y would be perfectly plain +sailing. It would never occur to him that he could be trapped into the +little ravine W leading nowhere and in no way connected with his journey. + +[Illustration] + +The map would look something like this, perhaps, giving one a perfectly +accurate general impression of the whole country-side, but quite +useless for the critical point C-D, the difficulties of which nothing +but numerous contours and a very large scale can possibly explain. The +traveller consults the map, he sees the mountain group whose summits are +A, H, and K, with their heights marked, he sees the other mountain group +culminating at B with its height also marked, he see the main valley V up +the road of which he has proceeded with the town in which he stopped and +the river which he has been following. He sees the pass clearly marked +at C-D, leading over to the further valley Y with its town, river, and +road—and the journey seems to present no difficulties. It is only when +he gets actually shut up in the hills at the heads of the valleys that +he may begin to doubt or to be misled. On his map he could never believe +that the little torrent W going right round out of his direction could +take him in, or that he would get into its valley. + +[Illustration] + +If you consider what he actually sees when he gets to the summit of the +pass, you will appreciate yet more easily how his error will come about. +He will see something like this, with an obvious way straight before him, +and with nothing to tell him that he must go up a second col, two or +three hundred feet above him to the right at D, if he is to get into the +right valley. + +It is in cases of this sort that Schrader’s map is so useful—so far as it +goes; but it only covers the quite central part of the Pyrenees, and the +contours are 100 metres apart. + +The particular ways in which one may get into the wrong valley are +innumerable, but these three types which I have given include all the +most common of them; and, of the three, the last which I have described +in such detail is at once the most perilous and the most common. + +While I am upon this subject of getting into the wrong valley on the +_downward_ side, I ought to mention the tricks which the map and one’s +own judgment play upon one as one goes _upwards_. + +Errors made as one follows the map _up a ravine_ are nearly always due +to making a false estimate of distance. The path may be lost for a +considerable stretch, and the contours may at first be puzzling, but if +one will trust to one’s map and to one’s compass one will never go far +wrong, unless one misjudges distance, and it is on this account that in +the directions I give below for particular places, I mean distance with +what care I can. + +Thus you may miss the path which branches off from the main path from the +valley of the Cinqueta to go eastward over the Col de Gistian; but if you +have made an accurate estimate of distance, and trust to the measurements +given, you cannot fail to identify the stream up which that crossing lies. + +Nothing can replace judgment, but there is a rule of thumb which is +workable enough, and that is, save under conditions of extreme fatigue, +that your kilometre on a mule path hardly ever takes you less than twelve +minutes or more than fifteen. I except steep climbing of course, but +steep climbing only comes at the port itself, or in quite unmistakable +ravines and gorges, where you will not lose your way. Where you lose your +way is in the Jasse, or in the bifurcation of main valleys, and there, +as you plod up your mule path, you will, as I say, never take less than +ten minutes over your kilometre (which is a centimetre upon your map)—and +you ought always to have a little measure with you—nor will you ever take +much more than twelve, save when you are quite knocked out and unable to +calculate distance at all. + +These limits will seem narrow to those who have not experienced such +paths. But they are wide enough. You must of course note the times during +which you choose to stop, and it is also true that if you make quite +short halts for a moment or two, of which you take no record, you will +quite put out your calculation; but twelve minutes to the kilometre is +3 miles an hour, fifteen is 2½ miles an hour, and if a man gets over a +level mule track in the early morning carrying weight a little faster +than the first pace, or on a steep part at evening a little slower than +the second, yet the occasions when this rule of thumb fails are rare. + +When your watch tells you that by the distance measured you should be +approaching a bifurcation, or any other doubtful place, halt and decide. + +If you do miss your way going upwards, or do take the wrong valley, if, +in a word, you are lost (as I was badly four years ago, so that I have +the right to speak of it), the first thing to remember is that the path, +if you will take it _downhill_, will lead you at last to men. The rule +about following running water is all very well in many mountains of the +ranges, but it won’t do in the Pyrenees, for the running water very often +goes under sharp limestone cliffs, and if you don’t find your way round +or over them, you may spend more hours than are safe in looking for a way +out. They form a very complete prison door, indeed, do these gorges. + +The path, I say, if you follow it downhill, will save you, but if, when +you find you are in the wrong valley, you attempt to recover your track +by going up the lateral ridge, you always run a grave risk. It is by +experiments of that sort that men die from exhaustion. It is true that +one is not usually tempted to this extra effort. It is much easier to go +on the way one is going, and to follow the path down, though one knows it +is a wrong one, but there are occasions, especially late in the day, when +one has _all but_ conquered the main crest of the range, after perhaps +one failure, and when one knows that one is lost, when the idea of one +vigorous effort to get over while it is yet daylight is tempting. It is a +fatal temptation. + +When you have made up your mind that you are lost, or even when the map +has told you so, pay no attention to anything else about you or within +you, such as the guess that such-and-such a rock in front of one may hide +such-and-such a village, or the hope that your strength will hold out +for 12 or 15 hours without food, but at once behave like a person in +grave danger, that is, calculate your chances of retreat, and think of +that only, for I repeat, it is more easy to die from exhaustion than in +any other way in these hills, and nearly all the people that perish in +mountains perish from that cause. + +When you have made up your mind that it is your business to find men +again, and that you do not know how far men may be, first note your +bread and wine and the rest, if any provision is left; next determine +to reserve it until nightfall: eat it then, do not blunder on through +the darkness (it is astonishing what very little distance one makes +after sunset, and every half-hour of twilight makes it more difficult to +camp)—sleep, and take the first half of the next day without food; you +are reserving your very last rations until the noon of that day. For one +can do a considerable distance without food if the effort is made in the +early morning. + +Never bathe under such conditions of fatigue, and towards the end, when +you are exhausted, drink as sparingly as possible. + +It is perhaps useless to give any hints about what a man should do when +he is lost, because men get lost in mountains by hoping against hope and +pushing on when common sense tells them to return. But I write down these +hints for what they are worth. After my first bad lesson in the matter, +I found them fairly useful. Remember, by the way, if you are lost and if +there is no path apparent, that a cabane even in ruins somewhere in the +landscape means a track visible or invisible, and that any rude crossing +of the stream with stepping-stones or a log means the same thing. But +you must not imagine that the presence or traces of animals will prove a +guide, for even mules wander wild for miles on these mountains in places +where a man can only go with difficulty and along random tracks leading +nowhere. + +[Illustration] + + + + +VI + +THE SEPARATE DISTRICTS OF THE PYRENEES + + +For the purposes of travel upon foot, the range of the Pyrenees falls +into certain divisions, which are not very clearly marked, but which +arrange themselves in a rough manner under the experience of travel. As +I come to deal with each of these, it will be seen that there is not +one which does not overlap its neighbour, and it will be impossible to +describe any mountain district without admitting this overlapping to +some extent, because any valley connected by certain local ties with +the valleys to the east and west is also, as a rule, connected with the +valleys to the north or south of it. Still, the districts I speak of are +fairly distinct, and consist in (1) the Basque valleys, (2) the Vals +d’Aspe and d’Ossau, with the valleys of the Aragon and Gallego to their +south, which I will call “the Four Valleys,” (3) the Sobrarbe, (4) the +three valleys attaching to Tarbes, to which I also attach the Luchon +valley, (5) the Catalan valleys and Andorra—in which I include the Val +d’Aran, (6) the Cerdagne (omitting the Tet and Ariège valleys), (7) the +Ariège and Tet valleys, (8) the Canigou. + +These I will take in their order, and I will begin with— + + +I. THE BASQUE VALLEYS + +[Illustration] + +The valleys immediately adjoining the point which we have taken for the +western end of the chain, that is, the knot of hills just to the west +of Roncesvalles, which have for their pivot Mount Urtioga, form one +country-side and should be considered together. + +They are the Baztan to the west, the first of the many valleys into +which the main range splits up like a fan as it approaches the Atlantic; +the valley of Baigorry, parallel to it and immediately to the east; the +valley called that of the St. Jean in its lower French part, and that +of Val Carlos in its upper Spanish one; this valley stands eastward of +Baigorry, and unites with it before leaving the hills to join the valley +of the Nive. The two together, and the lower valley of the Nive, are +called by the common name of “The Labourd”; on the south of the range +comes the valley of the Arga and the plain south of Roncesvalles: these +make one division of the Basque district. The same dialect of Basque is +spoken throughout the Labourd (there are variations upon the Spanish +side), the same type of house and of food and of hill is everywhere +around. The other division of the Basque valleys is the French district +of the _Soule_, just to the east with its corresponding valleys south of +the frontier. + +As to the Labourd and its accompanying Spanish valleys, the space open +for camping or wandering in this corner of the chain is less than in the +higher central part. The low round hills are often cultivated to their +summits, the valleys are always well populated, roads and villages are +many, and though there are one or two fine stretches of forest in which +a man can spend as many days as he chooses (notably the forest of Hayra, +which lies up southward at the far end of the Baigorry), they are not +to be compared in extent or in wildness with the forests further east. +The whole width of the Hayra, counting both the French and the Spanish +slopes, is, at its greatest extent, not more than three miles. Its length +is not six. The small lakes also that are characteristic of the Pyrenees +throughout their length, are lacking here, and the prosperity and +industry of the Basques press upon the traveller wherever he goes. + +If one would stay some three or four days in this district, it is a good +plan to leave the train at St. Etienne, just at the beginning of the +Baigorry valley. St. Etienne is the terminus of the branch line which +strikes off a few miles down the river from the line connecting St. Jean +Pied-de-Port with Bayonne, and one gets to St. Etienne by the morning +train from Bayonne about mid-day. + +Immediately to the west of St. Etienne, connecting it with the Baztan, +lies the pass of Ispeguy. It is of course very low, as are all these +hills; it is little more than 1000 feet above St. Etienne, or perhaps +1500, but from the summit there is a fine view of the higher distant +Pyrenees to the east. The frontier runs here north and south, passes +through the summit of the col, down the further side of which an easy +valley road leads down on to the main highway of the Baztan. + +This highway is the modern representative of the track which for many +centuries connected Bayonne with Pamplona. It was, until recent times, +a mountain way; the main Roman road went through Roncesvalles. It is +now, as was seen when we spoke of roads for driving and motoring, the +best approach from the French Atlantic coast into Navarre. From the +point where you strike this high road, where the valley debouches upon +it, and where the lateral stream you have been following falls into the +river Baztan, there is a walk down to the left, or southward, of some 4 +miles, into the town of Elizondo, which means in Basque “The Church in +the Valley.” For the Basques, like the Welsh, have the terms of their +religion mainly in the form of borrowed words, and the Greek Ecclesia, +which is “Egglws” in the Welsh mountains, has nearly the same sound +here, 800 miles to the south, and with all those days of sea between. +Christendom is one country. + +There is no easy journey from Elizondo down to the south of the hills and +back east again into the French valleys, unless you go on to Pamplona, +although of course there is nothing high or steep to stop you, if you +have plenty of provisions, except the absence of maps (which do not exist +for this district upon any useful scale to my knowledge). If you want to +make a mountain journey of it without touching the town of Pamplona, go +down a mile or two from Elizondo to Iruita, where the main road branches +into two; thence going south and a little east up the stream which comes +down from the frontier summits, you may go over a col between that valley +and the valley of the Esteribar, where the Arga rises. You will find +yourself at the first little Basque village, that of Eugui, by evening; +the total distance from Elizondo to Eugui, if you go the shortest way, is +only 20 miles. But, I repeat, it is a difficult job. Maps are lacking, +the valleys have many ramifications, and the first part of your journey +is all uphill for half the day. If the weather is cloudy it is more than +possible that you will get into the wrong valley, and find at last, when +you have got over your col, and are following the running water on the +further side, that that running water is not the Arga at all, but one +of the streams that lead you back again into the Baigorry. However, if +you make Eugui in the Estribar, the rest is simple: there are villages +all round, connected by paths, and not more than a mile or two from one +another, and you may go through Linzoian to Espimal and so to Burguete, +where you get the main road over Roncesvalles, without fear of losing +your way; for there are people everywhere. + +It is best, however, when you have slept in Elizondo, which is a very +pleasant little town, to take the motor-bus and get on to Pamplona; for +the Basques, who detest as much as the Scotch to be behind the world, +have a motor-bus along this mountain road. From Pamplona next day you can +go by the new road to Burguete, passing through Larrasoaña and Erro. It +is a long journey of nearly 30 miles; it can be broken, if you choose, at +Erro, but the sleeping accommodation there is nothing very grand. If you +push on beyond Burguete, over Roncesvalles, you can, in something under +40 miles, get to Val Carlos, the last town in Spain, and for those who +can walk 40 miles this is the best thing to do. If not, break the journey +in two at Erro, desolate as the little place is. + +The object of course of this walk is the Pass of Roncesvalles, and the +vast contrast between the slightly sloping Spanish plain of Burguete, +running up to the summit of the Pyrenees, and the great chasm which opens +beneath your feet when you have reached that summit, and which forms the +entry into France. + +You will not easily make a camp in any part of this round, and it is well +to remember here, where first mention is made of crossing the Spanish +frontier, that the Spaniards will not let a man leave their country +unless he has due permission upon a paper form. Why this should be so +I do not know, and I have very often gone in and out of Spain without +telling the authorities, as I have for that matter gone in and out of +Germany on foot, though the German officials are more stupid than the +Spaniards, and therefore attach much more importance to such things. +Still, it is safer to ask for your permit, and it will be given you by +a functionary called a “Corregidor,” at Val Carlos. A few miles beyond, +eight to be exact, you are in St. Jean Pied-de-Port, which is the head of +the railway to-day, and which has been for nearly 1000 years the depot +town at the foot of the pass for armies and for travellers. On this same +flat where it stands, was the Roman fort and depot, but not quite on the +same place; it stood on the spot now called St. Jean le Vieux, 2½ miles +up the lateral valley. This last was the halting place of Charlemagne in +the famous story, and St. Jean, as we see it, is a town not of the Dark +but of the Middle Ages. + +The next district to this of the Labourd, lying immediately to the east +of it, we have seen to be called the Soule. It is also Basque, though +it is Basque spoken with a different accent, and with certain verbal +differences as well. The way from one to the other lies through wilder +and more likely land for camping than is to be found in Baztan, Baigorry, +or Roncesvalles. It is a good plan, if one has the leisure, to approach +the Soule on foot by way of St. Jean, though the more ordinary way is to +go round through the plains by train to Mauléon (which is the capital of +the Soule). + +If one goes on foot directly across from the Labourd into the Soule, he +strikes that valley in its higher reaches, and well above Mauléon. + +The shortest line, if one does not mind sleeping in a mountain village, +is to take the high road from St. Jean Pied-de-Port to Lecumberry, and +to follow that way up the valley of the Laurhibar until the high road +comes to an end. It did so abruptly two miles or so beyond Laurhibar, +some years ago, but as it is being continued, one may follow it every +year further up the dale. The high road ends (or ended) about 10 miles +from St. Jean; and Lecumberry is the last _village_ still, however far +the road may have progressed up the valley. When the road ceases one must +continue up the valley by a path on the left bank of the stream. One +soon finds on this left bank a series of precipitous cliffs; one must +there cross over to the path upon the right bank. It is also possible to +keep to the right bank all the way—there is a track on either side—but +I speak of the usual way. Henceforward the path remains quite clear and +runs close alongside the stream, with steep cliffs upon the further +shore, until, in the last mile or two, before the head of the valley, +one enters a wood, and it is here that, if you are not very careful, you +will lose your way. The contours are complicated, the valleys numerous, +and the alternation of wood and open land most confusing. But if you will +go _due east_ by your compass from the point where you entered the wood +(abandoning the path where it crosses the stream and goes over to the +south), and if you will remember always to turn any precipice or ledge of +rock by descending to the _left_ of it, and always to _descend_ after you +have made the first high open space, you will come upon a clear track not +quite three miles from the point where the path enters the wood. + +It sounds but a vague indication, but it is a sufficient one, because bad +precipices prevent you from going too much to the right, and the natural +tendency of man to go downhill when he can will prevent you from going +up on to the ledge upon your left. You will find yourself shepherded—if +you always go as due east as is possible, and always turn a ledge of rock +to the _left_—into a track which runs all along the high lands above the +slopes that dominate the Brook Aphours; a little way down, that track +falls into a high road, and a few miles further the road reaches Tardets, +the central town in the valley of the Soule, half-way between Mauléon and +the highest summits. The whole journey from St. Jean thus described is +a big distance, nearer 40 miles than 30, with windings all the way, and +you must be prepared if you become fatigued or have bad luck with your +weather, either to camp out in the woods at the summit of the pass, or to +sleep in the first hamlet upon the eastern side. + +There is, indeed, a short cut which strikes the valley much higher, but +it is difficult to make and involves the climbing of two cols. For this +short cut the directions are as for the last, until your path along the +Laurhibar has struck the wood; there, instead of leaving it when it turns +south, and instead of going east (as above), you must keep to the track. +It will cross the stream, still going due south, wind up between an open +space through the woods, and will point before you lose it to the climb +over the shoulder of the Pic d’Escoliers; it is a stiff climb of nearly +2000 feet from the point where you crossed the stream and very steep. +The 2000 feet or so are climbed in under two miles. When you get to the +shoulder of the peak a steep southern slope lies before you, diversified +and made perilous by rocks, and separating plainly into an eastern and +a western valley. Between you and the eastern valley (which is that you +must descend) are steep rocks; they can be turned, however, by going to +the _right_ of them, but the whole place is precipitous and difficult. +The advantage appears when once you are down on the floor of the valley +(which is but 1000 feet from the peak), for you come within a mile to +a clear path, and once you have come to this, you are in another two +miles, at the village of Larrau, which is the terminus of the great +national road, and stands in the last upper waters of the valley. + +If you approach the Soule by the more ordinary way you will come by train +through Puyoo, change there, and take the train for Mauléon; and Mauléon, +as I have said, is the capital of the Soule. But the true mountain town +is Tardets, half-way up the valley. Tardets is the market town for all +the Basques of the hills, and you can never have enough of it, both +of its heavenly hotel, of which I shall speak when I come to speak of +hotels, and for its universal shops, and for its kindly people. It stands +in an opening of the lower hills, just before the valley narrows and +enters the high mountains, and you may reach it from Mauléon by a tramway +which runs up the river as far as Tardets and then turns off to the left +and goes round to Oloron. + +If you approach the Soule in this manner, making Tardets your +starting-point, you will do well to equip yourself in that town and then +to continue up the valley some five miles past Licq, until you come +to the fork of the river. It is an unmistakable point, because a very +definite rocky ridge comes down and separates the two sources of the +river Saison, which is the river of the Soule. The branch to the right +(as you go southward) leads up the valley to Larrau, of which I have just +spoken, and the high road follows it; the one to the left (which is the +main stream and is called the Chaitza) has no main road along it, but a +good mule track, very clear and plain, and leading at last to the village +of Ste Engrace, which lies at the extreme end of the valley and gives the +whole district its name. + +Ste Engrace was a saint of the persecution of Diocletian. She was +martyred in Saragossa, and the name of the village is one of the many +examples of the way in which the southern influence overlaps these hills. +I have said that the Spanish sandal is used to the very foot of the +French Pyrenees, and so is the wine-skin which is common to all Spain, +and so is the Spanish mule. Here you may see the Spanish saints as well +reaching beyond the summits. + +From where you leave the main road and go up the Chaitza valley to Ste +Engrace is a distance of 8 or 9 miles, and in this valley, in its upper +waters, is to be found one of the wonders of the Pyrenees, and also one +of the main passages into Spain. + +The wonder is the gorge of the Cacouette; the passage is the twin passage +of the Port d’Ourdayte and the Port Ste Engrace, and near them to the +west are two easier ports. + +The Cacouette is a cut through the limestone such as you might make with +a knife into clay or cheese, with immense steep precipices on either +side, and apart from the track above the cliffs there is some sort of +tourist’s way along the cavernous ravine for those who admire such +things. Of the two ports, the one path goes up the western side of that +cleft in the limestone (which drops 1500 feet into the earth), and the +other goes up the eastern side. To take the road up the western side, +you leave the Ste Engrace road 3 miles after leaving the great highway, +by a lane which goes off to the right and drops down into the valley; it +is quite plain, and is the only road so leaving the main track, so that +it cannot be mistaken. It climbs the opposing hill, and if you follow it +through all its windings it will take you to the Port Belhay, or to the +Port Bambilette, both under a mountain called Otxogorrigagne, and both +easy. But if you continue just above the limestone precipice, you will +come into a very striking circus of rock just under the watershed, up +which your path perilously climbs to the summit and the frontier; this is +the Port d’Ourdayte. + +The Port Ste Engrace, though not half a mile distant from it, is reached +in quite a different manner, and the separation between the two is due to +this limestone gorge, which cuts off one path from the other. + +If you are going to try to cross by Ste Engrace, sleep at the village +before starting. There is a good comfortable inn kept by people of the +same name as those who keep the inn at Elizondo, Jarégui. It is so steep +and difficult a bit that if you were to attempt to do it in one day, +without sleeping at Ste Engrace, you would hardly succeed unless you +already knew the mountain well, and mist, which is the fatal difficulty +of these western Pyrenees, will more commonly catch you in the early +afternoon than at any other time in the day, so that you had better make +your ascent before noon. When you have slept at Ste Engrace you will find +the path the next morning winding round through the woods, at the base +of the hill opposite the village. One must ask the way to the start of +this path, and it is not always clear after the first two miles; one has +now and then to cast about for it a little, but at last it emerges upon +a high grassy slope, which runs all the way to the crest of the hill +and the frontier. The path does not follow the straight ascent of the +hill, it curves nearer and nearer to a precipice which is the same as +that climbed by the neighbouring paths of the Port d’Ourdayte; for ten +dangerous yards it runs on a tiny platform right along the gulf and makes +over the crest into the further Spanish Basque valley, whose capital is +Isaba. + +Of this valley I can say nothing, for I have not succeeded in crossing +the Ste Engrace, though I have twice tried, but I am told that Isaba is +among the best of these little mountain Basque villages or towns for +entertainment and for cleanliness, and all Basque villages and towns are +cleanly. There is a good posada. From Isaba also a high road runs into +the higher valleys of Navarre and to Pamplona. + +Near this territory of the Soule, and partly included in it, are two +great districts where a man may spend many days at his ease in camp +there. The first is the great forest of the Tigra, which stretches to the +west of Tardets and is full of rocks, rivers, and adventure. You may take +it at its greatest width, counting one or two open spaces, to be 8 or 9 +miles, and at its greatest length, from the Peak of the Vultures to St. +Just, to be much the same. Its high places, some of which are bare peaks, +some clothed with woods, range for the most part round about 3000 feet, +but the highest point—of which I have never heard the name, and which is +on the very south of the forest, just passes 4000 feet. Tardets is always +at hand on the one hand, St. Jean Pied-de-Port rather further on the +other; from both one may re-provision oneself. + +Another and still larger district lies on the further side of the valley +to the north and east of Ste Engrace itself. It is the great mass of +wood, mainly beech, which stretches all over the hills between this last +Basque valley and the Val d’Aspe, next to the east, which is the frontier +valley of Béarn. These woods have no common name, they are intersected by +clear spaces, notably round the higher peaks of the forest, but they make +a district of their own stretching eastward and westward from Lourdios +to Licq, northward and southward from the frontier nearly to Lanne, and +thus measuring not much less than 10 miles every way, in French territory +alone. + +There is no forest in which it is easier to lose one’s way than this +great stretch of upland. This is especially true in the Souscousse +district, due east of Ste Engrace; there is here a labyrinth of +complicated valleys, and what seems on the map so easy a passage from the +Soule into the Val d’Aspe is in practice nearly impossible to find. To +camp in and to explore, this forest is even better than the Tigra; for +its summits are higher, and its views more unexpected and remarkable. +There are points in it which are more than 6000 feet in height, and the +great Pic d’Anie, the first of the really high mountains of the chain, +stands high above them, just beyond the southern limit of the trees. + +[Illustration: THE BASQUE VALLEYS] + + +II. THE FOUR VALLEYS (BÉARN AND ARAGON) + +[Illustration] + +Four valleys in the Pyrenees count together in travel upon foot. They are +the Val d’Aspe and the Val d’Oussau on the French side, and the valleys +of the rivers Aragon and Gallego on the Spanish side. + +These four form a unity for the reason that in one place (which is just +to the south of the watershed) they are, without too much difficulty, +approachable one from another. + +Many historical accidents have also served to unite these four valleys. +One pair of them made the platform for that great Roman road to which +allusion has so often been made in this book, and which ran from the +French plains over what is now called the pass of the Somport, right +down through Jaca to Saragossa. The parallel pair of valleys just to +the east, the Val d’Ossau and the valley of the Gallego, on the Spanish +side, though no highway ran along them until quite recently, had a +similar historical unity which bound them both together, and bound a +pair of them to the two sister valleys upon the west. For the eastern +part of what later became the kingdom of Aragon, the county of Sobrarbe, +stretched from the valley of the Gallego eastward, and was a natural line +of defence southward against the Mahommedans; while the Val d’Ossau to +the north of it was reached by an easy pass and must have formed—though +we have no exact historical record of it—a good road for the parallel +advance of armies. + +It must never be forgotten that when an army is advancing in great +numbers it is of paramount importance for it that the host should be able +to concentrate before action. But roads, especially roads over mountains, +compel men to march in long strings, so that the head of the column will +have arrived at a particular point hours before the tail of it; and what +is more, the deployment of the column, that is the getting of it all into +a front perpendicular to its line of advance, takes time in proportion to +the length which the column had before it began to deploy. This accident +it was, for instance, which destroyed the French and their allies at +Crécy, for though they greatly outnumbered the English they had come up +in columns too long to deploy in time. Now it evidently follows from this +principle that armies on the march, even under the rudest conditions, +will attempt to follow parallel roads. To find two roads parallel to +one another and leading to the same field of action is to halve the +difficulties of transport and of deployment. But it is very difficult +(under primitive conditions) to find two parallel roads which are near +to one another, and unless the lines by which the army advances are near +to one another the advantage of the alternative routes will disappear in +proportion to their distance one from the other. In mountain regions it +is especially difficult to find two passages parallel to each other and +yet in close neighbourhood. This is precisely the advantage afforded by +the trench of the Gallego continued in the Val d’Ossau to the east, and +in the trench of the Aragon continued in the Val d’Aspe to the west. Two +hosts using the old mule paths could leave Sallent on the Gallego and +Canfranc on the Aragon at dawn of one day, and both would meet at Oloron +in the French plains before the evening of the morrow; on the southward +march a host could assemble in the plains of Béarn, separate to use these +two easy passes, and meet at Jaca at the end of the second day. + +It is fairly certain therefore—much more certain than a thousand of the +historical guesses that are put down as truths in our textbooks—that +the easy pass between the Gallego Valley and the Val d’Ossau was twin +throughout the Dark Ages to the great Somport pass not 8 miles westward +of it. Abd-ur-Rahman must have used both and so must the Christian +knights when they came so often to the relief of Aragon in the heavy and +successful fighting against Islam which marked the tenth and eleventh +centuries. + +To appreciate how close these two parallel tracks were to each other one +has but to remember that the gap between the Val d’Aspe and the next easy +pass westward—right away at Roncesvalles—there is a matter of 40 miles. +Between the Val d’Ossau and the next easy pass eastward there is a gap of +indeterminate length according to the definition of the term “easy,” but +there is at any rate no notch over which one could take any armed force +until one gets to the Bonaigo, quite 60 miles away. All between is the +mass of the highest and most rugged ridges of the Pyrenees, over which +certain paths have always existed, indeed, and over which, in two places +at least, at Gavarnie and at Macadou, the French propose to drive roads, +but no gap in which was ever passable in the Dark and Middle Ages for a +great number of men. + +I have said that these two parallel trenches were not only twin in +history for the use of armies, but were also communicable one from the +other just south of the watershed. North of it, indeed, the Val d’Aspe +and the Val d’Ossau, though one can be reached from the other, only +communicate by very high and rocky ridges, the easiest of which is the +Col des Moines. But on the south side there is one accidental easy +passage. You may go all the way from the Somport to Jaca and find nothing +but the most difficult mountains on your left, and all the way from the +Pourtalet (which is the pass at the top of the Val d’Ossau corresponding +to the Somport) down to Sandinies and find nothing but difficult +mountains on the right, save just at the beginning of the descent where +this accident of which I speak occurs. Its feature is a lateral valley +called the Canal Roya which takes its name from the streak of intense red +scoring the side of its principal peak. + +This lateral valley points right away eastward from the trench of the +Aragon, it is nowhere precipitous along its stream (a rare advantage in +the Pyrenees) save in one spot where a quite low precipice is easily +outflanked along the grassy slopes above it. And the end of that valley +consists in a sort of semi-circular ridge of grassy steep banks in three +places of which ridge, at least, a man or a beast can walk over without +difficulty or danger. These three places are the Port de Peyréguet, +the Port d’Anéou, and the col of the Canal Roya. This last is the +principal one, the easiest and the lowest. Each is within half a mile of +its neighbour, and on the further side one comes down quite easily by +large steep slopes of meadow to the valley of the Gallego. The Port de +Peyréguet and the Port d’Anéou bring one down just on the north of the +flat dip of the pass, the col of the Canal Roya just on the south of it; +but whether one comes down just north or south of the flat Pourtalet pass +is an indifferent matter. The travelling in all three cases is little +more than a walk. + +These “gates” up the Canal Roya from the Val d’Aragon into the parallel +valley of the Gallego knit the whole four valleys into one system, +and to this day their customs and their inhabitants have very much in +common, and the two valleys, which were the core and heart of Aragon and +the origins of its crusade southward against the Mahommedans, count in +history and in local geography with the two valleys which were the heart +and origin of Béarn up to the north. + +The Val d’Aspe, which is the most important of the four, is that valley +in the Pyrenees where the characteristics of the range are most strongly +marked. It might serve as the type of all the others. You cannot see the +opening of it southward from Oloron without appreciating that you are +approaching something distinctive and singular in landscape. It is so +clean-cut and so obviously an invitation to the crossing of the hills. +The gorges which divide into separate flat steps every Pyrenean valley, +are nowhere more marked than here. The village of Asasp which stands at +the first of them is singularly characteristic of such an entry; the gap +through which the old lake broke is so clear, the walls through which +the Gave runs are so perfect. + +Somewhat further on when yet another gorge has been passed there opens +out one of those circular and isolated spaces of which Andorra is +the historical example, and which in greater or less perfection are +characteristic of all these hills. + +This plain, which still recalls in its contours the old lake which +created it, and of which it is the floor, is more regular and more +complete than any of the many _jasses_ and “_plans_” which distinguish +the other vales. It is even more striking than that of Andorra. +It nourishes five villages which might easily (had not the great +international road run through them for 2000 years) have federated +to form an independent commonwealth as the eight villages of Andorra +federated to form one. Indeed this circus, surrounded by almost +impassable hills which meet at either end in narrow Thermopylæ, was +very nearly independent at the close of the Middle Ages, and when it +appealed against the king for the preservation of its customs, these were +preserved by the authority of the king’s court. + +Of the small towns or large villages which this little secluded corner +of the world contains, Bédous is that which will seem the capital to the +wayfarer, for it is the only one which stands upon the main road; it +is the terminus of a railway which will soon be finished, and of which +nearly all the track is already made. Bédous, by this time, must also +have more population, as it certainly has more wealth than any of the +surrounding places. But Accous is the true capital of the five, and it +is pleasurable to hear with what reverence the villagers of the farms +around speak of Accous as though it were an Andorra-viella or a Toulouse. +All this wonderful and silent plain is marked with long lines of poplars +which enhance by their straight lines the immensity of the heights around +them. + +If one will pass some days in this singular valley it forms an excellent +place from which to explore the high passes into the Val d’Ossau, and +the bases of the two great mountains which, to the east and to the +west, neither visible from the floor of the valley, are, as it were, its +guardians: the Pic d’Anie and the Pic du Midi d’Ossau. The man who does +not desire to cover much ground but who wants thoroughly to know some +very Pyrenean part of the Pyrenees will do well to stop at the Hotel +de la Poste at Bédous, and thence climb at his leisure up on to the +platforms from which spring these isolated and dominant masses of rock. + +The Pic du Midi remains in one’s mind more perhaps than any of the +isolated mountains of Europe. It is quite savage and alone, and you must +fatigue yourself to reach it. There is no common knowledge of it and yet +it is as much itself as is the Matterhorn. The Pic d’Anie, though it +is less isolated, stands even more alone and has this quality that it +dominates the whole of the seaward side of the Pyrenees for it is much +higher than anything westward of it. Also it is the boundary beyond which +the Basques and their language have not gone. + +Beyond this plain of Bédous, when you have passed the southern “gate” of +it, you come into a long, deep and winding gorge which leads you at last +to Urdos, and Urdos is and has been since history began the outpost of +the French in these hills. It was the Roman outpost and the mediæval one, +and it was the outpost through the Revolutionary wars. + +Napoleon, who in everything recognized and imitated the example of Rome, +and who, for that matter, caused the Empire to rise again from the dead, +determined that a modern road should go again where the old Roman road +had gone. He determined this in connexion with his Spanish wars, and +decreed in 1808 that a way for artillery should cross where the legions +had gone. But Europe, as we all know, would not upon any matter accept in +the rush of a few years the constructive desire of Napoleon and of the +Revolution. It has taken more than three generations to do not half the +vast work they planned, and this road, which like almost every good road +over the Alps and the Pyrenees has Napoleon and the Revolution for its +origin, waited till past the middle of the nineteenth century before it +reached so much as the summit of the port. + +Under Napoleon III, in the sixties if I remember right, the thing was +done and the road reached the summit of the Somport, the lowest and the +most practicable of the high passes of the central mountains. But the +Spaniards still hung back, and it was not till the other year that the +road upon the Spanish side was completed. Now, however, one may not +only go all the way upon a high carriage road from Oloron to Saragossa +straight south across the hills, but one may find the whole way marked +with mile-stones as the Romans would have marked it, and saved at every +difficulty by engineering of which the Romans themselves would have been +proud. Once over the summit there is no resting place till one reaches +Canfranc, 6 or 7 miles by the windings of the road below one. After +Canfranc the valley of the Aragon, which one has been following, opens, +and the plain of Jaca lies before one bounded by its great ridge to the +southward, the Peña de Oroel. + +If one would not go all that length of high-road (from Oloron to Jaca is +over 50 miles) there are upon the Spanish side two lateral diversions +which a man may take. The first is over the Col des Moines, the other +into and over the Canal Roya. + +The first can be seen right before one at the summit of the pass; for +when one stands upon that summit one has, running eastward from the road, +a great open valley at the head of which is clearly distinguishable a +bare rocky ridge with a low saddle which is the Col des Moines. It is +perfectly easy upon either side, and upon the further side it shows one +the splendid and unexpected vision of the Pic du Midi standing up alone +beyond the little tarns at its feet: a double pyramid of steep rock upon +which the snow can hardly lie in tiny patches and whose main precipices +are dark, to the north, away from the sun. + +The next lateral valley southward of the Col des Moines is that of the +Canal Roya, but one can only enter it after going down the main road for +quite a thousand feet. There a bridge will be seen spanning the Aragon +and a little doubtful path leading beyond eastward up the lateral valley. +It is two hours up that valley to its head by a path going first on the +right bank of the stream then crossing over to the left one. One thus +reaches by a continuous ascent the cirque or amphitheatre which bounds +it at the eastern extremity of the valley. Here there is a difficulty in +finding the easiest and lowest col. The map is doubtful and the details +upon the map are not sufficiently numerous. The Canal Roya is well worth +camping in and returning by to the main Spanish road if one is inclined +(and if one is, one would do well to camp near the wood upon the left +bank of the stream not quite half-way up the vale for there is no timber +further on). But if one does not camp and prefers to get over the col +into the valley of the Gallego the rule is to note a sharp peak which +stands exactly at the apex of the valley—it is the lowest of the peaks +around but very distinct, forming an isolated steeple due east of the +last springs of the stream. The way lies to the left or north of this +peak and just under its shoulder up a loose mass of fallen rocks on which +an eye practised in these things can discover from time to time a trace +not of a true path but at least of infrequent travel. Upon the far side +easy slopes of grass take one down in about an hour to the Sallent road. + +Note that these two cols and the stretch from road to road and from inn +to inn can only with some peril be undertaken in one day from Urdos. In +fine weather and without accident the thing is simple enough, but when +you are baulked for an hour or two by the trail, or if you start a little +late, or if you are detained by mist you may very easily not manage the +passage from one of the great roads to the other, near as they look upon +the map. + +With everything going well, carrying little weight and fresh, it is quite +three hours (and more like three and a half) from Urdos to the bridge +over the Aragon. It will be another two up the Canal Roya and two more +over its col and down the other side to the high road, and even from that +point on the high road, if you follow the road only, there are two more +hours before you reach Sallent. It is a very heavy day of quite 30 miles +with two cols, one of 5000 feet, the other of 6500 feet, to be taken on +the way, and it is foolish to undertake either the Col des Moines or the +Canal Roya from Urdos without allowing for the chance of one night at +least upon the mountain. + +The second pair of valleys, that of the Gallego on the Spanish side, and +the Gave d’Ossau on the French side, are linked together by two very easy +passes, and one difficult one of which I shall speak in a moment. + +The old port, now called “Port Vieux de Sallent,” or the “Puerta Vieja,” +is easy enough, though it went over a higher part of the mountain than +the new pass just next door to it. I say it is _higher_ than the pass now +used, and this contrast is not infrequently found in the Pyrenees, some +feature or other in the topography of the ridge making it more convenient +for a native to cross by a slightly higher saddle than by some lower one +close by. For instance, the Somport itself is somewhat higher than a +quite unknown gap four miles to the west of it, but this lower gap was +never used because it led into a Spanish valley of a difficult and most +isolated kind. + +In the case of the two passes from the Val d’Ossau into Spain, the +obstacle which prevented the lower pass being used until quite lately, +was a great mass of rock overhanging the sources of the Gave d’Ossau, in +the highest part of the valley. When the new highway was made, this rock +was blasted and cut so as to take the road round it, and thus the low +pass beyond, called Pourtalet, was utilized. It is below 6000 feet and +exactly 1000 feet lower than the old Port de Sallent. But even nowadays, +if you are on foot you will do well to cross by the old port, high as it +is, for it saves time. + +While I am on the subject I must warn the reader that the 1/100,000 +map does not accurately convey the shape of the last two miles of the +road upon the French side, and the line of road mere guesswork upon the +Spanish, though the shape of the mountains is accurately given. + +This pair of valleys is remarkable for another feature upon the French +and upon the Spanish slopes: their wildness. Let me speak first of the +French. The French valley, the Val d’Ossau, is one of the wildest and +most deserted in the Pyrenees, and also it is the one most densely +clothed with forests. The reason of this is that there is less flat +ground at the foot of it than in any other. Nowhere does it expand into +even a narrow circus, and about Laruns, where it debouches upon the +lowlands, and the summit of the pass into Spain, a distance of perhaps +17 miles, there is but one large village, close to the bottom of the +valley, and that owes its existence to Thermal Springs; it is called Eaux +Chaudes—a dismal place, squeezed in between the torrent and the cliff, +dirty, uncomfortable, and sad. Higher up, however, a tiny hamlet, the +humblest and most remote in the world, one would think, has of recent +years taken on some little importance through travel; this is the hamlet +of Gabas, which may be said to consist in three inns, a ruinous chapel, +most pathetic, and a customs station. Of the excellent inn at Gabas, I +will speak elsewhere. + +This valley of the Ossau is the base for two districts, both of which are +very Pyrenean, and on either of which a man may spend a day or a month of +lonely pleasure. One is the steep and very fine valley of the Sousquéou, +the other is the short and extremely steep torrent bed which leads up to +the foot of the Pic du Midi. + +This mountain dominates all this section of the Pyrenees. The approach +to it by the Col des Moines I have already mentioned; this ascent by the +short valley from Gabas, through the woods, is better, because you come +right up on to the mountain suddenly from the depth of a vast forest, and +you feel its isolation. + +I know of no hill which seems more to deserve a name or to possess a +personality. Round its base there is matter for camping for days or for +weeks, good water, lakes to fish in, shelter, both of rocks and of trees, +human succour not too far off (Gabas is not three miles as the crow flies +from the summit of the mountain), and a complete independence. + +The Sousquéou is a less human excursion, though it has a very fine +lake at the head of it. The communication with men is steeper and more +difficult than from the district surrounding the Pic du Midi, and, as I +know from experience, it is not difficult to lose one’s way. Moreover, +the exits from the upper end of this valley are not easy, and it is +bounded on either side by the most savage cliffs in the whole chain. +Should it be necessary to escape from this ravine by any path but that +which leads down on to the high road near Gabas, you have no choice but +the high and steep Col d’Arrius, which brings you down into the upper +valley of the Gave d’Ossau, or on to the very high and most unpleasant +Col de Sobe, which gets you into one of the most difficult parts of the +Spanish side near the Peña Forata and so down to the Gallego. Its very +remoteness, however, and its partial changes, may attract one kind of +walker to the Sousquéou, but if he attempts it, let him go with at least +three days’ provisions. There are huts in the lower part of the valley, +but there is no very good camping ground near the lake I believe, save +on the side of the wood to the north. It is a lonely place, not without +horrors, and is perhaps haunted; the shape of the hills around is very +terrible. + +The Spanish side of all this is more simply described, the new high +road runs down 8 or 9 miles to Sallent, which can be turned into 5 or +6 miles by taking the old mule track that cuts off the windings of the +graded road. The river Gallego runs below and increases as it goes. To +the right or westward of the valley there is nothing in particular to +be done, there is but one place where you can conveniently cross over +into the valley of the Aragon, which is the Canal Roya I have already +described; south of that crossing the flank of the mountain lies bare and +open affording neither camping ground nor interest. On the left are the +curious serrated precipices of the Peña Forata, where climbing makes but +a day’s amusement, but where also there is no opportunity for camping, +and once Sallent is reached, though the “valley of Limpid Water” which +runs north of it is fine enough, there is little to be done but to go +on to Panticosa. There is a path over the very high ridge of the Pic +d’Enfer, and there is a main carriage road which goes round the flanks of +that mountain. + +All this part the valley of the Gallego is bounded by some of the highest +and most abrupt peaks in the chain, and (as I shall presently describe) +another district, meriting another type of description and travel, lies +to the eastward, and constitutes those new fortresses of the hills, the +roots of old Sobrarbe, where Christendom first began to hold out against +Islam, and whence the men of Aragon could securely push southward when +the advance to the Reconquest began. + +[Illustration: THE FOUR VALLEYS] + + +III. SOBRARBE + +[Illustration] + +When one says Sobrarbe one means all that eastern and larger part of the +original valleys of Aragon which lie between (and do not include) the +valley of the Gallego and the valley of the Noguera Ribagorzana, that +is, the valley of Broto (which is that of the river Ara), the valley of +the river Cinca and the valley of the river Esera; for, with central +ramifications, these three make up Sobrarbe. + +That part of it of which I shall here speak, the part right up against +the frontier ridge, is included between the big lump of mountains which +surrounds Panticosa (of which the Vignemale is the most conspicuous) and +the other big lump of peaks which is called the Maladetta group. + +It has three towns corresponding to its three valleys, Torla in the Broto +upon the Ara, Bielsa upon the Cinca, Venasque upon the Esera. + +The Cinca, however, receives, right up at its sources, an affluent longer +and more important than itself, called the Cinqueta, and on this stream +is a group of villages, none of them important enough to be called a +town, but standing so close together as to make a considerable centre of +habitation. + +But for these towns, the group of villages I have mentioned and one or +two tiny hamlets, these Spanish valleys are wholly deserted, and they +form by far the most rugged and difficult district of all the Pyrenees. + +They also hold the highest peaks of the mountains; the culminating Nethou +Peak of the Maladetta group, just upon the eastern edge of the district +(11,168 feet); the Posets (11,047), the Mont Perdu (10,994), the Pic +d’Enfer (10,109), the Vignemale (10,820) all stand here. Most of the +high peaks are in Spain, but it is another feature of the district that +the frontier ridge is higher here than in any other part, and is also +more continuous. The summit of the Vignemale forms part of it, and the +notches by which it may be traversed in these 40 to 50 miles lie but very +little below the surrounding peaks. Only 3 of the passes miss the 8000 +foot line. The Port du Venasque, at the extreme eastern end opposite the +Maladetta, is 7930 feet in height; the Port de Gavarnie at the extreme +western end is 7481. These two form the chief thoroughfares over this +high and difficult bit; that of Gavarnie, upon the French side, is being +prepared for wheeled traffic. The third, the Port de Pinède, also misses +the 8000 foot line, but only misses it by 25 feet. All the other passes +are but slight depressions in this barrier of cliff. The Tillon or rather +the passage to the side of it, is little under 10,000 feet, the Pla Laube +is over 8000, so is the Marcadou, so is the better known and more used +pass of Bielsa, while the Port d’Oo is 9846, and the Portillon d’O is +9987. + +The impression conveyed by this long line, the only line in the Pyrenees +where even small glaciers may be found, is of an impassable sheer height, +just notched enough at one point on the west to admit a painful scramble +into the valley of the Gave d’Pau and on the east to admit one into the +Valley of the Lys (into the basin of the Adour, that is) at one end, and +into the basin of Garonne at the other. + +A journey through Sobrarbe can be undertaken either from Sallent and +Panticosa or from Gavarnie, and in either case your exploration of +high Sobrarbe begins at the hamlet of Bujaruelo, which the French call +Boucharo. + +How to reach Bujaruelo from Gavarnie I shall describe later: for the +moment I propose a start on the Spanish side. + +If you start from the Spanish side at Panticosa, a plain path takes you +up the valley of the Caldares until you are right under the frontier +ridge. There the path bifurcates; you take the right-hand branch along +the chain of lakes that lies just under the wall of the main ridge, and +you climb slowly up to the path at the head of it. The whole climb +from Panticosa to this pass is 3040 feet, and it will take you from +early morning until noon. Or, if you will start before a summer dawn, at +any rate until the heat of the morning. For though it looks so short a +distance on the map, and though there is no difficult passage, it is very +hard going. The reason I mention this matter of hours is that when you +have got down the other side into the valley of the Ara, you are still +8 miles by the mule path from Bujaruelo, and though it is all downhill, +you will hardly do these 8 miles under two hours and a half; however +early you start, therefore, the back of the day is likely to be broken by +the time you come to Bujaruelo. Once there a new difficulty arises; for +Bujaruelo is not a pleasant place to sleep in. I have not myself slept +there, but the verdict is universal. Though you are coming from a Spanish +town the Customs may bother you at this hamlet because they cannot tell +but that you have come over some one of the high passages from France, +such as the Pla Laube up the valley. At any rate, unless you are going +to camp out you must push on to _Torla_, 5 miles on down the valley, +and you will pass through a great gorge on your way. Now at Torla the +hospitality, though large and vague, is good enough. + +If, however, you are taking the Upper Sobrarbe with the idea of camping, +you must not go on to Torla, but you must do as follows. Just at the far +end of the gorge of which I have spoken the path crosses the river Ara +by a bridge called the Bridge of the Men of Navarre. There you will see +a path leaving yours to the left, and zigzagging up the mountain side +eastward. This is the one you must take. It climbs 600 feet, gets you +round the cascade which here pours into the Ara from a lateral valley, +and finally puts you on to the level floor of that lateral valley: it +is called the valley of Arazas. Here there is excellent camping ground +everywhere, and it will be high time to look for a camp by the time you +are well upon the floor of that gorge; you may have to go up some little +way to find wood, but much of this valley in its higher part is clothed +with forests. The next day you must, as best you can, force your way +to Bielsa, and unless the weather is fine you may very possibly have to +sleep another night upon the mountain. + +The trouble of this difficult bit is the great height of the lateral +ridges. At the end of this fine valley of Arazas, which curves slowly up +northward as you go, is the huge mass of the Mont Perdu, and you cannot +get out of the valley without going over the shoulder of it. In order +to do this proceed as follows, and go along the stream until the path +crosses over from the northern to the southern bank, at a place where +the cliffs on either side come very close to the water. The path goes +along under and partially upon the face of these cliffs in a perilous +sort of way, until it comes to a lateral streamlet pouring right down the +side of the terminal mountain. This lateral streamlet you must be sure +to recognize, for upon your recognizing it depends the success of your +adventure; and you may know it thus: The place where your path strikes +it, is exactly 1000 yards from the place where you crossed the main +stream. When you come to this lateral streamlet you will see, or should +see, a transverse path running very nearly due east and west; and up that +in an eastward direction, immediately above you, a distance of 800 yards, +upon the shoulder of the great mountain is the depression for which the +path makes. It is called the _Col de Gaulis_. + +For all of this by the way you will do well to consult Schrader the whole +time. What the going is like on the further side of this col I cannot +tell for I have never come down it, but I know that your way descends +right by a very short and steep gully in which a torrent makes straight +for the valley beneath, and I know that when you have made that valley +your troubles are over. + +You fall through a descent of just under 2000 feet in a distance of +less than a mile as the crow flies. You must therefore be prepared for +a very steep bit of work. Once in the valley, however, everything is +straightforward. On reaching the main stream of this new valley (which +runs north and south) you turn to the right, southward, and follow its +right bank between it and the cliff; you cross a rivulet flowing from a +deep lateral ravine about a mile further on, and less than half a mile +further again see a new path leaving your path and going to your left, +crossing over the valley and its stream, and making up a gulley which +comes down facing you from the opposing heights. Take this new path up +this gulley (the path runs everywhere to the _south_ of the water), and +you will find yourself after a climb of somewhat over a 1000 feet on the +Col d’Escuain. Thence the way is perfectly clear, running due south-east +for 5 miles, just above the edge of the cliffs of the gorge of Escuain, +until you reach the village of Escuain perched above that ravine. + +Whatever efforts you may have made, and however early you may have +started, you will hardly have reached human beings again at this place +until, as at Bujaruelo the day before, the back of the day is broken. +Nevertheless, unless you are to camp out again upon the mountain, you +must try and push on to Bielsa. It is more than 10 miles, however much +you cut off the windings of the path, which takes you past the chapel of +San Pablo, leaving the village of Rivella on the left up the mountain +side, then across a steep cliff down to the profound gorge of the Cinca; +from there an unmistakable road goes through Salinas de Sin and follows +straight on up the valley to Bielsa just 4 miles further on. + +If you can do that in one day you will have done well. + +There is another and shorter crossing, which, though it is invariably +used by the mountaineers, I have not described because most people unused +to the Pyrenees would shirk it. When you have come down from the Col de +Gaulis into the valley below, if instead of going southward to the right +you go northward to the left, crossing the stream, and climbing up on the +further side of it, the path takes you at last to a very high col, called +in Spanish the Col of Anisclo, but in French, the Col of Anicle. This +col is not far short of 9000 feet high, and it is particularly painful +to have to attempt it just after the difficult business of the Col de +Gaulis. It means two ports within a few hours of each other, the second +one 3000 feet above the valley, and what that is in the way of fatigue, +a man must go through in order to know. Moreover, the descent on the far +side from the Col of Anisclo is exceedingly steep. + +However, if you do this short cut you have the advantage of finding +yourself at once in the main valley of the Cinca and, when once you are +on the banks of that river, you are not more than 8 miles or so from +Bielsa by a good path leading all the way down the stream on the left +bank. You save in this way quite 6 miles, and reduce your whole journey +from the mouth of the valley of Arazas to Bielsa to a little less than 20 +miles. + +The distance you have to go before you come to human beings is much +the same by either track. Escuain is just about as far from the Col de +Gaulis, as is Las Cortez, the first hamlet in the Cinca valley. Again, by +this shorter way you miss the gorge of the Escuain, but you see the huge +cliffs of Pinède, which are perhaps the finest wall in the Pyrenees with +their summits along the crest of 9000 feet, 5000 feet or more above the +stream at their feet: it is the edge of this ridge of cliff which must +be crossed at the Col of Anisclo. Either way therefore is as fine and +either as deserted as the other. But the second much shorter and far more +painful. + +Before I leave this passage between the first and second of the Sobrarbe +valleys—between the valley of Broto, that is (as they call the valley of +the river Ara) and the valley of the Cinca—a few notes on the road should +be added. + +First, I have said that Torla, Bujaruelo (Boucharo) may be made from +Gavarnie as well as from Panticosa. This is so; and if you undertake the +exploration of Sobrarbe from Gavarnie, it is a much easier business to +get to Bujaruelo from the French hamlet, than it is to get to it from +Panticosa. + +The excellent road from Gavarnie to the top of the port is a very small +matter, and from there down into Bujaruelo is an easy descent of three +miles. If you start from Gavarnie, therefore, in the early morning, you +can with an effort and in good weather go the whole length of the Val +d’Arazas, over the Col de Gaulis, and the Col of Anisclo and sleep in +Bielsa that same night, or you can, taking it more easily, make a camp at +the head of the Val d’Arazas, or you can break your journey in the valley +between the two Cols of Gaulis and Anisclo, camping there for the night; +I am told the camping ground in this gorge is not very good, otherwise +that would be the ideal place to break your journey. + +You may next remark that in the lower part of the Val d’Arazas, right on +the path, there is a good inn, which will save your camping out in the +valley at all, if you are not so inclined; but the inn is so far down +the valley that it does not save you very much in the next day’s walk. +Further, you should note that all this group of valleys, the Arazas, the +Pinède (which is that through which the Cinca flows), the Velos, which +is the stream at the foot of the Col de Gaulis, the Escuain, etc., are, +unlike most others in the Pyrenees, true _ravines_. They correspond +to what Western Americans mean when they use the Spanish word Cañons, +that is _clefts_ sunk deep into the stuff of the world and bounded by +precipices upon either side. These not only make the whole district a +striking exception in the Pyrenean range, but also make the finding of +and keeping to a path necessary as it is throughout the Pyrenees, more +necessary here than anywhere else. If, for instance, you lose the path at +the head of the Arazas, where it goes up the cliffs, you will never make +the Col de Gaulis though it is less than a mile away, and if you miss the +path up to the Col of Anisclo you can never get down into the Pinède at +all. + +It is worth remembering that from the foot of the Col de Gaulis a path +of sorts leads up the flank of the mountain to the Spanish side of the +Brèche de Roland. I have never followed it, but I believe it to be an +easier approach than that over the glacier upon the French side. + +Once you are at Bielsa on the Cinca, you are in the centre and, as it +were, in the geographical capital of the high Sobrarbe and it is your +next business to go on eastward into the last valley, that of the Esera, +the central town of which is Venasque. Between the upper part of these +two valleys and right between these two towns lies the great mass of the +Posets, a huge mountain which lifts up in a confused way like an Atlantic +wave and is within a very few feet of being the highest in the Pyrenees. +It is a mountain which, though it is not remarkable for precipices or +for any striking sky line, should by no means be crossed (though it can +easily be ascended), but must be turned. + +The straight line from Bielsa to Venasque lies slightly south of east +and is but 15 miles in length, but it runs right over the mass of the +Posets and crosses that jumble of hills only a couple of miles south of +the culminating peak. Venasque must therefore be reached by a divergence +one way or the other, and one approaches it from Bielsa by going either +to the north or to the south of the mountain group of the Posets. The +northern way is a trifle shorter but much more difficult and much more +lonely. On the other hand, it takes one into the very heart of the +highest Pyrenees, right under the least known and the most absolute part +of the barrier which they make between France and Spain. I will therefore +describe this northern way first, as I think most travellers who desire +an acquaintance with the hills will take it. + +From Bielsa a path going eastward crosses the Barrosa (at the confluence +of which with the Cinca Bielsa is built), runs round the flank of the +mountain and goes right up to the Col of the Cross “De La Cruz,” 4000 +feet above the town. You may know this pass, if you have a compass, by +observing that it is due east of Bielsa. To be accurate, the dead line +east and west from the top of the Col exactly strikes the northernmost +houses of the town. + +The eastern descent of the Col is quite easy and once down upon the +banks of the Cinqueta, you see, half a mile to the north of you, the +hospital or refuge of Gistain. From that point you follow up the valley +north-eastward, on the right or northern bank of the stream under a steep +hill-side for a couple of miles until you come to a fairly open place +where the two upper forks of the Cinqueta meet. You cross the northern +fork and go on eastward and northward up the eastern one, still keeping +at the foot of the northern hill-side. + +[Illustration: THE PASSAGE OVER THE COL DE LA CRUZ AND THE COL DE +GISTAIN] + +What follows is not very easy to describe and should be carefully noted. +What you have to pick out is a particular col on the opposite slope +beyond the stream. This col is three miles or so from the fork, five from +the Refuge, and is called “the Col de Gistain.” As you go up this valley +the opposing side is formed of the buttresses of the Posets. From that +mountain four torrents descend to join the east fork of the Cinqueta, +between the place where you crossed and the col you are seeking. The +first torrent falls into the valley which you are climbing half a mile +or so after you have crossed the north fork and begun the new valley; a +second comes in about a thousand yards further on, a third about a mile +further yet, and you may see each of them coming into the stream at your +feet from down the opposing side, which consists, as I have said, in the +buttresses of the Posets. + +Another way of recognizing these three torrents (and it is essential to +recognize them) is to note that between the first and the second the +slope is not violent, while between the second and the third it is a +rocky ridge. + +When you have seen the third come in, you must watch _exactly a mile +further on_ for the entry of the fourth. This fourth one is your mark by +which to find the col. Just after passing in front of the mouth of this +fourth torrent, your path, such as it is, will cross the Cinqueta, turn +sharply eastward, and begin to climb up the right or northern bank of +this fourth torrent. + +The ascent is not steep, and in 1500 yards you are on the _Col de +Gistain_ between 8200 and 8300 feet above the sea, and almost exactly +3000 feet above the spot where you left the north fork of the Cinqueta to +follow the eastern valley. Another way of making certain that you do not +miss the all-important turning is to count the torrents coming in upon +_your_ side, the _north_ side, of the valley; that is the torrents, each +coming in from its own ravine, which your path crosses. + +They also are three in number and fairly equidistant one from another, +the first about a mile after you have crossed the north fork, the next a +mile further on, and the next just under a mile beyond that. It is after +you have crossed the third and have proceeded another 500 or 600 yards +that your path to the Col de Gistain will go off opposite to the right, +crossing the stream at your feet, and following the torrent that falls +from that opposing side. + +Yet another way of making sure is to watch (if the weather is fine) for +the col itself, an unmistakable notch with a ridge of sharp rock just +to the north of it and a less abrupt arète going south of it up to the +summit of the Posets. + +I have written at this length of the passage not only from the difficulty +of discovering, but also from the danger that will attend any delay in +finding it. If you go on past the turning where the path to the col goes +off eastward you may get over the wrong port on to the French side, miles +from anywhere, or you may take the rocks of the Anes Cruces and find +yourself on a ridge beyond which there is no going down either way; while +if you turn off too early you may climb right up on to the glacier of the +Posets, and lose a day and be compelled to pass a night in that frost. + +Once you have got to the top of the Col de Gistain, however, you are +free. All the running water below you leads you down into the valley of +Venasque; there is no steepness and no difficulty. The rudimentary path +follows the stream, there is a little cabane on the upper waters of it, +soon the floor of the valley widens out a trifle, and four miles on, not +quite 3000 feet below the pass, is another cabane; that of the Turmo. +The path from this point becomes more definite; it crosses the stream 2 +miles down in order to avoid rocks upon the southern side, recrosses it +again a mile later to negotiate a steep and narrow gorge, it comes over +once again to the northern side by a bridge a few hundred yards further +on, and almost immediately reaches the valley of the Esera at a point 9 +miles or so from the summit of the pass. Here an ancient and remarkable +bridge, the Bridge of Cuberre, crosses the Esera, and enables you to gain +the wide mule track to Venasque, which town lies rather more than 2 miles +down the road. + +It will be seen that the whole difficulty of this passage lies in making +certain of the Col de Gistain. + +If I have exaggerated that difficulty I have fallen into an error on the +right side, for to miss the col is to fail altogether and possibly to +be in danger. If those who have approached the Col de Gistain from the +east, or who have only seen the place in clear weather, imagine it to be +discoverable under all circumstances, they are in error; indeed, if the +weather is bad, it is just as well not to attempt the passage at all. + +This northern way from Bielsa to Venasque is, as I have said, the most +difficult. The southern way is as follows. + +You go down the gorge to the Cinca by the road to Salinas de Sin, there +the road branches, the main part goes on down the Cinca, the side road +goes sharply off to the left up the first affluent of the Cinca, a +lateral valley which points south-east, and is that of the Cinqueta. +This road crosses the Cinca, follows the eastern or right bank of the +lateral stream for some two-thirds of a mile, then crosses over and +in about 3 miles from the crossing reaches the hamlet of Sarabillo. +Thence it proceeds, still upon the same side of the stream and facing +a considerable cliff upon the further bank, to the village of El Plan, +which lies somewhat less than 5 miles up from Sarabillo, and is reached +by crossing the stream again just before one comes to the village. + +At El Plan one may repose. One will have walked by the mule paths more +than 12 miles, and there is a long way before one. + +The main path goes on to the next village, that of St. Juan, and so up +the Cinqueta to the hospital of Gistain, where it joins the northern +route we have just been tracing. The southern way, which I am now +describing, is by a path leaving El Plan at the end of the village and +going down to the river (which here runs through a broad valley floor), +across the river by a bridge, and then up the torrent valley of the +Sentina, a little south of east. The path runs on the right or northern +bank of this torrent, and any path or tracks to be seen crossing the +water are not to your purpose. Keep always to the same side of the stream +until you come to the col, which is more than 4 but less than 5 miles +from El Plan and is called the Col de Sahun. From this col the path +continues a little less clearly marked, but quite easy, down the sharp +valley on the further side to the village of Sahun, which lies exactly +due east of the col and just over 3 miles from it. The whole passage, +therefore, from El Plan to Sahun, is a matter of not more than two hours, +and from Sahun to Venasque there is an excellent mule road following up +the open valley of the Esera; a distance of just 4 miles. + +By this southern approach the whole distance is but a plain walk of under +20 miles with only one low and easy col to climb, but of course it tells +you far less of what the Pyrenees can be than does the northern passage. + + * * * * * + +With the valley of the Esera and the town of Venasque you have come to +the end of Sobrarbe, and of all that remote and ill-known district which +is the most savage and the most alluring in these great hills. Indeed, +you are no longer properly in the Sobrarbe, but rather in the subdivision +of Ribagorza, which had a Count to itself in the Middle Ages, and was +the march between Aragon and Catalonia. From Venasque you can get back +again at your ease next day, by one of the best known mule tracks in the +Pyrenees, to the French valleys and to wealth again at Luchon. + +[Illustration: THE SOBRARBE] + + +IV. THE TARBES VALLEYS AND LUCHON + +[Illustration] + +Three valleys, two profound, one shallow, depend upon and radiate from +the town of Tarbes which stands in the plain below the mountains. Their +rail system and their road system converge upon Tarbes, and it is from +Tarbes that they should be explored. + +The two long valleys are the valley of Lourdes, down which flows the Gave +de Pau and the long valley of Arreau or Val d’Aure (it is the longest +enclosed valley of the Pyrenees). The short valley is the valley of +Bigorre, wherein the Adour arises. + +For a man on foot these three valleys are of interest chiefly in their +highest portions alone. The energy of French civilization has penetrated +them everywhere with light railways and with roads, and has united them +all three by a great lateral road running from Arreau to Luz over what +used to be the difficult and ill-known port of Tourmalet; while it has +thus done a great deal for those who only use the road, it has hurt the +district from the point of view which I am taking in this division of my +book. + +There is indeed one great hill which no development of roads can effect, +and which is the chief interest of all these three valleys for the man +on foot. It rises in the very centre of the district and is called the +Pic du Midi de Begorre. This peak stands thrust forward from the main +range, a matter of more than 10 miles from the watershed, and isolated +upon every side save where the isthmus of the Tourmalet binds it to the +general system not much more than 2000 feet below its summit. But the Pic +du Midi de Begorre, fine as it is, does not afford so many opportunities +to the man exploring the Pyrenees on foot as do other peaks. It is a +bare mountain, all precipice upon the northern side, and steep every +way. There is no camping ground save at the foot of it in the little +wood above Abay. Moreover, there is a road right up it, an observatory +upon the top, and arrangements for sleeping and for eating and drinking +as well. No other of the great mountains of Europe have been put more +thoroughly in harness. The chief use of it (for the purposes of this +book) is that from its summit you will get a better general view of the +eastern Pyrenees than from any other point reached with equal ease, +and that you can see in one view, as you look southward, the Maladetta +on your extreme left, the Pic du Midi d’Ossau on your extreme right, +each about 30 to 40 miles away. It is also a point from which the sharp +demarcation between the mountain and the plain, which characterizes the +northern slope of the Pyrenees, is very clear; for this peak, jutting out +as it does from the mass of the hills, dominates all the flat country +beneath. + +The roads of these three valleys are somewhat overrun—even in their upper +portions. That from the end of the light railway from Luz to Gavarnie, +is, in the summer, the only really spoilt piece of the Pyrenees; that +from Arreau up to Vielle Aure in the furthest valley is less frequented, +but there is no particular reason for stopping in it or for camping +in it, especially when one considers the waste spaces on either side, +where one may be wholly remote and at peace. There is, however, in one +branch of this valley, that is in the gulley which runs due south from +Trainzaygues, a good camping ground of woods and stream. A road runs up +it to the refuge of Riomajou at its summit, and from this two difficult +cols can be reached by two branch paths which go over either shoulder +of the Pic d’Ourdissettou, that on the right or west gets one down to +Real and Bielsa; that on the left ultimately and with some difficulty to +Gistain and El Plan. There is also an entry from the main valley into the +Sobrarbe, going up the main valley through Aragnouet, and up the very +steep pass called the Pass de Barroude; one also comes out by this way on +to Real and Bielsa, but it is by the other fork of the Spanish valley. + +The pass called the Port de Bielsa proper marks what was once perhaps +the main pass north and south over these hills. It leaves the valley at +Leplan above Aragnouet and stands between the two passes just mentioned. +These and all the difficult ports, springing from the three valleys of +Tarbes and crossing the central part of the range, lead one into the +Sobrarbe and the track described in the last division of this chapter. + +The valley of Arreau has an eastern fork following the Louron at the head +of which are further high passes, all in the neighbourhood of 8000 feet, +which lead one into the Posets group and the eastern end of Sobrarbe. Of +these the most interesting is the port of Aiguestoites, which is that +upon which one comes by error if one misses the Col de Gistain on the +northern way from Bielsa to Venasque. + +The Cirques—the great semicircles of precipices—which have always been +remarked as distinctive of the Pyrenees, are crowded in this region. The +Cirque de Gavarnie is the most famous, and therefore, in our time at +least, impossible for a man who really wants to wander. You cannot be +alone there; but the Cirque of Troumouse is not hackneyed and should be +seen once at least. You may reach it by taking the road up from Luz to +Gavarnie, and following it as far as Jedre. Here the Gave branches, you +go up the zigzag of the road, past the church of Jedre, and take the path +which leaves the highway to the left and follows up the eastern Gave, +or Gave de Heas on its left bank. The path crosses that stream 2 miles +further on and follows up the right bank to the little hamlet of Heas +(which gives the torrent its name). It continues getting less distinct +past the chapel of Heas; you turn a corner of a rock and find yourself in +this huge, bare, deserted circle of precipices with the Pic de Gerbats at +the left end of it, the Pic of Gabediou at the east end, and in the midst +the highest point, the Pic d’Arrouye, which just misses 10,000 feet. +The path continued will take you up past some cabanes over the little +glacier, and across that steep and very difficult ridge down into the +Spanish valley of Pinède—which ends up, of course, in Bielsa. + +But for these ramifications of their higher ravines, the three valleys +of Tarbes are the least suitable for a man travelling on foot; of the +three, however, the Val d’Aure will afford the most variety and the most +isolation. + +If, for any reason, one of these three valleys is chosen for a short +holiday, Tarbes—where there is a good hotel, The Ambassadeurs—is the +centre from which one should start and to which one should return; it +faces right at the mountains, it is the most truly Pyrenean town of all +the plain, and it is full of excellent entertainment. From Tarbes also +start the three lines which take you up each valley, to Argelès, to +Bagnères de Bigorre, and to Arreau. + + +_Luchon_ + +The valley of Luchon stands by itself as a separate division of the +Pyrenees. It has character altogether its own, formed both by political +accidents, which separate it from its twin valley of the Upper +Garonne—the Val d’Aran—and by its physical conformation which thrusts +the level floor of it up further into the hills than any other of the +Pyrenean gorges. It is indeed made by nature to be one of the great +international roads of Europe and to lead into Spain, for it resembles +in many ways the trench running from Oloron southwards along which the +main Roman road, and the main modern road find their way into Aragon. +The valley of Luchon would undoubtedly have formed the platform for such +a road had not two accidents interfered with that destiny: the first, +the great height of the ridge at the end of this particular valley; the +second, the lack of open country to the south. + +The Roman road from Oloron over the Somport finds a wide plain and an +ancient city at Jaca, within a day’s journey of the central summit. But +the valley of the Esera (which is the Spanish valley corresponding to +that of Luchon) is a good three days’ travel in length before it gets one +out of the hills, and the first town of the plains on the Spanish side +(the modern symbol of whose importance is the presence of the railway) +is Barbastro 60 miles in a straight line from the watershed, and not far +short of 90 following the turns of the mule path and lower down the road +which reaches it. + +But for these accidents the way through Luchon would undoubtedly be the +great avenue from Toulouse to Saragossa, and even as it is the pass over +the ridge here (called the Port de Venasque) is the most trodden and the +clearest of all the passes, other than those followed by direct highways. + +The valley of Luchon is the very centre of the mountain system, for it +lies just east of that division between the two halves of the mountains, +the eastern and the western chains. It is a frontier also between two +types of scenery and two kinds of travel. It is the last of the deep +flat valleys running north and south, which are, so far eastward, the +characteristic of the chain. Immediately beyond it, to the east, begins a +combination of hills of which St. Girons is the capital, and into which +still further east penetrate the much larger valleys of the Ariège and of +the Tet. + +The Thermal Springs of Luchon, and a chance popularity which made it the +wealthiest holiday place in all the mountains, have now fixed it as a +sort of central spot which sums up all travel in the Pyrenees. For nearly +a century it has had the character, which continually increases in it, of +great luxury, and of a colony, as it were, of the main towns of Europe. +But, for reasons which I mention when I come to speak of inns and hotels +in these mountains, it is in some way saved from the odiousness which +most cosmopolitan holiday places radiate around them like an evil smell. +The influence of Paris is in some part responsible for better manners and +greater dignity than such tourist places usually show. + +The little town is very old; it is probably the site of the Baths which +were mentioned as the most famous of the Pyrenean waters as early as the +first century, and which certainly stood in this country of Comminges. +For Luchon is the modern centre of the Comminges, and the Comminges is +first historical district of the Pyrenees west of the old Roman province. + +For a man travelling on foot in the Pyrenees the chief value of Luchon +lies in its being the only rail-head which lies close against the highest +peaks. Here one can have one’s letters sent and one’s luggage, and to +this place one can always return from the wildest parts of the Sobrarbe, +or of Catalonia, which lie on either hand just to the south-west and +south-east. It is also the best place in the whole range in which to +change English money. + +The valley, though it has great historical interest (and everybody who +has the leisure should see St. Bertrand at the mouth of it), has, like +those valleys to the west of it which have just been mentioned, little +to arrest a man on foot, except in its last high reach. The ridge which +runs north for 12 miles beyond Luchon and lies west of the railway, is +high and densely wooded; but it is not good camping ground and it leads +nowhere, while that to the east, less steep and not quite so densely +wooded, has but one large field for camping, the forest of Marignac; +and even in Marignac there is nothing but the wood to attract one. Once +through the wood one is back again upon a high road and the valley of the +Garonne. + +Above Luchon, however, there spread out a number of valleys which are +worthy of exploration in themselves, and one of which is the main way +over into Spain. For this last we must continue the high road (which +follows up the Pique, the river that waters all the Luchon district) +until one comes, at the end of the causeway, to the hotel that was +formerly a hospice, and is still called by that name. From this point +a steep path takes one 3000 feet right up to the main ridge and to the +little notch in the rock which is called the Port de Venasque. The path, +though not so clear, is equally easy on the other side, bringing one +down into the valley of the Esera and to the town of Venasque in the +Sobrarbe. The whole way from Luchon to Venasque, counting this steep +ridge, is one day’s easy going. There is no way across the central range +more simple or less difficult (though it is high), and it has very fine +views; as one crosses the summit one has right before one culminating +peaks of the Pyrenees, the group of the Maladetta. + +Just to the east of the Port de Venasque (which is about 8000 feet +high—to be accurate, 7930) is the Pic de Sauvegarde, a path which +is almost a road leads up to it; one pays a toll; it is a sort of +Piccadilly. The one purpose of the climb is to see from the summit a very +good all-round view of the high peaks, which crowd round this turning +point in the chain. + +A less frequented valley, but one quite sufficiently frequented, is that +of the Lys, which one turns into out of the main road by going off to the +right; about 2½ miles after leaving Luchon, a carriage road, 4 miles in +length, takes one up through the woods at Lys to an inn; thence forward +in the lovely valley and the half circle of peaks above, there is country +wild enough for every one, but no good camping ground. + +A further experiment for the man on foot, and one in which he will be +more dependent upon himself and less in fear of invasion, is that of +the Val Dastan, by which, and the high Port d’Oo, one can get down to +Venasque. For this valley one goes up the new lateral road from Luchon as +though one were going into the Val d’Aure and to Arreau. One may leave +the road at any point after St. Aventin to follow the stream below, but +it is best to go on to a village called Gari, which is somewhat more than +5 miles from Luchon. At Gari is a road going south along a valley; you +follow that valley still going southward, till the road comes to an end +in the neighbourhood of a wood which bars the upper end of the vale. A +path, however, continues the line of the road, makes its way through the +wood, and at the upper end of it you come out upon a fine lake. There is +an inn to the south of this lake, and if you will go on a little north +of the inn along the shores of the lake you will find very good camping +ground. Indeed, it is wise to camp over-night on this side of the range, +for the climb up from Luchon is fatiguing, and the country of a sort +inviting one to rest and look about one. + +Rejoining the path it passes between two small lakes, just after leaving +the wood, and climbs up the torrent past the little tarn called the Lac +Glacé, immediately above which is the Port d’Oo. This port is a very +high one, it falls little short of 9000 feet, and it is not more than +a depression in the ridge around. On the further side a steep scramble +marked by no path, gets one down into the valley beneath the Posets, and +this valley is the same as that which I have described as lying to the +east of the Col de Gistain and leading to the Bridge of Cuberre, and +so to Venasque. It is a long and difficult way round to that town from +Luchon by the Port d’Oo, but it is the wildest and therefore the best +excursion one can make in the circuit of these hills. + +I should mention before I leave this district that curious plain, Des +Etangs “Of the Lakes,” where is the Trou du Toro, a small circular pond. + +The main source of the Garonne lies high up as befits the dignity of +such a river in among the very noblest peaks of the Pyrenees; it springs +from the eastern point of the Maladetta, flows down in a torrent to this +plain “Of the Lakes,” plunges into the little pond, and there wholly +disappears! It reappears 2000 feet down at the Goueil de Jeou, on the +northern side of the mountains, having burrowed right under the main +range, and so runs down to Las Bordas. Sceptics to whom all in these +bewitched mountains is abhorrent, from the realities of Lourdes to the +legends of Charlemagne, annoyed by this miraculous action on the part of +the Garonne, poured heavy dyes into the Trou du Toro, and then went and +watched anxiously at Goueil de Jeou to see the coloured stream emerge; +but the Garonne was too dignified to oblige them, and the water came +out limpid and pure; as for the dye, it has stuck somewhere underground +in the hills, and is colouring rocks that will never be seen until the +consummation of all things at the end of the world. + +[Illustration: THE TARBES VALLEYS & LUCHON] + + +V. ANDORRA AND THE CATALAN VALLEYS + +[Illustration] + +One may consider together Andorra in the Spanish valley of the Segre, the +upper valley of the Noguera Pallaresa and Val d’Aran, for the journey +through Andorra down to Seo, thence up out of the valley of the Segre +into that of the Noguera, and so over to the Upper Garonne, makes one +round, in which one covers one whole district of the Pyrenees, all +Catalan. + +There are two ways by which the curious country of Andorra can be reached +from the north; both ultimately depend upon the valley of the Ariège. + +The first shortest and most difficult way is by the vale of the Aston, +a tributary of the Ariège which comes down a lateral valley and falls +in near the railway station of Cabanes as the line from Foix to Ax; the +second and easier way is by climbing to the sources of the Ariège itself, +the main river, and over the Embalire. + +As to the first—all the spreading rocky valleys which combine to feed +the river Aston, form together a district of the very best for those who +propose to explore but one corner of the Pyrenees during a short holiday. +Even if such a traveller be unable or do not choose to force one of the +entries into Andorra, he will have found on the Aston a country in which +a man may camp and fish and climb anywhere, with a sense of liberty quite +unknown in this kingdom. Here are half a dozen or more little lakes, deep +forests, occasional cabanes, good shelter, good bits of rock for such as +like the risk, and outlines and distances of the most astonishing kind, +and no landlords. Of the many high valleys I have seen in the world, +there is none less earthly than the last high reaches of the torrent +which runs between the Pic de la Cabillere and the Pic de la Coumette, +and which is the chief source of the Aston. The whole basin of this river +includes six main streams, and, of course, many smaller torrents feeding +these and the names of the peaks alone discover their desertion and the +mixture of fear and attraction which they have had for the shepherds +of these highland places. You may spend a week or a month or a whole +summer in the neighbourhood and never come on this enchanted pocket which +is bounded on the frontier by the high ridge running from the “silver +fountain,” the Fontargente, with its high peak and chain of lakes. + +The Aston has at its sources, cutting them off from Spain, a ridge of +8000 to 9000 feet, it is a ridge the passes of which are but slight +notches between the higher rocks. + +The ways into Andorra across this ridge from the Upper Aston are as +numerous as these notches are, and nearly every notch can be climbed with +knowledge and patience, but the only parts where something of a track +exists are the Fontargente on the east, and the Peyregrils on the west. +It is easy enough to fail at either, and there is therefore merit and +sport enough in succeeding at either. + +For the Peyregrils you must start from Cabanes and follow up the main +stream of the Aston, by a clear path through the forest, taking with +you the 1/100,000 map as a guide. A little after a point where a bridge +is thrown over the river (called the Bridge of Coidenes), the two main +streams of the Aston meet, one is seen flowing down from the south-east +by the wooded gorge before one as one climbs, the other comes in cascades +down a steep gully, pointing directly north and south. It is this gully +which must be taken for the Peyregrils. One goes up over a steep rock +still in the thick of the wood. On the far side of it one comes out into +open grass country, and has one’s first sight of the main range. The path +comes down again to the stream, having turned the cascade, crosses the +stream and flows along its right or eastern bank between the water and +a range of cliffs which are those of the Pic du Col de Gas. About a mile +from this crossing of the stream, as one goes on southward with a little +west in one’s direction, one comes to a side torrent falling in from the +left; the path crosses this torrent, and still continues up the right +bank of the main stream. It is a difficult point—for the path appears to +bifurcate, and by taking the left-hand branch, as I did four years ago, +one may lose oneself in the empty valley under the Cabillere and be cut +off for two days as I was, or for ever, as I was not. It is by making +these easy mistakes that men do get cut off, and you may be certain that +people who are found dead in the mountains under small precipices, are +not, as the newspapers say, killed by some accident, but by exhaustion. +They have wandered in a mist, or have been lost in some other fashion, +until privation so weakens them that they no longer have a foothold; and +in general, the great danger of mountains is not a danger of falling, but +of getting cut off from men. Here, as in many other difficulties of this +kind, your compass will save you; for if you find you are going more and +more to the east, you are on the wrong path. The right one goes south by +west along the left bank of the stream. There is a broad jasse or pasture +which one traverses in all its length, one crosses another torrent coming +in from a rocky gorge upon the left, the torrent and the path together +turn more and more westward until one’s general direction is due west, +and at last one comes up against steep cliffs which are those of the +Etang Blanc. + +Thence, the way is plain, for the stream receives no further affluents +and there is therefore no ambiguity of direction. The path follows the +stream round a corner of rock whence one can see a tarn called the +Etang de Soulauet, lying immediately under the watershed, and from that +tarn the traveller goes straight up for 500 yards or so over the crest, +straight down the steep further side, and finds at the bottom of the +valley the stream called Rialb: such is the passage called the Peyregrils. + +Once one is down on the banks of the Rialb, one has but to follow the +trail which runs along the bank of that stream, cross it, reach the +hamlet of Serrat, and so follow the broadening water to the little town +of Ordino; four miles beyond is Andorra the Old. The whole distance from +the pass to Andorra is somewhat over 12 miles, counting all the windings +of the way. On this, as on so many crossings of the Pyrenees, the +difficulty is wholly on the French side, once on the Spanish the broader +valleys lead one without difficulty down one’s way. + +The other entry into Andorra from the valley of the Aston, that by the +Fontargente, is managed thus:— + +When the Aston divides just after the bridge, one takes the south-eastern +fork, one crosses the bridge and finds a clear path going up the right +bank of the main stream of the Aston through a wood. Four miles on this +path brings one out of the wood, and for another 4 miles it goes on still +following the same side of the stream in a direction which is at first +east of south, and at last curls round due south. There is a bridge or +two crossing to the other side, but one must not take them. One must +keep close to the eastern or right bank of the Aston all the way until +one comes to a place difficult to recognize, and yet the recognition of +which is immediately essential to success. It is a jasse rather narrow +and small, lying between a rocky ridge upon the left or east and a line +of cliffs upon the right or west. Here are a few cabanes, and even if one +has missed the place on first coming to it, it can be recognized from +the fact, that, at the further end of this jasse, the two sources of the +Aston meet in almost one straight line, making with the main stream one +has been following, a shape like the letter “T.” + +The path branches and takes either valley or arm of the “T”; it is that +to the _left_ or east down which one must turn—the one to the right or +west leads nowhere but to the impassable cliffs and precipices of the +Passade and the Cabillere. The eastern or right-hand path then must be +followed in a direction just south of east for exactly 1 mile, during +all of which it keeps to the north of the stream. At the end of that +mile it crosses the stream, turns gradually round a high lump of rocky +hill, going first south, then in a few yards south-west until it comes, +at about a mile from the place where it crossed, upon the large tarn or +small lake of Fontargente, “The Silver Water.” The port lies in view just +above the lake not 500 yards off. Once over it, it is the same story as +the Peyregrils, a trail following running water which leads one through +the upper villages to Canillo, the first town, to Encamps, the second +one, and so down to Andorra the Old. The distance from the main range to +Andorra by this trail is 2 or 3 miles greater than by the Peyregrils. + +These are the two difficult and mountain ways of making Andorra from the +north. + +The easier and much the commoner way is to approach it from the upper +waters of the Ariège. + +One takes the main road from Ax to Hospitalet up which there is a public +carriage or “diligence”; it is as well to go on foot, for one will +get to Hospitalet before the diligence if one starts at the dawn of a +summer’s day, and it is important to get there early as there is no good +sleeping place between the French side and the town of Andorra itself. +At Hospitalet the main track for Andorra runs down in a few feet to the +torrent of the Ariège, crosses it, and follows its left bank. It goes +over the frontier which is here an artificial line, and though you are +still on the French side of the range, you are politically in Andorra, +upon this deserted grassy slope which forms the left bank of the Ariège. + +At the second torrent which comes down this slope into the river—or +rather the second stream, for they are quite small—the telegraph wire, +which has hitherto followed the path, will be seen going over to the +right, up a somewhat steep side valley. This is at a point about 4 +miles from Hospitalet. You have but to follow that line if it is fine +weather, and you will come right over the ridge and down on to the +Spanish side of the Andorran hamlet, Saldeu. If it is misty on the +heights you will almost certainly lose the line, and possibly your life +as well. Nevertheless the crossing can be made even in bad weather by +going somewhat further south to the point called the Port d’Embalire. +To find this needs a certain care. Note with your compass the trend of +the Ariège; it curves round more and more as you follow it, and when it +begins to point _due south_ (which it does after a perceptible bend) +you may note a fairly plain track coming down from the opposite side +of the valley: it comes down and strikes the Ariège at a spot almost +exactly 2 miles from the place where the line of the telegraph left the +stream. Here opposite the road turn sharp up away from the Ariège (which +is now but a tiny brook) and go _due west_ by your compass right up the +mountain, which is here nothing but a steep grassy slope, and you will +strike the Embalire. + +It is one of the few crossings which can be made in any weather, because +you will find upon that slope, a little way up, the beginnings of a made +road; that road was never completed. It has never been metalled, but +it is culverted and graded, and is as good a guide as the best highway +in the Pyrenees could be. Probably it never will be finished, for the +Andorrans are opposed to an easy entry into their country; but so long +as its platform remains, one can never lose one’s way upon the Port +d’Embalire. The further side is a steep and easy descent over a sort +of down, and one finds Saldeu by this longer route about 4 miles from +the summit. Whether one has followed the telegraph line or come over by +the Embalire, the two tracks join at Saldeu, and the rest of the way +is identical with that which you will come to by Fontargente, that is, +through Canillo and Encamps to Andorra the Old. + +Easy as the way is, however, it should be remembered that it is a long +day from Ax, for counting every turning, it is not far short of 30 miles, +and more than half of that is uphill. Ax stands at about 2000 to 2400 +feet (according to the part of the steep town one measures from) and the +summit of the Embalire is almost exactly 8000 feet. There is no break in +the rise from one to the other. + +The interest of Andorra lies in its survival, and the recognition it +receives of being an Independent European State. All these enclosed +valleys of the Pyrenees led a more or less independent life for +centuries; from a decline of the Roman power until the union of Aragon +and Castille on the Spanish side, and on the French side in some places, +up to the Revolution itself, they boasted their own customs and could +plead their own law. + +The violent quarrel between Madrid and Aragon, in which the independence +of Aragon was fiercely destroyed, affected the greater part of the +Spanish valleys, and killed their independence; but it did not attack the +Catalan valleys—of which Andorra was the most secluded and remote, and +therefore Andorra survives. + +One may study in Andorra what all these valleys were in the long period +of local and natural growths between the very slow death of the Roman +bureaucracy, and the rapid rise of the modern. The French, through the +Prefect of the Ariège (as representing the Crown of France, which in its +turn inherited from the county of Foix) claim a partial control over the +Andorrans who pay to the Government in Paris £40 a year in fealty. The +Spaniards have a hold on it through the Bishop of Urgel, who is not only +their Ordinary but also their Civil Suzerain: he gets only £18 a year +from the embattled farmers. + +The Andorrans have all the vices and virtues of democracy clearly +apparent. They are very well-to-do, a little hard, avaricious, courteous, +fond of smuggling, and jealous of interference. Also in Andorra itself +one great shop supplies their external needs, and conducts all their +international exchanges. Catalan, a provincial dialect in Spain, is here +the national language. They are divided, as are all Catholics, into +Clericals and Anti-Clericals, the Clericals making, I believe, a working +majority, and there is not among them, so far as one can see, a poor man +or an oppressed one. + +From Andorra the Old, a good open path leads through the narrow gates of +the country, down on to the valley of the Segre, and so to Seo de Urgel. + + * * * * * + +Though it is but a few hours’ walk from Andorra to Urgel, it is as well +to pass the remainder of the day and the night at Urgel, especially if +it is the first Spanish town you have seen, as it is the first for many +people who cross the mountains at this place. You will certainly find +nothing more Spanish along the whole range. This lump of a town with +its narrow oriental streets was the pivot of the Christian advance into +Catalonia. The Carolingian armies came pouring through that easiest of +the passes, the Cerdagne, enfranchised Urgel, first of all the Mozarabic +Bishoprics, and may be said to have refounded its Christian existence. +For some reason difficult to discover Urgel fossilized quite early in the +Middle Ages. No line of travel, no road linked up the long valley of the +Segre, the armies and the embassies of the French knew nothing of Lerida, +and it is characteristic of Urgel to-day that even to-day there should be +no great road beyond it up the valley. + +From Urgel your road back into France through the upper valley of the +Noguera Pallaresa, and the Val d’Aran is difficult to discover in its +earlier part, unmistakable in the high mountains; which is the reverse of +the rule usual in other crossings of the hills. + +You must go down the high road which runs south of Urgel until you come, +in something over a mile, to Ciudad, which is that hill-pile of white +houses, once fortified, which rises over against the Cathedral city. + +There you must ask the way to Castellbo, which is two or three hours away +up a torrent bed, and you must go up this torrent bed by way of a road. + +If you start early from Urgel you will be at Castellbo well before noon, +and the hospitality of the place is so great that you will wish to stay +there. There is only one drawback to eating at Castellbo which is that +you have after it to make a passage of the mountains which, though here +not very high, well wooded and fairly inhabitated, do not bring you to +proper food and shelter until you have gone close on 20 miles and have +reached Llavorsi in the further valley of the Noguera; and so, if you +stop to eat your mid-day meal at Castellbo, it is quite on the cards +that you will have to camp out in the hills and that you will not make +Llavorsi until noon of the following day; for the col in between, though +it is very easy, is higher above the sea than the Somport. + +From Castellbo you have but to ask for the village of St. Croz, which +is perched upon a height just up the same valley, but from there to the +port the way is difficult to find for the very reason that there are no +_physical_ difficulties. It is all one long ridge of wooded grass like a +down, with rather higher peaks to the right and to the left and with more +than one indication of a path several directions. A good rule, however, +for finding the exact place where you should cross, is to make for a spot +due north-west from the village of St. Croz, and this spot is further +distinguished by the fact that it is on the whole lowest upon the whole +saddle. It is a mile and a quarter or a mile and a half from the village, +and as you go to it over the easy grass you get a superb vision of the +Sierra del Cadi barring your view of Catalonia and standing up against +you much higher than ever it seemed from the floor of the Cerdagne. No +hills in Europe look so marvellously high. + +As the saddle of this port, which is called the port of St. John, is so +long and easy it might seem indifferent at what point one crossed it; +it is on the contrary very important to get the _exact_ place and for +this reason, that on the further or north-western side of it there is a +profound ravine densely wooded, if one does not make the _exact_ spot one +has no path through this wood. That means hours of delay and one may very +well come out upon the right instead of the left bank of the ravine; in +which case in order to find the trail for Llavorsi at the bottom of the +valley one may have a precipitous descent into the ravine and a bad climb +out of it on the other side. Look, therefore, carefully for the path +which begins to be clearly marked the moment the saddle is crossed, and +follow down it until you come to a steep rock which overhangs the main +stream at the bottom of the valley. This main stream is the Magdalena and +runs not quite 2000 feet below the summit of the port. The trail is very +distinct when once one has reached the valley; small villages are passed; +it climbs up on the left bank to avoid a precipitous place and comes down +to the water again at a place where the Magdalena falls into the main +stream of the Noguera. + +Here you must descend to the floor of the valley and take the road +which is being made and which will in a few years form another great +international highway up the valley of the Noguera. The road runs all +the way on the left or eastern bank of the stream, which is broad and +rapid and confined by very high steep hills upon either side. Three miles +from the place where the path descended to the junction of the Magdalena +and the Noguera, you will find another large river coming in. The road +crosses by a wooden cantilever bridge where one pays a toll (I think of +½d.), and once across one is in the unpleasing village of Llavorsi. + +The valley opens somewhat and is called Anéu, having on the left the +exceedingly rugged and tangled chain of the Encantados, a wilderness +of rocky peaks and lakes—and on the right a clear ridge which cuts off +this country-side from the Val Cardos and the Val Farreira, both wild +districts at whose summits is a bit of country as lonely as the Upper +Aston. + +All the way from Llavorsi up this Anéu valley the new road runs. I +have not visited it for four years, and by this time it must be nearly +finished, at any rate it is perfectly straight going and in all between +10 and 12 miles, with the exceedingly filthy village of Escaló about +half-way. + +It is not easy to give advice about sleeping in this walk from Urgel to +Esterri. The distance between the two towns in a straight line is less +than thirty miles, but the perpetual turning of the path makes it quite +forty by the time one has reached Esterri, and what with the casting +about for the right crossing on the port and the height of that crossing, +it is too much for anyone to try and do in one day. Even if one were to +sleep at Castellbo it would not mend matters much, for Castellbo is but +a sixth of the distance, if that, and I would not recommend sleeping at +Llavorsi. I have said that if one ate at Castellbo in the morning, it +would mean camping out in the woods below the port of St. John and this +is perhaps the best plan after all: to leave Urgel on the morning of +one day, to camp in the deep woods above the Magdalena and to sleep at +Esterri, on the night of the second day. There is a good inn at Esterri, +where everything is comfortable and clean, and the whole place is more +civilized than any other town or village in the Pallars. + +The next day you will go over the Pass of Bonaigo into the Val d’Aran, +unless you prefer the much less amusing walk by the new road up over +the Port de Salau to St. Girons. It is less amusing because it gets you +into France almost at once, whereas the walk into the Val d’Aran keeps +you in Spain and shows you a very interesting geographical and political +accident of the Pyrenees. + +The town of the Val d’Aran is called Viella, and it lies 20 miles west by +north of Esterri, between the two there is no obstacle but a high grassy +saddle called the Port of Bonaigo the summit of which is exactly 3283 +feet above the floor of the Noguera at Esterri, and the interest of which +lies in this, that it stands right upon the junction of that “fault” +which was mentioned in the first division of this book. + +The Bonaigo is the exact centre of the Pyrenean system. On your left as +you cross it, to the south that is, is the Saburedo, which is the last +peak of the western branch. To your right upon the north the hills lift +up to the Pic de l’Homme, which is the terminal peak of the eastern +branch, and the ridge uniting these two branches runs in a serpentine +fashion north and south with the saddle of the Bonaigo for its lowest +point. + +You will reach the summit, going easy from Esterri, in about three hours, +and thence you will see, if the weather is clear, the distant snow of the +Maladetta to the west, and in the vale at your feet, the first trickling +of the Garonne. For by the twist the watershed here takes, you are +crossing geographically from Spain into France, though the valley of the +Garonne before you is still politically Spanish. The descent upon the Val +d’Aran is somewhat steeper than the ascent from the Noguera, a path of +sorts begins at the foot of it, and runs down the Garonne to the first +hamlet, the name of which is Salardú. At Arties, a road begins, and 5 +miles further on you come to Viella and to rest. + +In Viella there is nothing but oddity to note: the oddity of a French +valley governed by Spain. You are quite cut off, you will hear no news, +and the only sign that you are on the north of the mountains will be the +great and excellently engineered road leading down the Garonne from +gorge to gorge and reaching at last the French frontier at a narrow +gate where is the “King’s Bridge.” Some miles further on is the French +railway-head at Marignac. An omnibus starts in the early morning from +Viella at whatever hour it pleases and gets down to the French railway +in time for the mid-day train, but whether you take it or walk down on +foot, you had better stop at Bosost, not half-way down, and there take +the whittle woodland road westward over the frontier by a very low gap +called the Portillon and so saunter into Bagnères de Luchon, the noisy +and wealthy capital of luxury. To come into Luchon suddenly after such a +journey is as sharp a change as you can experience perhaps in all Europe. +Do not forget before you reach Bosost to look up the gully which comes in +from the left at a place called Las Bordas, some six or seven miles from +Viella. This gully is that of the true Garonne, the fork of the river +which we saw having such strange adventures rising on the wrong side of +the main watershed of the mountains, burrowing right through them in a +tunnel and coming out upon the northern side; surely the only river in +the world which behaves in such a fashion. + +The walk which I have just described will have shown you most thoroughly +all the wild north-western corner of Catalonia, and have taught you +Andorra as well. Whether you take Cabanes for your starting place, +entering Andorra by the difficult passes of the Aston, or whether you +take Ax for your starting place and enter by the easy pass of Embalire, +you will not make the whole round to Luchon in the best weather under six +days, and indeed a man who has but a week in which to begin to learn the +Pyrenees, might very well choose this little square of them for his first +introduction. + +[Illustration: THE CATALAN VALLEYS & ANDORRA] + + +VI. CERDAGNE + +[Illustration] + +The Cerdagne forms a district quite separate from the rest of the +Pyrenees. Its scenery differs from that of the rest of the range, +its facilities for travel, its politics, everything in the place is +different; and though both valleys are Catalan, it is well not to include +in the same summary a description of the Cerdagne and a description of +the Roussillon. + +The Cerdagne is the only broad valley in the Pyrenees, and it is a broad +valley held in by walls of high mountains. All the other trenches which +nature has cut into the range, are, without exception, profound and +narrow. They expand occasionally into enclosed circles of flat land, the +floors of ancient lakes, with a circle of steep banks all around, first +wooded, then rocky, and reaching almost to Heaven. But these solemn +circuses of secluded land, held in by narrow gates at either end, and +small compared with the rocks around them, have a totally different +effect upon the mind from those produced by such a landscape as the +Cerdagne. You here have a whole country-side as broad as a small English +county might be, full of fields, and large enough to take abreast a whole +series of market towns. This is the sort of plain, which, were it bounded +by hills, rather low like our English downs, would seem a little country +by itself: a place large enough to make up one of our European divisions, +like the counties of England, or the minor provinces of France. A broad +river valley, such as decides a score of places scattered over Western +Europe, here binds many households all united historically and defines a +corporate condition for a fixed community of men. + +This picture is framed in two great lines of hills roughly parallel to +each other, and the effect when one comes upon it out of the last of the +narrow valleys, may be compared to the effect upon a child’s mind when he +first sees the sea. + +In order to perceive the full contrast of this exception in the Pyrenean +group, it is best to approach it from the west; whether you are coming on +foot over the foothills of the Carlitte groups down on to Mont Louis or +Targasonne, or whether you are coming by the high road over the pass of +Porté, there comes a point in your journey where, after so many gorges +and narrow cliffs, the hills here suddenly cease at your feet and you see +the whole sweep of the Cerdagne as broad as a field of corn; you will +have seen nothing like it all your way from the first foot hills of the +Basque and the shores of the Atlantic. + +On the eastern side, beyond the plain, you see the long ridge which +is among the highest of the Pyrenees, and which stands steeply out of +the flat. It stretches, as it were, indefinitely away into Spain and +was called for centuries by the Mohammedans, and still is, the Sierra +del Cadi. At its feet are a group of villages and towns, Saillagouse, +Odeillo, Bourg Madame, Puigcerdá (with its curious little isolated +hill), Angoustrine, Palau, Osseja, Nahija, Err, and Caldegas, and that +fascinating territory Llivia, which stands enclosed, making a little +island of Spanish territory in the midst of French. + +The structure of the Cerdagne explains its history. It is a slightly +sloping shelf upon the Spanish side of the watershed, but the watershed +here is not as it is everywhere else a steep ridge with rocks, it is +a large imperceptible flat which, for the first few miles upon the +northern side, slopes quite gently down towards the valley of the Tet, +and on the south side slopes still more gently and easily away towards +Spain. The Segre, the last and largest tributary of the Ebro, rises +in this gentle plain in innumerable rivulets, which joins innumerable +other rivulets at Llivia, and then receives the river of Val Carol, the +river of Angoustrine, and the little river of Flavanara below Puigcerdá. +There is in the whole extent of this plain no natural feature to form a +frontier, and (as its upper waters form the only approach to the province +of Roussillon) Mazarin, when the treaty of the Pyrenees submitted the +Roussillon to the French Crown, claimed as a sort of right of way, the +upper stretch of this wide plain. + +The negotiations were not difficult, the frontier was drawn just so as +to give the French Government everywhere the road down the Val Carol +and up by Mont Louis to Perpignan. It was not the frontier between two +civilizations or languages, the few square miles of the French Cerdagne, +which is geographically Spanish, are Spanish also, Catalan Spanish, +in customs, hours, architecture, and even cooking. It is Spanish in +everything save the functions of government; and here you see just what +differences government can and cannot make in a country-side. Government, +where it exists against the will of the governed, effects nothing; +but here there is no such friction, and you may compare the contented +Cerdagne, which takes its orders from Paris, with the contented Cerdagne +that takes them from Barcelona and Madrid. The subtle effect of the +contrast is sufficiently striking; it is seen in the type of roadway, +the paving of courtyards, in clocks that keep time upon one side and not +upon the other, and in a certain hardness, which French assurance breeds, +and which the Spanish ease avoids. It is a good plan as one enters the +Cerdagne to take the by-road which leads straight across the plain from +Urgel to Saillagouse. This by-road, when you have pursued it for about a +mile, enters the isolated Spanish district of Llivia, and when you reach +that town you find yourself in Spain, although all the villages round +you in a circle are French villages. You have the Spanish delay, the +Spanish tenacity, and the Spanish disorder. On coming out of it again, +and immediately over the stream on the first village, the influence of +the distant prefecture and of a strong hand upon the local community is +apparent. + +The Cerdagne has one bad drawback that, for all its beauty and wealth, +its entertainment is bad. There is not, I think, one good inn in the +whole of it, and at Saillagouse, where the exterior looks most promising, +the people are so hard-hearted that there is no comfort to be found under +their roofs. If you are thinking of food, the best place perhaps for your +head-quarters is the little village of La Tour Carol. But if you are +thinking of sights, your best head-quarters is the town of Puigcerdá, +just beyond the Spanish frontier, 3 miles or so from Latour. + +Puigcerdá is the capital of the Cerdagne, and there the people gather as +to a fair. It was the capital of the Cerdagne long before the people knew +or cared whether they were governed from the north or from the south. +One and a half miles away, over the river in French territory, the tiny +hamlet of Hix marks the place where the old capital was before Puigcerdá +was founded and ousted it in the early Middle Ages. From many points in +Puigcerdá, from the terrace in front of the Town Hall, from the northern +end of one of its streets, but especially from its church tower, you +take in one view the whole of the Cerdagne. As one gazes upon that view, +one should remember that this was the principal highway of organized +Christendom against the Mohammedan, and through this went Charlemagne and +his son. + +The Carolingian tradition is nowhere stronger, strong as it is throughout +the Pyrenees, than in this fruitful plain. The very mountains perpetuate +it with the name Carlitte, and the valley of Carol and the popular songs +perpetuate it also. It was this broad floor, full of provisions and free +from ambuscade that allowed Christendom to dominate Catalonia, and render +free the country of Barcelona, first of all Spanish territory, from the +weight of unchristian government. It is the Cerdagne, therefore, to +which we owe the later segregation of the Catalonians from the rest of +Spain, their forgetfulness of warfare, their active commercial unrest, +their modern submission to Jews, their great wealth. The Cerdagne should +possess a great road throughout, for it is all of one type and all of one +valley. By some historical accident it is not yet (I believe) so served +throughout. After Puigcerdá there is a good new road all the way to +Urgel. Another from Puigcerdá turns out of the valley of the Segre and +runs off south and east to Barcelona. Certainly Urgel—that town we spoke +of in connexion with Andorra—every one travelling in this part should +see: Seo, the “Bishopric,” the “See”; a sort of Bastion first thrown out +against the Mohammedans by Charlemagne. It is more intensely Spanish +perhaps than any other large town in these hills, and that because it +has long been so thoroughly cut off from communication with the north. +Here also you can find good hospitality. The people are kind, and local +travellers are common. Urgel is, however, more easily approached from +Andorra than from Puigcerdá. And upon that account I dealt with it in +connexion with the little republic. + +[Illustration: THE CERDAGNE] + + +VII. THE TET AND ARIÈGE + +[Illustration] + +The valley of the Ariège is a basis for going either southward into +Andorra by the tributary valley of the Aston or westward into Roussillon +around the flanks of the Carlitte. Of the former journey I have spoken +in connexion with Catalonia. The latter takes one into the valley of +the Tet, and so to the Canigou which is the principal mountain of that +valley. The high road up the Ariège and over the Puymorens Pass into +the Cerdagne and so into the Roussillon does not concern us here. It +is designed for travel upon wheels. For going on foot the district is +concerned with the Carlitte and the Canigou. + +If one means to spend some time in the big group of the Carlitte, one’s +head-quarters must be Porté, the little village just over the Puymorens +Pass. It is from here that the ascent of the highest peak is made and +from here the fishermen start for the lakes that surround that peak. If, +then, one proposes to spend some days camping in the mountain and going +nowhere in particular, it is from Porté that one must start, as the +nearest point to the summits. On the other hand, nothing can be bought +at Porté nor for miles around, and if one ascends the mountain from Ax, +though the distance is greater, one is more in touch with provisions. + +The Carlitte group is remarkable for the number of lakes, some quite +large, which are to be found in the hollows just under its highest +ridges. On the north is the large Lake of Noguille with the two little +tarns of Rou and Torte just above it on one side; on the other, two +little tarns lie under the Pic d’Ariel. The main lake is 6000 feet above +the sea, not far short of a mile long, 500 or 600 yards across, and very +little visited. On the south of the highest ridge and to the east of the +summit of the Carlitte, just above Porté, lies the still larger lake of +Lamoux. A good mile and a half in length, but narrower than its twin upon +the north. Besides these two is the little group of lakes at the source +of the Tet, another group at the sources of the Ariège, and another of +half a dozen and more just under the eastern cliffs of the Carlitte which +feed the big marsh of the Puillouse. + +Unfortunately all this district, which is so wild and open for travel, +and so full of good fishing, has but few camping grounds. The forest +on the east of the Carlitte is one of the largest in the Pyrenees, and +one may camp anywhere within it; but for a lake as well as wood one can +find but four spots: one, the Camporeils; the other, the little pond +just above Langles; the third, a whole group of lakes a mile south and a +little west of the marsh of Puillouse. It is by these last that one will +do well to camp if one is making one’s way over the mountain eastward to +Mont Louis, for they are within 5 miles of that town, and just beyond it +is the valley of the Tet. The best camping ground in the neighbourhood of +Ax is the fourth spot, at the northern end of the lake of Noguille. Here +the lake, the stream flowing from it, and the wood are all close together +and as good a camping ground as any in these mountains can be chosen. +The way to reach this is to leave Ax by the western road which branches +off from the great national road and runs up the valley of the Oriège to +Orgeix. Beyond this little village of Orgeix is another little village, +Orleu, and beyond that again at the head of the high road and not quite +5 miles from Ax is the point where you must turn off for the lake. It is +not easy to find because the whole distance is very similar for miles. I +will describe the way as best I can. + +After the road leaves Orleu you have upon the left very precipitous +steeps, rising to a height of some 6000 feet (or more than 3000 above the +dale) covered with a forest which comes down very nearly to the road. On +the right is a stream, and beyond it another belt of wood, less steep, +with bare and high rocks above. Somewhat over an English mile, from the +Church of Orleu, a path leaves the road to the right and crosses the +stream, taking its way upwards through the opposing wood; this path +will lead you to the lake, but it is not the best way. The best way is +to go on further, somewhat over half a mile to a group of huts called +“The Forges.” Here you will see on the other side of the stream a valley +running towards you from the mountain and coming from due south as you +look up it. The valley, or rather ravine, is that of the torrent called +Gnoles, and this is the gully you must follow. It falls into the Oriège +just by the forges. You must go some yards beyond this junction of the +streams and a path will be seen going right off at a right angle to the +road and making for the gulley opposite. It crosses the Oriège at once, +crosses the torrent almost immediately after, climbs up the steep on its +left bank, crosses again on its right bank, and thence keeps on due south +between the rocks and the stream, through the wood, until, at a point the +height of which I cannot discover but well over 2000 feet above the road, +it comes out suddenly upon the lake. + +Here is the best camping ground within a reasonable distance of +provisions and succour, and yet quite remote enough for a hermit. Here +with the aid of the 1/100,000 map, one may wander and take one’s luck in +the whole of this district of high peaks, rocks, and tarns, which stretch +every way for 8 or 10 miles around. + +If one’s object is to make one’s way into the valley of the Tet, instead +of spending one’s time in the mountains, the direction is straight and +the way apparently easy, but it contains one difficult passage. + +Your business is to make from Ax to the village of Formiguères, which is +politically in the Roussillon, and lies south-east by a trifle east from +Ax, and, as the crow flies, barely more than 15 miles away. You will, +however, hardly get there under 20 miles of going, and it is unlikely +that you will do it in one day. + +The first part of the road is plain enough. You follow up the valley of +the Oriège, as though you were going to the lake of which I have spoken, +but instead of crossing over at the forges and going south towards the +lake, you go straight on up the valley. Your path is not always distinct, +but your main direction is to stick to the Oriège as it gets smaller and +smaller in the high valley, and to look out for a path which runs along +that stream on its left or southern bank. + +For about 4 miles from the Forges you continue climbing up the high +valley of the Oriège, which is wooded upon either slope, until you come +to a place where the wood recedes upon either side (though there is wood +in front of you), and the path crosses the torrent to the opposite or +right bank. It is here that the difficulty of the way begins. + +The path, you will notice by your compass, is at this point going due +south, for the Oriège has curled round in that direction. Five hundred +yards in front of you is a wood for which it makes. Now, if you were +to pursue the path through that wood you would go clean out of your +way, and either get tangled up in the rocks that overhang the sources +of the Oriège, or get down into the marshy sources of the Tet. Neither +of these districts are what you want. When you get to the edge of the +wood, which, as I say, is about 500 yards from the point where the path +crosses the stream, you must turn sharp to your left and go due east up a +little watercourse, which here runs down beside the trees. As you do this +facing due east, and looking up this watercourse you will see before you +a ridge like any other of the Pyrenees, with peaks upon it. This ridge +is the watershed between the County of Foix and the Roussillon, and is +to-day the frontier of the department of the Eastern Pyrenees, which is +the modern representative of that ancient province. The ridge is plain +enough, but to cross it is not so simple a task as it looks. You must not +attempt to go across it by the depression which lies immediately before +you between two peaks. It _can_ be done, but the chances are you will +lose your way in the great forest upon the further side. The right way is +to go on due eastward up the stream until you are right under the ridge, +from which point you must bear to your left up the bank which encloses +the gully upon that northern side. You will notice two peaks of rock at +the point where this bank branches from the main ridge. You must so bear +up that you leave them both to your right, and turning round the base of +that one which lies furthest west of the two, you will see (when you are +round the base and over the bank) a saddle just east of you and about 600 +or 700 feet below the rocky peaks in question. This is the _Porteille_; +you will go across it, come into the dense wood on the other side, and +there the path follows running water all the way throughout what soon +becomes a profound gorge, until you reach open country and a few small +buildings 3 miles further down; though the open country, it is true, is +only a small stretch of meadow between the wood and the river (a stream +called the Galbe). The way is clear between the wood and stream for 2 +miles more to the hamlet of Espousouille. There you must leave your path +and take one which branches straight off to the right, goes down to the +stream, crosses it, rises through the wood beyond, and in less than a +mile from Espousouille, brings you into the considerable village of +Formiguères. + +I have already said that you would not easily manage this crossing in a +day, even in fine weather. The Porteille is over 7000 feet high, and you +may quite possibly lose your way for an hour or two in the difficult bit, +but luckily there is no difficulty about camping. There is good camping +ground with wood and water in every part of the journey, except the last +mile of the steep going over the ridge. And you have only to choose where +you will pass the night. + +This is the shortest cut by far from the County of Foix into the +Roussillon. If you are going down into the Cerdagne a great national +road takes you from Formiguères to Mont Louis, and the distance is +about 9 miles, but if you are going down into the valley of the Tet in +order to climb in the Canigou you must make for Olette, for that cuts +off a corner. Olette is just under 10 miles in a straight line from +Formiguères, but the county road which joins them has to cross a pass and +is full of windings, so that the whole distance, even if you take short +cuts to cut off the long turns, is more like 14 miles. The pass, which +is nearer 6000 than 7000 feet high, is 1200 feet above Formiguères, +and stands just opposite that town in full view, the summit of it about +2 miles away to the south-east, but there is no need to describe the +road, as it is an ordinary carriageway from the one place to the other. +At Olette you are on the Tet, about 5 miles from the old rail-head at +Villefranche (the new rail-head is at Bourg Madame on the Frontier). + +[Illustration: THE ARIÈGE & TET VALLEYS] + + +VIII. THE CANIGOU + +[Illustration] + +The Canigou, whichever way one looks at it, is a separate district and +must be separately approached and separately travelled in. It stands +apart from the rest of the range, it has a different character, and +travel in it is of a different sort from other Pyrenean travel. It is +not only physically cut off from the rest of the Pyrenees, indeed, its +physical isolation has been a good deal exaggerated by people who have +looked up to it from the plain and have not carefully noted its plan; it +is rather morally cut off by the way in which it dominates one particular +province and one famous plain to the exclusion of every other peak; so +that when you are going through the Roussillon, especially along the +sea coast, the only thing you can think of is the Canigou, which seems +to be as much the lonely spirit of the district, as Etna does of the +sea east of Sicily, or as Vesuvius does of the Bay of Naples. It will +perhaps sound surprising or unlikely to those of my readers who know the +Pyrenees, when I say that the Canigou is not physically isolated from +the chain, it is indeed less isolated in its way than is the Pic du Midi +de Bigorre, or even the Pic du Midi d’Ossau, for it is connected with +the south by a high ridge which one can hardly ever see at full length +from the plain, and which is, I think, only clearly observable from +the frontier heights south of Arles upon the Tech. How thorough is the +connexion, however, what follows will show. + +The Canigou is somewhat over 9000 feet in height, to be accurate 9135, +yet it is but the terminal point _and not the highest point_ in a long +ridge which runs south-westward to the frontier at the Roque Couloum. It +next forms that frontier for 15 or 20 miles, and is then continued past +the Port de Col Toses into Spain, where it forms the magnificent wall of +the Sierra del Cadi. + +A man without heart or vision would see in the Canigou nothing but the +last northern point of that long range, but the political accident which +makes the Roussillon French, the cross chain which springs from the Pic +de Couloun and runs to the Mediterranean, and above all the aspect of +the mountains from the civilized wealthy plain to the north and east +(where the connecting ridge cannot be seen), and its false appearance of +isolation when one observes it from the sea, all make of the Canigou one +of the most individual mountains in Europe. + +There are, as I have said, many heights in its own ridge, further to the +south and west, which surpass it. The Donyais is within a few feet of it, +the Enfer or Gous and the Pic du Géant next door, above the valley of +the Tet, are higher; the Puigmal just on the watershed is much higher. +The summit of the Canigou is but 1500 or 1600 feet above the crest +of the ridge in its own immediate neighbourhood, and even the lowest +point in that ridge (the Col de Boucacers) is not 2000 feet below it. +Nevertheless, it produces, as I have said, an effect of unity and of +isolation, and there is not only the illusion of its outline as seen from +the north and east, but also the fact that the mountain spreads out in a +fan of ridges from its summit to the lowlands all around, and stands upon +a broad expanded base, more or less circular in shape, spreading from the +Tech upon the south to the Tet upon the east, north, and west. + +The Canigou is not a mountain that gives one any climbing to speak of, +or that affords any problems or difficulties. There is even, nowadays, a +carriage road most of the way up on the northern side, but it is the best +place for camping and changing camp that you can find anywhere. All the +flanks of it are covered with a series of dense woods; they form a belt +2 or 3 miles deep (in places nearly 5) and running almost continuously +round the whole mountain, a circuit of at least 30 miles. Your choice for +halting and camping places in these woods is infinite, there is water +everywhere and you are nowhere too far from provisions. If you will +take the road from Villefranche up to Vernet you will, at that village, +be near the steepest side of the mountain and a wood which everywhere +affords excellent camping ground. By following up the path to Casteil +and taking the track which leads south and east from that hamlet, you +are at the inhabited point nearest to its summit, and you have wood and +water up to the last mile in distance, or the last 2000 feet in height; +but remember, if you wish to make for the summit by this trail, that you +must always bear to the right as you walk, choosing always the right-hand +trail when there is a diversion, and coming out on the south side of that +ridge which has the summit at one end and the Peak de Quazémi at the +other. On the open part of this steep bit there is a definitely marked +path which follows the left bank of the stream until it is right under +the last rocks of the Canigou and then makes straight up by zigzags. If +you would go the easier way which everybody takes, you must start from +Prades, which is the town of the mountain, and in which anyone will show +you the house where the local agent of the French Alpine Club is ready +with information. + +Your road goes through Taurinya (or if you start from Villefranche, +through Fillols), and the new carriage road runs up the ridge between the +two valleys—the valley of the Fillols and the valley of Taurinya—first +over open country, then through wood until you come to quite the upper +part of the Taurinya, where the road turns round the steep corner +overhanging the sources of the torrent. This particular wood is called +the wood of Balatag, a word that is not so hard to pronounce in Catalan +as in French, for the Catalans add an “e” at the end of it. + +The road does not go to the actual summit, but comes out on to the +shoulder of the mountains, an open space looking to the north, +north-west and east, where stands the hotel which has been put up by the +French Alpine Club. This hotel is not quite 2000 feet below the highest +summit which lies exactly to the south of it. The other summit to the +north-east, the ridge of which comes round behind the hotel, is the Pic +Puigdarbet. You must allow five or six hours to get to the hotel without +haste from the valley of the Tet, and the road is somewhat shorter if +you start from Villefranche, than if you start from Prades, but of the +two ways, much the more interesting for a man on foot is the old way by +Casteil and the Brook Cady which I first described. Here you can camp +half-way up the mountain without fear of disturbance from travellers, +choosing, for preference, the end of the wood just under the summit, and +so make that summit at dawn. + +Unless you are in a hurry to get on to Perpignan, one of the best ways of +treating the Canigou is to go across it from the valley of the Tet into +the valley of the Tech, and from Arles on the Tech to take the railway +through Ceret and Elne to Perpignan. + +It is of course a long way round, but it shows you both sides of the +mountain. + +You could hardly get right across the main ridge from the hotel; but you +can take the path that goes round the northern flank of the mountain, +that is, through the wood that clothes the buttresses of the Pic +Bargebit, and that comes out in the valley of the Dalmanya, a torrent +running down north-eastwards from the summit. If you are afraid of losing +your way you can go down into the village of Dalmanya and up thence by +a clear path from the church of the village to the iron mines under the +Col de Cirere; from that col there is a very winding high road (of which +of course you can cut off most of the turnings) which gets you down to +Corsady and so to Arles. On the southern side of the mountain you can go +down the path which follows the Brook of Cady, and do your best to note +the Peak of the Thirteen Winds which is the peak precisely due south of +the main summit and 3000 feet from it at the end of the long ridge. When +you have made quite certain which is the Peak of the Thirteen Winds, +cross the brook, and work up if you can to the saddle immediately +south-west of it, and between it and the Pic de Routat, which is a trifle +lower and rises a thousand yards to the south-west of the Peak of the +Thirteen Winds. + +This col is called the Portaillet, and the valley on the further side +is called “The Old or Abandoned Pass.” When you have got across you +will know why. A wood covers its lower part, and a little brook called +the Cambret runs through it, but there is no regular path, and it is a +business to find the first huts, which are at an open space upon the +stream between it and the wood, and quite 4000 feet below the col. + +The descent is exceedingly steep, and there I leave it. + +From these huts (which are called St. Duillem) is a good plain path down +to the Tech, and to the little hamlet which has the same name as the +river (Le Tech) whence the national high road takes one in 6 miles to +Arles, the more usual crossing (which is not really a crossing of the +mountains at all, but a crossing of the ridge to the south of it) is by +the Pla de Guillem, so called because it does not go near Guillem, and +this way is as plain as a pike-staff. You take the road from Villefranche +to Fuilla, which is not quite 3 miles off, first up the Tet, then to the +left southwards up a lateral valley, you follow that lateral valley and +the high road up it from Fuilla to Py, rather more than 5 miles on, and +southward all the way from Py a path goes south-west up the right bank +of a torrent which comes in there. The track is quite clear and carries +you up to the sources of the stream, and to the saddle in the final ridge +which is called the Pla de Guillem. It is a steep climb of nearly 4000 in +rather more than 4 miles. Py at the junction of the streams is just over +3200 feet above the sea. The pass is about 7000. + +On the further side also the track is quite plain, pointing down due +south-east through a little wood and then over the open country. It takes +you down to Prats de Mollo, a jolly little town, the last on the great +national road and the highest in the Tech valley. Above it the national +road becomes the local road leading to the baths and waters. + +So late as the Revolutionary Wars Mollo was of importance and may +be again, for the Spanish armies could come over (but not with guns) +from the other Mollo, which lies beyond the frontier 7 or 8 miles off +south-east, over the Col of Arras. Mollo is a little lower than Py, but +the descent upon it is far less steep than was the ascent upon Py. From +Mollo it is somewhat more than 10 miles to Arles by the national road +down the valley. + + * * * * * + +The Canigou is so particular a thing that if a man has but little time +before him, or if he already knows the other Pyrenees—he might do worse +than go to Perpignan and spend a week upon that mountain. It should be +remembered that you have a better chance of fine weather there than in +any other part of the Pyrenees, and you will usually have dryer days upon +the Tech side than upon the Tet side. + +With these eight divisions I have roughly covered the chain of the +Pyrenees for those who may, like myself, think that all travel on +these mountains should be on foot. It is, of course, but a very rough +and general survey, but it would give one, all taken together, a +comprehensive knowledge of the chain. My limits have necessarily excluded +very many valleys, some of which are unknown to me, such as the valley +of Isaba. Among those which I have not dealt with should be considered +especially the Ribagorza, which is the boundary between the Aragonese +and the Catalan tongues, and runs parallel to Pallars or the valley of +Esterri, and can be reached from the valley with some difficulty by +Espot and the high Portaron above it, or much more easily from Viella in +the Val d’Aran, by the high Port de Viella, which leads straight into +the Ribagorza and down to Bono. There are also entrances in and out of +Andorra, of which I did not speak, notably the Porte Blanche, which you +make from Porta in the Val Carol, a mile or two south of Porté. This +way involves two cols, one very high one, the Porte Blanche, another +lower one immediately after, the Port de Vallcivera. It is, however, +the shortest way from a French high road to Andorra the Old. There is +another way in and out of Andorra, very little used, by the Col de la +Boella from Ordino to the Val Farrera. All the Basque valleys besides +those I mention, and notably that of the Isaba, are places that should be +known, and of the passages over the range, which I have not dealt with in +detail, one, the road from St. Girons to Esterri by the Port de Salau, +will soon be an international highway. It presents no difficulties and no +very considerable interest. But if the traveller finds himself by some +accident in St. Girons with but a day or two in which to see Spain, here +is a very easy way of getting over into what is still one of the remotest +parts of that country. + +[Illustration: THE CANIGOU] + + + + +VII + +INNS OF THE PYRENEES + + +[Illustration] + +There is nothing more necessary to the knowledge of a district if one +desires to enjoy travel in it, than to have some directions upon its +inns. I cannot pretend in what follows to give any complete list of +the inns which the traveller will find in the Pyrenees, but I will try +to do what the guide-books do not do, and that is to indicate what an +Englishman, especially one on foot, may expect in the different valleys. +The foreign guide-books rarely do this well: the Scotch and English +guide-books never; for the general phrases which they use about inns +and hotels leave one as full of doubt and terror as though nothing had +been said about them, and they always fail to speak good or evil of the +_people_, the _cooking_, and _the wine_—which are the three main things +one wants to hear about. + +First then, as to the difference between the Spanish and the French side. + +Though the Basques are one race upon either side of the frontier, and +the Catalans also, yet a single rule governs the whole length of the +chain, which is that French cooking and French hours are to be found to +the north of the political frontier, and Spanish to the south. This is a +matter in which the difference of Government has, in the course of some +generations of travel, produced a very marked effect. The Val d’Aran, +for instance, is geographically and racially French. Its river is the +Upper Garonne, there is no obstacle between it and the French plain, but +only one good descending road to unite them both; yet your experiences of +an inn in the Val d’Aran will in general resemble your experiences of an +inn beyond the mountains in the purely Spanish valley of the Noguera. + +Similarly the neighbourhood of Saillagouse and all the French Cerdagne +is geographically and racially Spanish, the river running through it is +the Upper Segre (a tributary of the Ebro), and one road with no obstacle +at the frontier, unites the French to the Spanish portion of the valley, +yet the hours, habits, cooking, and everything in the inns of the +French Cerdagne are French, in those of the Spanish Cerdagne, Spanish; +and generally you must be prepared, when you cross the frontier, for a +different kind of hospitality. + +The French rule of an inn is probably well known to all who will read +this. The coffee in the morning, the first meal at or a little before +mid-day, the second at six or seven at the latest, and so forth. In Spain +they will give you chocolate for your first meal. Your mid-day meal will +be at the same hour as the French, but your last meal much later: eight +is a usual hour. In France, if you ask for food at an odd time it will be +prepared for you; in Spain also but only with incredible delays, and you +find universally upon the southern side of the frontier, this difference +from the French that the table d’hôte or common meal is prepared only for +a fixed number of guests. Newcomers, even if they reach the place two +hours before the hour of the supper, have it separately cooked for them, +and will suffer a corresponding delay. Here is a national custom which +nothing can change, and which is as old as the hills. It was even once +universally the habit to have a separate little cooking pot for every +guest, and in certain inns that habit is still continued. It is in the +last degree inconvenient, and when one has pushed on to the end of some +very long day, to shelter and food, it is exasperating. One sees the +local people who have done nothing, eat a hearty meal; and one waits an +hour or two hours before one is served with a crust. But you can no more +change it than you can change any other national habit, and you must be +prepared for it on the Spanish side wherever you go. All the details of +the cooking are different too; notably these: that for some reason or +other, the Spaniard is careless of his oil, or perhaps prefers oil to +have a taste of carelessness about it: in places of rancidity. His wine +is quite different from the wine of the French. It comes up to him from +the hard plains of the Ebro; it has been kept in wine skins and tastes of +them. As a rule drink water with, or better still after, Spanish wine. +The French wine in these hills (save in the Roussillon) comes from the +plains of the Garonne, and has been kept in wood. It has the taste with +which we are familiar in this country; the Spanish wine has a roughness, +a strength, and a memory of goat’s skin, with which, until he comes to +Spain, no northern man can have any acquaintance at all. + +It must not be imagined that Spanish accommodation is cheaper than +French; comfort for comfort, it is, if anything, a little dearer. But the +Pyrenees are cheap everywhere, save in one or two watering-places. Nearly +every inn upon either side, however small, can furnish you with a guide, +but not every inn with mules, and still less can you depend upon a horse +or a carriage, even in places which stand upon the few great highways. If +you must hire mules, you will always be able to find one in the village +where the inn stands, but, for some reason connected with their local +economics, the people of the inn are sometimes actively opposed and often +indifferent to your hiring one, and if they tell you that there is no +mule to be had (which is their way of opposing you) you must then saunter +out and bargain for one with some rival, but remember that you can always +get one: all these mountains are covered with herds and droves of mules. +Yet mules are expensive, from 1000 to 2000 francs to buy, or even more; +from 30 to 50 francs per day to hire, with the man who accompanies you. +Remember also, if you have a choice where to hire, that they are better +by far upon the Spanish than upon the French side. As for horses and +carriages, I will, when I speak of particular inns, mention the few +places where I know they can be hired. + +A further difference between the French and Spanish side is that, on the +whole, an inn upon the Spanish side is less likely to be clean. This does +not mean that they are generally uncleanly, very far from it; the houses +of the whole of the Basque country on either side are excellently kept, +and this is generally true of Catalonia also, but the little hamlets, in +the highest valleys which are doubtful upon both sides, are usually worse +upon the southern. In every case, of course, you must ask the price of +rooms, they expect it, and it is best to ask the price of meals as well. +If you do not bargain in this manner, they think of you as of some one +who is deliberately throwing money away and they very naturally hasten +to pick it up. I remember one meal in the very unsatisfactory town or +village of Llavorsi, which was as unsatisfactory as the place itself, and +for which a violent Catalonian woman would have charged us the prices of +Paris because we did not bargain beforehand, and this, note you, in a +place where no one ever comes, which is on the road to nowhere, and which +does not see tourists perhaps, or even travellers, once in six months. + +In every valley there is some one inn which, if you are wise, you will +choose, and which it is worth one’s while modifying one’s plans to visit. +I will set down those which I know, beginning as I have done throughout +this book, at the western end of the chain, and following it to the east. + +In the Baztan, a Basque word for tail, for the valley resembles in shape +the tail of a rat, though the other _Bas_tans in the Pyrenees, out of +the Basque countries, derive their name from the Arabic word for garden, +Elizondo should be your halting-place. Here there are two hotels, one +old and one new, the old one in the very middle of the town on the high +road, the new one a little to the north, just off the high road. This +new hotel is kept by one Jarégui, and in the chief feature of all good +hotels (I mean the courtesy and zeal of the management) it is far the +best, not only in Elizondo, but in the whole valley. If you should wander +on to Pamplona, I can give no advice, but it is a large town where a +man may have pretty well what he wants according to the price he pays. +My own experience of it is of lodging in small eating-houses, not in a +regular hotel, but I understand that the Perla and the Europa are the +two best hotels, and of these two, people, as one travels, single out +the Europa. On the road from Pamplona to Roncesvalles, there is no good +stopping-place. At Erro, as I have said above, there is but one inn and +that a very bad one. Burguete is, however, a very pleasant village, and +the Hotel des Postes is praised by those who have stopped there. Unless +one is caught by night, or in some other way impeded, it is unwise to +eat or to sleep at Val Carlos, the contrast between French and Spanish +methods is nowhere more violent whether in the matter of cooking, or +of delay, or of wine, or of any other thing, than at this corner of +the frontier; but it is to be remembered that if you need a horse and +carriage you can always have it at Val Carlos for going on into France, +and at St. Jean Pied-de-Port you are in the best halting-place for the +valley of the Nive and the whole Labourd, just as Elizondo is the best +halting-place for the Baztan. St. Jean Pied-de-Port is large enough and +frequented enough to have some choice of hotels. You had much better +go to the best, which is the Central. The reason it will be worth your +while to do this is, that though it is the best hotel in a town to which +many rich people come, it is as cheap as it is good. It will always have +a carriage for you if you want it, it has a garage, and it is the best +centre from which to start upon any of the roads around; and if you +should be coming from the north and going south there is a public service +from this hotel through the pass as far as Pamplona. + +In the next valley, that of the Soule (the river of which is the Saison, +and the chief town Mauléon) let Tardets be your head-quarters. It has one +of the most delightful inns in all the mountains, remarkable among other +things for having various names, like a Greek goddess. Sometimes it is +called the “Voyageurs,” sometimes the “Hotel des Pyrenees,” and it is +entered under the arcade of the north-west corner of the market square. +There you may dine in a sort of glass room or terrace overlooking the +river, and every one will treat you well. It is, I say, one of those +places that would make one hesitate to go on further into the hills the +same day, but if one does, one will find the unique inn at St. Engrace, +which I have already mentioned, one of the best that the smaller villages +have; it must always be remembered, of course, that these upland hamlets +give one nothing but their own fare, and usually a bedroom that is +reached through some other, but the beds here are good and the cooking +plain. This is the first house in the village on the right as you come +in, and as in Elizondo, Jarégui is the name. Remember that they have +various sorts of wine, and ask for their best, for even their best costs +very little, and their worst is not so good. In the valley between +Tardets and St. Engrace, before you leave the main road, you pass by the +hotel of Licq, “Hotel des Tourists.” Licq itself you leave to the right +beyond the river, but this hotel is built upon the high road. Here is a +good place for one meal, though there is no point in sleeping there, yet +if one is caught by some accident, one will find it comfortable enough; a +little bothersome in pressing one to take guides. + +The next valley, the Val d’Aspe, and its prolongation on the Spanish +side, the Val d’Aragon, contain many inns, the more important of which +should be known before one approaches them. + +In Oloron itself, there are two good hotels of which the Voyageurs +is perhaps the best, and there is, of course, every opportunity, in +such a town, of hiring horses and carriages. There is also, it must be +remembered, a public service twice a day up the pass as far as Urdos, not +expensive but very slow: no rail yet. It will be possible also at Oloron +to hire a pair of horses and a carriage if one wants one for several days +to go into Spain and back by way of the Val d’Assau. + +There is no occasion to stop, whatever be your mode of travel, between +Oloron and Bédous, but should you take up your head-quarters at Bédous +(which, it will be remembered, is in the midst of the enclosed plain +which characterizes this valley), make the Hotel de la Paix your +head-quarters. You will be best treated there, and it is the best centre +for information upon the surrounding mountains. Accous is slightly +larger than Bédous, but it is off the road and therefore less used to +travellers; also it is less comfortable. So if you stop in this plain at +all, stop at Bédous. + +Your next point will be Urdos, there is nothing of consequence between. + +Urdos, having been, for so many centuries between Roman civilization +and our own, the end of the proper road over this chief pass and the +jumping-off place for the mule tracks and for Spain, has many inns for +its size—(it is no more than a hamlet)—but of these I will unhesitatingly +recommend the _Voyageurs_, which is one of the last houses on the left of +the village, having at the south end of it over the road a jolly little +terrace where one dines. The drawback of Urdos is that one _may_ get +bitten, and speaking of this the sovereign remedy is camphor, or rather +I should say, the sovereign preventive, for all animals that bite hate +the smell of camphor. But for that little drawback, Urdos is delightful +and nothing is pleasanter in Urdos than the Hotel de Voyageurs, also if +you go to this hotel you are following the line of least resistance, for +it is in some mysterious way related to the man who drives the coach. +Remember that Urdos is accustomed to every form of halt, and though it +is difficult to buy things there, there is a barn for motors—and also, I +believe, relays of horses for carriages. + +Your next village on this main international road is Canfranc in Spain. +It is just over 14 miles off with nothing but a refuge and the pass of +the Somport between. The hotel is the Hotel Sisas, from which a public +coach starts for Jaca daily, still, I believe; the cooking is doubtful, +the wine so-so, and the people are a little spoilt, but they are very +ready with horses and used to hiring them, and you can always hire a +carriage or get a relay for Jaca, which is 16 miles further down by a +road with no steep hills, and for the most part nearly flat. At Jaca the +hotel (which I have already spoken of) is the Hotel Mur; it is excellent +in every way, clean, cheerful, and not too simple in its customs, with +various wines, and a knowledge of more than the Castilian tongue. The +mention of this leads me to add to what I said above that the language +stops very suddenly at this central frontier, or at least south of it. +There will be people who will understand Spanish almost anywhere in Béarn +because the local dialects are Spanish in character, but the common +French of Paris means nothing to the people of Aragon and Sobrarbe; you +may be in quite a big place and find no one for a long time who will +understand you, while in the small hotels and inns right up against the +frontier, they do not follow a word of the language. + +Of the inns of Biescas I cannot speak from experience, nor of those of +Panticosa, though they say that the only useful one in Biescas is the +Hotel Chauces, while Panticosa has any number of places with such names +as “Continental” and “Grand,” and masses of lodgings as well, among which +I imagine the only choice is to take the best; nothing is really dear +there, except in the month between the middle of July and the middle of +August. Of Sallent, however, I can speak. There is but one inn in the +place; it has many names but is best known by the name of the man who +owns it, and his name is Bergua. It is an astonishing mixture. The owner +is wealthy and good natured, but you do not hear the truth about things +for it is coloured by self interest. The place is clean, but slow even +beyond the ordinary of a Spanish inn. The cooking is neither one thing +nor another, the wine is not bad. It is a place where you may spend one +night, but not two. You will leave it without enthusiasm, and without +regret. + +Next, following the itineraries I have given, comes Gabas, and here is +as pleasant an inn as you will find in the whole world, it is called the +Hotel des Pyrenees, and of the several hotels it is the dearest. The +family of Baylou keep it and have inherited this soil for generations. +It is an ancestor of theirs that planted the delightful Mail outside and +set up the charming little fountain there. They are used in this house to +every sort of gentlemanly habit, they pay no attention to the clothes in +which one comes, and they understand all those who love to wander in the +hills. Everything is clean and good about the place, they will give one +well-cooked food in many courses at any hour. There is but one criticism +to make and that is in the matter of horses and carriages; these are +dear, and the good and the bad cost the same money, for there is here a +monopoly of the valley, and if you do not take their vehicle, you must +walk to the rail-head, 8 miles lower down. Also if for some reason you +must drive or get a relay of horses, the longer notice you give the +better, for there are few animals to be had. + +Further down the valley is Eaux Chaudes, a dreary place, incredible from +the fact that it was here that much of the Heptameron was written! If +a man must stop there, let him; of the sad gloomy barracks, take the +largest and the dearest, which is the Hotel de France. Laruns, at the +foot of the valley, where again you are unlikely to stop, but where you +may be caught, has the Hotel des Touristes, where also horses and a +carriage may be hired, and whence the omnibus goes to Eaux Chaudes and to +Eaux Bonnes. This last place, like Panticosa, is a place one can make no +choice in, it is crowded with the rich, and where the rich have spoilt +things, the only rule I know is to plunge and take the dearest—which +is the Hotel des Princes—if you will not do that you must choose for +yourself. + +The next valley, that of the Gave de Pau, has in it four towns, Lourdes, +Argelès, Cauterets, and Luz. Lourdes, like all cosmopolitan towns, is +detestable in its accommodation, and to make it the more detestable there +is that admixture of the supernatural which is invariably accompanied by +detestable earthly adjuncts. Were it not so the world would be perfect: +but it is so, and honestly one cannot say that any one hotel at Lourdes +is better than another, only here again if one is compelled to stop +for a night, one cannot do better than the best which is nominally the +Angleterre. Avoid the hotels that have Holy names to them, they are +usually frauds. If you go to Lourdes as a pilgrim, prefer the religious +houses (which take in travellers). If the Angleterre is too dear for you, +the Hotel de Toulouse is not to be despised; it should take you in at 25 +to 35 francs a day. Argelès, up the valley, is a very different place, +it is a little hurt by the neighbourhood of Lourdes, and by the stream +of travellers who pour up and down its main road to Cauterets and to +the sights of Gavarnie. Nevertheless it remains a French country town, +and the fairly dignified capital of a district. The Hotel de France is +excellent and, by the way (a thing always to be mentioned when one is +speaking of hotels in the Pyrenees), it is ready at any time to furnish +horses, and has, of course, a garage. At Luz stand two hotels facing each +other on either side of the road, I cannot remember the names, or rather +I cannot remember which is which, but anyhow take the one on the right of +the road as you look up the valley, or as you come up from the station, +that is, the one upon the western side. They are polite, and that makes +all the difference in one’s relations with people whom one does not often +meet. + +Gavarnie, overrun as it is (and it is hideously overrun), has a very +tolerable hotel, clean, and not too dear. The reason is that the people +who come to the place usually go away on the same day, and that therefore +there is some anxiety to please those who stop. Another inn, up under +the mountain, is not so much to be recommended. Of Cauterets everything +can be said—and much more—that was said of Eaux Bonnes, you are at the +mercy of a place which the rich choose to have ruined, and apart from +their vulgarity you will have that noise which accompanies them in all +their doings, this sort of place in the Pyrenees is luckily not common, +and when it is tolerable is tolerable in proportion as it is national. +Cauterets is almost as international as Lourdes, and for anyone using +the Pyrenees as I use them in this book, it would be madness to stop +there. Bagnères-de-Bigorre is better, though it is something in the same +line. It is better because it has something of a past and a history, and +is, like Argelès, the chief town of its district. The Hotel de Paris +is the best, but it is very expensive, and I believe, though I do not +know, that the Hotel des Vignes in the Rue de Tarbes is good among the +moderate places. But the rule holds here, as everywhere, that where rich +people, especially cosmopolitans, colonials, nomads, and the rest, come +into a little place, they destroy most things except the things that +they themselves desire. And the things that they themselves desire are +execrable to the rest of mankind. + +Arreau, in the next valley, merits a more particular attention. It is +thoroughly French, and here you will find side by side with the expensive +places (for even Arreau has its Hotel d’Angleterre which, however, to +tell the truth, is not ruinous) a most delightful little place called the +Hotel du Midi, where sensible people go. I am speaking on the testimony +of others, but on good testimony. It is a place smelt out by the +infallible nose of the French professional class. It has a garage, and +will tell you where to get carriages, though I believe it has nothing but +an omnibus of its own. It is—or was—really cheap and good. But for some +odd reason this excellent house charges you extra for your coffee. + +Right high up this valley is Vielle where there is one hotel, the Hotel +Mendielle, this is the one you must ask for if you find yourself caught +here, and it is just the place at which one might be caught if one got +into the wrong valley from a col in the Sobrarbe, or, if, in coming up +the Gave, one had not made way enough by night; I know nothing for or +against this hotel, and I believe it to be the only one. The little +village of Aragnouet, which is at the very end of the road under the last +precipices, has an inn of the quality of which I know nothing. + +The next valley is that of Bagnères-de-Luchon. Now it might be imagined, +seeing what rich places are in the way of hotels, that Bagnères-de-Luchon +(being by far the richest place in the Pyrenees) would be hopelessly the +worst, and that, as nothing good could be said about Cauterets, and as +there was precious little choice in Eaux Bonnes, Luchon would be a place +to despair of in the matter of hotels, but on the contrary it is a place +to discuss. + +Even if Luchon were as detestable as the Riviera, one would have to +come to it because it is the knot and reservoir of all mountain travel. +The valley strikes so deep into the hills, brings the railway so near +their summits, and is so exactly situated at the “fault” spoken of +so frequently in this book (the break in the Pyrenean line where the +landscapes and peoples of the chain meet) that it is difficult not to +pass through Luchon at one time or another during any length of days +passed in these hills. Even if you make a vow to clear Luchon, you may +find yourself caught in any one of twenty surrounding barbarisms with a +bad foot or no money, and compelled to set a course for this harbour. +Moreover Luchon is by no means the vulgar place its riches ought to +make it. The fashion for it was first made by reasonable people, many +Spaniards come and help to give the place its tone, and perhaps the very +extremity of evil corrects itself, and Luchon, being so crammed with +wealthy people, knows its own vices better than places just a little +less rich, and it is therefore more tolerable. At any rate the problem +of sleeping at Luchon is easily solved in July and August because all +prices are pretty much the same, and you cannot depend upon the printed +prices at all. For pension it is otherwise. There are fixed prices and +they are not exorbitant for such a place. A very clean, decent, rich +hotel is the Hotel d’Angleterre, where, if you stop some days, they will +charge you, I believe, about 40 francs a day. There is a place for poorer +people called the Hotel de l’Europe; all its prices are cheaper, but it +has this drawback that you get nothing national. It is clean and there +is a roof over your head, but you get neither French comfort nor French +discomfort, and you are paying a little less for things a great deal +worse, notably in the matter of food. The bold who fear nothing will go +and stop at the village little inn called the Golden Lion, which is near +the old church and existed before wealthy Luchon was born or thought +of. Here the bold will consort with Muleteers and the populace in some +discomfort. One of the best uses to which one can put Luchon is to eat in +it, and for sleeping to go outside and camp in the woods: and the best +place for the passer-by to eat is the Café Arnative on the main street; +its cooking is very good indeed, and the wine really remarkable; it is +such good wine that one wonders why they give it away, and every year as +one returns to the place one fears it may have ceased, but it continues. +Speak to the manager in English for he knows and loves that tongue, or +in Spanish or in French. In the use of the hotels and restaurants of +Luchon, however—always excepting the Golden Lion—remember that they are +snobbish about clothes, and that even two days in the hills puts you +well below the standard which they can tolerate. I confess that when I +have had to use Luchon, I have depended upon clothes which were waiting +for me at the station; and it is not difficult to use Luchon as a sort +of half-way house in this matter, leading the right life in the western +mountains, coming down to Luchon to find one’s luggage, dressing up, +plunging into worldly pleasure at Luchon, sending one’s luggage off again +to Ax or Perpignan, and then taking to the eastern hills for another bout +of poverty. + +In the Val d’Aran, next to the valley of Luchon, there is but one place +where one is likely to stay, and that is in the town of Viella, which +is the capital; for the Val d’Aran is a small place, and there is no +advantage in stopping anywhere else. The Posada Deo is that which I know +best and is good but of course Spanish; the cooking is a sort of mixture +of Spanish and French, but the time you have to wait for it and in the +manner in which it is given you is wholly Spanish. The wine also (oddly +enough!) is Spanish. It ought, on the Garonne, to be of the Garonne, but +the customs interfere. + +The Catalan valley, south and east of the Val d’Aran, the valley of +Esterri, has, in that town, a good little hotel, the Hotel Pepe. The +people are thoroughly Catalan in their love of money and therefore you +must bargain. Whatever you do, do not stop at any of the other places +in the valley, it is even better to go through a storm than to risk +Llavorsi, or worse still Escaló, but on the far side of the hill and of +the port called St. John of the Elms there is a most delicious inn, with +an old innkeeper of the very best, at Castellbo. + +To return to the French side; if you go by train to St. Girons you may +likely enough change at Boussens, the station has not (or had not) any +buffet, but there was (and I hope is) an hotel opposite it where people +travelling by train ate; the cooking here is the best in the whole of the +Pyrenees, which is saying a good deal. At St. Girons itself there is not +only good cooking, but the wine which Arthur Young admired, and which was +well worthy of his admiration. Do not go to the best hotel (which is the +hotel of the Princes and of the Alpine Club), but to the next cheapest +which is called the Hotel de France; at least I have found this last to +be excellent and cheaper for its quality of food and drink and repose +than any other in all this chain. These things change quickly, what was +true so short a time ago may not be true now; but so, at least, I found +it. + +In the valley of the Ariège it is always well to make Ax your +sleeping-place, for Ax, though there are waters and though the baths make +the prosperity of the place, is a very pleasant little town and the right +beginning for the mountains, whether you are going by the main road into +the Roussillon, or up the Ariège in the Carlitte group, or again over +the main range into Andorra. At Ax there are two rival hotels, the Hotel +de France, and the Hotel Sicre. The latter is a little cheaper though +both are cheap, and while I know the second one best I should recommend +the first; it will take you in as cheaply as any, and seems the more +carefully kept; both have garages. The Hotel Sicre suffers somewhat from +being directly attached to its Thermal Baths. If you are going to explore +the wild country of the Upper Aston, you must start from Cabanes lower +down on the railway. There is no need to sleep there. The valley above +it has some of the best camping places in the Pyrenees. But it is worth +knowing the name of the hotel, which is “Du Midi.” The whole place is, of +course, quite small and cheap. + +On the high road into Roussillon choose Porté, primitive as it is, and +avoid _Hospitalet_ (on the hither side of the pass of Puymorens) like the +plague. Hospitalet and the village just before it, Merens, are for some +reason or other quite spoilt; I fancy tourists come up so far as these +two without going over the pass which they find too much trouble, and +that their coming and going has spoilt the two places: at any rate they +are detestable. They overcharge you and treat you with contempt at the +same time. + +Porté, though it is but a few miles further on, is quite different. Here +is one rude inn, as cheap as the grace of God, and kept by the most +honest people in the world; Michet by name. It is thoroughly Spanish in +character (for remember that Porté, though politically in France, is on +the Spanish side of the main range, and that the pass just above is on +the watershed); the animals live on the ground floor, the human beings +just above them. You will never regret to have slept at Porté. + +As you go on into the plain of the Cerdagne you will find a good inn +at La Tour Carol: not exactly enthusiastic in their greeting of the +traveller, but polite. It is quite a little place of only half a thousand +inhabitants, and you cannot expect much from it, but it is better than +Saillagousse where they are most unwilling. + +Up the road to France from Saillagousse, at Mont Louis, is a hotel of +which I can speak but little because my own experience of it was late on +a holiday night when everything was very full, but it is substantial, it +is cheap and I have heard it praised. It is called the Hotel de France, +and it is a starting-point for the omnibus down to the rail-head at +Villefranche in the valley above which rise the flanks of the Canigou. + +On the Canigou itself, standing upon a platform a few hundred feet below +the summit facing the Mediterranean and one of the greatest views in this +world, there is now an inn which you must not despise though it does +happen to be somewhat tourist. It is only open for the end of June, July, +August, and September, though one can sleep there at other times of the +year if one asks at Prades for the housekeeper; he comes down to that +town through the winter and is known there. + +In Perpignan (by the way) go to the chief hotel, for the hotels of that +plain can be very vile when they try. This hotel is called “The Grand” +and it stands on the quay of the smaller river just within the old +fortifications. There is a delightful little restaurant in Perpignan +called the Golden Lion, it is well to order what one wants some hours +beforehand, and to take their own recommendation about wine. Perpignan is +so twirled and knotted a town that I can give no directions for finding +that Golden Lion, where it lies in its little back alley called the Rue +des Cardeurs, save to tell you that it is but 200 yards from your hotel, +and that the Rue des Cardeurs is the second on the _left_ as you walk +away from the main front of the cathedral; or again, the _first_ on the +left after you have crossed the Place Gambetta. Anyhow, Perpignan is a +small place and anyone will show you where this eating-house is, and it +is a good one. Down the Cerdagne in Spain, at Seo de Urgel, there are two +or three hotels, and one of the second class called the Posada Universal +or Universal Inn which merits its name; you will do well to stop there +for it has a pleasant balcony overlooking the valley, with vines trained +about it; and the people look after you. + +As to the inns of Andorra your best plan is to stop in the capital, that +is, in _Andorra The Old_ itself, where the Posada is called the Posada +_Calounes_, and is quite a little and simple place. The entry into +Andorra, however, is not always easy. If you make it from the north, mist +may delay you, even on the grassy Embalire Pass, and may keep you for +hours on the higher crossings of the range, even when it does not defeat +you altogether. You may therefore have no choice but to stop at one of +the little villages; but it is a poor fate, for they are full of bugs and +fleas and appalling cooking, though the people are kindly enough. The inn +at Encamps is the only one with which I am myself acquainted among these +smaller places; there also it is vile. + +I have omitted so far to speak of the inns in the Sobrarbe. That of +Venasque is the largest and most used to travellers. Like all Spanish +inns the life of the people is upstairs and the life of the animals +below. It is clean and seems to be continually full of people, for there +is quite a traffic to and from this mountain town. The inn has no name in +particular that I know of, but you cannot miss it. Guide books call it +“Des Touristes,” but I never heard anyone in Venasque give it that name. +You have but to ask for the Posada, however, and anyone will show it you. +It is in the first street on the left out of the main street as you come +into the town. As to the cost of it, it is neither cheap nor dear; but +(as I have said is common to the Spanish inns) it is a little on the +side of dearness. A friend of mine with three companions and two mules +found himself let in for over £3 for one night’s hospitality; on the +other hand, I myself, some years after, with two companions, passed two +nights and the day between with everything that we wanted to eat, smoke, +and drink, and we came out for under £2. The mules perhaps consume. + +In all Sobrarbe there are but the inns of Bielsa and Torla (I mean in all +the upper valleys which I have described) that can be approached without +fear, and in Bielsa, as in Venasque and in Torla, the little place has +but one. At Bielsa it is near the bridge and is kept by Pedro Perlos; I +have not slept in it but I believe it to be clean and good. El Plan has a +Posada called the Posada of the Sun (_del Sol_), but it is not praised; +nay, it is detested by those who speak from experience. The inn that +stands or stood at the lower part of the Val d’Arazas is said to be good; +that at Torla is not so much an inn as an old chief’s house or manor +called that of “Viu,” for that is the name of the family that owns it. +They treat travellers very well. + +This is all that I know of the inns of the Pyrenees. + + + + +VIII + +THE APPROACHES TO THE PYRENEES + + +A traveller from England, on considering his approach to the Pyrenees, +must first appreciate the road heads or starting-places whence his +travels to the Pyrenees may be made, and it is convenient to regard +that one to which access can be had by rail. These points are eleven +in number—St. Jean Pied-de-Port, Mauléon, Oloron, Laruns, Argelès, +Bagnères-de-Bigorre, Arreau, Bagnères-de-Luchon, St. Girons, Foix, and +Villefranche, which last is the highest point to which the rail will take +one from Perpignan. + +One can get nearer the main range by light railways in certain places. +Thus from Mauléon a steam tramway will take one some miles nearer the +hills, to Tardets. From Lourdes the train goes up the valley several +miles, and light railways go to Cauterets and Luz, and from Foix there +is a considerable reach of rail, as far as Ax-les-Thermes, all up the +valley of the Ariège, from which lateral valleys on every side enter the +high mountains. Nevertheless, if one knows how to approach these eleven +stations, and something of the hours of arriving at them, the slight +extensions in the three cases named can easily be looked up, and there is +no need to burden these pages with them. + +Of these eleven, the first four, St. Jean Pied-de-Port, Mauléon, +Oloron, and Laruns, belong to the western section of the range, and are +approached from Bordeaux. Another four, Arreau, Bagnères-de-Luchon, St. +Girons, and Foix belong to the central and eastern section of the range, +and are approached by way of Toulouse, while the two intermediate ones, +Lourdes (and its extension up the valley) and Bagnères-de-Bigorre, may, +according to the convenience of trains, be approached with equal facility +from either direction. + +There remains Villefranche, the chief station under the Canigou, and the +centre for the extreme eastern end of the range. The approach to this +short and distant part of the Pyrenees is through Perpignan. + +By whichever road one approaches the Pyrenees, and from whatever town +at their base one proposes to make the ascent of them, one leaves Paris +by the Orleans line, choosing for preference the great new station on +the Quai-d’Orsay, though if one is driving across Paris with no time +to spare, it is better to catch the train at the Austerlitz station +a mile or two further down the line where all the expresses stop, as +the departure from that station is ten minutes later than from the +Quai-d’Orsay. But the Austerlitz station is old-fashioned; all the +conveniences of travel are gathered at the more recent terminus, and if +one has any time to spare it is always from the Quai-d’Orsay that one +should start. + +Arrived whether at Bordeaux or at Toulouse, one changes from the Orleans +system to the Midi. This is not an absolutely accurate way of putting it, +because, as a fact, the Orleans only enjoys running powers to Toulouse, +along the main express line, but this is roughly the best way of putting +it to make the reader understand the way in which the systems join. + +With these connexions, the first journey is made to Bordeaux, to Toulouse +(or, in the exceptional case of the extreme east end of the Pyrenees, +to Perpignan), and the journey forward from each of these towns is +calculated upon another time table, and is often taken on a different +train. + +To reach St. Jean, one goes on from Bordeaux to Bayonne and changes +there. To reach Mauléon, one goes on from Bordeaux to Puyoo and changes +there; to reach Oloron or Laruns, one goes on from Bordeaux to Pau and +changes there. + +Roughly speaking, those who want to take the journey easily, without +night travel, will find it necessary to sleep in Paris, to sleep again +at Bordeaux (or somewhere further down the line, as at Bayonne or at +Pau) and only on the third day to proceed to the towns from which they +will begin to climb, whether that town be St. Jean, Mauléon, Oloron, or +Laruns. For this purpose they must take the morning train which leaves +Paris (Quai-d’Orsay) at an hour which changes but approximates eight to +half-past, and gets to Bordeaux well before dinner. It is then possible +to go on the same evening to Bayonne, and, if one goes first class, to +get on the same night also to Puyoo or to Pau, but in all cases arrival +at the foot of the mountains will not be possible until the next morning. + +Those who are content to suffer night travel will find an excellent and +convenient train leaving Paris in the evening, reaching Bordeaux in the +early morning, and putting them at any one of the mountain towns at, or a +little after, noon. Thus, a person leaving London upon Saturday morning, +will, if he travels only by day, reach any one of the western approaches +to the Pyrenees on the mid-day of Monday, but if he will consent to a +journey by night, he will save exactly twenty-four hours and arrive at +noon (or in the early afternoon) of Sunday. The gain of twenty-four +hours, by an apparent sacrifice of only twelve, is due to the nature of +the connexions between the small mountain lines and the main lines. His +return tickets, going in the cheapest manner, second class from London to +the mountains and back will vary according to the mountain town chosen, +from a little under £10 to £12, of which the French second class return +fare from Paris is about or a little over £4 and the rest second return +London to Paris and incidental expenses. + +The approach to the intermediary towns of Lourdes and +Bagnères-de-Bigorre, is of the same sort and is usually better done +through Bordeaux than through Toulouse, but one gets in a little later. +Unless one takes the early night train from Paris just after eight one +does not reach Lourdes until the late afternoon, nor Bagnères-de-Bigorre +until night. + +The approach through Toulouse involves a longer train journey, and is +made both by a night and a day train, as in the case of Bordeaux, and +from the same station as I have said above. You can lunch on the day +train, but you cannot dine upon it. Sleeping at Toulouse, one goes on +next day by a morning train, starting a little after nine, and going +through Tarbes, will get to Lourdes at about half-past one, or to +Bagnères-de-Bigorre a few minutes earlier. Similarly, starting from +Toulouse by the same morning train, one can get to Bagnères-de-Luchon +just after noon, or to St. Girons at a little before one. It will be seen +that these arrivals towards the centre of the chain are much at the same +time as by the western approaches through Bordeaux. One gets in towards +the middle of the third day in either case. + +Moreover, going through Toulouse resembles the journey through Bordeaux; +if one undertakes to travel by night, one saves time in much the same +manner, save that the night train is earlier. One must leave Paris about +half-past eight in the evening, reach Toulouse at much the same hour +the next morning, and one will find oneself at the foot of the Pyrenees +about mid-day of the day after leaving London, changing at Toulouse for +the morning train to Lourdes, Bagnères-de-Bigorre, Luchon, St. Girons or +Foix, respectively. There is, however, an exception to this apparently +general rule that the shortest journey to the Pyrenees, even if one +travels by night, must take well over the twenty-four hours. + +As to the approach from Perpignan, this is useful for that little corner +of the range which overlooks the Roussillon which is less than one-tenth +of the total length. Only one important height is to be found here, the +Canigou. The railway journey is very long. If one goes by day, it is +imperative that one should break it somewhere. It would be more accurate +to say that one can make it by day only if one breaks it somewhere, and +if one makes it by night, one must leave Paris in the evening in order +to get to Perpignan for lunch, or at half-past eight to get in at two. +It is no way to approach the Pyrenees, unless one happens to be taking a +journey down France for other purposes which will lead him towards the +districts of Narbonne and Perpignan. It must be noted that since the war +there is an excellent cross-country train from Bordeaux and Toulouse to +Narbonne, where change for Perpignan. + +No other approach to the Pyrenees save these by railway from the north +will be of use to most travellers from England. + +The new, good and fast day train from Toulouse is now at eleven in the +morning. + +The approaches from the south, in the rare case of a traveller who may +take the Pyrenees on the way back from Spain, are all difficult with the +exception of the line from Saragossa to Jaca. A main line leads of course +from the capital to Saragossa, there one must cross the Ebro to the +station upon the northern bank. The train to Jaca goes by Huesca and it +takes all day, but it is worth doing in order to get within a day’s walk +of the main range. + +From every other centre, except from Pamplona, the Pyrenees are +hopelessly distant. Seo and the Catalan valleys depend upon Barbastro as +does the valley of the Cinca in Aragon, but it is a most tedious journey +in stuffy omnibuses followed by an equally tedious day and a half or two +days upon a mule before you find yourself in the high Pyrenees. Pamplona +is, roughly speaking, one day’s walk from the heart of the mountains, and +no other town, excepting Jaca, upon the railway on the Spanish side is +worth considering as a rail-head. + +It should be noted that there is during the summer months a motor car +service between Pamplona and Jaca, which goes along the valley of the +Aragon and covers the distance in the better part of a day. + + + + +INDEX + + + A + + Accous or Bédous, plain of, 159-160 + + Agra, river, mentioned, 20; + valley of, 147 + + Aiguestoites, Port de, 181 + + Albigenses, crusade against, its meaning and results, 49 + + Alfonso el Batallador, 54 + + Alpargatas, 122 + + Alps, contrasted with Pyrenees, 25-26 + + Andorra, history and character of, 192-193 + + — forms with Catalan valleys a district of Pyrenees, 187-198 + + — how reached from Ariège, 187-193 + + — posada of, 232 + + Anicle, Col d’, 171-172 + + Anie, Pic d’, its position on first axis of Pyrenees, 6 + + — boundary of the Basques, 38, 154 + + Aphours, brook of, 150 + + Aragnouet, 181 + + Aragon, river, mentioned, 20 + + — valley of, easy connexion of, with valley of Gallego, 158; + described, 161 + + — kingdom, named after river, 20; + and Béarn, their position on the range, 37 + + Aran, Val d’, _see_ “Val” + + Arazas, valley of, 169-170; + Inn there, 233 + + Ariège, sources of, 191 + + — valley of, position of on axis of Pyrenees, 8; + forms old county of Foix, 15; + in connexion with that of the Tet, 204-209 + + Ariel, Pic d’, 205 + + Arles, on Tech, 213-214 + + Arras, Col d’, 215 + + Arreau, hotels at, 227 + + Arrouye, Pic d’, 182 + + Aspe, Val d’, 158 + + Aston, upper, adventure of author upon, 108-112 + + — river, advantages of district of, 187-188 + + Ax, way from, to valley of Tet, 206-208; + hotels and baths of, 230 + + + B + + Bagnères-de-Bigorre, hotels at, 226; + de Luchon, _see_ “Luchon” + + Baigorry, valley of, 145-146 + + Balatag, wood of, on Canigou, 212 + + Bambilette, port, 152 + + Bargebit, Pic de, on Canigou, 213 + + Barrosa, stream of, 174 + + Barroude, pass of, 181 + + Basque, place names found throughout Spain and Pyrenees, 38-39 + + — Valleys, a district of the Pyrenees, 145-154 + + Basques, their position on the range, 37; + Pic d’Anie, boundary, 38 + + — no Roman record of, 45-46 + + Bathing, dangerous when fatigued, 143 + + Batallador, surname of Alfonso, 54 + + Bayonne, road from, to Pamplona described, 96-99 + + Béarn and Aragon, their position on the range, 37 + + Béarn, Roman name of, 44; + with Navarre and Roussillon, last exceptions to French sovereignty + north of Pyrenees, 49 + + Bédous, Hotel de la Poste at, 160 + + Bédous, hotel of, 222 + + — or Accous, plan of, 159-160 + + Belhay, Port de, 152 + + Belver, head of Urgel road, 203 + + _Benarnensium Civitas_, modern Béarn, 44 + + Bicycling in Pyrenees, 104-105 + + Bielsa, Port de, 181 + + — second stage in way from Panticosa to Venasque, 170; + described, 171; + inn of, 233 + + Biescas, mentioned as example of a town in a Spanish valley, 19 + + Bigerriones, original name of inhabitants of Bigorre, 44 + + Bigorre, originally land of “Bigerriones,” 44; + Pic du Midi de, _see_ “Pic” + + Blankets, 122-123 + + Boella, Col de, 215 + + Bonaigo, Pass of, nature of, 28, 31, 197 + + Bota, _see_ “Gourd” + + Boucacers, Col de, 211 + + Boucharo, French name for Bujaruelo, 169 + + Boussens, amazing cooking at, 230 + + Bread, proper rations of, 125-126 + + Brèche de Roland, 173 + + Bujaruelo (Boucharo) in Sobrarbe, 169 + + Burguete, hotel at, 221 + + + C + + Cabanes, use of, as shelter, 123 + + — village and station of, starting-point for passes of Peyregrils + and Fontargente, 188 + + Cabillere, Pic de, 188 + + Cacouette, gorge of, alluded to, 16, 152 + + Cadi, Sierra del, mentioned, 20; + aspect from St. Croz, 196; + aspect of, from Cerdagne, 200 + + Cady, brook of, 213 + + Cambret, brook of, 214 + + Camphor, sovereign against bugs, 223 + + Camping, rules for, 128-133 + + Canal Roya, example of difficulty of finding a col, 110-113 + + — valley of, and col, 158 + + — entrance to, 161-162 + + Canfranc, 161; + poor hotel of, 223 + + Canigou, hotel near summit of, 231; + district of, 210-216; + peaks of, ways up to, 211-215 + + Canillo, village of, 191 + + Carlitte, group of mountains, 204 + + Casteil, hamlet on way up Canigou, 212 + + Castellbo, first stage in way from Urgel to Esterri, 194; + delicious inn of, 229 + + Catalans, their position on the range, 36 + + Catalonia, origins of, 54 + + Cauterets, hotels of, 226 + + Cerberus, Cape, eastern limit of second axis of Pyrenees, 4 + + Cerdagne, political anomaly of, 57-58; + described, 199-203; + why annexed by Mazarin, 201 + + Chaitza, stream of, 151 + + Christians, reconquest of Spanish slope by, 50-54 + + Cinca, valley of, with Broto and Esera make up Sobrarbe, 167 + + Cinqueta, affluent of the Cinca, 167 + + Cirere, Col de, 213 + + Climate of Pyrenees, 33-35 + + Coidenes, bridge of, 188 + + Col, or pass, _see_ under particular names + + Comminges, modern name of district of Convenæ, 43-45 + + Compass, variation of, in Pyrenees, 60; + necessary in equipment, 127-128 + + Consevanni, modern Conserans, 44-45 + + Conserans, Roman “Consevanni,” 44-45 + + Convenæ, 43-44 + + Coumette, Pic de la, 188 + + Cruz, Col de la, 174 + + Cuberre, bridge of, 176 + + + D + + Dalmanya, torrent of, 213; + village of, 213 + + Dastan, Val, 185 + + Distance, best reckoned in mountains by time, 76-78 + + “Double Col,” most dangerous example of ambiguity in a pass, 137-140 + + Driving in Pyrenees, 105 + + + E + + Eaux Bonnes, chief hotel of, 225 + + — Chaudes, 164 + + — hotel of, 225 + + Elizondo, 147-148 + + — hotels of, 220 + + _Elloronensium Civitas_, modern Oloron, 44 + + Elne, 42 + + El Plan, posada of, 233 + + Embalire, pass of, 31; + easiest entry into Andorra, 191-193 + + Encamps, village of, 191; + inn of, 231 + + Equipment, description of necessary, 115-124 + + Erro, 148 + + — inn at, 221 + + Escaló, village of, 196 + + Escolier, Pic d’, 150 + + Escuain, Col de, 171 + + Espousouille, hamlet of, 208 + + Esterri, hotel of, 229 + + — mentioned as example of a town in a Spanish valley, 18; + described, 197; + way to, from Urge, 194-198 + + Europe, grouping of peoples unchanged in, during recorded history, 1-2 + + + F + + Fillols, on way up Canigou from Villefranche, 212 + + Foix, county of, identical with valley of Ariège, 15 + + Fontargente, tarn of, 191 + + — pass of, into Andorra, 190-191 + + Forata, Peña, 165 + + Formiguères, village of, on way from Ax to Tet valley, 206 + + French measurements, English equivalents, 74-77 + + — slope of Pyrenees, formation of, 10-12; + names and character of valleys on, 10-15; + multiplicity of roads on, 79-82 + + Frontier, political, its present connexion with watershed, 54-58 + + + G + + Gabas, 164 + + — excellent hotel of, 224 + + Gabediou, Pic de, 182 + + Galbe, stream of, 208 + + Gallego, valley of, position of, on axis of Pyrenees, 7 + + — valley of, 166 + + — valley of, easy connexion of, with valley of Aragon, 158 + + Gari, valley of, 185 + + Garonne, curious source of, 186 + + Gas, Pic du Col de, 189 + + Gascon, name of, supposed to be Basque, 39 + + Gaulis, Col de, 170 + + Gavarnie, example of a high-valley village, 21; + town of, 226 + + — Port de, 31 + + — Cirque de, 181 + + Gerbats, Pic de, 182 + + Gistain, Col de, 175-176 + + Glacé, lake, 186 + + Glaciers, absence of, 33 + + Gnoles, torrent of, 206 + + Gourd, or bota, description of, 117-120 + + + H + + Hayra, forest of, 146 + + Heas, stream and village of, 181-182 + + Heights and distances, French, way of turning into English feet and + miles, 74-77 + + Helena, original name of Elne, 42 + + Henry IV and Mazarin complete French sovereignty north of Pyrenees, 49 + + Hix, 202 + + Hospitalet, of Ariège, 191; + of Luchon, 184 + + Huesca, Sancho’s attempt on, 53; + road to, 99, 103 + + + I + + Illiberis, old name for Elne, 42 + + Inns, of the Pyrenees, 217-233; + Spanish and French, contrasted, 218-233 + + Iraty, Spanish valley, head-waters in France, 56 + + Isaba, 153 + + Ispeguy, pass of, between Baigorry and Baztan, 146 + + + J + + Jaca, mentioned as example of town in Spanish valley, 18; + one of three mountain bishoprics on Spanish slope, 46; + counted as French during Mahommedan occupation, 48; + early independence of, 53; + excellent hotel of, 223 + + “Jasses,” nature of these flats, 15-16 + + “Jeous,” local name, 26 + + + K + + Kilometre, estimate of, by time, 141-142 + + Knapsack, _see_ “Pack” + + + L + + Labourd, valley of, 145 + + Lakes, character of, in Pyrenees, 32; + of Maladetta, Encantados, etc., 32 + + Lakes of the Carlitte, 204 + + Lamoux, lake of, 205 + + Larrasoaña, 148 + + Larrau, 151 + + Laruns, 164; + hotel of, 225 + + La Tour Carol, 202; + inn of, 231 + + Laurhibar, village of, 149; + stream and village of, 149-150 + + Lecumberry, 149 + + Le Tech, hamlet of, 214 + + L’Homme, Pic de, western limit of second axis of Pyrenees, 4 + + Licq, 151 + + Llavorsi, village of, 196 + + Llivia, 200-201 + + Lourdes, hotels of, 225 + + Luchon, valley of, with valleys of Tarbes, makes separate district in + Pyrenees, 179-186 + + — hot springs of, 183 + + — way to Venasque from, by Port d’Oo, 185-186 + + — valley and district of, 182-186; + road to, from Val d’Aran, 197-198; + wealth and hotels of, 228-229 + + Lys, valley of, 185 + + + M + + Magdalena, river of, 195 + + Maggi, provision of, 125; + method of using, 127 + + Maladetta, view of, from Port de Venasque, 185 + + Maps, for the range, 59-78 + + Marignac, forest of, 184 + + Mauléon, capital of the Soule, 149 + + Mazarin annexes Roussillon to France, 49 + + — annexes Cerdagne, 56-58 + + Mediterranean, civilization of, in connexion with Pyrenees, 42-43 + + Merens, example of a high-valley village, 17-18 + + Metres and kilometres, way of reducing to feet and miles, 74-76 + + Midi, Pic du, d’Ossau, 160; + de Bigorre, 180 + + Moines, Col des, 157-161 + + Mollo, _see_ “Prats” + + Monsech, Sierra of, distance of, from main range, 9, 20 + + Mont Louis, pass of, mentioned, 30; + hotel of, 231 + + Motoring in Pyrenees, by the “lower road,” 84-87; + by the “upper road,” 86-93; + across the range, 93-99; + from Pamplona to Jaca, 99; + to Saragossa, 99 + + Mountain, ranges of, often regarded too simply, 2-3 + + Mules, not always obtainable in inns, 219 + + + N + + Names, fantastic, of Pyrenees mountains, 24 + + Napoleon III, makes Somport road from Urdos, 161 + + Navarre with Béarn and Roussillon, the last exceptions to French + sovereignty north of Pyrenees, 49 + + Navas de Tolosa, battle of, 54 + + Nive, French river, rises in Spain, 56 + + Noguera Pallaresa, 196 + + Noguille, lake of, 204 + + Novempopulania, Roman district north of Pyrenees, 41-45 + + + O + + Olette, town of, 208 + + Oloron, Roman name of, 44; + main road from, to Saragossa, described, 93-96; + hotels at, 222 + + Oo, Port d’, 222 + + Ordino, town of, 190 + + Orgeix, 205 + + Oriège, valley of, 205 + + Orleu, 205 + + Oroel, Peña d’, 161 + + Ossau, Val d’, 164; + Pic du Midi de, _see_ “Pic” + + Otxogorrigagne, Mount, 152 + + Ourdayte, or “Urdayte,” Port d’, 31, 152 + + Ourdissettou, Pic d’, 181 + + + P + + Pack, type of, in equipment, 121-122 + + Pallars, name of Esterri valley, 196 + + Pamplona, Roman bishopric on Spanish slope, 46; + road to, from Bayonne described, 96-99; + hotels of, 221 + + Pannikin, description of, 115-116 + + Panticosa, way to Venasque from, through Sobrarbe, 167-178; + numerous hotels of, 224 + + Passes over Pyrenees, nature of, 27-32 + + Path, importance of faint indications, so called, in Pyrenees, 113-115 + + Pau, Gave de, valley of, position of, on axis of Pyrenees, 6 + + Pelayo, heads the Reconquista, 51 + + Peña, Sierra de la, mentioned, 19 + + Perpignan, hotel and restaurant of, 231 + + Peyregrils, pass of, into Andorra, 188-190 + + Pic du Midi d’Ossau, 160; + approach from Gabas, 164 + + — de Bigorre, 180 + + Pinède, cliffs of, 172 + + Pique, river of, in Luchon valley, 184 + + Pla de Guillem, pass of, in Canigou, 214 + + Place names, Basque, in Spain and Pyrenees, 38-39 + + Plan, El, village of, 177-178 + + “Plans,” larger form of Jasses, 15-16 + + Port Vendres, 42 + + Portaillet, Col of, on shoulder of Canigou, 214 + + Porte Blanche, pass of, into Andorra, 215 + + Porté, 204; + inn of, 231 + + Porteille, notch between county of Foix and Roussillon, 208 + + “Ports,” or passes, over Pyrenees, nature of, 26-30 + + Posets, Pic de, 174 + + Pourtalet, pass of, mentioned, 30; + modern road over, 163-164 + + Prades, town of, way up Canigou from, 212 + + Prats de Mollo, 214 + + Puigcerdá, 202 + + Puigdarbet, peak of, on Canigou, 213 + + Puillouse, marsh of, 205 + + Puymorens, Col de, limit of the Catalans, 37 + + — pass of, 204 + + Py, on Canigou, 214 + + Pyrenees, physical nature of, 1-35; + double axis of, 3-8; + length of chain, 4; + original formation of, 8; + contrast of northern and southern slope of, 9; + climate of, 33-35; + political character of, 36, etc.; + form the bastion against Islam, 47 + + — Treaty of, 49 + + + Q + + Quazémi peak of, on Canigou, 212 + + + R + + Railways, start far from main range on Spanish side, 21 + + Rain, distribution of, in Pyrenees, 33-35 + + Ranges, mountain, _see_ “Mountain”; + secondary, perpendicular to main range on northern, parallel to it + on southern slope, 9, 19 + + Reconquista, 50-54 + + Rialb, stream of, 189 + + Rivers, shape of their course on Spanish slope, 20 + + Roman advance on Spanish slope, 45-47 + + Romans, make watershed of Pyrenees a boundary, 40-41; + their advance north of Pyrenees, 41-45 + + Roncesvalles, pass of, mentioned, 30; + high road through, 97; + road to, from Pamplona, 148 + + Roque Couloum, mountain, 211 + + Roscino, gives name to Roussillon, 42 + + Rou, tarn of, 204 + + Roussillon, formed round valley of Tet, 15; + with Navarre and Béarn, last exception to French sovereignty north + of Pyrenees, 49 + + + S + + Sabouredo, Pic de, eastern limits of first axis of Pyrenees, 4 + + Sahun, Col de, 178 + + Saillagousse, 202; + a place to avoid, 231 + + St. Bertrand de Comminges, origin of, 45 + + St. Croz, village of, 194 + + St. Duillem, huts of, 214 + + Ste. Engrace, 151-153 + + — Port de, position of, on axis of Pyrenees, 6; + passage of, 152-153 + + — inn at, 222 + + St. Etienne, in Baigorry, 146-147 + + St. Girons, hotel of, 230 + + St. Jean le Vieux, site of Roman town, 148 + + St. Jean Pied de Port, 148; + road from, to Soule, 148-151; + hotels at, 221 + + St. Jerome, his story of Convenæ, 45 + + St. John, Port of, 195-196 + + St. Lizier, originally Glycerius, 44 + + Salau, pass of, distance of, from plains, 9, 20, 197 + + — Port of, mentioned, 30 + + Saldeu, pass and hamlet of, 191 + + Salinas de Sin, 177 + + Sallent, way to, from, Urdos, 161-163 + + Sallent, character of inn of, 224 + + — Port Vieux de, 163 + + Salpichon, value of, 125 + + Sancho, killed before Huesca, 53 + + Sandales, _see_ “Alpargatas” + + Sarabillo, 177 + + Saragossa, the main road over Pyrenees to, 99, 103 + + Sauvegarde, Pic de, 185 + + Schrader, his map of central Pyrenees, 61, 73-74 + + Secondary ranges, perpendicular to main range on northern side, + parallel to it on the southern, 10, 19 + + Sentina, torrent of, 177 + + Serrat, village of, 190 + + Snow, perennial, absence of in Pyrenees, 25 + + Sobrarbe, name of Eastern Aragon, 20, 23; + district in Pyrenees, 167-178 + + Socks, folly of wearing, 116 + + Somport, pass so called, position of, on axis of Pyrenees, 6; + nature of, 28, 30; + main road over, from Oloron to Saragossa, described, 92-95 + + Soulauet, tarn of, 189 + + Soule, district in Basque valleys, 148-154 + + — road from St. Jean de Port to, 148-151 + + Souscousse, woods of, 154 + + Sousquéou, valley of, 164-165 + + Spanish government, contrast of, with French, in Cerdagne, 201 + + Spanish slope of Pyrenees, formation of, 10; + type of valleys in, 18-24; + Roman conquest of, 45-47; + reconquest of, by Christians, 50-54; + absence of roads on, 84; + unmapped, 66; + partially given in French maps, 67 + + Spates, rare in Pyrenean streams, 32 + + Spirits of wine, necessity of, 126-127 + + Streams, Pyrenean, spates rare in, 32 + + + T + + Tarbelli, Roman name for people of Dax, 44 + + Tarbes, originally Turba, 44; + valleys of, and Luchon, district in Pyrenees, 179-186; + hotel at, 182 + + Tardets, central town of the Soule, 150-151; + admirable hotel at, 221-222 + + Taurinya, on way up Canigou from Prades, 212 + + Tech, valley of, 211 + + Tent, folly of carrying one, 124 + + Tet, valley of, forms core of Roussillon, 15 + + — valley of, with that of Ariège, makes a district in Pyrenees, + 204-209 + + Thirteen Winds, peak of, on Canigou, 214 + + Tigra, forest of, 153 + + Time, distance in mountains best reckoned by, 77-78 + + Torla, with Bielsa and Venasque, chief centres of Sobrarbe, 167; + first stage in way from Panticosa to Venasque, 169; + curious inn at, 233 + + Toro, Trou de, 186 + + Torte, tarn of, 204 + + Towns, nature of Pyrenean, 17 + + Trainzaygues, 180 + + Treaty of Pyrenees, 49 + + Troumouse, Cirque, 181-182 + + Turba, old name of Tarbes, 44 + + Turmo, Cabane of, 176 + + + U + + Urdayte, or “Ourdayte,” port of, _see_ “Ourdayte” + + Urdos, example of a high-valley village, 17; + travel through, 160 + + Urgel (Seo de), Roman bishopric on Spanish slope, 46; + bishopric of, counted as French during Mahommedan occupation, 48; + appearance of, 193-194; + way from, to Esterri and Val d’Aran, 194-198; + hotel at, 232 + + Urtioga, Mount, western limit of Pyrenees, 4; + in Basque valleys, 145 + + + V + + Val d’Aran, political anomaly of, 56-57; + way to, from Urgel through Esterri, 194-198 + + Val Carlos, 148; + accommodation at, 221 + + Vallcivera, Port de, 215 + + Valleys, nature of, on French slope, 15-18; + eight, on western French slope, 12-15; + two (Ariège and Tet) on eastern French slope, 14-15; + on Spanish slope, nature of, 18-24 + + — the Four, district of Pyrenees, 155-166; + strategical importance of, 155-156 + + Valley, “wrong,” _see_ “Wrong valley” + + Venasque, mentioned as example of a town in a Spanish valley, 18; + way to, from Panticosa, through Sobrarbe, 168-178; + alternative southern way to, from Bielsa, 177-178; + way to, from Luchon by Port d’Oo, 185-186; + posada of, 232 + + — Port de, mentioned, 31, 184-185 + + Vernet, on way up Canigou, 212 + + Viella, in Val d’Aran, 197; + road from, to Luchon, 198; + hotels of, 229 + + Vielle, hotel at, 227 + + Villefranche, town of, rail-head in Tet valley, 209 + + Vultures, Peak of the, 153 + + + W + + Watershed, forms political boundary during periods of high + civilization, 40-41 + + Weather, peculiar difficulty of main ridge in doubtful, 31 + + Wine, Spanish, taste of, 219 + + Wood, rarely found near lake in Pyrenees, 32; + effect of, on streams, 33 + + “Wrong valley,” types of danger of getting into, 133-140 + + _Printed by Jarrold & Sons, Ltd., Norwich_ + + + + +METHUEN’S GENERAL LITERATURE + +[Illustration] + +A SELECTION OF MESSRS. METHUEN’S PUBLICATIONS + +This Catalogue contains only a selection of the more important books +published by Messrs. Methuen. A complete catalogue of their publications +may be obtained on application. + + +PART I. GENERAL LITERATURE + +=Ashby (Thomas)= + + SOME ITALIAN FESTIVALS. With 24 Illustrations. _Crown 8vo. 7s. + 6d. net._ + +=Bain (F. W.)= + + A DIGIT OF THE MOON. THE DESCENT OF THE SUN. A HEIFER OF THE + DAWN. IN THE GREAT GOD’S HAIR. A DRAUGHT OF THE BLUE. AN + ESSENCE OF THE DUSK. AN INCARNATION OF THE SNOW. A MINE OF + FAULTS. THE ASHES OF A GOD. BUBBLES OF THE FOAM. A SYRUP OF THE + BEES. THE LIVERY OF EVE. THE SUBSTANCE OF A DREAM. _All Fcap. + 8vo. 5s. net._ AN ECHO OF THE SPHERES. _Wide Demy 8vo. 10s. 6d. + net._ + +=Balfour (Sir Graham)= + + THE LIFE OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. _Twentieth Edition. In one + Volume. Cr. 8vo. Buckram, 7s. 6d. net._ + +=Barker (Ernest)= + + NATIONAL CHARACTER. _Demy 8vo. 10s. 6d. net._ GREEK POLITICAL + THEORY: Plato and his Predecessors. _Second Edition. Demy 8vo. + 14s. net._ + +=Belloc (Hilaire)= + + PARIS. THE PYRENEES. _Each 8s. 6d. net._ ON NOTHING. HILLS AND + THE SEA. ON SOMETHING. THIS AND THAT AND THE OTHER. ON. _Each + 6s. net._ FIRST AND LAST. ON EVERYTHING. ON ANYTHING. EMMANUEL + BURDEN. _Each 3s. 6d. net._ MARIE ANTOINETTE. _18s. net._ + A HISTORY OF ENGLAND. In 5 vols. Vols. I, II and III. _15s. + net each._ HILLS AND THE SEA. Illustrated in Colour by DONALD + MAXWELL. _15s. net._ + +=Birmingham (George A.)= + + A WAYFARER IN HUNGARY. Illustrated. _8s. 6d. net._ A WAYFARER + IN IRELAND. Illustrated. _7s. 6d. net._ SPILLIKINS: a Book of + Essays. _3s. 6d. net._ SHIPS AND SEALING WAX: a Book of Essays. + _5s. net._ + +=Budge (Sir E. A. Wallis)= + + A HISTORY OF ETHIOPIA: NUBIA AND ABYSSINIA. Illustrated. In 2 + vols. _£3 13s. 6d. net._ + +=Bulley (M. H.)= + + ART AND COUNTERFEIT. Illustrated. _15s. net._ ANCIENT AND + MEDIEVAL ART: A SHORT HISTORY. _Second Edition, Revised. Crown + 8vo. 10s. 6d. net._ + +=Chandler (Arthur), D.D.= + + ARA CŒLI. _5s. net._ FAITH AND EXPERIENCE. _5s. net._ THE + CULT OF THE PASSING MOMENT. _6s. net._ THE ENGLISH CHURCH AND + REUNION. _5s. net._ SCALA MUNDI. _4s. 6d. net._ + +=Chesterton (G. K.)= + + THE BALLAD OF THE WHITE HORSE. CHARLES DICKENS. _Each Fcap. + 8vo, 3s. 6d. net._ ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. TREMENDOUS TRIFLES. + FANCIES VERSUS FADS. ALARMS AND DISCURSIONS. A MISCELLANY OF + MEN. THE USES OF DIVERSITY. THE OUTLINE OF SANITY. _Each Fcap. + 8vo. 6s. net._ A GLEAMING COHORT. _Fcap. 8vo. 2s. 6d. net._ + WINE, WATER, AND SONG. _Fcap. 8vo. 1s. 6d. net._ + +=Clutton-Brock (A.)= + + WHAT IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN? ESSAYS ON ART. SHAKESPEARE’S + HAMLET. _Each 5s. net._ ESSAYS ON BOOKS. MORE ESSAYS ON BOOKS. + ESSAYS ON LIFE. ESSAYS ON RELIGION. ESSAYS ON LITERATURE AND + LIFE. MORE ESSAYS ON RELIGION. _Each 6s. net._ SHELLEY, THE MAN + AND THE POET. _7s. 6d. net._ + +=Cottenham (The Earl of)= + + MOTORING WITHOUT FEARS. Illustrated. _Fcap. 8vo. 2s. 6d. net._ + +=Crawley (Ernest)= + + THE MYSTIC ROSE. Revised and Enlarged by THEODORE BESTERMAN. + Two Vols. _Demy 8vo. £1 10s. net._ + +=Dolls’ House (The Queen’s)= + + THE BOOK OF THE QUEEN’S DOLLS’ HOUSE. Vol. I. THE HOUSE, Edited + by A. C. BENSON, C.V.O., and Sir LAWRENCE WEAVER, K.B.E. Vol. + II. THE LIBRARY, Edited by E. V. LUCAS. Profusely Illustrated. + A Limited Edition. _Crown 4to. £6 6s. net._ EVERYBODY’S BOOK + OF THE QUEEN’S DOLLS’ HOUSE. An abridged edition of the above. + Illustrated. _Crown 4to. 5s. net._ + +=Dugdale (E. T. S.)= + + GERMAN DIPLOMATIC DOCUMENTS, 1871-1914. Selected from the + Documents published by the German Foreign Office. In 4 vols. + Vol. I, 1871-1890. _Demy 8vo. £1 5s. net._ + +=Edwardes (Tickner)= + + THE LORE OF THE HONEYBEE. _Thirteenth Edition. 7s. 6d. net._ + BEEKEEPING FOR ALL. _3s. 6d. net._ THE BEE-MASTER OF WARRILOW. + _Third Edition. 7s. 6d. net._ All illustrated. BEEKEEPING DO’S + AND DON’TS. _2s. 6d. net._ + +=Einstein (Albert)= + + RELATIVITY: THE SPECIAL AND GENERAL THEORY. _5s. net._ + SIDELIGHTS ON RELATIVITY. _3s. 6d. net._ THE MEANING OF + RELATIVITY. _5s. net._ THE BROWNIAN MOVEMENT. _5s. net._ _Other + books on the_ =Einstein Theory=. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE THEORY + OF RELATIVITY. By LYNDON BOLTON. _5s. net._ THE PRINCIPLE OF + RELATIVITY. By A. EINSTEIN, H. A. LORENTZ, H. MINKOWSKI and H. + WEYL. With Notes by A. SOMMERFELD, _12s. 6d. net._ + + _Write for Complete List._ + +=Erman (Adolph)= + + THE LITERATURE OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS: POEMS, NARRATIVES, AND + MANUALS OF INSTRUCTION FROM THE THIRD AND SECOND MILLENNIA B.C. + Translated by Dr. A. M. BLACKMAN. _Demy 8vo. £1 1s. net._ + +=Fouquet (Jean)= + + THE LIFE OF CHRIST AND HIS MOTHER. From Fouquet’s “Book of + Hours.” Edited by FLORENCE HEYWOOD, B.A. With 24 Plates in + Colours. In a box. _Crown 4to. £3 3s. net._ + +=Fyleman (Rose)= + + FAIRIES AND CHIMNEYS. THE FAIRY GREEN. THE FAIRY FLUTE. THE + RAINBOW CAT. EIGHT LITTLE PLAYS FOR CHILDREN. FORTY GOOD-NIGHT + TALES. FAIRIES AND FRIENDS. THE ADVENTURE CLUB. FORTY + GOOD-MORNING TALES. SEVEN PLAYS FOR CHILDREN. _Each 3s. 6d. + net._ A SMALL CRUSE. _4s. 6d. net._ THE ROSE FYLEMAN FAIRY + BOOK. Illustrated. _10s. 6d. net._ LETTY. Illustrated. _6s. + net._ A PRINCESS COMES TO OUR TOWN. Illustrated. _5s. net._ A + LITTLE CHRISTMAS BOOK. Illustrated. _2s. net._ THE ROSE FYLEMAN + CALENDAR. Illustrated. _2s. 6d. net._ + +=Gibbon (Edward)= + + THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. With Notes, + Appendixes, and Maps, by J. B. BURY. Illustrated. Seven + volumes. _Demy 8vo. 15s. net_ each volume. Also, unillustrated. + _Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d. net_ each volume. + +=Glover (T. R.)= + + THE CONFLICT OF RELIGIONS IN THE EARLY ROMAN EMPIRE. POETS AND + PURITANS. VIRGIL. _Each 10s. 6d. net._ FROM PERICLES TO PHILIP. + _12s. 6d. net._ + +=Gosling (Harry), C.H., J.P., M.P.= + + UP AND DOWN STREAM. Illustrated. _Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d. net._ + +=Graham (Harry)= + + THE WORLD WE LAUGH IN: More Deportmental Ditties. Illustrated + by “FISH.” _Sixth Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 5s. net._ STRAINED + RELATIONS. Illustrated by H. STUART MENZIES and HENDY. _Royal + 16mo. 6s. net._ + +=Grahame (Kenneth)= + + THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS. _Nineteenth Edition. Crown 8vo. 7s. + 6d. net._ Also, illustrated by WYNDHAM PAYNE. _Small 4to. 7s. + 6d. net._ Also unillustrated. _Fcap. 8vo. 3s. 6d. net._ + +=Hadfield (J. A.)= + + PSYCHOLOGY AND MORALS. _Seventh Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. net._ + +=Hall (H. R.)= + + THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE NEAR EAST. _Seventh Edition Revised. + Demy 8vo. £1 1s. net._ THE CIVILIZATION OF GREECE IN THE BRONZE + AGE. Illustrated. _Wide Royal 8vo. £1 10s. net._ + +=Hamer (Sir W. H.) and Hutt (C. W.)= + + A MANUAL OF HYGIENE. Illustrated. _Demy 8vo. £1 10s. net._ + +=Heine (Heinrich)= + + FLORENTINE NIGHTS. Translated by C. G. LELAND. Illustrated in + Colour by FELIX DE GRAY. _Fcap. 4to. £1 5s. net._ + +=Herbert (A. P.)= + + MISLEADING CASES IN THE COMMON LAW. With an Introduction by + LORD HEWART. _5s. net._ THE BOMBER GIPSY. _3s. 6d. net._ LIGHT + ARTICLES ONLY. Illustrated. _6s. net._ THE WHEREFORE AND THE + WHY. “TINKER, TAILOR....” Each illustrated. _3s. 6d. net._ THE + SECRET BATTLE. _3s. 6d. net._ + +=Hewlett (Maurice)= + + THE LETTERS OF MAURICE HEWLETT. Edited by LAURENCE BINYON. + Illustrated. _Demy 8vo. 18s. net._ + +=Hind (A. M.)= + + A CATALOGUE OF REMBRANDT’S ETCHINGS. Two Vols. Profusely + Illustrated. _Wide Royal 8vo. £1 15s. net._ + +=Holdsworth (W. S.)= + + A HISTORY OF ENGLISH LAW. Nine Volumes. _Demy 8vo. £1 5s. net + each._ + +=Hudson (W. H.)= + + A SHEPHERD’S LIFE. Illustrated. _Demy 8vo. 10s. 6d. net._ Also, + unillustrated. _Fcap. 8vo. 3s. 6d. net._ + +=Hutton (Edward)= + + CITIES OF SICILY. Illustrated. _10s. 6d. net._ MILAN AND + LOMBARDY. THE CITIES OF ROMAGNA AND THE MARCHES. SIENA AND + SOUTHERN TUSCANY. VENICE AND VENETIA. THE CITIES OF SPAIN. + NAPLES AND SOUTHERN ITALY. Illustrated. _Each, 8s. 6d. net._ + A WAYFARER IN UNKNOWN TUSCANY. THE CITIES OF UMBRIA. COUNTRY + WALKS ABOUT FLORENCE. ROME. FLORENCE AND NORTHERN TUSCANY. Each + illustrated. _7s. 6d. net._ + +=Inge (W. R.), D.D.=, Dean of St. Paul’s + + CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM. (The Bampton Lectures of 1899.) _Sixth + Edition. Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d. net._ + +=Kipling (Rudyard)= + + BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS. _246th Thousand._ + + THE SEVEN SEAS. _180th Thousand._ + + THE FIVE NATIONS. _143rd Thousand._ + + DEPARTMENTAL DITTIES. _111th Thousand._ + + THE YEARS BETWEEN. _95th Thousand._ + + Four Editions of these famous volumes of poems are now + published, viz.:—_Crown 8vo. Buckram, 7s. 6d. net._ _Fcap. 8vo. + Cloth, 6s. net._ _Leather, 7s. 6d. net._ Service Edition. Two + volumes each book. _Square Fcap. 8vo. 3s. net._ each volume. + + A KIPLING ANTHOLOGY—Verse. _Fcap. 8vo. Cloth, 6s. net_ and _3s. + 6d. net._ _Leather, 7s. 6d. net._ TWENTY POEMS FROM RUDYARD + KIPLING. _458th Thousand. Fcap. 8vo. 1s. net._ A CHOICE OF + SONGS. _Second Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 2s. net._ + +=Lamb (Charles and Mary)= + + THE COMPLETE WORKS. Edited by E. V. LUCAS. A New and Revised + Edition in Six Volumes. With Frontispieces. _Fcap. 8vo. 6s. net + each._ + + The volumes are: I. MISCELLANEOUS PROSE. II. ELIA AND THE LAST + ESSAYS OF ELIA. III. BOOKS FOR CHILDREN. IV. PLAYS AND POEMS. + V. and VI. LETTERS. + + SELECTED LETTERS. Chosen and Edited by G. T. CLAPTON. _Fcap. + 8vo. 3s. 6d. net._ + + THE CHARLES LAMB DAY BOOK. Compiled by E. V. LUCAS. _Fcap. 8vo. + 6s. net._ + +=Lankester (Sir Ray)= + + SCIENCE FROM AN EASY CHAIR. SCIENCE FROM AN EASY CHAIR: Second + Series. DIVERSIONS OF A NATURALIST. GREAT AND SMALL THINGS. + Illustrated. _Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d. net._ SECRETS OF EARTH AND + SEA. Illustrated. _Crown 8vo. 8s. 6d. net._ + +=Lodge (Sir Oliver)= + + MAN AND THE UNIVERSE. (_Twentieth Edition_). THE SURVIVAL + OF MAN. (_Seventh Edition_). _Each Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d. net._ + RAYMOND (_Thirteenth Edition_). _Demy 8vo. 10s. 6d. net._ + RAYMOND REVISED. _Crown 8vo. 6s. net._ RELATIVITY (_Fourth + Edition_). _Fcap. 8vo. 1s. net._ + +=Lucas (E. V.)= + + THE LIFE OF CHARLES LAMB. 2 Vols. _£1 1s. net._ EDWIN AUSTIN + ABBEY, R.A. 2 Vols. _£6 6s. net._ VERMEER OF DELFT. _10s. 6d. + net._ A WANDERER IN ROME. A WANDERER IN HOLLAND. A WANDERER + IN LONDON. LONDON REVISITED (Revised). A WANDERER IN PARIS. + A WANDERER IN FLORENCE. A WANDERER IN VENICE. _Each 10s. 6d. + net._ A WANDERER AMONG PICTURES. _8s. 6d. net._ E. V. LUCAS’S + LONDON. _£1 net._ INTRODUCING LONDON. INTRODUCING PARIS. _Each + 2s. 6d. net._ THE OPEN ROAD. _6s. net._ Also, illustrated by + CLAUDE A. SHEPPERSON, A.R.W.S. _10s. 6d. net._ Also, India + Paper. _Leather, 7s. 6d. net._ THE JOY OF LIFE. _6s. net. + Leather Edition. 7s. 6d. net._ Also India Paper. _Leather, 7s. + 6d. net._ FIRESIDE AND SUNSHINE. CHARACTER AND COMEDY. _Each + 6s. net._ THE GENTLEST ART. _6s. 6d. net._ _And_ THE SECOND + POST. _6s. net._ Also, together in one volume. _7s. 6d. net._ + HER INFINITE VARIETY. GOOD COMPANY. ONE DAY AND ANOTHER. OLD + LAMPS FOR NEW. LOITERER’S HARVEST. CLOUD AND SILVER. A BOSWELL + OF BAGHDAD. ’TWIXT EAGLE AND DOVE. THE PHANTOM JOURNAL. GIVING + AND RECEIVING. LUCK OF THE YEAR. ENCOUNTERS AND DIVERSIONS. + ZIGZAGS IN FRANCE. EVENTS AND EMBROIDERIES. 365 DAYS (AND + ONE MORE). A FRONDED ISLE. _Each 6s. net._ URBANITIES. + Illustrated by G. L. STAMPA. _5s. net._ YOU KNOW WHAT PEOPLE + ARE. Illustrated by GEORGE MORROW. _5s. net._ THE SAME STAR: + A Comedy in Three Acts. _3s. 6d. net._ LITTLE BOOKS ON GREAT + MASTERS. _Each 5s. net._ ROVING EAST AND ROVING WEST. _5s. + net._ PLAYTIME AND COMPANY. _7s. 6d. net._ “THE MORE I SEE OF + MEN ...” _3s. 6d. net._ See also =Dolls’ House (The Queen’s)= + and =Lamb (Charles)=. + +=Lucas (E. V.) and Finck (Herman)= + + TWELVE SONGS FROM “PLAYTIME AND COMPANY.” Words by E. V. LUCAS. + Music by HERMAN FINCK. _Royal 4to. 7s. 6d. net._ + +=Lynd (Robert)= + + THE LITTLE ANGEL. _6s. net._ THE GOLDFISH. THE PLEASURES OF + IGNORANCE. _Each 5s. net._ THE BLUE LION. THE PEAL OF BELLS. + THE MONEY BOX. THE ORANGE TREE. _Each 3s. 6d. net._ + +=McDougall (William)= + + AN INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY (_Twenty-first Edition_). + _10s. 6d. net._ NATIONAL WELFARE AND NATIONAL DECAY. _6s. net._ + AN OUTLINE OF PSYCHOLOGY (_Fourth Edition_). _10s. 6d. net._ + AN OUTLINE OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY. _15s. net._ BODY AND MIND + (_Sixth Edition_). _12s. 6d. net._ CHARACTER AND THE CONDUCT OF + LIFE (_Third Edition_). _10s. 6d. net._ ETHICS AND SOME MODERN + WORLD PROBLEMS (_Second Edition_). _7s. 6d. net._ + +=Mackenzie (W. Mackay)= + + THE MEDIÆVAL CASTLE IN SCOTLAND. (The Rhind Lectures on + Archæology. 1925-6.) Illustrated. _Demy 8vo. 15s. net._ + +=Mallet (Sir C. E.)= + + A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. In 3 vols. Illustrated. + _Demy 8vo. Each £1 1s. net._ + +=Maxwell (Donald)= + + THE ENCHANTED ROAD. Illustrated by the AUTHOR. _Fcap. 4to. £1 + 1s. net._ + +=Maeterlinck (Maurice)= + + THE BLUE BIRD. _6s. net._ Also, illustrated by F. CAYLEY + ROBINSON. _10s. 6d. net._ DEATH. _3s. 6d. net._ OUR ETERNITY. + _6s. net._ THE UNKNOWN GUEST. _6s. net._ POEMS. _5s. net._ THE + WRACK OF THE STORM. _6s. net._ THE MIRACLE OF ST. ANTHONY. + _3s. 6d. net._ THE BURGOMASTER OF STILEMONDE. _5s. net._ THE + BETROTHAL. _6s. net._ MOUNTAIN PATHS. _6s. net._ THE STORY OF + TYLTYL. _£1 1s. net._ THE GREAT SECRET. _7s. 6d. net._ THE + CLOUD THAT LIFTED AND THE POWER OF THE DEAD. _7s. 6d. net._ + MARY MAGDALENE. _2s. net._ + +=Masefield (John)= + + ON THE SPANISH MAIN. _8s. 6d. net._ A SAILOR’S GARLAND. _6s. + net_ and _3s. 6d. net._ SEA LIFE IN NELSON’S TIME. _5s. net._ + +=Methuen (Sir A.)= + + AN ANTHOLOGY OF MODERN VERSE. _137th Thousand._ + + SHAKESPEARE TO HARDY: An Anthology of English Lyrics. _19th + Thousand. Each Fcap. 8vo. Cloth, 6s. net. Leather, 7s. 6d. net._ + +=Milne (A. A.)= + + NOT THAT IT MATTERS. IF I MAY. THE SUNNY SIDE. THE RED HOUSE + MYSTERY. ONCE A WEEK. THE HOLIDAY ROUND. THE DAY’S PLAY. _Each + 3s. 6d. net._ WHEN WE WERE VERY YOUNG. _Sixteenth Edition. + 169th Thousand._ WINNIE-THE-POOH. _Sixth Edition. 91st + Thousand._ NOW WE ARE SIX. _Fourth Edition. 109th Thousand._ + Each illustrated by E. H. SHEPARD. _7s. 6d. net. Leather, 10s. + 6d. net._ FOR THE LUNCHEON INTERVAL. _1s. 6d. net._ + +=Milne (A. A.) and Fraser-Simson (H.)= + + FOURTEEN SONGS FROM “WHEN WE WERE VERY YOUNG.” _Twelfth + Edition. 7s. 6d. net._ TEDDY BEAR AND OTHER SONGS FROM “WHEN WE + WERE VERY YOUNG.” _7s. 6d. net._ THE KING’S BREAKFAST. _Third + Edition. 3s. 6d. net._ SONGS FROM “NOW WE ARE SIX.” _Second + Edition. 7s. 6d. net._ Words by A. A. MILNE. Music by H. + FRASER-SIMSON. Decorations by E. H. SHEPARD. + +=Montague (C. E.)= + + DRAMATIC VALUES. _Cr. 8vo. 7s. 6d. net._ + +=Morton (H. V.)= + + THE HEART OF LONDON. _3s. 6d. net._ (Also illustrated, _7s. 6d. + net_.) THE SPELL OF LONDON. THE NIGHTS OF LONDON. _Each 3s. + 6d. net._ THE LONDON YEAR. IN SEARCH OF ENGLAND. THE CALL OF + ENGLAND. Each illustrated. _7s. 6d. net._ + +=Oman (Sir Charles)= + + A HISTORY OF THE ART OF WAR IN THE MIDDLE AGES, A.D. 378-1485. + _Second Edition_, Revised and Enlarged. 2 Vols. Illustrated. + _Demy 8vo. £1 16s. net._ + +=Oxenham (John)= + + BEES IN AMBER. _Small Pott 8vo. 2s. net._ ALL’S WELL. THE + KING’S HIGHWAY. THE VISION SPLENDID. THE FIERY CROSS. HIGH + ALTARS. HEARTS COURAGEOUS. ALL CLEAR! _Each Small Pott 8vo. + Paper, 1s. 3d. net. Cloth, 2s. net._ WINDS OF THE DAWN. _2s. + net._ + +=Perry (W. J.)= + + THE ORIGIN OF MAGIC AND RELIGION. THE GROWTH OF CIVILIZATION. + _Each 6s. net._ THE CHILDREN OF THE SUN. _£1 1s. net._ + +=Petrie (Sir Flinders)= + + A HISTORY OF EGYPT. In 6 Volumes. + + Vol. I. FROM THE IST TO THE XVITH DYNASTY. _11th Edition, + Revised. 12s. net._ + + Vol. II. THE XVIITH AND XVIIITH DYNASTIES. _7th Edition, + Revised. 9s. net._ + + Vol. III. XIXTH TO XXXTH DYNASTIES. _3rd Edition. 12s. net._ + + Vol. IV. EGYPT UNDER THE PTOLEMAIC DYNASTY. By EDWYN BEVAN. + _15s. net._ + + Vol. V. EGYPT UNDER ROMAN RULE. By J. G. MILNE. _3rd Edition, + Revised. 12s. net._ + + Vol. VI. EGYPT IN THE MIDDLE AGES. By STANLEY LANE POOLE. _4th + Edition. 10s. net._ + +=Ponsonby (Arthur), M.P.= + + ENGLISH DIARIES. _£1 1s. net._ MORE ENGLISH DIARIES. _12s. 6d. + net._ SCOTTISH AND IRISH DIARIES. _10s. 6d. net._ + +=Raleigh (Sir Walter)= + + THE LETTERS OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH. Edited by LADY RALEIGH. Two + Vols. Illustrated. _Second Edition. Demy 8vo. 18s. net._ + +=Smith (C. Fox)= + + SAILOR TOWN DAYS. SEA SONGS AND BALLADS. A BOOK OF FAMOUS + SHIPS. SHIP ALLEY. _Each_, illustrated, _6s. net_. FULL + SAIL. Illustrated. _5s. net._ TALES OF THE CLIPPER SHIPS. A + SEA CHEST. _Each 5s. net._ THE RETURN OF THE “CUTTY SARK.” + Illustrated. _3s. 6d. net._ A BOOK OF SHANTIES. _6s. net._ + +=Stevenson (R. L.)= + + THE LETTERS. Edited by Sir SIDNEY COLVIN. 4 Vols. _Fcap. 8vo. + Each 6s. net._ + +=Surtees (R. S.)= + + HANDLEY CROSS. MR. SPONGE’S SPORTING TOUR. ASK MAMMA. MR. FACEY + ROMFORD’S HOUNDS. PLAIN OR RINGLETS? HILLINGDON HALL. _Each_ + illustrated, _7s. 6d. net_. JORROCKS’S JAUNTS AND JOLLITIES. + HAWBUCK GRANGE. _Each_, illustrated, _6s. net_. + +=Taylor (A. E.)= + + PLATO: THE MAN AND HIS WORK. _Second Edition. Demy 8vo. £1 1s. + net._ + +=Tilden (William T.)= + + THE ART OF LAWN TENNIS. SINGLES AND DOUBLES. THE TENNIS RACKET. + _Each_, illustrated, _6s. net_. THE COMMON SENSE OF LAWN + TENNIS. MATCH PLAY AND THE SPIN OF THE BALL. Illustrated. _5s. + net._ + +=Tileston (Mary W.)= + + DAILY STRENGTH FOR DAILY NEEDS. _32nd Edition. 3s. 6d. net._ + India Paper. _Leather, 6s. net._ + +=Trapp (Oswald Graf)= + + THE ARMOURY OF THE CASTLE OF CHURBURG. Translated by J. G. + MANN. Richly illustrated. _Royal 4to._ Limited to 400 copies. + _£3 5s. net._ + +=Underhill (Evelyn)= + + MYSTICISM (_Eleventh Edition_). _15s. net._ THE LIFE OF THE + SPIRIT AND THE LIFE OF TO-DAY (_Sixth Edition_). _7s. 6d. net._ + MAN AND THE SUPERNATURAL. _7s. 6d. net._ CONCERNING THE INNER + LIFE (_Fourth Edition_). _2s. net._ + +=Urwick (E. J.)= + + THE SOCIAL GOOD. _Demy 8vo. 10s. 6d. net._ + +=Vardon (Harry)= + + HOW TO PLAY GOLF. Illustrated. _19th Edition. Crown 8vo. 5s. + net._ + +=Waterhouse (Elizabeth)= + + A LITTLE BOOK OF LIFE AND DEATH. _23rd Edition. Small Pott 8vo. + 2s. 6d. net._ + +=Wilde (Oscar)= + + THE WORKS. In 17 Vols. _Each 6s. 6d. net._ + + I. LORD ARTHUR SAVILE’S CRIME AND THE PORTRAIT OF MR. W. H. + II. THE DUCHESS OF PADUA. III. POEMS. IV. LADY WINDERMERE’S + FAN. V. A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE. VI. AN IDEAL HUSBAND. VII. + THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST. VIII. A HOUSE OF POMEGRANATES. + IX. INTENTIONS. X. DE PROFUNDIS AND PRISON LETTERS. XI. ESSAYS. + XII. SALOME, A FLORENTINE TRAGEDY, and LA SAINTE COURTISANE. + XIII. A CRITIC IN PALL MALL. XIV. SELECTED PROSE OF OSCAR + WILDE. XV. ART AND DECORATION. XVI. FOR LOVE OF THE KING. (_5s. + net._) XVII. VERA, OR THE NIHILISTS. + +=Williamson (G. C.)= + + THE BOOK OF FAMILLE ROSE. Richly Illustrated. _Demy 4to. £8 8s. + net._ + + +PART II. A SELECTION OF SERIES + +=The Antiquary’s Books= + + _Each_, illustrated, _Demy 8vo. 10s. 6d. net._ + +=The Arden Shakespeare= + + Edited by W. J. CRAIG and R. H. CASE. _Each, wide Demy 8vo. 6s. + net._ + + The Ideal Library Edition, in single plays, each edited with a + full Introduction, Textual Notes and a Commentary at the foot + of the page. Now complete in 39 Vols. + +=Classics of Art= + + Edited by J. H. W. LAING. _Each_, profusely illustrated, _wide + Royal 8vo. 15s. net to £3 3s. net._ + + A Library of Art dealing with Great Artists and with branches + of Art. + +=The Connoisseur’s Library= + + _With numerous Illustrations. Wide Royal 8vo. £1 11s. 6d. net + each vol._ EUROPEAN ENAMELS. FINE BOOKS. GLASS. GOLDSMITHS’ AND + SILVERSMITHS’ WORK. IVORIES. JEWELLERY. MEZZOTINTS. PORCELAIN. + SEALS. MUSSULMAN PAINTING. + +=English Life in English Literature= + + General Editors: EILEEN POWER, M.A., D.Lit., and A. W. REED, + M.A., D.Lit. _Each, Crown 8vo, 6s. net._ + + A series of source-books for students of history and of + literature. + + =The Faiths=: VARIETIES OF CHRISTIAN EXPRESSION. Edited by + L. P. JACKS, M.A., D.D., LL.D. _Each, Crown 8vo, 5s. net_ + each volume. The first volumes are: THE ANGLO-CATHOLIC + FAITH (T. A. LACEY); MODERNISM IN THE ENGLISH CHURCH (P. + GARDNER); THE FAITH AND PRACTICE OF THE QUAKERS (R. M. JONES); + CONGREGATIONALISM (W. B. SELBIE); THE FAITH OF THE ROMAN CHURCH + (C. C. MARTINDALE); THE LIFE AND FAITH OF THE BAPTISTS (H. + WHEELER ROBINSON); THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES (JAMES MOFFATT); + METHODISM (W. BARDSLEY BRASH); THE EVANGELICAL MOVEMENT IN THE + ENGLISH CHURCH (L. ELLIOTT BINNS); THE UNITARIANS (HENRY GOW). + +=A History of England in Seven Volumes= + + Edited by Sir CHARLES OMAN, K.B.E., M.P., M.A., F.S.A. With + Maps. _Demy 8vo. 12s. 6d. net_ each volume. ENGLAND BEFORE + THE NORMAN CONQUEST (Sir C. OMAN); ENGLAND UNDER THE NORMANS + AND ANGEVINS (H. W. C. DAVIES); ENGLAND IN THE LATER MIDDLE + AGES (K. H. VICKERS); ENGLAND UNDER THE TUDORS (A. D. INNES); + ENGLAND UNDER THE STUARTS (G. M. TREVELYAN); ENGLAND UNDER THE + HANOVERIANS (Sir C. GRANT ROBERTSON); ENGLAND SINCE WATERLOO + (Sir J. A. R. MARRIOTT). + +=The Library of Devotion= + + Handy editions of the great Devotional books, well edited. + _Small Pott 8vo. 3s. net and 3s. 6d. net._ + +=Modern Masterpieces= + + _Fcap. 8vo._ _3s. 6d._ each volume. Pocketable Editions of + Works by HILAIRE BELLOC, ARNOLD BENNETT, E. F. BENSON, + GEORGE A. BIRMINGHAM, MARJORIE BEOWN, G. K. CHESTERTON, A. + CLUTTON-BROCK, JOSEPH CONRAD, GEORGE GISSING, KENNETH GRAHAME, + A. P. HERBERT, W. H. HUDSON, RUDYARD KIPLING, E. V. KNOX, + JACK LONDON, E. V. LUCAS, ROBERT LYND, ROSE MACAULAY, JOHN + MASEFIELD, A. A. MILNE, ARTHUR MORRISON, EDEN PHILLPOTTS, + MARMADUKE PICKTHALL, CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS, and R. L. STEVENSON. + +=Methuen’s Half-Crown Library= + + _Crown 8vo and Fcap. 8vo._ + +=Methuen’s Two-Shilling Library= + + _Fcap. 8vo._ + + Two series of cheap editions of popular books. + + _Write for complete lists._ + +=The Wayfarer Series of Books for Travellers= + + _Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d. net each._ Well illustrated and with + maps. The volumes are:—Alsace, Austria, Czecho-Slovakia, + The Dolomites, Egypt, French Vineyards, Hungary, Ireland, + The Loire, Portugal, Provence, The Seine, Spain, Sweden, + Switzerland, Unfamiliar Japan, Unknown Tuscany, The West Indies. + +=The Westminster Commentaries= + + _Demy 8vo. 8s. 6d. net to 16s. net._ + + Edited by W. LOCK, D.D., and D. C. SIMPSON, D.D. + + The object of these commentaries is primarily to interpret the + author’s meaning to the present generation, taking the English + text in the Revised Version as their basis. + + +THE LITTLE GUIDES + +_Small Pott 8vo._ Illustrated and with Maps + +THE 65 VOLUMES IN THE SERIES ARE:— + + BEDFORDSHIRE AND HUNTINGDONSHIRE 4_s._ net. + BERKSHIRE 4_s._ net. + BRITTANY 4_s._ net. + BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 4_s._ net. + CAMBRIDGE AND COLLEGES 4_s._ net. + CAMBRIDGESHIRE 4_s._ net. + CATHEDRAL CITIES OF ENGLAND AND WALES 6_s._ net. + CHANNEL ISLANDS 5_s._ net. + CHESHIRE 5_s._ net. + CORNWALL 4_s._ net. + CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND 6_s._ net. + DERBYSHIRE 4_s._ net. + DEVON 4_s._ net. + DORSET 6_s._ net. + DURHAM 6_s._ net. + ENGLISH LAKES 6_s._ net. + ESSEX 5_s._ net. + FLORENCE 6_s._ net. + FRENCH RIVIERA 6_s._ net. + GLOUCESTERSHIRE 5_s._ net. + GRAY’S INN AND LINCOLN’S INN 6_s._ net. + HAMPSHIRE 4_s._ net. + HEREFORDSHIRE 4_s._ 6_d._ net. + HERTFORDSHIRE 4_s._ net. + ISLE OF MAN 6_s._ net. + ISLE OF WIGHT 4_s._ net. + KENT 6_s._ net. + LANCASHIRE 6_s._ net. + LEICESTERSHIRE AND RUTLAND 5_s._ net. + LINCOLNSHIRE 6_s._ net. + LONDON 5_s._ net. + MALVERN COUNTRY 4_s._ net. + MIDDLESEX 4_s._ net. + MONMOUTHSHIRE 6_s._ net. + NORFOLK 5_s._ net. + NORMANDY 5_s._ net. + NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 4_s._ net. + NORTHUMBERLAND 7_s._ 6_d._ net. + NORTH WALES 6_s._ net. + NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 6_s._ net. + OXFORD AND COLLEGES 4_s._ net. + OXFORDSHIRE 4_s._ net. + PARIS 6_s._ net. + ROME 5_s._ net. + ST. PAUL’S CATHEDRAL 4_s._ net. + SHAKESPEARE’S COUNTRY 4_s._ net. + SHROPSHIRE 5_s._ net. + SICILY 4_s._ net. + SNOWDONIA 6_s._ net. + SOMERSET 4_s._ net. + SOUTH WALES 4_s._ net. + STAFFORDSHIRE 5_s._ net. + SUFFOLK 4_s._ net. + SURREY 5_s._ net. + SUSSEX 4_s._ net. + TEMPLE 4_s._ net. + VENICE 6_s._ net. + WARWICKSHIRE 5_s._ net. + WESTMINSTER ABBEY 5_s._ net. + WILTSHIRE 6_s._ net. + WORCESTERSHIRE 6_s._ net. + YORKSHIRE EAST RIDING 5_s._ net. + YORKSHIRE NORTH RIDING 4_s._ net. + YORKSHIRE WEST RIDING 7_s._ 6_d._ net. + YORK 6_s._ net. + + METHUEN & CO. LTD., 36 ESSEX STREET, LONDON, W.C.2 + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75369 *** |