OR
THE CAUSSES OF THE LOZÈRE
BY
M. BETHAM-EDWARDS
To M. SADI CARNOT.
THIS VOLUME, THE THIRD OF MY PUBLISHED TRAVELS IN FRANCE,
IS INSCRIBED WITH ALL RESPECT TO HER HONOURED PRESIDENT.
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTORY
PART I.
MY FIRST JOURNEY IN SEARCH OF THE CAUSSES.
CHAP.
I. FROM LE PUY TO MENDE
II. MENDE
III. A GLIMPSE OF THE CAUSSES
IV. ON THE TOP OF THE ROOF
V. RODEZ AND AURILLAC
VI. THE LAND OF THE BURON
PART II.
MY SECOND JOURNEY IN SEARCH OF THE CAUSSES.
I. THROUGH THE MORVAN
II. THROUGH THE MORVAN (continued)
III. FROM LYONS TO AVIGNON BY THE RHÔNE
IV. AVIGNON AND ORANGE
V. LE VIGAN
VI. NANT (AVEYRON)
VII. MILLAU (AVEYRON)
VIII. FROM MENDE TO ST. ÉNIMIE
IX. ST. ÉNIMIE
X. THE CAÑON OF THE TARN
XI. SHOOTING THE RAPIDS
XII. LE ROZIER
XIII. MONTPELLIER-LE-VIEUX
XIV. MONTPELLIER-LE-VIEUX (continued)
XV. LE ROZIER TO MILLAU AND RODEZ
XVI. RODEZ, VIC-SUR-CÈRE REVISITED.—A BREAKFAST ON THE BANKS OF THE
SAÔNE
INTRODUCTORY.
It is upon this occasion my rare and happy privilege to introduce thereader to something absolutely new. How many English-speaking touristshave found their way to the Roof of France—in other words, the ancientGévaudan, the romantic department of the Lozère? How many English—orfor the matter of that French travellers either—have so much as heardof the Causses, [Footnote: From calx, lime] those lofty tablelands oflimestone, groups of a veritable archipelago, once an integral whole,now cleft asunder, forming the most picturesque gorges and magnificentdefiles; offering contrasts of scenery as striking as they are sublime,and a phenomenon unique in geological history? On the plateau of thetypical Causse, wide in extent as Dartmoor, lofty as Helvellyn, werealize all the sombreness and solitude of the Russian steppe. Thesestony wastes, aridity itself, yet a carpet of wild-flowers in spring,are sparsely peopled by a race having a peculiar language, acharacteristic physique, and primitive customs. Here are laboriouslycultivated oats, rye, potatoes—not a blade of wheat, not an apple-treeis to be discerned; no spring or rivulet freshens the parched soil. Thelength and severity of the winter are betokened by the trees and polesseen at intervals on either side of the road. But for such precautions,even the native wayfarer would be lost whe