New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-02-12
A WINTER JOURNEY.
THE SOUTH OF FRANCE.
frRoM sTAFF CORRESPONDENT OF THE rRIBuSE.l

IL.

TOULOUSE, January. 1882.
If your only object in crossing from Bordeaux to
the Mediterranean is to get over the ground as
quickly as possible, you will OF course take the
direct route by Agen and Toulouse; but the trav-
eller with an eve for the picturesque will find it
we'll worth his while to make a detour toward the
Smith by way of Pau and Tarbes, even though this
little excursion involve the sleeping one or perhaps
two nights on the road. Pau, Toulouse and several
other towns offer comfortable resting places; in
deed good hotels are rs common in France as bad
ones are in America and the ride along the base of
the Pyrenees is an experience not to be under
valued. Leaving Bordeaux in the early morning,
we travelled first almost TO the Bay OF Biscay, and
then rode nearly south for several hours until we
struck the main line of railway leading from
Riarriiz and Bayonne TO the Mediterranean Our
path Law acioss the sandy plain of the Landes.
region famous for its arid wastes It's shepherds on
stills and its scarcity of fresh water. But within
half a century the character OF this district has
been greatly changed. Instead OF deSolate heath
the most conspicuous feature OF the landscape now
Is the resinous fir, planted here in extensive
forests and yielding large supplies of turpentne.
The monotonous stretches of these trees. SCARED
aud streaked in the process of collecting the sap
would remind us of the dreary railway ride across
eastern North Carolina if the forest were not so
Dry and so plainly artificial. The trees are
planted in rows with geometrIcal precision, ana
there is little underground. Yet far from
beng tedious the ride across the reclaimed Landes
Is now pleasant relief after the monotony OF the
highly cultivated and fertile regions where trees
are looked upon rare specimens of the vegetable
Kingdom. to be carefully preserved, but under due
restraints lest they multiply without permission or
throw too much shade
As we passed ont of the sandy plain of the
1.andes the whole aspect of the country became
suggestive of bright and genial skies. Heavy
wraps were thrown of, windows were opened to
the balmy air, the spirit rose in the warm sunshine.
The farm work indicated the beginning OF spring;
a few hardy vegetables were already thriving IN
the gardens: patches of verdure appeared and here
and there few wild flowers. Soon the irregular
outline of a towering mass OF white began to olsen
gage itself from the clouds the southern horizon
and by degrees the Pyrenean chain was revealed IN
dazzling magnfcence. The nearer slopes-the
buttresses OF the great mountain wall-are covered
with forests whose color in summer forms one OF the
distinctive gories of the prospect. AT this season
their foliage appears nearly UNIFORM reddish
brown contrasting finely with the sheet OF snow
which completely wraps the greater elevations be-
hind them. 1t was not only the tops that were
white but the whole of the main range, as low
down as we could from our position, wore the
winter maptle The sOutbeasterly direction OF the
railway brought nearer and nearer TO the noun
tains, and every moment added to the spendor ana
variety of the view. The fascination OF the distant
prospect of the Pyrenees lies chiefly in the bold
ness and romantic lrregularity OF their shapes; III
some respects they seem to Inc even more impressive
than the Alps Here not indeed the stupendous
line of inaccessible SUBMITS and icy pinnacles
which bounds the Swiss horizons; but towering
crags broken into fantastic forms. serraed ridges
sbarp peaks and lofty cones heapcd together in
a superb confusion which conveys more foTclbIy |
than mere height could do the sense OF majesty anu
Sasiness. Deep valleys cut far into the range anu
open yistas of surprising beauty. Lateral ridges |
run northward from the main chain thirty or lorty
miles into the plains of France, and savage gorges
with difficult mule paths. lie between them There
are only four places the whole frontier where the
mountains can be crossed by carriages, anu two OF
these are at the eastern and western extremltles
respectively.
The development of this prospect brought us TO
Pau where the train stopped at the foot Of the
steep terraced hill, upon which rise the lesuVe
town the imposing hotels and the famous castle.
They all stand in the sunshine and look south across
n smiling vale and a rushing river at the snow-clad
mountains in the distance. This was the cap
,tal of the ancient princpaty of Bcarn, the birth
place of Henry of Navarro whose cr'dle-a huge
tortoise shell-swngs in of the chambers OF the
castle and whose statue there represents him rest
ing ON his truncheon after the victory OF IVY.
Here the young prince educated by his mother,
Jeanne dAlbret In the Calvinistlc religion, when
he abandoned III order TO save MS lie after
Ybe St Bartholomew massacre, and again and
finally in order to become King Henry Nv. OF
France. Pau, too, the birthplace of Berna
dotte who gave mp the Catholic lgion in order to
become King OF Sweden. The house OF his tSther,
the saddler is pointed out i'll the town; and valu-
able gifts which he sent from Stockholm are pre-
served in the castle 1t is the memory OF Henry
" however the good king" the hero OF the
white plume the founder of the dynasty OF Bour-
bon the one French ruler who in a turbulent ana
Infamous era consulted the peace and prosperity
of his people, that is more especially cherished IN
I'll Pyrenean pIincpality. The country is 1uli OF
legends of his childhood. Here, that he might grow
up bold and hardy, he was nursed IN peasants
cottage he was dressed in peasants clothes he ate
rude fare he ran barefoot over the rocks. Perhaps
in popular estimation the long and scandalous
chronicle of his later amOurs only added little
Frencb gliding to the romance of his early career
and the splendor of his reign. He was great king
and a practical political reformer. Whatever may
be thought of The means by which he secured the
throne-and after the death OF Henry Ill. he SAT
nnon the fence four years before he finally got over
on the Popes slde-his accession was Dressing 10
the nation. But l confess that lind 1t hard 10
make hero out of any of the leaders IN the MIS-
called wars of religion which for many years
filled France with murder, treachery, pillage and
destruction. The chief of the Huguenot faction
one dav was the king of the Catholic faction the
next. and both pursued their ambitious political
aims under the pretext of creed to which their
crimes gave the lie and upon which their life was
an outrage. Pau was the prison oil both parties IN
turn At Orthez an hour before reaching TINS
Mace. they show you a bridge from which the Cal
whist soldiers of Montgomery threw the priests INTO
the river in 1869. The same year Jeanne dAlbiet