Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-11-27
Geographic News
Bulletins by the
National Geographic Society
BATTLE OF RIVERS

tional boundaries would play i'm
portant parts is indicated in a dis
patch from the Pyrenees. This dis
patch states that while France is
considering the diversion of n of
the French headwaters of the
Spanish river Segre, Spanish engi-
neers are studying the possibilities
of making a retaliatory diversion. of
the Garonne which rises in Spain
and flows through France. A bull
letin from the Washington, d. c.,
headquarters OF the National Geo
graphic Society tells something Of
these two rivers which might bring
about a unique war" of picks and
shovels and concrete dams.
ITO say that If France shifts the
headwarters Of the Segre. Spain, in
the valley Of the Garonne, may give
her "a Roland for her Oliver not
only puts the situation in regard
the bulletin, "but it happens to put
this well known phrase to a singu-
larly appropriate use. 1t was in
the rugged Pyrenees country hat
the greatest exploits of those two
knightly peers of Charlemagne are
supposed to have been performed.
Not many miles away, in fact, is the
great cleft in the mountains called
the Breach of Roland which leg
end says the hero carved at one
stroke with his Calls counterpart
of Excalibur.
"The country about the headwa-
ters of the Spanish Segre is the bet
ter known of the two regions. 1t
is the more or less famous Ger
dagne, perhaps the most beautiful
of the extensive Pyrenees valleys
a region that might well lay claim
to being the peer of any valley
Switzerland, Italy or the Tyrol, any
vale of Kashmere. or any OF Colo
radios charming emerald parks.
As level almost al a floor. the Ger
dagne il the product Of extensive
glacial action. To the south tower
the great snowy peaks OF the Span
ish Pyrenees; to the east and north,
those of France: and to the west
ra, the tiny republic of a handful OF
Catalan mountaineers who have
tenaciously kept their independence
and their medievalism. wedged in
between two strong nations.
'-This is one Of the historic high
ways between Spain and the north.
Hannibal is asserted to have come
near here on his memorable march
toward Rome. Roman legions
marched by and planted their colo
MES. The Saracen horde poured
through to grasp southern France.
And across the Cerdagne in turn
came the Army Of Charlemagne to
press the Moors southwark In the
retreat that finally cleared Europe
of their rule.
Boundary Arbitrary Line
French and Spanish forces have
flowed and ebbed across the beau
tiful valley many times. At last, by
the Treaty Of the Pyrenees in 1859,
the Cerdagne was divided between
the two nations. Between France
and Spain the crest OF the Pyrenees
serves as the natural boundary
throughout most of it's extent. But
in the Cerdagne the international
line runs across the fair mountain
valley dividing it In a way in which
nature has no part. For a mile or
so it runs almost literally across
fields, then climbs along foothills
toward the Andorran frontier.
"In the other direction the line
follows for a space a tumbling
mountain stream over which a
small bridge carries the road from
the south side is the Spanish town
of Puigcerda, long the natural cap
ital and trading center of both the
Spanish and French ports of the
valley; beyond the bridge on the
north is Bourg Madame, the rail-
head of France.
"The valley Is an irrigated gar
den spot for it's simple peasants,
alike in its French and Spanish por-
tions. Everywhere the available
soil is carefully titled or the flower
ed meadow-lands pastured with
stock. Until Just before the World
War the Cerdagne was remote from
the world, and the tourists who
knew it's calm beauty and its unsur-
passed sunsets were few. With the
completion Of an electric railroad to
Bourg Madame this scenic gem Of
the Pyrenees became suddenly ac-
cessible, and since the war its visi-
tors have been more numerous.
Puigcerda shares in the popularity,
but the Spanish valley south and
west of the town still has the prim-
tive flavor of the past.
Garonne's Headwnters More Isolated
"The heads of the northern val
leys Of the Cerdagne are the French
sources of the Segre. The chief of
these reach probably twenty miles
into French territory. They fur
nish, of course, only a part of the
waters of the Segre. Other tribu-
taries rise in Andorra and in Spain.
But the water of French origin is
undoubtedly OF great importance
Immediately south of the interna-
tional line.
"Ths Spanish portion Of the
French River Garonne, some fifty
miles to the west of the Cerdagne,
is much more isolated than the lat
ter. The Spanish call this valley
the Val de Aran. It is in almost
the geographical middle of the
Pyrenees in a region not at all de-
veloped by railroads on the Spanish
side and little developed on the
French side. A well-marked dedle
of the river as its energies from
Spain into France operates to sep
arate the Spanish and French val
legs In contract to the situation in
the Cerdagne. Some 10000 Spanish
mountaineers inhabit the Val de
Aran, and because Of their isolation
thev have almost as marked a de-