White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1930-05-02
FRANCE HAS WORST
FLOOD IN CENTURY
Beautiful Southland Swept
by Deluge.

uOOO III century OF more, WHICH
drowned scores Of people, swept away
villages and bridges many hundreds of
years old, destroyed vineyards, and
put hundreds Of square miles of farm
ing land under water. has been CEN
tered In the Gascony, Midi and Lam
guedoc regions just north of the east
ern Pyrenees mountains in southern
France.
This country and it's life under Or
binary conditions Is. described IN a
bulletin from the Washington. ID. c.,
headquarters of the National Geo
graphic society based on commune
cation to the society from Melville
Chatter who travelled across the region
Of the recent floods, through the Lat
eral and Midi canals, in a canoe.
Moissac, Where Loss Was Heavy.
Mr.. Chatter writes thus of Moissac
where breaking dam caused the
death of $50 persons and destroyed a
large part of the town.
1--WE came to Moissac through a
pretty countryside of haymaking
scenes and red-roofed farmhouses. Here
the sinuous canal hardly permitted
even canoe to squeeze between the
monster barges pyramided with wine
tuns for Bordeaux, the western Midis
wine center.
"Surely 1t was by sheer prodigal-
ity Of the religious art Impulse that
Moissac, a mere rustic townlet, became
lowered with Twelfth century clois
tiers which rival any in France! Their
column capitals, craven with many a
scene in which popes and cardinals
| figure, constitute q verltable church
history in stone.
"Long before we gained the Canal
du Midi at Toulouse we had learned
how wildly the French for midday
describes Pyrenean France. Ones
abiding recollections of the Midi are
Of the MISUNDERSTANDING heat, whit
ish, fast-shuttered houses, whtish
roads, dust-blanched fields and foil
age-all under cloudless. turquoise
sky whose fires light the peasants
bedtime hour.
"At Toulouse we left the Lateral
canal and entered the much older
Canal du Midi. The Canal du Midi Is
not only an important commerce car
rier; 1t is among the most beautiful
Of French waterways. Immediately
beyond Toulouse we found ourselves
floating through series Of woodland
vistas, ceaseless interplay Of lights
shadows and reflections, that changed
with each turn of this endlessly twist.
ing stream.
"Soon we left Gascony behind and
were we'll into Languedoc In the neat
measured-out countryside through
which we were passing, the days work
began at gray o'clock. Then the first
barge locks through, old crones mar.
shall regiments of geese, and snow,
white oxen drink ut the canal side
At sweltering noon the clatter of the
American baling machine ceases, meI
put cabbage leaves in their hats ant
the oxen stand flank deep In the back
water.
"Field work and locking through
continue until o'clock. Then there
is an hour of mandolin tinlsling and
beer drinking in the canal-side cafe
whose placard begs the amiable cHen
tele to wish we'll to regulate the con
sommations before departing And ~
to bed. Such is life in the back doors
country.
love.iest Stretch.
Beyond Carcassonne lay the canals
loveliest stretch. with the Black noun
tain's peaks rising higher and nearer
day by day, as we approached the
foothills of the Pyrenees.
From Carcassonne to Beziers thu
scene resembled one continuous vine
yard go miles long.
"Finally our trip came to an enc
at Cette on the Mediterranean wher,
hotel-fringed quays and busy ship Ia
sins lent Venetian air to the scene
It was evening and we watched the suI
sink over the Midi.
"The Midi! 1t is Frances sun
in the veins OF Bernard de panassac
highwayman and troubAdour; OF dare
devil d'Artagnan; OF Cyrnno de Berg
erac, duelist-poet supreme; OF dashInt
Richard Plantagenet. the most meridi
onal of Englands kings. 1t Is Frances
music-loving, bullfighting southland
heady as its own wines, whose ragged
revolutionaries marching into Pari.
first popularized the 'Marseillaise
"Quick loves, quick hates. quicl
laughter-of such is the Midi, the Ian,