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St. Etienne stat., as in Route 24.
By a hilly road you come then to

FIRMIGNY (12 kil.), among coal mines, silk fac tories, &c.

MONISTROL (17 kil.), between two valleys, having remains of an Ursuline convent, and the country seat of the bishops of Puy, now a ribbon factory. Pop. 4,620.

has a curious Gothic church, 190 feet long, on the | This route runs through Auvergne, and the romantic" top of Puy-le-Mimet.-On or near the Infernets, country at the head of the Loire, Lot, &c., little a stream to the north-east, are the following:-known to ordinary tourists. THOLONET (4 kil.), a charming country spot in the valley of the stream, where signs of Roman occupation are detected.-St. Marc (5 kil.), a little higher, has an old château fort in the pass of Vauvenargues, and the tower of Les Signeau, on a plain 1,300 feet high.-Further up is Vauvenargues (11 kil.), at the bottom of Mont Victoire, so called from the famous victory of Marius over the Teutons, 125 B.C. It has a castle of the 14th cent., with a hermitage at the top of the mountain, 3,420 feet high, where a fête is kept 24th April. -Beyond this is Puy- İ loubier (16 kil.), which enjoys a fine view of Mont Victoire, and has the grotto or hermitage! of St. Ser.]

PEYOLLES (21 kil.).

[BARJOLS (20 kil. east), in a picturesque spot, frequently visited by sketchers. It stands in an amphitheatre, 'among woods and waterfalls, and has manufactures of paper, wax, leather, with a trade in olive oil, fruits, &c. Pop. 3,300.] ST. PAUL-LES-DURANCE (13 kil.), near Mirabeau's family château, where he lived when a boy. [About 18 kil. to the north of it is MANOSQUE, on the Durance, a town of 5,100 souls, who carry on a good trade in olives, oil, truffles, eaux-de-vie.]

GREOUX, or Bains-de-Gréoux (18 kil.), has some useful mineral springs, once known to the Romans, and frequented from May to September.

RIEZ (20 kil.), the Abece of the Romans, on the Ouvestre, under high hills, in a fertile spot, has some antiquities, one of which is a group of four Corinthian pillars, near another of eight columns, all of granite. Trade in wine, fruit, &c. Pop. 2,900. [About 15 kil. to the east is MOUSTIER, in the midst of a chain of rocky heights, and partly built on the bridges which carry the road over the torrent lying in a deep valley below. Across the head of this gorge, behind the village, some one has suspended an iron chain from peak to peak, 417 feet long, with a star hanging from the middle. What it was intended for is not known.]

ESTOUBLON (19 kil.).

DIGNE is 20 kil. further. (See Route 25.)

ROUTE 28.

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YSSINGEAUX (120 kil.), a sous-préfecture in department Haute-Loire, with a population of 7,600, and no remarkable building, except a modern church. Coach to Tain stat. on Marseilles line.

After 28 kil. more, through the volcanic country of Velay, you come to

LE PUY,

77 kil., or 48 miles from St. Etienne.
HOTELS.-Du Palais Royal;
De Milan;

Des Ambassadeurs;

Du Commerce. Pop. 16,000.

OBJECTS OF NOTICE. -Roche de CorneilleCathedral-St. Michel's Chapel-Museum-Polignac Castle Orgues de Espally.

Capital of department Haute-Loire (formerly of Velay in Auvergne) seat of a diocese, &c., near the Roman Reussio. It was at one time called Ville d'Anis, and then Puy or Puech, i.e. a peak, from the volcanic mountain on whose north and west sides it lies, sloping in a remarkably picturesque way towards the Borne, which valley joins those of the Dolaison and Loire close by.

This conical peak, in the midst of a circle of other rugged volcanic hills covered with vineyards, &c., is 2,484 feet above the sea, or 460 feet above its own spreading base; from which the lava-built houses, with their tiled roofs, rise in tiers, past the Cathedral, the gardens of the seminary, &c., to the top, called the Roche de Corneille, and crowned by the ruined castle. Viewed from the Pont St. Jean, this top offers a rough likeness to Henry IV., with his aquiline nose, moustache, and beard.

On the east of Mont d'Anis, is a sharp peak of volcanic breccia nearly 300 feet high, called L'Aiguilhe or L'Aiguille (the needle), on which is the little spire Chapel of St. Michel, seemingly inaccessible, but reached by a spiral of 218 steps. It is in the Romanesque style of the 10th cent. Below, between the peaks, is the "temple of Diana," a little seven-sided

Lyons to St. Etienne, Le Puy, Mende, Albi, Romanesque Chapel of St. Clair, now used as a barn

and Toulouse.

Distance, 410 kil., or 244 miles, from St. Etienne,

or a theatre. From the very sloping position of the town, the streets are too irregular and steep for car

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great machicolated towers on each side. A flight of 120 broad steps brings you up to the

Cathedral, which stands with its back to the rock, and is built of lava, in a half Romanesque style. It has two pillars of red porphyry in front, an isolated pyramidal spire and low towers, a nave of three aisles on great pillars, good carved pulpit, a painting of the Innocents, a carving on wood of St. Andrew's martyrdom, and an altar of divers colours, on which stands an ebony image of the Virgin in gold brocade. brought (they say) from Egypt, by St. Louis on his return from the Crusades, 1254; a gift which produced many pretended miracles, besides an abbey and convents, and many royal visits. The bishop of Le Puy was, by custom, president of the States of Velay.

A large priests' seminary and the hospital stand near the cathedral. At the college (which has a chapel with an Italian front) is a library of 5,000 volumes. St. Laurent's great church in Basse Ville, near the bridge, contains the modern effigies of Duguesclin, copied from those destroyed by the Baron des Adrets, when he and his fierce Calvinists attacked the town. A new Hôtel de Ville is in Place des Breuil; and at the Museum is a collection of pictures, Roman antiquities, minerals, and fossils.

Manufactures of blond and cotton lace, woollen goods, leather, skins for wine bottles, muleteers' hats, and bells, &c. Coaches to Clermont, St. Etienne, Mende, and Tain stat, on the Marseilles line.

Among the various objects of notice in the neighbourhood (of which the Roche de Corneille commands a fine prospect), are-the Orgues d'Espally (west', the chateaux of Polignac, St. Vidal, and Loudes (north-west), chateau of Ceyssac (south-west), Roche Rouge, or Red Rock (east), the cavernes des Fées, the lac de Limagne, and numerous volcanic peaks. [POLIGNAC (3 kil.) is a village near the Borne, round the base of a basalt mass, crowned by the fine keep and round towers of the ruined castle of the Polignac family, which stands on the site of a temple of Apollo (Apollonicum, whence the present name), and was destroyed at the Revolution. Its seigneurs were styled "Kings of the Mountains.' At 18 kil. beyond this, up the river, neag Allègre, is the Cratère, or Dôme de Bar, a perfect crater, 1,590 feet diameter, and 127 deep, the sides being planted with beeches. Orgues d'Espally (2 miles west of Puy) on the Borne, is a striking pyramidal mass of basalt pillars, like the pipes of an organ (orgues), at the top of which are traces of a château, where Charles VII., when nearly all France was lost to him,

was proclaimed by the States of Velay, 1424. One of the best views of le Puy is got here. At 30 kil. south-east-by-south of le Puy is Mont Mezenc, in the Cevennes, the highest of the volcanic range of Ardèche, (1,940 yards above the sea,) at the head of the Lignon, Gazelle, Erieux, &c., and not far from the Gerbier de Joncs (1,710 yards), at the Loire's head.

Mont Mezenc has the two fine falls of la Roche and la Baume, on the west side, 82 and 98 feet down; and commands one of the noblest views in France, taking in the French and Swiss Aips, &c.] CHACORNAC (14 kil.). About 3 kil, west of this is Bouchet lake, in the crater of a volcanic peak, 14,760 feet round, and 92 feet deep. LANDOS (8 kil.).

PRADELLES (8 kil.) where a road turns off to Au benas in Ardèche (see Route 29).

LANGOGNE (6 kil.), on the Allier in the Cevennes, where another road turns to Alais and Grand Combe (see Route 31), is on one of the highest places in the department of Lozère, and has a church, which belonged to an abbey of the 10th cent., founded by the Viscounts de Gévaudan. A Roman camp, is traced on Mont Milan.

[GRANDRIEUX (18 kil. west-north-west), is near Agrippa's Roman way from Lyons into Spain, and has an old square tower. Naussac (6 kil. north-west), lower down the Aller, has remains of a château, which the excellent Belzunce, bishop of Marseilles, during the famous plague of 1772, used to visit. It belonged to Chambons abbey.] CHÂTEAUNEUF-RANDON (19 kil.), on a rocky height, belonged to the seigneurs of Gévaudan, and was defended by the old castle of Randon, which the English held, 1380, when they gave it up to Duguesclin, who died in the meantime, and to whom a pillar was set up at Bitarelle, 1820. Duguesclin was a gentle soldier for that rugged age. On his death-bed, he desired his people to remember, that wherever they made war, churchmen, women, children, and the poor, were not their enemies.

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Vandals. He is called the apostle of the Gabale, or quises, built in the 17th cent.: square, with corner people of Gévaudan. The streets are narrow and towers. crooked, but ornamented with many fountains. Country houses are perched on the hills around.

The Cathedral, with two tall Gothic spire towers (one slender and well carved), stands on the site of St. Privat's grave. At the old episcopal palace, now used for the Préfecture, is a gallery of pictures, some by Bénard. The library contains 7,000 vols. There is a college, a priests' seminary, &c.

Conveyances to Le Puy, Montpellier, Nismes, Clermont-Ferrand, &c.

[In the neighbourhood are the following:-Pont Gothique, a bridge of five arches, one in ruins. Lanuejols (7 kil. east), near the Lot, has a fine Roman mausoleum, about 25 feet square, with Corinthian pilasters, &c., on each face.-Bagnols (9 kil.), and the sulphur springs higher up the Lot.-St. Julien-de-Tournel, 8 kil. higher up, a seat of the lords of Gévaudan. Lead mines were worked here by the Saracens.-VILLEFORT (21 kil. east south-east of this), in the narrow valley of the Devéze, is noted for its lead mines, and is an entrepôt for the wine, silk, salt, oil, grain, &c., of this mountain region.-The ruins of Alène (12 kil.)-Mont Lozère (10 kil.) about 4,900 feet high, in the forests of which the wolf is hunted.] From Mende, on the road to Rodez and Albi, you

pass

BARIAC (9 miles) on the Lot; 11 kil. to the northwest of which is

MARVEJOLS, a sous-préfecture of nearly 4,000 pop. in the valley of the Colagne; it was nearly destroyed by the royal forces under the Duc de Joyeuse, 1586, but restored by Henry IV., and is well built. The springs about have a good dyeing quality.

CHANAC (7 kil.), on the Lot, has remains of Druid stones near it, and, upon the cliffs above, an old château of the bishops of Mende.

[8 kil. to the north-east, on the Colagne, at Chirac, are several other Druid monuments, and a spot called Cimetière des Anglais, where the English were defeated in the 14th cent.]

LA CANOURGUE (10 kil.), in a fertile valley, where the serge stuffs of Canourgue are made, has remains of an ancient fort of St. Amand. Much Roman pottery was found here, 1829.

(5 kil. to north of it, is the church of St. Salmon, built by Pope Urban V. A bridge over the Lot, leads from it to the village of Mont-Jézieu, so called because a colony of Jews were settled nere before the 14th cent.]

MILHAU (30 kil.) or MILLAU, a sous-préfecture in Aveyron, of 10,100 souls, in a pretty part of the Tarn. It suffered in the Albigensian wars, and was one of the first to accept the reformed faith, in 1534, when the marriage of the Benedictine prior with the Abbess of Arpajouie took place here. General Assemblies were frequently held in the town, and it is still chiefly Protestant; the pastors being the Rev. MM. C. Boube and F. Maffre. The stone bridge was rebuilt 1817; a suspension bridge is of later date. There are good walks about. Good ewe-milk cheese (called Roquefort), gloves, vellum, thread, &c., are made. Generals Sarret and Solignac were natives. At 55 kil. to the north-west is Rodez (see Route 52). The road to Montpellier turns off to the south-east (Route 32).

ST. AFFRIQUE (28 kil.) or ST. FRIC, a sous-préfecture of 6,600 souls, in a rocky part of the Sorgue, has many old Gothic houses, and parts of the walls, built 1357, but which Louis XIII. dismantled for its attachment to Protestantism. An old hospital is used for the Mairie, and stands opposite the new palais de justice. The neighbouring hills are covered with vineyards and orchards. Good cloth is made, and it has a trade in cheese, wool, &c. Rev. MM. Mason and Amicel are Protestant pastors here. [At 12 kil. south-south-east, are the warm mineral sulphur waters of Silvanès (104° temperature), which are used from June to September. About 6 kil. south-west of this, near the little village of Pont-de-Camarès, on the Dourdon, are the cold eaux-gazeuses, or carbonic acid gas springs of Andabre and Prugnes, which taste something like soda-water.]

ST. SERNIN (32 kil.), on the Rance, at the bottom of a circle of mountains. About 16 kil., south-east, is Belmont, on the slant of a rock over the Rance, with a good spire to its church.

LA FRAYSSE (24 kil.), in department Tarn; 23 kil beyond which is

ALBI (see Route 52); and

Toulouse is 72 kil. further.

ROUTE 29.

Valence to Privas and Alais

Distance, 132 kil., or 82 miles; through the silk country of Ardèche, and among the Cevennes mountains.

Valence stat., as in Route 20. Opposite this is LE POUZIN, on the Rhône, where the Ouzève falls

SEVERAC 20 kil.), in department Aveyron, is on in. At 12 kil. up the stream, (or 39 kil, from Vathe Biaur, above which is the old château of its mar-lence, vid La Voulte,) is

PRIVAS.

HOTELS.-Du Nord;

De la Croix d'Or (Golden Cross);

Du Lion d'Or;

Du Commerce;

Pop., 5,300.

This small capital of department Ardèche (the old Vivarais), in a hilly spot, where two little streams join the Ouzève, among vineyards and silk works, was an old fortified town, taken, for its attachment to Protestantism, in 1629, after eight weeks' siege, by Louis XIII., the walls razed, and the garrison put to the sword.

Some old houses are seen, and the modern streets are well laid out. It contains a Catholic church, Protestant temple (on the castle site), palais de justice, with a four-column portico; college for 200; bibliothèque of 2,000 vols.; large new prison, and hospital.

Silk goods, leather, oil, spirits, &c., are made. Rev. S. Vincens is Protestant pastor.

Coach to Loriol stat.

[Antraigues (20 kil. west-south-west) is finely seated at the Volane's head, among forests of chesnuts, &c., on masses of basalt and beds of lava, which were thrown out by the neighbouring volcanoes; especially one, called Coupè d'Aisac, having a regularly shaped crater, now filled up by trees. The mountains of Mezenc, Gerbierde-Jones, and other peaks of the Cevennes, are in view.J

AUBENAS (30 kil.), a depôt for the silk trade of the rdèche (pop., 7,420), among the volcanic peaks of the Coiron mountains, which are covered with vines, olives, mulberries, &c. It stands on a hill, over the river Ardèche, above which rise its spire and domed churches, and the towers of its Hôtel de Ville, once a castle of the Ornano and Harcourt families. Parts of the town walls remain; and the college and hospice deserve notice.

Silk and cotton are spun, and paper, &c., made; trade in silk, leather, corn, wine, oil, chesnuts, &c. . Coach to Montélimart stat.

[VALS (5 kil. north-north-west), up the Volane,

which makes several falls, in a most picturesque spot, is noted for its tonic mineral waters; and is near the Pont de Bridon, where the lava beds and basalt rocks, above mentioned, begin. The waters are drunk between June and September. At 14 kil. north-west is

Thueyts, round which, and Mont Pezat, are vast beds of lava, &c., with volcanic ranges, which rise towards Mezenc and the source of the Loire.]

ST. ETIENNE-DE-BOULOGNE (3 kil.), has the fine ruins of one of the feudal castles of the Vivarais district.

[At 10 kil. east-south-east, is
VILLENEUVE-DE-BERG, originally a fortified tower

of the monks of Mazan, who built the town in Philippe le Hardi's time. There is a pillar to Olivier de Serres, a native, who wrote the Theatre d' Agriculture, and first planted the mulberry; the learned de Gebelin was also born here. Pop., 2,600. Coach to Montélimart stat.] L'ARGENTIÈRE (10 kil.), out of the road, in the deep, rocky valley of Ligne, is a sous-préfecture of 3,000 souls, and so called from the lead mines (from which silver, or argent, is extracted), worked here since the 12th cent. The old Gothic church is a light building, and rather elegant; and there is an ancient castle on the cliffs. Trade in silk, &c. Near it is a grotto, including several caves.

[ST. LAURENT DES BAINS (27 kil. north-west), has some excellent warm sulphur waters, in a wild and rocky, but healthy, spot, on the Borne.Jaujac (14 kil. north of Argentière), lies among volcanic peaks, in department Ardèche, and near Ardèche river.]

JOYEUSE (8 kil.), on the Drobie, a branch of the Ardèche.

[Below RUOMS (7 kil. east-south-east), is a wild. rocky part of the Ardèche (especially at the junction of the Voisin), where the river worms itself through caves and round masses of rock of the most fantastic shape (some are regular cubes); while the banks on both sides, in one part, rise, at an angle of 45°, by immense steps made by the wearing away of softer masses of rock.

At Vallom (which has a famous stalactitic grotto), 7 kil. lower down, are two curiosities--1, the Fall of Ray Pic (122 feet down, over a basalt rock), under the curve of which you may take shelter in rain, like the Hepste fall in Brecknockshire, and which freezes in winter; and, 2, the remarkable Pont de l'Arc, a rugged, naturalbridge, of hard, grey limestone, stretching in one arch across the river, about 173 feet span, and 96 high, the uneven roadway upon it being above 200 feet above the water, and 40 feet wide. It has been used from Roman times; LouisXIII. built a fort to command the pass; and cottages stand hard by it. In the neighbourhood is the Gouffre (or gulf) de la Goule, a savage valley, or pass, between the Usége mountains.] JALEZ (11 kil.), near the Chassezac, where the road to Villefort and Mende, in Lozère, turns off

ST. AMBROIX (12 kil.), on the Cèze, in department | excellent first c'ass Hotel for families and gentleGard, near the Besseges and Alais rail.

At 19 kil. further south-west is

men.

Pop. 53,620, one-third of whom are Protestants:

Alais, on the Nismes railway; or 34 kil. to the there are 150,000 in the department. south-east is Uzes, whence it is 20 kil. to

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OBJECTS OF NOTICE. - Cathedral-Maison Carrée-Amphitheatre-Temple of Diana-Tour Magne-Porte de France-Porte d'Auguste.

This old city, the capital of department Gard (part of Languedoc), seat of a bishop, a Protestant consis

tory, a college, &c., is most remarkable for its monuments of Roman antiquity. It stands in the dusty,

Distance from Tarascon, 65 miles, or 105 kil.; five unattractive, though fertile plain of the Vistre, near trains daily, 3 to 4 hours.

Avignon to Tarascon, 13 miles, as in Route 20. Thence, by a viaduct on 7 solid arches, over the Rhône, to

Beaucaire (2 miles), which has an old Provençal castle on the broken rocks above, and is noted for a commercial Fair, lasting from 22nd to 29th July, attended by merchants from all parts of the Mediterranean. As many as 300,000 people are sometimes collected. It is held on the canal and the banks of the river. The old carved Hôtel de Montmorency deserves attention. Pop. 12,000. A bridge of boats, here, has been replaced by Sequin's noble suspension bridge, hanging on four bends, each 426 feet long. It is the largest in France, and ranks next to Menai, which is itself second to that of Fribourg, by another architect, Challey.

the Garrigues hills, or beginning of the Cevennes range. Some think it was founded by the Marseilles Greeks; the Romans, however, who took it, 121 B.C., and called it Nemausus, were its greatest benefactors, and, under Agrippa, built the baths, aqueduct (from Pont du Gard), &c.; while Antonine, whose ancestors were natives, constructed the amphitheatre. It was then two or three times larger than now. The Vandals (407), Saracens (720-7), and others, so reduced it by their ravages, that, in 1336, it had only a population of 400. It was a sort of republic, under consuls, &c., from 1226 till 1555, when it was finally joined to the French crown.

The best general view of Nismes is from the hill, near the barracks, or from the Tour Magne, which overlooks a vast range of country. The old town, or Cité, is a heap of small dirty streets, surrounded by The Aurelian way to Nimes and Spain went through the Grand Cours and the faubourgs of the modern this place, the ancient Ugernum. When its square town; this Cours, on the site of the boulevards, is castle was built, the name was altered to Bellum- well planted, and set off with delightful gardens. In Cadrum, Bel-quadro, &c., from which the present Cours Feuchères, near the station is a handsome form is derived. Outside the town is the pretty fountain, erected 1847; and on the Esplanade is a Gothic oratory of St. Louis, of the 14th cent. A still finer fountain dedicated to the city, by Questel, canal runs down to the sea, below Aigues Mortes, in with colossal figures by Pradier. Many of the lowest connection with the Canal du Midi. At 17 kil. north-streets are named after emperors and noted men, as north-east, is the famous Pont-du-Gard, as described in Route 20.

Adrian, Vidal, a judge, Baduel and Petit, the scholars, Saurin, the divine, Traucat, who planted the first Bellegarde (5 miles). Several cuttings in the mulberries here, &c. Its later buildings are not of scarped rocks are traversed. much consequence.

Manduel (3 miles), beyond which is Beaulieu castle, and Regagnach hill, on which Druid stones have been found. Pass a curved viaduct on 23 arches; then a cutting in the rocks, which sometimes look like ruined castles; then a tunnel; and at length

Marguerittes (3 miles), and

Courbessac (1 mile). Patches of olives are seen, in the generally dry soil. Nimes, or Nismes appears under the cliffs, 2 miles further.⚫

NISMES,

30 miles from Avignon, 490 from Paris? HOTEL-Grand II tel Du Luxembourg-An

The Cathedral, in the Cité, is an irregular pile, with bits of all styles in it, from the Byzantine downwards; the oldest part, near the tower, being of the 11th century (the base, they say, was part of a Roman témple); while the rest belongs to the 16th and 17th centuries. It contains a picture of the Baptism, and tombs of Fléchier and Cardinal Bernis.

St. Paul's, in Place de la Madeline, is a modern building, in the Byzantine and Romanesque styles, begun 1835, by Questel, and much admired by the Nimois. Length, 200 feet; height of spire, 177 feet. The figures over the portal are by Collins, and the wall paintings, which form some of the most consider

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