Cavcasonne, the snow-tipped summits of the highest Pyrenees rise upon the view, and on approaching Toulouse, the whole range becomes more distinctly visible.*

CHAPTER V.

Toulouse—Climate—Bagneres de Luchon—Bagneres de Bigorre—Baths—Lourdes—Valley of Argeles — The Cagots—Bareges, and its Mineral Springs—St. Sauveur—Gavarnie, and Cirque de Marbore.

Toulouse, the ancient city of song and troubadour, is said to have existed before the foundation of Rome. It is situate in a beautiful and fertile plain on the right bank of the Garonne, which is crossed by a handsome bridge of brick, of which material the houses are likewise constructed, stone being a scarce article in this part of France. The population amounts to about sixty thousand. The streets are narrow, thronged, and noisy; several of the shops and cafes are handsome, and decorated in a showy manner. There are two or three fine squares, viz. the Place Lafayette, and especially the Place du Capitole, one side of which is entirely taken up by the Hotel de Ville. On the first floor of this building is a large hall, known by the name of the Salle des illustres Toulonnois, containing busts in terra cotta of the many celebrated characters born at Toulouse from the time of the Romans to the present. Here are held the meetings of the academy of the Floral games, which awards prizes to the best compositions in poetry. The annual meeting and distribution of the prizes take place in May. In an adjoining apartment is the statue of Clemence Isaure, the founder and patroness of these games, who lived in the beginning of the fourteenth century. Toulouse possesses two theatres, several public libraries, reading-rooms, and scientific societies. The people are in general affable, fond of pleasure, and live a good deal out of doors. House-rent and living are cheap. The winter climate is generally mild, without the dryness of Provence, or the humidity which prevails on approaching nearer Bordeaux. Cold winds are, however, sometimes severely felt. The west wind, sweeping over the Atlantic, is laden with moisture, and is extremely trying to invalids. Rain not unfrequently falls, the weather being variable from day to day. In the autumnal months the weather is generally fine till Christmas. In spring, cold and damp winds are prevalent, frequently alternating with rain. The environs are exceedingly productive in fruit and grain; and the flower and fruit market, which is held in the Place du Capitole, is scarcely to be equalled elsewhere. One of the most frequented walks leads to the column lately erected on an eminence at some distance from the town, to the memory of the soldiers of the French army who fell in the battle in 1814. On it is the inscription, "Aux braves morts pour la patrie, Toulouse reconnoissante.''' From this spot a good view may be obtained of the town, and of the positions occupied by the respective armies.

The Garonne is only navigable at Toulouse for small boats; so that travellers proceeding to Bordeaux usually go by land to Agen, (a drive of ten hours,) and there take the steam-boat. Those who direct their course towards the celebrated mineral springs of the Pyrenees, traverse a beautiful and cultivated country, interspersed with numerous villages and hamlets, to St. Gaudens, where they arrive in about eighteen hours. From this point two roads diverge. By following the one to the left, you enter a valley, which becomes narrower and less cultivated as you advance, and after a four hours' drive find yourself at Bagneres de Luchon, which is situate immediately "sotto i gran monti Pirenei" in a valley of the brightest verdure, watered by the Pique and other streams, and above which the Maladetta, the highest mountain of the range, raises its snow-capped peak. The town contains a population of two thousand inhabitants, and is built in the form of a triangle: each apex terminating in an avenue of trees. The lime avenue leads to the bath establishment, which, (like other French baths, is under the superintendence of government,) lies at the foot of a hill, whence the water issues, and passes immediately into the baths. The springs are hot and strongly sulphurous, and are among the most efficacious in the diseases for which this class of mineral waters is indicated. Their temperature varies from 26 to 52° R.

The environs of Bagneres de Luchon are highly romantic, and contain many interesting points, to which agreeable excursions may be made. The lakes of Oo and Seculejo are among the spots most frequently visited; and the lover of solitude, who delights to

"Slowly trace the forest's shady scene,

Where things which own not man's dominion dwell,

And mortal foot hath ne'er or rarely been,"

may find ample scope for the indulgence of his taste; but, notwithstanding its scenic beauties, and the efficacy of its waters, Bagneres would not be an attractive summer residence to most English visitors, unless fond of seclusion, as the French, when aux eaux, associate very little with those whom they have not previously known. There are no public reunions; the accommodations in most of the French baths are very inferior to those of the German; and the presence of vermin in the beds, &c. is not unfrequently complained of. Each family is served with dinners from a traiteur's: there are few tables di'hdte, and those only at the larger baths, for the accommo