142

MOUNTAIN SUMMITS.

shepherd whom I met on my descent to Mont Dore, told me that had I taken a course about a hundred yards to the right of that which I had selected, I should have avoided the mauvais pas which so nearly proved fatal to the success of my exploit, and have .come upon a breach in the Roche Cuzeau, up which I might have clambered with comparative facility. Is it that heaven, that mysterious dwelling-place of pure, unalloyed happiness, where the Christian dares to assign the habitation of Jehovah, is nearer to us, when we stand on the mountain-top,-that we feel lifted spiritually, as well as physically, out of this world, which shall perish as a scroll, and brought more into communion with eternity? All nations, throughout all ages, who have bowed to a mighty spirit with whom is life eternal, have felt this. Thus the poet sings

Not vainly did the early Persian make
His altar, the high places, and the peak
Of earth, o'ergazing mountains, and thus take
A fit and unwall'd temple, there to seek
The Spirit, in whose honour shrines are weak
Uprear'd of human hands; come, and compare
Columns and idol dwellings-Goth or Greek—
With Nature's realms of worship, earth and air,
Nor fix on fond abodes to circumscribe the prayer.

And it is well to remember, that the most impressive doctrines of our Saviour were delivered, not in the Temple, but on the Mount.

The mountain summits of Auvergne are singularly eloquent of the works of God. There, perhaps more than elsewhere, have we evidences of his power. At

DESCENT TO MONT DORE.

143

amazing heights have been discovered fossil remains of gigantic extinct terrestrial and marine* animals, médailles incontestables du deluge, as Fontenelle was the first to call these vestiges.†

I was steeped in thoughts of other worlds, when my spirit was recalled to its mundane home by a rushing sound which I heard above me. Looking up, I saw, within twenty yards of my lair, a magnificent eagle, sweeping, with wide-spreading wings, through the ether. He was, perhaps, as startled as myself; little expecting to behold so unusual a sight as man on these lofty peaks. But true to the majesty of his nature, he manifested no fluttering spirit, but sailed majestically down the

* The most remarkable discovery of fossil bones in Auvergne was between Champeix and Issoire, on an elevated platform, two thousand feet above the sea. The platform is composed of a bed of alluvial matter, overlaid by masses of trachytic breccia, and capped by basalt. In this alluvial bed the bones of no less than twenty extinct species of gigantic mammalia were found, several of which were pronounced by Cuvier to be new. Besides the mammalia, several bones of birds and impressions of fish were discovered. See Bulletin des Sciences, 1824. Sir Charles Lyell, in a paper read before the Geological Society, in 1845, on the lava currents of Auvergne, states that, independently of the remains of fossil animals, forty-three species found imbedded in the lava current flowing from the Puy de Tartaret have been brought to light, all closely allied to recent animals, yet nearly all of them showing some points of difference. Sir Charles Lyell conceives it highly probable that these animals may have been drowned by floods which accompanied the earthquakes and eruptions by which the Puy de Tartaret was formed.

See his Eloge of Leibnitz, a charming composition.

144

DESCENT TO MONT DORE.

mountain slope, without a deviation from his trackless course.

When my limbs were somewhat rested, I set forth on my downward journey. It was a great relief to have muscles brought into play which had long been idle, at the expense of others, and I sprung down the mountain steep with the lightness of a goat. In the course of an hour I fell into the path leading from Mont Dore to the Pic de Sancy. There my adventure terminated, for the remainder of my walk homewards was beaten ground. I paused at the brink of the infantine bubbling Dordogne to bathe my feet, which were somewhat bruised and sore. Then, refreshed and invigorated, I took my way down the valley, and arrived in the gloaming at the baths.

I

CHAPTER VIII.

FOUND myself somewhat of a lion when my passage of the Puy Ferrand became known at Mont Dore. No one, according to the guides, had effected it alone except M. Lecocq, and considerable curiosity was manifested to know how I had accomplished it. The fact that it was utterly impracticable for horses was quite sufficient to deter the most adventurous from attempting it, although I was loud in my praise of the magnificent and wonderful scenery which it unfolds.

It was surprising to witness the total absence of enterprise among the gentlemen visitors at the Baths. If the day was a little warmer than usual, even a ride was deemed too serious an exertion, and the hours were spent lying à l'ombre beneath the

trees.

There was one lady at our hotel capable of great deeds, but who, being bound in the chains of matrimony, had less way than will. She had not been many days among us, ere she rendered herself very conspicuous by her bizarrerie and love of adventure and admiration; not that I instance the latter as a singularity in her as a woman, but it was indulged in so deeply as to make her quite ridiculous.

I know not what illusions her mirror may have reflected into her soul respecting her features, but certainly they were not such as to cause a man to pass a sleepless night thinking of them. Her eyes triumphed most, yet this moment I am unable to satisfy the reader's curiosity respecting their colour; this omission is, however, of little consequence, for, after all, as the admirer of women will readily admit, it is not the colour, but the spirit and soul within, that makes the eye beautiful. Looking at, or rather into, her eyes, I thought of the truthfulness of the expression 'stag-eyed,' which Lady Wortley Montague applied to Turkish beauties, as conveying a very lively image of the fire and animation of the eyes of those ladies. Madame B had stag-eyes, large and full, like two twin lamps, burning brightly beneath dark, arched eyebrows. Marmontel, who was a great admirer of fine eyes, would perhaps, had he seen those of our friend, have applied to her the lines which he addressed to the Duchesse de Bouillon:

Peut-on s'ennuyer dans ces lieux,

Honorés par vos pas, éclairés par vos yeux;

and this brings me to Madame B- -'s person. feet; of which she was considerable justice. The former were fit for a sculptor's model-long and delicate, terminating in slender up-turned rosy fingers; the latter reminded one of Ariosto's happy description:—

the other great points of These were her hands and greatly proud, and with

Il breve, asciutto, e ritondetto piede ;