TRAVELS IN THE PYRENEES.*
Ma. SCOTT O'CONNOR gives us a very complete and a very delightful account of the Eastern Pyrenees and of the adjoin- ing coast, which is, as he says, but little known, "yet this country, with its superb climate and historic associations, is worthy of a wider fame." Readers of this book will long to see for themselves the wonderful views and enjoy the southern sunshine that the author's accomplished literary style brings so vividly before them. The only drawback to this part of the Mediterranean coast seems to be the mistral, which, unless one is possessed of the vitality of Daudet's Numa Rournestan, is an enemy to be feared and avoided. After giving us " a, bird's-eye view " of the country which he is going to describe more fully, and a concise and interesting historical sketch of " Three Thousand Years in a French Department," Mr. Scott O'Connor tells us exactly what we want to know about such places as "Vernet of the English," dominated by " Le Canigou," that mountain with a personality of its own, and the surrounding villages and townships. He also draws a vivid • Travels in the Porettees, including Andorra and the Coast from Barcelona to Carcassonne. By V. C. Scott O'Connor. London : John Long. [les. 6d. net.] picture of the towns on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees, from Gerona, grown old in grandeur, with its majestic cathedral and soaring campanile, to Barcelona, whose " great buildings are, if the truth must be spoken, vulgar and otiose. They have a certain originality, which may culminate some day in something fine and noble, but that day is not yet." The account of Andorra, that strange little country which is an example of what a peasantry left to itself can achieve, is curiously interesting:— "Here have these people generation after generation lived out their hard lives, bearing upon the pitiful faces of their old women, the plain flat forms and features of their daughters, the dry and wrinkled physiognomy of their men, the marks of a life that seems little better than that of their beasts. . . . The country in some parts is superbly beautiful. . . . Here we are at the summit of a world. Neither village nor habitation was in sight. All round us rose the towering peaks, black and sombre, with the snow lying in vast fields within their concave folds. . . . The sloping pasture lands were emblazoned with flowers ; narcissus and hyacinth, kingeups, buttercups, gentians of the deepest blue, pansies, forget-me-nots, anemones, and a multitude of other sweet and lovely things."
We have but little space to speak of the many delightful and remarkable people that the author made friends with during his travels, from the Prince Bishop of Seo d'Urgell, to Cisco, the Andorran muleteer, with his black mule Chatto, and all the company of innkeepers and coach drivers, who are often the connecting links between the foreign wayfarer and the country he is trying to know. The book is well illustrated by a large number of photographs, and a map adds to its interest.
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