MR. PARIS'S LETTERS FROM THE PYRENEES.
THE earlier route of Mr. PARIS, and part of his Pyrenean wander- ings, were not different from those of Lady CHATTERTON. He reached Bayonne from Paris by Orleans and Bourdeaux ; from Bayonne be walked to St. Sebastian ; and retracing his footsteps, departed for Pau, which place he soon left for Eaux Bonnes, one of the spas of the Pyrenees. The rest of his journey consisted of rambles, mostly on foot and without a guide, from one watering- place to another, and to all the accessible places in their vicinity ; crossing the mountains more than once, and descending their South- ern slopes into Spain.
The character and attraction of the book chiefly arise from the manner in which the rambles were performed. The first part of the route was made in the diligence ; so that the author's oppor- tunities of observation were less than Lady CHATTERTON'S, and she had the advantage of preceding him. As a describer of common scenery, Mr. Pears is deficient in vigour and character; his pictures do not impress ; and though the grander features of nature in the Pyrenees are more striking, pure description even of the best kind and exercised upon the best subjects is apt to tire from its want of life. This life is often imparted by our author's manner of travelling on foot. It gives to many of his pages all the interest of adventure, besides taking him into places and making him acquainted with persons that the traveller in a carriage could never see. His attempted walk from Bayonne to Pau, knapsack in hand, a sandy road beneath his feet, and a Southern sun over his head, with the difficulties he encountered from the thinly-inhabited character of the country and the absence of houses of ready entertainment, has some of the interest attending the ex- ertion and privation of a forced march. His solitary ascent to the celebrated Breche de Roland—a singular opening in a wall of rock running along the summit of a mountain, fabled to have been cleft by the hero's sword—is thrilling to read of, though not very wise to have done. There is much of the attraction of a story in the adventure of the author and his friend on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees, when they had to pass a night among the mountains slightly clad, and descended the face of a precipice at dusk which they afterwards found was considered impracticable by a hunter. And there are various other trips where action almost supersedes description, or renders it subordinate to adventure.
Mr. PARIS states that, notwithstanding his three months ex- ploration in the Pyrenees, he is only able to claim a tolerable ac- quaintance with one of their divisions ; that he thinks the Spanish mountains incomparably finer than the French ; and that the grandest scenery is only accessible to the pedestrian. He also strongly recommends his own excursion to his fellow-country- men. Before, however, they should follow his example in the approaching season, it would be well for them to consider two things-have they time ? have they strength ? In going to Italy, whether by France or the Rhine, there is no waste time ; every day brings the tourist to a crack place, which if he cannot appreciate he will like to talk about. Whether a traveller goes to the Pyrenees by land from Paris or by sea to one of the Southern sea- ports of France, the journey is long, with little to relieve it, and the accommodations are indifferent, or downright bad to the real John Bull. Even when he gets there, he cannot enjoy the scenery, unless he is strong, in good condition, and accustomed to mountain- work. From incidental passages Mr. Paws appears to be blessed with vigorous health, to be used to athletic sports, to have been trained to mountain-difficulties amid the Swiss Alps, and to have an enthusiasm for the mere excitement of the toil and risk. What would a common tourist say after a preluding walk, and a climb of three hours and a half up dangerous precipices, to reach the real " dangers" such as assail you when you are upon the
ERECUE DE ROLAND.
As a pass it is but seldom used, except by the smugglers, who care not for its difficulties, or by the few travellers who ascend Mont Perdu. The danger lies on the French side, and I had now arrived at the point where it begins; a smooth glacier that slopes to the distant circus [far below] is to be crossed. This dizzy labour is generally effected by the traveller with a guide on each side, who have their feet armed with crampons, and are furnished with hatchets in order to notch the slippery surface. I essayed the snow with my feet, looked at the stupendous gateway so provokingly near, and then down the huge slope of the smooth ice, which went down and down, and grew steeper and steeper, until it was lost in the hideous precipices of the circus. The sight was too appalling : I could not summon sufficient resolution to attempt the passage, Which was in distance about a quarter of a mile ; and wisely, I think, abandoned it, considering that I was without crampons or any knowledge of the proper mode of effecting it. To understand all its terrors, the place must be seen : once slip, and you are gone for ever past all human aid; the death is too fright- ful for contemplation. The guides tell a story of an unhappy traveller who perished a short time ago in the passage of this glacier. He was crossing it with every possible pre- caution, when his trousers by some unaccountable accident became entangled with his crampons; he lost his balance, and in vain attempted to recover it, since there was nothing at which he could grasp to save himself-in an instant he shot down the sloping ice with the rapidity of a thunderbolt ; while his horrified companions watched his awful career to those fearful precipices where he must have been dashed to pieces, and where of course all search for his re- mains would have been fruitless. When my friend 0 • • ascended, the whole region was covered with fresh-fallen snow, in which he had traced the course of a gigantic set of paws, which the guide declared were those of a bear: the passage of the glacier under such circumstances was of course comparatively 'easy. I also found the frozen mass coated with a layer of snow, with the ex- ception of a portion in the middle, where the blue ice was laid bare and glittered in the sun : had it not been for this, I think I might have crossed to the Briche with safety. Having thus abandoned the passage as being too hazardous, I climbed far above the level of the " Breche de Roland "; and, after obtaining a full view of the Spanish mountains through the gap, I turned the head of the glacier, and continued along a ledge towards another break in the mountain-wall, called the "Fausse Breche." This giddy path formed as it were the coping of a preci- pice that fell perpendicularly some thousand feet to the ice-beds of the Taillon, the most Western limb of the Marbore ; and as I walked along it, I could stretch my right hand over the abyss, and touch with my left a wall of snow
that constituted the crest of the great glacier I had been skirting. I was in- dulging in a hope of reaching the Fausse Bache by this dizzy route, when my
steps were arrested by the abrupt termination of the ledge, and I saw to my
disappointment that from this quarter it was inaccessible. I therefore sat down for some time to enjoy the pleasures of so exalted a position, and to look down into the gulf at the dark blue rents and chasms in the ice, and to search the wilderness for isarde ; whilst I listened to the strange noises in the restless glacier, or to the dull sound of falling rocks or snow which alone disturbed the
air.falso made a sketch of the Fausse Breche, while an eagle soaring above
me appeared to be taking considerable interest in my operations : but the cold was so intense, and my hands became so benumbed, that it was with great diffi- culty I could accomplish it. At this altitude it was Siberian winter, whilst the regions below were reeking from the heats of summer, as the hot haze that enveloped the view sufficiently testified. On retracing my steps, I found a difficulty in my path that I had not anti- cipated: on my way hither I had crossed a chasm where the ledge had been broken down, by keeping a tight hold on the inequalities of the rock ; on re- turning to this awkward place. I found that the surface down which I must now lower myself, with a precipice upwards of a thousand feet immediately be-
neath me, had very few projections that could render me assistance, and even
those upon trial yielded to my weight. I think I must have been a quarter of an hour in planning different positions for my hands, and attitudes for my body,
before I slid down to the narrow glacis that sloped to the precipice : but the rocks held firm, and I soon regained the ledge on the opposite side in safety. This was one of the most disagreeable places I passed on that day ; the gulf being so deep, and the slope to it so inexpressibly terrific.
Far better for the Cockney to survey mountains from the Simplon.
In addition to his other accomplishments, Mr. Rams is an amateur artist, and has illustrated his work with a variety of sketches of objects which struck him, besides engraving some of them on wood : and a useful addition they are-true illustrations, bringing out the descriptions in the text.
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