Road _v_. rail--Scenes, sublime and ridiculous--Hôtel
d'Angleterre--Questions and "The Argelès Shepherd's Reply"--A forbidden
path--The ride to Ges, Serres, Salluz, and Ourous--Argelès
church--Route Thermale--Ges--The tree in the path--"A regular
fix"--Serres--"It's a stupid foal that doesn't know its own mother"
--A frothing stream--A fine view--Pigs in clover--Salluz
--Ourous--Contented villagers--The high road--The bridge on the
Pierrefitte road--Advice to sketchers--"Spring's Bitters and
Sweets"--The "witch of the hills"--Large green lizards--"Jeannette's
Lamb"--Round the Argelès valley--Château de Beaucens--Villelongue--
Soulom--The old church--Hôtel de la Poste, Pierrefitte--St. Savin--The
verger and the ancient church--Cagots--"The Organ's Tale"--St. Savin's
tomb--The Château de Miramont--Jugged Izard--Market-day--Sour bread and
the remedy--Arrival of the first parcel.


CHAPTER V.

CAUTERETS.

Hôtel de la Poste, Pierrefitte--The Gorge--Its majestic beauty--The
resemblance to the Llanberis Pass--Mrs. Blunt becomes poetical--Zinc
mines--Le Pont de Médiabat--Entering the town--The Rue Richelieu and
Hôtel du Parc--Winter's seal upon them still--Thermes des
Oeufs--Thermes de César--The Casino and Esplanade des Oeufs--A good
dinner and the menu--The start for the Col de Riou--The Grange de la
Reine Hortense--The pines--Miss Blunt's "Exhortation to the First
Snow"--The dogs and their gambols--Defeated, but not discouraged--To
the Cérizey Cascade--The baths of La Raillère, Petit St. Sauveur, and
Le Pré--Cascade de Lutour--The Marcadau Gorge--Scenery--Pic de