PORCH OF THE CATHEDRAL OF ALBI

AMBIALET

CIGALA, THE SHOEBLACK.

[Illustration: THE PONT VALENTRÉ AT CAHORS.]






WANDERINGS BY SOUTHERN WATERS




THE VALLEY OF THE OUYSSE AND ROC-AMADOUR.


From the Old-English town of Martel, in Guyenne, I turned southward
towards the Dordogne. For a few miles the road lay over a barren
plateau; then it skirted a desolate gorge with barely a trace of
vegetation upon its naked sides, save the desert loving box clinging
to the white stones. A little stream that flowed here led down into
the rich valley of Creysse, blessed with abundance of fruit. Here I
found the nightingales and the spring flowers that avoid the
wind-blown hills. Patches of wayside took a yellow tinge from the
cross-wort galium; others, conquered by ground-ivy or veronica, were