in the manner described, the consideration of means generally stands in the
way. They cannot afford to work and wait three years. Their existence is
truly wretched, and if it were not for the luxuriant chestnut-woods, which
cover the sides of the narrow valleys or gorges with which the barren
plateau is deeply seamed every few miles, the population of the region
would be more scanty than it is, for the chestnut goes far to sustain the
people through the worst months of the year.

The plough used upon these moors, on the _causses_ of the Quercy, and
in some other districts where the barrenness of the soil has kept the
inhabitants for centuries imprisoned within the circle of their old
routine, is one of the simplest that the world has known. It differs but
slightly from the one figured in the most ancient of Egyptian hieroglyphs,
and is really the same as that which was used in Gaul under the Romans.
Indeed, it has not the improvements that the Romans introduced. Two poles
forming an obtuse angle is the rough shape of it. The wedge-like share is
a continuation of the pole that is held by the ploughman. Often on the
_causses_, where loose stones are inseparably mixed with the soil, the
entire plough is of wood.

[Illustration: PLOUGHING THE MOOR.]

We passed through the village of Marcillac, near the head of one of the
valleys. The soil was much more fertile here, and a maize field was a sign
that the climate was warmer. There were, moreover, pleasant gardens with
fruit-trees and flowers. Oleanders were blooming outside some of the
houses. But we had no sooner risen upon the plateau again than the moor
returned, and for seven or eight miles it continued unbroken. The ground
was slightly undulating, and amongst the gorse and heather were scattered
innumerable juniper bushes.