galleries and vaults that served formerly as a quarry for the
extraction of stone of which the Romans formed their sarcophagi, in
consequence of its powers of absorption of the moisture exuding from
the bodies laid in their stone chests. The same may be said of Le Grand
Sarcoui, shaped like a kettle turned bottom upwards. In some of the
galleries are unfinished sarcophagi. But although originally quarries,
they were used as refuges in later times. At Corent, on the Allier near
Veyre-Mouton, are refuges in caves, so also at Blot-l'Eglise near
Menat, which served the purpose during the troubles of the League.

Meschers is a village in Charante Inferieure, lying in the lap of a
chalk hill that extends to a bluff above the Gironde. This cliff is
honeycombed with caves, excavated perhaps originally as quarries, but
several certainly served as habitations; the several chambers or
dwellings are reached by a ledge running along the face of the cliff,
but the chambers of each particular cave-house have doors of
intercommunication cut through this rock. The Grottes de Meschers are
said to have been used by the Huguenots at a time when it was perilous
to assemble in a house for preaching or psalm-singing. But it is also
quite possible that they served as refuges as well to the Catholics,
when the Calvinists had the upper hand; as, indeed, they had for long.
Their attempts at proselytising was not with velvet gloves, but with
fire-brand, sword, and the hangman's rope. In that horrible period,
exceeding far in barbarity that of the _routiers_ in the Hundred
Years' War, it is hard to decide on which side the worst atrocities
were committed.

[Illustration: CAVES OF MESCHERS. In these caves overlooking the
Atlantic, the Huguenot refugees congregated to hear their preachers.
During the Revolution and Reign of Terror they were occupied by priests