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[Illustration: A BIT OF OLD FIGEAC. Frontispiece.]
WANDERINGS
BY
SOUTHERN WATERS
EASTERN AQUITAINE
BY
EDWARD HARRISON BARKER
AUTHOR OF 'WAYFARING IN FRANCE'
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON
RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON
Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen
1893
CONTENTS
THE VALLEY OF THE OUYSSE AND ROC-AMADOUR
FROM THE ALZOU TO THE DORDOGNE
WAYFARING UNDERGROUND
IN THE VALLEY OF THE CÉLÉ
IN THE ALBIGEOIS
ACROSS THE ROUERGUE
THE BLACK CAUSSE
THE CAÑON OF THE TARN
IN THE VALLEY OF THE LOT
[Illustration:
OAK CHIMNEY-PIECE AT THE SINECHAUSSÉE (NOW HÔTEL DE VILLE) OF MARTEL.]
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
A BIT OF OLD FIGEAC—Frontispiece
OAK CHIMNEY-PIECE AT THE SINECHAUSSÉE (NOW HÔTEL DE VILLE) OF MARTEL
THE PONT VALENTRÉ AT CAHORS
ROC-AMADOUR
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 southwardtowards the Dordogne. For a few miles the road lay over a barrenplateau; then it skirted a desolate gorge with barely a trace ofvegetation upon its naked sides, save the desert loving box clingingto the white stones. A little stream that flowed here led down intothe rich valley of Creysse, blessed with abundance of fruit. Here Ifound the nightingales and the spring flowers that avoid thewind-blown hills. Patches of wayside took a yellow tinge from thecross-wort galium; others, conquered by ground-ivy or veronica, werepurple or blue. Presently the tiled roofs of the village of Creyssewere seen through the poplars and walnuts. A delightful spot for apoetical angler is this, for the Dordogne runs close by in the shadowof prodigious rocks and overhanging trees. What a noble and statelyriver I thought it, as the old ferryman, with white cotton nightcap onhis head, punted me across! I took the greater pleasure in its breadthand grandeur here because I had seen it an infant river in theAuvergne mountains, and had watched its growth as it rushed betweenwalls of rock and forest towards the plains.
What witchery of romance and spell-bound fancy is in the song of theDordogne as it breaks over its shallows under high rocky cliffs andruined castles! Everything that can charm the poet and the artist ishere. The grandeur of rugged nature combines with the most enticingbeauty of water and mea