his interesting account of the
geology of Central France, "are called 'causses' in the provincial
dialect, and they have a singularly dreary and desert aspect from the
monotony of their form and their barren and rocky character. The
valleys which separate them are rarely of considerable width. Winding,
narrow, and all but impassable cliff-like glens predominate, giving to
the Cevennes that peculiarly intricate character which enabled its
Protestant inhabitants, in the beginning of the last century, to offer
so stubborn and gallant a resistance to the atrocious persecutions of
Louis XIV."

Such being the character of this mountain district--rocky, elevated,
and sterile--the people inhabiting it, though exceedingly industrious,
are for the most very poor. Sheep-farming is the principal occupation
of the people of the hill country; and in the summer season, when the
lower districts are parched with drought, tens of thousands of sheep
may be seen covering the roads leading to the Upper Cevennes, whither
they are driven for pasture. There is a comparatively small breadth of
arable land in the district. The mountains in many places contain only
soil enough to grow juniper-bushes. There is very little verdure to
relieve the eye--few turf-clad slopes or earth-covered ledges to
repay the tillage of the farmer. Even the mountains of lower elevation
are for the most part stony deserts. Chestnut-trees, it is true, grow
luxuriantly in the sheltered places, and occasionally scanty crops of
rye on the lower mountain-sides. Mulberry-trees also thrive in the
valleys, their leaves being used for the feeding of silkworms, the
rearing of which forms one of the principal industries of the
district.

Even in the immediate neighbourhood of Nismes--a rich and beautiful
town, abounding in Roman remains, which exhibit ample evidences of its
ancient grandeur--the country is arid, stony, and barren-looking,
though here the vine, the olive, and the fig-tree, wherever there is
soil enough, grow luxuriantly in the open air. Indeed, the country
very much resembles in its character the land of Judea, being rocky,
parched, and in many places waste, though in others abounding in corn
and wine and oil. In the interior parts of the district the scenery is
wild and grand, especially in the valleys lying under the lofty
mountain of Lozere. But the rocks and stones are everywhere in the
ascendant.

A few years ago we visited the district; and while procee