y bed below, and a roadway along either bank--that on the
eastern side having been partly formed by blasting out the cliff which
overhangs it.

After crossing the five-arched bridge which spans the Gardon, the road
proceeds along the eastern bank, up the valley towards Mialet. It
being market-day at Anduze, well-clad peasants were flocking into the
town, some in their little pony-carts, others with their baskets or
bundles of produce, and each had his "Bon jour, messieurs!" for us as
we passed. So long as the road held along the bottom of the valley,
passing through the scattered hamlets and villages north of the town,
our little springless cart got along cleverly enough. But after we had
entered the narrower valley higher up, and the cultivated ground
became confined to a little strip along either bank, then the mountain
barriers seemed to rise in front of us and on all sides, and the road
became winding, steep, and difficult.

A few miles up the valley, the little hamlet of Massoubeyran,
consisting of a group of peasant cottages--one of which was the
birthplace of Roland, the Camisard chief--was seen on a hill-side to
the right; and about two miles further on, at a bend of the road, we
came in sight of the village of Mialet, with its whitewashed,
flat-roofed cottages--forming a little group of peasants' houses lying
in the hollow of the hills. The principal building in it is the
Protestant temple, which continues to be frequented by the
inhabitants; the _Annuaire Protestant_ for 1868-70, stating the
Protestant population of the district to be 1,325. Strange to say, the
present pastor, M. Seguier, bears the name of the first leader of the
Camisard insurrection; and one of the leading members of the
consistory, M. Laporte, is a lineal descendant of the second and third
leaders.

From its secluded and secure position among the hills, as well as
because of its proximity to the great Temelac road constructed by
Baville, which passed from Anduze by St. Jean-de-Gard into the Upper
Cevennes, Mialet was well situated as the head-quarters of the
Camisard chief. But it was principally because of the numerous
limestone caves abounding in the locality, which afforded a ready
hiding-place for the inhabitants in the event of the enemies'
approach, as well as because they were capable of being adapted for
the purpose of magazines, stores, and hospitals, that Mialet became of
so much importance as the citadel of the insurgents. On