pots--such
as San Veran and Dormilhouse--were, in his opinion, by far the most
promising. Of the former he said, "It is the highest, and consequently
the most pious, village in the valley of Queyras;" and of the
inhabitants of the latter he said, "From the first moment of my
arrival I took them to my heart, and I ardently desired to be unto
them even as another Oberlin."

CHAPTER IV.

THE VAUDOIS MOUNTAIN-REFUGE OF DORMILHOUSE.

The valley of Fressinieres could never have maintained a large
population. Though about twelve miles in extent, it contains a very
small proportion of arable land--only a narrow strip, of varying
width, lying in the bottom, with occasional little patches of
cultivated ground along the mountain-sides, where the soil has settled
on the ledges, the fields seeming in many cases to hang over
precipices. At the upper end of the valley, the mountains come down so
close to the river Biasse that no space is left for cultivation, and
the slopes are so rocky and abrupt as to be unavailable even for
pasturage, excepting of goats.

Yet the valley seems never to have been without a population, more or
less numerous according to the rigour of the religious persecutions
which prevailed in the neighbourhood. Its comparative inaccessibility,
its inhospitable climate, and its sterility, combined to render it one
of the most secure refuges of the Vaudois in the Middle Ages. It could
neither be easily entered by an armed force, nor permanently occupied
by them. The scouts on the hills overlooking the Durance could always
see their enemies approach, and the inhabitants were enabled to take
refuge in caves in the mountain-sides, or flee to the upper parts of
the valley, before the soldiers could clamber up the steep Pas de
l'Echelle, and reach the barricaded defile through which the Biasse
rushes down the rocky gorge of the Gouffouran. When the invaders
succeeded in penetrating this barrier, they usually found the hamlets
deserted and the people fled. They could then only wreak their
vengeance on the fields, which they laid waste, and on the dwellings,
which they burned; and when the "brigands" had at length done their
worst and departed, the poor people crept back to their ruined homes
to pray, amidst their ashes, for strength to enable them to bear the
heavy afflictions which they were thus called upon to suffer for
conscience' sake.

The villages in the lower part of the valley were thus repeatedly