A tour through the Pyrenees . blocks ; its bed is nothing but a ruin. You ascendalong a crumbling pathway, clinging to the stemsof box and to the edges of rocks ; frightened liz-ards start off like an arrow, and cower in the cleftsof slaty slabs. A leaden sun inflames the bluishrocks ; the reflected rays make the air like a fur-nace. In this parched chaos the only life is thatof the water, which glides, murmuring, beneath thestones. At the bottom of the ravine the mountainabruptly lifts its vertical wall to the height of twohundred feet; the water drops in long whitethreads along this polished
A tour through the Pyrenees . blocks ; its bed is nothing but a ruin. You ascendalong a crumbling pathway, clinging to the stemsof box and to the edges of rocks ; frightened liz-ards start off like an arrow, and cower in the cleftsof slaty slabs. A leaden sun inflames the bluishrocks ; the reflected rays make the air like a fur-nace. In this parched chaos the only life is thatof the water, which glides, murmuring, beneath thestones. At the bottom of the ravine the mountainabruptly lifts its vertical wall to the height of twohundred feet; the water drops in long whitethreads along this polished wall, and turns its red-dish tint to brown ; during the whole fall it doesnot cjuit the cliff, but clings to it like silvery tres-. Chap. IV. LANDSCAPES. 147 ses, or a pendent garland of convolvulus. A finebroad basin stays It for an instant at the foot of themountain, and then discharges it in a streamlet intothe bog. These mountain streams are unlike those of theplains ; nothing sullies them ; they never have anyother bed than sand or naked stone. Howeverdeep they may be, you may count their blue peb-bles ; they are transparent as the air. Rivers haveno other diversity than that of their banks ; theirregular course, their mass always gives the samesensation ; the Gave, on the other hand, is a for-ever-changing spectacle ; the human face has notmore marked, more diverse expressions. Whenthe water, green and profound, sleeps beneath therocks, its emerald eyes wear the treacherous lookof a naiad who would charm the passer-by only todrown him ; then, wanton that it is, leaps blindlybetween the rocks, turns its bed topsy-turvy,rises aloft in a tempest of foam, dashes itself im-potently and furiously into spray agains
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