drop Cap T
THE number of readers of the novels of Ferdinand Fabre in England is but few, I fear; but those few recognise in him one of the most graceful13 and delightful14 of writers. His novels may be divided into two categories: those that deal with his reminiscences of early life in the Cévennes about Bédarieux, and those in which he combats the intrigues15 of the Jesuits, "they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden16 with sins"; or who meddle17 with and thwart18 the good work of the simple country and town curés, acting19 as spies for Rome on the bishops20 and the parochial clergy22.
To the first class belong—I mention only the best—Les Courbezon, Julien Savignac, Mon Oncle Célestin, Barnabé, Monsieur Jean, and Xavière. To the latter a series—La Paroisse du Jugement Dernier, Le Calvaire de Mme. Fuster, Le Couvent de la Falosque Bergonnier, [Pg 263] L'Hospice des Enfants Assistés; and the purely23 clerical romances, Lucifer and l'Abbé Tigranne.
The delicacy24 of touch, the exquisite25 delineation26 of character among the peasantry of the Cévennes, and the beautiful descriptions of scenery and bird life in the first category make these stories essential to a knowledge of the country I am describing in this chapter, and no one should visit it without having read at least some of them. Ferdinand Fabre was born in 1830 at Bédarieux, and was the son of an architect. After having spent his first school years in his native place, he was committed to his uncle, the curé of Camplong, and he remained with him for two years. These years left an indelible impression on his mind. The happy life in the country, the habits of the villagers, the ways of the birds, the bald causses, and the chestnut woods of the valleys; above all, the kind, simple-minded old uncle, and the grumbling28, economising, but tender-hearted old housekeeper29, filled the young heart so full, that it was Fabre's delight in mature life to pour forth30 his reminiscences of those two happy years. The uncle and the housekeeper recur31 again and again, the former either as the Abbé Courbezon, the Curé Fulcran, or Mon Oncle Célestin.
On leaving Camplong, Ferdinand entered the Petit Seminaire at S. Pons, and thence passed in due time to the Grand Seminaire at Montpellier. It was there that he made those experiences of clerical life that he has given forth in the remarkable32 novel, l'Abbé Tigranne, remarkable if only in this particular, that it is a novel without a woman in it. This story represents the conflict of an ultramontane bishop21 imposed on the diocese with his clergy, who are Gallican-minded.
[Pg 264]
Not feeling a vocation33 for the priesthood, Fabre went to Paris, and was at first a lawyer's clerk, but was soon left to his own resources. There he published his first literary venture, Feuilles de Lierre, 1853, which attracted little notice, and, disheartened, with enfeebled health, he returned to the south. Then he began to write stories concerning scenes and personages with which he was intimate. He produced Les Courbezon in 1862, and this "caught on" at once. The charm of style, the sweetness of mind it displayed, the keenness of insight into character, and the daintiness of description caused the literary world to realise that a writer of extraordinary merit had risen as a star on the horizon. Les Courbezon was crowned by the Académie. Next year, 1863, appeared Julien Savignac, a study of a mind affected34 with incipient35 insanity36. The tale is powerful and painful. Le Chevrier was produced in 1868, a disappointing performance, but, with the curious perversity37 that characterises many an author, preferred by Fabre to his other works; and as it did not obtain success as a novel, he converted it into a drama, which was also a failure. Barnabé, an excellent study of a class of men now completely passed away, appeared in 1875. Fabre died in Paris on 11 February, 1898.
Bédarieux is, or rather was, a busy manufacturing town, with forges and glass works, indebted for its coal to the neighbouring mines of Grassensac. But a few years ago a strike took place. The ironmasters and glassmasters could not meet the demands of the men, and forges and factories have since been closed, and the population has dwindled38 to nearly half what it was. This also has seriously affected the miners of Grassensac.
Bédarieux is on the Orb6 at the confluence39 into it [Pg 265] of the Courbezon. The station is three-quarters of a mile from the town. There is nothing of interest in the place itself, except the church of S. Alexandre of the fifteenth century, and that not remarkable. For a centre of excursions it is good, but preferable is Lamalou-les-Bains, where are excellent hotels; but Bédarieux must be tarried at for a few nights if Rochefort, Lunas, and Boussagues are to be visited, or much time will be lost in the trains. Bédarieux is the station of bifurcation of three lines from the main trunk from Clermont to Béziers, and any one who has had experience of French lines will know that as often as not this implies a tedious halt, perhaps of an hour, at the station where a change has to be made.
The nature of the mountains through and by which flows the Orb differs greatly from that of the schisty Cévennes—the Cévennes proper—and the limestone40 of the causses and of the garigues. They are a ripple41 rather than a billow, and being sheltered from the north winds by the high range at their back form a sort of natural hothouse, in which the sweetest fruits of a southern clime ripen42 readily, where the spring comes earliest and the autumn sun lingers longest.
In the Languedoc plain, in Roussillon, even to Perpignan, the icy blasts from the Cévennes are dreaded43. The olives, the planes, the mulberries are bent44, leaning towards the south, permanently45 given this incline under the influence of these cruel winds. They scourge46 Béziers and Montpellier as with a cat-o'-nine-tails dipped in water that has been frozen. But these winds pass over Bédarieux and the valley of the Orb to expend47 their violence elsewhere. Here in the upper reaches of the Orb the vine, the fig48, the olive, the [Pg 266] pomegranate, the almond, the nettle-tree luxuriate, untortured, unnipped.
Villages are many, clustering as so many sets of beehives in every warm and sheltered nook that faces the sun, and has a mountain wall at its back.
And it is precisely49 here, where least wanted, that a prodigal50 nature lavishes51 heating material in beds of anthracite and other coal.
"The peasants of the low hills of the Monts d'Orb are less accessible to superstition52 than those of the highlands, but they have less character and veritable greatness. The sun has not only heated their land, it has also sucked up from their brains all those vapours full of poetry that make of the men of the causses a type original and picturesque53. Between the inhabitant of Servier, who never sowed a seed, and he of Camplong, who gets fuddled on new wine, the distance is immeasurable, and yet they are parted by nothing more than the granite54 mass of Bataillo."
This is what Fabre says of the natives. There are two types not due to difference of blood, but of surroundings and of occupations. We are now in the department of Hérault, of Lower Languedoc, and I may be allowed a few words on the mixture of peoples of diverse origin that have been fused together into a homogeneous race.
From a period before history began, this country was inhabited by populations of diverse origins, habits, and language, drawn55 thither56 by the delicious climate, its natural resources, or simply by the chance of migration57. One fact characterises the establishment of the tribes or nationalities in these parts; so far as we can judge, it was their attitude towards the people who preceded [Pg 267] them. If some of them swept away the indigenous58 race, more often they planted themselves beside the earlier population peaceably and fused with them. Most of these invaders59 seem to have possessed60 gentle manners, and were not goaded61 on by the passion for extermination62, for which there was no provocation63 or need, as the land was wide and rich enough to sustain all. This mode of colonisation had the result of filling Lower Languedoc with very heterogeneous64 inhabitants, the complexity65 of which explains the apparent contradictions of early writers. But on one point these writers are unanimous: the variety of races or mixtures that occupied the land in Gallia Narbonensis. In the first century before Christ, Cicero notices this; and in the fourth century after Christ, Ausonius sang: "Who can record all thy ports, thy mountains and thy lakes, who the diversity of thy peoples, their vestures and their languages?"
The most ancient inhabitants recorded were the Iberians, who extended their domination over the Spanish peninsula and to the Rh?ne on the east, which formed the boundary between them and the Ligurians. But at a time difficult to determine these latter crossed the river and invaded the territories of the Iberians. But instead of expelling the conquered peoples, the Ligurians, having an aptitude66 for absorption, mingled67 with those whom they had subdued68 and formed the mixed race of the Iberian-Ligurian. There was, however, already in the land a third nation, that of the Umbranici, apparently69 the same as the Umbrians of Northern Italy. They have left their name at Ambrussum, now Pont-Ambroise, on the Vidourle. Twenty-three inscriptions70 remain, mostly in Gard, in an unknown [Pg 268] tongue, but written in Greek characters, that bears an affinity71 alike to the Ossian and Umbrian language in Italy.
The Greek trade of Marseilles spread through the land. At Murviel, a cyclopean enclosure, not many miles from Montpellier, have been found Greek coins of Marseilles.
In the fourth century before the Christian72 era a new ethnic73 element came to add to what already existed. The Gauls appeared in the land. A branch of this stock was that of the Volci. These established themselves between the Rh?ne and the Garonne, and extended their authority over the Ibero-Ligurians. These new arrivals seem to have treated the conquered much as the Ligurians had the Iberians. They established themselves peaceably among them or alongside of them. This was the more easy, for, as Strabo says, though the Gauls belonged to a wholly different stock, yet they resembled the Ligurians in their mode of life.
Their dominion74 was not for long—not for more than two centuries—for in B.C. 121 their country was conquered by the Romans.
Such, then, is the origin of the population of Lower Languedoc, and explains the diverse origin of the names of rivers, mountains and towns, some Iberic, some Celtic, some Latin, some of undiscoverable derivation, given perhaps by the Umbrian colony.
The staple75 of life in the Cévennes, mainly in the southern portion, is not corn, but the chestnut. That is why we see this tree everywhere, old and twisted, but sturdy still, young and vigorous when recently planted. But unhappily a malady76 has broken out among them, the cause of which has not been discovered with certainty, nor has any remedy been found efficacious. In some years the leaves fall in September, and the fruit [Pg 269] comes to nothing, reducing the people to a condition almost of famine. In order to preserve the nuts through the winter and spring and prevent the sprouting77, they are subjected to desiccation in clèdes that may be seen as a part of the outbuildings of every farmhouse78 and of many cottages.
The Spanish chestnut is a beautiful tree. It was indigenous in England. A few years ago I was draining a field by the river, and cut down to glacial clay nearly nine feet below the surface, and lying on this was a huge tree, black as ebony. With great labour I had it removed to the sawmill, thinking it to have been black bog79 oak. It was Spanish chestnut, and since then others have been found in the same valley. It seems willing to grow anywhere. The peasants build up terraces no larger than a doormat, and it grows there. But where there is plenty of soil it will grow much more vigorously than on a ledge27 of rock.
"I wish," said R. L. Stevenson, "I could convey a notion of the growth of these noble trees; of how they strike out boughs80 like the oak, and trail sprays of drooping81 foliage82 like the willow83; of how they stand as upright fluted84 columns like the pillars of a church; or like the olive, from the most shattered bole can put out smooth and youthful shoots, and begin a new life upon the ruins of the old. Thus they partake of the nature of many different trees; and even their prickly top-knots, seen near at hand against the sky, have a certain palm-like air that impresses the imagination. But this individuality, although compounded of so many elements, is but the richer and the more original. And to look down upon a level filled with these knolls85 of foliage, or to see a clan86 of old unconquerable chestnuts cluster like herded87 elephants upon the spurs of a mountain, is to rise to higher thoughts of the powers that are in Nature."
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I believe that the reason why we have so few old chestnuts in England, why we have not woods of them, is that the rabbit dearly loves its sweet bark when young. In planting chestnuts they must be protected by wire, or every one will be pealed88 in early spring by these wretched rodents89. The beating of the trees and the gathering90 of the fallen chestnuts is a great festival among the Cevenol, as is the vintage in the plains. I will give an account of the beginning of the gathering in from the pen of Ferdinand Fabre. I must premise91 that the mountaineers from the bald causses come down to the zone where the precious tree grows and hire themselves out as beaters and gatherers. A body of men, mostly young, arrive in a village waving branches, and is met by the old people in the street.
"Our old men and women, very attached to the Fête of the Chestnuts which brightened their youthful years, had quitted the fireside and had advanced to the first house of the village. There they drew up in file, ranged against the south wall. From one end of the line to the other the features were grave with wrinkles and furrows92, softened93 on some by their white hair. Warped94, bowed, shivering, they looked ahead with glassy eyes kindled95 with curiosity. The young folk of the mountain were about to pass by and they desired to see them, and in seeing them revive recollections of their own young days, and warm themselves thereat.
"At the first house the arrivals halted; then waving their boughs in salutation, asked altogether, 'Good folk, how go the chestnuts this year?' 'Very well, children,' replied the old people. Then a little woman, aged96 eighty-five, detached herself from her nook in the wall and advanced towards the beaters. 'You have not forgotten, friends, the Complaint of [Pg 271] the Chestnut Tree?' 'To be sure, the Complaint of the Chestnut Tree,' cried all.
"From the midst of the grove97 of boughs carried in their hands, and which seemed suddenly to have taken root in the soil of the road, rose the Complainte (ballad), so popular among the Cevenols of the south, and which, like most of their popular songs, express their toil98, their sweat, their sighs of hunger at last assuaged99 by labour.
"Quand le chataignier est planté
Il monte, monte, monte!
Quand le chataignier est planté
Nous buvons largement à sa santé.
Quand le chataignier est en fleur,
Belle100, belle, belle!
Quand le chataignier est en fleur,
Le pays prend son odeur.
Quand le chataignier a grainé,
Il graine, graine, graine!
Quand le chataignier a grainé,
Chacun danse dans son pré.
Quand les chataignes nous avons,
Bonnes, bonnes, bonnes!
Quand les chataignes nous avons,
Nous les mangeons, puis nous mourons.
"After the fourth couplet the ballad was interrupted. Our Cevenols raised their boughs, brandished101 the leaves, and made therewith the sign of the cross.
'On your knees!' said the old woman, extending her hand. The beaters knelt at once. Then, all at once, from a thousand sturdy breasts young for the most part, rolled forth the final verse of the Complainte du Chataignier. It was as grand, as beautiful, as sublime102 as any psalm103, any hymn104 I have heard in any church.
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"Cévennes pleins de rochers,
Hautes, hautes, hautes!
Cévennes pleins de rochers,
Faites nous forts et religieux."
When the chestnuts have been gathered, then in November they are dried in séchoirs. These are small square structures with a door and window on one side, and on the other three or more long narrow loopholes, called in the country carézé?ros, that are never closed. A fire of coals is lighted and kept burning incessantly105 in the drying-house, and the smoke passes through shelves on which the chestnuts are laid, in stages, and escapes by the loopholes. To any one unaccustomed to the atmosphere in these séchoirs, it is hard to endure the smoke, and one stands the risk of being asphyxiated106. Nevertheless the peasants spend two months in the year in these habitations, amidst cobwebs and soot107, swarming108 with mice and rats, and the smoke at once acrid109 and moist, for in drying the chestnuts exude110 a greenish fluid that falls in a rain from the shelves. The natives do not seem to mind the dirt and smell of these horrible holes. Moreover, if there be in a village any one suffering from phthisis, at the end of autumn the patient is taken by the relations in his or her bed, and this is deposited in a corner of the séchoir4. The sick person is not allowed to leave the drying-house, and it is a singular phenomenon that not infrequently, under the influence of the heat and the sulphurous smoke, the tuberculosis111 is arrested, and the sufferer lives on for many long years.
It is economy that drives the peasants to live in the drying-houses. As they are forced to light fires for the chestnuts, they extinguish those on their hearths113 in the [Pg 273] farm-houses. Why have two fires going when one will suffice? So the peasant bids his wife and children cook their soup at the brazier in the séchoir. And he himself, driven under shelter by the rain and cold, brings to the common hearth112 his hatchet114 and long strips of wild chestnut, of which he fashions hoops115 for barrels or baskets for the collectors of olives. Through the two months from the Jour des Morts to Christmas Eve the séchoir is the village centre; to it flock the poorest members of the commune, who have no drying-houses of their own.
The fêtes in Hérault are often very curious, and evidently date from an early period, and are reminiscences of paganism.
For instance, the Carotat at Béziers on Ascension Day has nothing Christian about it. Till 1878, on the eve, the servants of the Consuls116 were wont117 to parade the town with music going before them, and knock at the doors of houses asking for contributions. They were followed by a clumsy wooden structure covered with hide to represent a camel; and all largesses received were put into the mouth of the beast.
Next day, to the sound of cannon118 and bells, the Corporation assembled in three ranks, led by the Provost bearing a cake decked out with ribbons and attached to his left arm, attended by a servant carrying a basket of bread, followed by the camel. This fête is dead. But what does survive at Béziers and at Montpellier and elsewhere is the Danse des Treilles at the fête called Roumarin. The young people, in their gala dresses and adorned119 with bunches of rosemary, carry hoops similarly decorated, with which they perform the evolutions of a graceful ballet in which there are seven [Pg 274] figures; and the bystanders pelt120 them with violets. At Montpellier the dance is considered to be a commemoration of the marriage of Peter II. of Aragon to Marie de Montpellier, June 15th, 1204. [13]
At Béziers no public festival formerly121 took place without a preliminary visit to Pepezuc, a mutilated white marble statue with the head knocked off and replaced by one of common stone. It is obviously a representation of a Roman emperor, perhaps of Augustus. It stood on a fluted column, and on the base is inscribed122 P.P.E.S.V. But the common story was that it represented a gallant123 officer who had driven out the English from the town, of which they had obtained possession. Pepezuc was wont to be dressed up and decorated with flowers. That is stopped, as the statue has been removed to the town museum.
The Ass of Gignac continues to be fêted. The town was besieged124 by the Saracens. One night, after a hard day's fighting, the defenders125, wearied out, had gone to sleep, when an ass brayed126 long and loud. His master had forgotten to feed him, and this he resented. The man awoke, for the braying127 of an ass would rouse the Seven Sleepers128, and he saw that the enemy was escalading the walls. He roused the garrison129, and they succeeded in hurling130 back the ladders. However, the deliverance was temporary, for a few days later the town was captured and burnt. In gratitude131 for what the ass had done, the people of Gignac instituted an annual commemoration, in which they march a figure of an ass through the street to the sound of fife and tabor. Then in reminiscence of the fight a contest takes place in a field called Le Senibelet, in which one duellist132 wears [Pg 275] a huge helmet, preserved in the town hall, to represent the Christian warrior133, whilst the adversary134 has a turban on his head. They fight with sticks of the garrigou, that grows on the otherwise barren limestone, till the Mussulman drops with exhaustion135, when the victor is divested136 of his helmet and conducted in triumph to the house where the ass is supposed to have brayed.
A visit should certainly be made to Roquefort, where the famous cheese is made from ewe's milk. The town is built not only against, but into a rock of limestone that has been riddled137 with caves natural and artificially bored to serve as cellars, in which the cheese is kept at an even temperature, and is supposed then to attain138 its special flavour. The cheese is, however, not all made there; it is brought there from the Larzac, that maintains enormous flocks of sheep, and indeed from throughout the arrondissement of Ste. Affrique. The cheeses are conveyed to Roquefort, there to mature. The blue mould in them is not, however, due to natural mildew139 in the cheese, but to mildewed140 crumbs141 of bread blown into the curd142 in process of formation. The cheeses are ranged on stages of wooden boards by over nine hundred girls in short petticoats, called cabanières, whose special duty it is to attend to the cheeses. They are clean, good-natured, happy-faced lasses, who marry early, usually at sixteen. It is extraordinary if one is still unmarried at nineteen.
Cheesemakers, Roquefort
I have described the making of the cheese in my Deserts of Central France. The natural caves in Roquefort number twenty-three, and there are thirty-four in all. The rocks in part of the town overhang the houses.
At Lunas, commanded by the escarpments of the [Pg 276] Pioch, there is not much more to be seen than the ruins of a castle and a church partly Romanesque. Le Bousquet d'Orb occupies a picturesque situation, on a mamelon in the midst of a basin. On the highest terrace the church stands up boldly. This is a place with mines of coal and copper143. Boussagues is a very ancient village, once a town enclosed within walls, and possessing two churches and two castles. The town has retained its medieval physiognomy—and its smells.
The train from Bédarieux to Lamalou follows the Orb, that flows through a green and smiling plain. Properly the Orb should pursue its further course due south, but a low range of hills obstructs144 the way, and the river is forced to turn abruptly145 round and flow due west. The hills to the south rise; on a lofty isolated146 height above green forest gleams white a pilgrimage chapel147. We pass on to Lamalou, where every comfort may be obtained.
Lamalou is picturesquely148 situated149 in a narrow lateral150 valley of the Orb, in the midst of the buttresses151 of the Espinouse, or rather of the Caroux, that links the Cévennes proper to the Montaigne Noire. This thermal152 station is growing in importance, the waters being thought specially153 and peculiarly beneficial in spinal154 troubles, above all in cases of S. Vitus's Dance. In winter it has but 900 inhabitants, but in summer arrive 10,000 visitors, and a special train-de-luxe starts twice a week from Paris for Lamalou, enabling the journey to be made in fifteen hours.
A favourite walk is to N. D. de Capimont, which occupies from two hours to two and a half. This is a little chapel on the height above the village, with a hermitage attached. There is no hermit9 there now. [Pg 277] The last died five years ago. He was found dead in his cell, some days apparently after that he had expired. He was the last, and there are not likely to be any successors to an Order that was by no means an element of good in the country. Ferdinand Fabre has given a graphic155 account of the hermits in Barnabé, and also in Mon Oncle Célestin.
"I am in despair," says he. "Letters from the South inform me that one by one the hermitages are being closed; that the hermits, knapsack on back, are quitting their solitary156 chapels157, and that they do not return. Did the order for their suppression issue from the Prefecture or from the Episcopal Palace? It is supposed from both simultaneously158. What a pity! O how the picturesqueness159 of our South will be the poorer thereby160."
The hermits, calling themselves Free Brothers of S. Francis, were a begging fraternity; they rambled161 about the country selling sacred pictures, rosaries, and other religious trifles; they frequented the fairs and the taverns163, and neither ate nor drank in moderation, and their morals were not irreproachable164. But they served a purpose. They attended to the solitary chapels, and made ample provision for the pilgrims who visited these shrines165.
"Mon Dieu!" says Fabre; "I know well enough that the Free Brothers of S. Francis, as they loved to entitle themselves, had allowed themselves a good deal of freedom, more than was decorous. For instance, it was not particularly edifying166 at Bédarieux on a market-day to see the hermits from the mountains round about leave the tavern162 of the Golden Grapes staggering, jolting167 against one another, shouting, and at nightfall describing ridiculous zigzags168 as they went on their way straying along the roads leading to their solitary dwellings169.
[Pg 278]
"But as these monastically habited gentry170 in no way scandalised the population of the South, who never confounded the occupants of the hermitages with the curés of the parishes, why sweep away these fantastic figures, who, without any religious character, recruited from the farms, never educated in seminaries, peasants at bottom, in no way priests, capable, when required, to give a helping171 hand with the pruning-knife in the vineyard or with the pole among the olives, or the sickle172 among the corn. Alas173! they had their weaknesses, and these weaknesses worked their ruin."
At the French Revolution the Free Brothers of S. Francis did not creep into their shells and hide their heads there—they knew better than that. Though not even in minor174 orders, they did something smack175 of the clerical, and might be sent à la lanterne. So they doffed176 the brown habit and donned the blouse, went to farmers and served them till the tyranny was over-passed. In 1806 the curés of the parishes were glad to find any pious177 laymen178 who would keep the chapels clean and serve at Mass on the days when pilgrims streamed to them. The men thus installed assumed a Franciscan snuff-coloured habit, and called themselves, without other justification179, Brethren of S. Francis.
When he was a child, Fabre says, there were six hermitages in the upper valley of the Orb. Now most of the chapels are falling to decay, as there is no one authorised to look after them. But N. D. de Capimont is still in considerable repute, and is frequented by crowds on the Feast of the Assumption. A curious old town, situated high, may be visited from either Lamalou or Bédarieux. This is Villemagne, with a ruined abbey and mint. The abbey was founded by Charlemagne in 780. The church of the parish is dedicated180 to S. Majan, [Pg 279] and is a vast building; the choir alone was erected181 in the fourteenth century. It contains a curious altar of the sixth century, now used as a bénitier. The old church of S. Gregory, of the thirteenth century, long used as a granary, has been restored. The old town is full of ancient buildings, in narrow streets, and is very curious.
But the finest excursion of all is that to the gorge of Héric. For this it is advisable to take the train to Colombières and walk thence, or drive from Lamalou. The station of Trivalle is close to the entrance of the gorge, but from that side it can rarely be ascended182, as the path built up against the precipice183 is often broken down and not repaired. But from the other side the ascent184 is easily made. The view up the ravine to the needle rocks of granite above is hardly to be surpassed for beauty of colour and form. The sides are precipitous for 900 feet. By the path one can reach the village of Héric, lost at the extremity185 of this tremendous ravine, and by this is its only means of communication with the outer world; and so dangerous is the path that there is a saying in the country that no inhabitant of Héric dies in his bed. What I have said before I repeat here. None of the gorges186 in the Cévennes resemble one another; they have not even a family likeness187, for the Caroux from which the stream descends188, and into the bowels189 of which this gorge is cleft190, is of granite; and what resemblance can there be between granite and basalt or dolomitic limestone? When I visited the ravine, snow powdered the silvery-grey needles at the head and lay in the laps. So seen, the picture of that ravine is indelibly impressed on my memory as one of surpassing savage191 beauty.
[Pg 280]
S. Gervais is a picturesque little town situated at the junction192 of the Casselouvres and the Mare193, that takes its rise in the Signal de l'Espinouse, 3,380 feet. Its church has the peculiarity194 of the spire being a grove of trees and a bed of wallflowers that have rooted themselves in the stonework and been allowed to grow there unmolested. The town, notwithstanding that it preserves many relics196 of the Middle Ages and a general aspect that is venerable, is but modern compared with the older town, now abandoned, that was built on a jagged rock, its ruins mingling197 with the rock and scarce distinguishable from it. The more modern town is planted on a hillock standing195 by itself; the streets are narrow, scrambling198 up the side of the hill, and the houses are dingy199, dirty, and dilapidated. The still more modern town lies below the hill. There is an intermittent200 spring in the side of the H?tel Soulié. At Saint Gervais at fair time may be noted201 the contrast that exists between the inhabitant of the sun-baked, semi-tropical lower land, rich in oil, honey, and wine, and the mountaineer who descends there to sell his cattle. Those who live in the sheltered valleys are clothed in stout202 broadcloth and serge, or bottle-green velvet203. They arrive at a fair or market, noisy, sprightly204, their mules205 laden with corn and fruit. On the other hand, the inhabitant of the heights of the Espinouse or Larzac is grave, reserved, uncommunicative, clothed in a garment of coarse cloth called grisaoud, followed by interminable flocks of sheep, goats, and oxen.
At Bédarieux—
"They trade, they chaffer over almonds, olives, honey, cocoons206, wheat, the produce of a sunny nature; at Saint Gervais is a cattle market, and is of a graver character, for [Pg 281] though a man can dispose lightly of the fruits of the earth that he has tilled, of the tree he has planted, it is not without a pang207 that the shepherd can separate himself from the beast he has nourished. Between the pastor208 and his flock do there not exist, moreover, mutual209 sentiments of affection, even of love, that defy all psychology210?"
But the market is not one of cattle and corn only, it is of human beings as well, for hither come the shepherds to hire boys to attend during the year on the sheep and herds211 of swine. These lads are locally called pillards, and the token that one has been engaged is that the shepherd buys the boy a pair of new sabots out of his own money, a sort of investiture in the pastoral office. These lads and the shepherds lead a lonely life in the mountains. The boys are not unkindly treated, for the Cevenol, if rough and silent, has a gentle and kindly212 heart. But what a life for a growing boy in wild nature, among mountains and shrubs213, birds of all kinds, and creeping things innumerable, and at night with the stars shining above his head with a sharpness and intensity214 as though they stabbed him to the heart, but left an exquisite pain behind. He learns to know the signs of the times, the winds, the voices of nature, to distinguish one bird's note from another, and to ascertain215 the virtues216 of the aromatic217 herbs on the limestone causse. The life may be hard, but it is healthy both to body and mind and soul.
FOOTNOTE:
[13] Ferd. Troubat: Danse des Treilles. Toulouse, 1900.
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1
chestnuts
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| n.栗子( chestnut的名词复数 )；栗色；栗树；栗色马 | |
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2
chestnut
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| n.栗树，栗子 | |
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3
ballad
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| n.歌谣，民谣，流行爱情歌曲 | |
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4
choir
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| n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱 | |
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5
ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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6
orb
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| n.太阳；星球；v.弄圆；成球形 | |
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7
dame
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| n.女士 | |
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8
hermits
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| （尤指早期基督教的）隐居修道士，隐士，遁世者( hermit的名词复数 ) | |
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hermit
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| n.隐士，修道者；隐居 | |
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10
gorge
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| n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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11
spire
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| n.(教堂)尖顶，尖塔，高点 | |
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12
highland
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| n.(pl.)高地，山地 | |
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13
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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14
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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15
intrigues
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| n.密谋策划( intrigue的名词复数 )；神秘气氛；引人入胜的复杂情节v.搞阴谋诡计( intrigue的第三人称单数 )；激起…的好奇心 | |
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16
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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17
meddle
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| v.干预，干涉，插手 | |
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18
thwart
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| v.阻挠，妨碍，反对；adj.横(断的) | |
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19
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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20
bishops
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| （基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象 | |
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21
bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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22
clergy
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| n.[总称]牧师，神职人员 | |
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23
purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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24
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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25
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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26
delineation
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| n.记述；描写 | |
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27
ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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28
grumbling
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| adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的 | |
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29
housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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30
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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31
recur
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| vi.复发，重现，再发生 | |
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32
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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33
vocation
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| n.职业，行业 | |
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34
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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35
incipient
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| adj.起初的，发端的，初期的 | |
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36
insanity
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| n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐 | |
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37
perversity
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| n.任性；刚愎自用 | |
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38
dwindled
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| v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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39
confluence
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| n.汇合，聚集 | |
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40
limestone
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| n.石灰石 | |
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41
ripple
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| n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进 | |
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42
ripen
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| vt.使成熟；vi.成熟 | |
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43
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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44
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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45
permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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46
scourge
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| n.灾难，祸害；v.蹂躏 | |
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47
expend
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| vt.花费，消费，消耗 | |
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48
fig
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| n.无花果(树) | |
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49
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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50
prodigal
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| adj.浪费的，挥霍的，放荡的 | |
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51
lavishes
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| v.过分给予，滥施( lavish的第三人称单数 ) | |
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52
superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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53
picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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54
granite
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| adj.花岗岩，花岗石 | |
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55
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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56
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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57
migration
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| n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙 | |
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58
indigenous
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| adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的 | |
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59
invaders
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| 入侵者，侵略者，侵入物( invader的名词复数 ) | |
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60
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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61
goaded
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| v.刺激( goad的过去式和过去分词 )；激励；（用尖棒）驱赶；驱使（或怂恿、刺激）某人 | |
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62
extermination
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| n.消灭，根绝 | |
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63
provocation
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| n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因 | |
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64
heterogeneous
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| adj.庞杂的；异类的 | |
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65
complexity
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| n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物 | |
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66
aptitude
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| n.(学习方面的)才能，资质，天资 | |
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67
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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68
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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69
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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70
inscriptions
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| （作者）题词( inscription的名词复数 )； 献词； 碑文； 证劵持有人的登记 | |
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71
affinity
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| n.亲和力，密切关系 | |
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72
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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73
ethnic
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| adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的 | |
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74
dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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75
staple
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| n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类 | |
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76
malady
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| n.病，疾病(通常做比喻) | |
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77
sprouting
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| v.发芽( sprout的现在分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出 | |
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78
farmhouse
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| n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房） | |
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79
bog
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| n.沼泽；室...陷入泥淖 | |
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80
boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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81
drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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82
foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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83
willow
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| n.柳树 | |
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84
fluted
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| a.有凹槽的 | |
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85
knolls
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| n.小圆丘，小土墩( knoll的名词复数 ) | |
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86
clan
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| n.氏族，部落，宗族，家族，宗派 | |
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87
herded
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| 群集，纠结( herd的过去式和过去分词 )； 放牧； （使）向…移动 | |
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88
pealed
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| v.（使）（钟等）鸣响，（雷等）发出隆隆声( peal的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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89
rodents
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| n.啮齿目动物( rodent的名词复数 ) | |
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90
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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91
premise
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| n.前提；v.提论，预述 | |
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92
furrows
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| n.犁沟( furrow的名词复数 )；（脸上的）皱纹v.犁田，开沟( furrow的第三人称单数 ) | |
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93
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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94
warped
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| adj.反常的；乖戾的；（变）弯曲的；变形的v.弄弯，变歪( warp的过去式和过去分词 )；使（行为等）不合情理，使乖戾， | |
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95
kindled
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| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
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96
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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97
grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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98
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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99
assuaged
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| v.减轻( assuage的过去式和过去分词 )；缓和；平息；使安静 | |
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100
belle
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| n.靓女 | |
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101
brandished
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| v.挥舞( brandish的过去式和过去分词 )；炫耀 | |
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102
sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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103
psalm
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| n.赞美诗，圣诗 | |
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104
hymn
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌 | |
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105
incessantly
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| ad.不停地 | |
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106
asphyxiated
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| v.渴望的，有抱负的，追求名誉或地位的( aspirant的过去式和过去分词 )；有志向或渴望获得…的人 | |
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107
soot
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| n.煤烟，烟尘；vt.熏以煤烟 | |
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108
swarming
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| 密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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109
acrid
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| adj.辛辣的，尖刻的，刻薄的 | |
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110
exude
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| v.(使)流出，(使)渗出 | |
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111
tuberculosis
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| n.结核病，肺结核 | |
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112
hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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113
hearths
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| 壁炉前的地板，炉床，壁炉边( hearth的名词复数 ) | |
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114
hatchet
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| n.短柄小斧；v.扼杀 | |
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115
hoops
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| n.箍( hoop的名词复数 )；（篮球）篮圈；（旧时儿童玩的）大环子；（两端埋在地里的）小铁弓 | |
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116
consuls
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| 领事( consul的名词复数 )； （古罗马共和国时期）执政官 （古罗马共和国及其军队的最高首长，同时共有两位，每年选举一次） | |
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117
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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118
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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119
adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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120
pelt
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| v.投掷，剥皮，抨击，开火 | |
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121
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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122
inscribed
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| v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接 | |
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123
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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124
besieged
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| 包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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125
defenders
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| n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者 | |
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126
brayed
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| v.发出驴叫似的声音( bray的过去式和过去分词 )；发嘟嘟声；粗声粗气地讲话（或大笑）；猛击 | |
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127
braying
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| v.发出驴叫似的声音( bray的现在分词 )；发嘟嘟声；粗声粗气地讲话（或大笑）；猛击 | |
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128
sleepers
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| n.卧铺（通常以复数形式出现）；卧车( sleeper的名词复数 )；轨枕；睡觉（呈某种状态）的人；小耳环 | |
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129
garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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130
hurling
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| n.爱尔兰式曲棍球v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的现在分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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131
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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132
duellist
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| n.决斗者；[体]重剑运动员 | |
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133
warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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134
adversary
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| adj.敌手，对手 | |
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135
exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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136
divested
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| v.剥夺( divest的过去式和过去分词 )；脱去（衣服）；2。从…取去…；1。（给某人）脱衣服 | |
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137
riddled
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| adj.布满的；充斥的；泛滥的v.解谜，出谜题(riddle的过去分词形式) | |
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138
attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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139
mildew
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| n.发霉；v.（使）发霉 | |
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140
mildewed
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| adj.发了霉的，陈腐的，长了霉花的v.（使）发霉，（使）长霉( mildew的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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141
crumbs
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| int. (表示惊讶)哎呀 n. 碎屑 名词crumb的复数形式 | |
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142
curd
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| n.凝乳；凝乳状物 | |
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143
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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144
obstructs
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| 阻塞( obstruct的第三人称单数 )； 堵塞； 阻碍； 阻止 | |
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145
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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146
isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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147
chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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148
picturesquely
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149
situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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150
lateral
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| adj.侧面的，旁边的 | |
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151
buttresses
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| n.扶壁，扶垛( buttress的名词复数 )v.用扶壁支撑，加固( buttress的第三人称单数 ) | |
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152
thermal
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| adj.热的，由热造成的；保暖的 | |
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153
specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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154
spinal
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| adj.针的，尖刺的，尖刺状突起的；adj.脊骨的，脊髓的 | |
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155
graphic
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| adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的 | |
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156
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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157
chapels
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| n.小教堂， （医院、监狱等的）附属礼拜堂( chapel的名词复数 )；（在小教堂和附属礼拜堂举行的）礼拜仪式 | |
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158
simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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159
picturesqueness
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160
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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161
rambled
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| （无目的地）漫游( ramble的过去式和过去分词 )； （喻）漫谈； 扯淡； 长篇大论 | |
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162
tavern
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| n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店 | |
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163
taverns
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| n.小旅馆，客栈，酒馆( tavern的名词复数 ) | |
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164
irreproachable
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| adj.不可指责的，无过失的 | |
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165
shrines
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| 圣地，圣坛，神圣场所( shrine的名词复数 ) | |
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166
edifying
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| adj.有教训意味的，教训性的，有益的v.开导，启发( edify的现在分词 ) | |
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167
jolting
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| adj.令人震惊的 | |
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168
zigzags
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| n.锯齿形的线条、小径等( zigzag的名词复数 )v.弯弯曲曲地走路，曲折地前进( zigzag的第三人称单数 ) | |
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169
dwellings
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| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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170
gentry
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| n.绅士阶级，上层阶级 | |
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171
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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172
sickle
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| n.镰刀 | |
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173
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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174
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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175
smack
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| vt.拍，打，掴；咂嘴；vi.含有…意味；n.拍 | |
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176
doffed
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| v.脱去，（尤指）脱帽( doff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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177
pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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178
laymen
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| 门外汉，外行人( layman的名词复数 )； 普通教徒（有别于神职人员） | |
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179
justification
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| n.正当的理由；辩解的理由 | |
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180
dedicated
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| adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的 | |
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181
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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182
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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183
precipice
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| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
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184
ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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185
extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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186
gorges
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| n.山峡，峡谷( gorge的名词复数 )；咽喉v.（用食物把自己）塞饱，填饱( gorge的第三人称单数 )；作呕 | |
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187
likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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188
descends
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| v.下来( descend的第三人称单数 )；下去；下降；下斜 | |
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189
bowels
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| n.肠，内脏，内部；肠( bowel的名词复数 )；内部，最深处 | |
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190
cleft
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| n.裂缝；adj.裂开的 | |
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191
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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192
junction
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| n.连接，接合；交叉点，接合处，枢纽站 | |
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193
mare
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| n.母马，母驴 | |
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194
peculiarity
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| n.独特性，特色；特殊的东西；怪癖 | |
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195
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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196
relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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197
mingling
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| adj.混合的 | |
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198
scrambling
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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199
dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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200
intermittent
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| adj.间歇的，断断续续的 | |
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201
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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203
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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204
sprightly
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| adj.愉快的，活泼的 | |
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205
mules
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| 骡( mule的名词复数 )； 拖鞋； 顽固的人； 越境运毒者 | |
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206
cocoons
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| n.茧，蚕茧( cocoon的名词复数 )v.茧，蚕茧( cocoon的第三人称单数 ) | |
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207
pang
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| n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷 | |
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208
pastor
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| n.牧师，牧人 | |
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209
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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210
psychology
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| n.心理，心理学，心理状态 | |
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211
herds
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| 兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众 | |
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212
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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213
shrubs
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| 灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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214
intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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215
ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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216
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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217
aromatic
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| adj.芳香的，有香味的 | |
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