The geographical limits covered by the actual journeyings outlined in the following pages skirt the French slopes of the Pyrenees from the Atlantic Gulf of Gascony to the Mediterranean Gulf of Lyons, and so on to the mouths of the Rhône, where they join another series of recorded rambles, conceived and already evolved into a book by the same author and artist.[1] The whole itinerary has been carefully thought out and minutely covered in many journeyings by road and rail, crossing and recrossing from east to west and from west to east that delectable land commonly known to the Parisian Frenchman as the Midi. [1] "Castles and Châteaux of Old Touraine and the Loire Country." The contrasts with which one meets in going between the extreme boundaries of east and west are very great, both with respect to men and to manners; the Niçois is no brother of the Basque, though they both be swarthy and speak a _patois_, even to-day as unlike modern French as is the speech of the Breton or the Flamand. The Catalan of Roussillon is quite unlike the Languedoçian of the Camargue plain, and the peasant of the Aude or the Ariège bears little or no resemblance in speech or manners to the Béarnais. There is a subtle charm and appeal in the magnificent feudal châteaux and fortified bourgs of this region which is quite different from the warmer emotions awakened by the great Renaissance masterpieces of Touraine and the Loire country. Each is irresistible. Whether one contemplates the imposing château at Pau, or the more delicately conceived Chenonceaux; the old walled Cité of Carcassonne, or the walls and ramparts of Clisson or of Angers; the Roman arena at Nîmes, or the Roman Arc de Triomphe at Saintes, there is equal charm and contrast. To the greater appreciation, then, of the people of Southern France, and of the gallant types of the Pyrenean provinces in particular, the following pages have been written and illustrated. F. M. PERPIGNAN, _August_, 1907. [Illustration: CONTENTS] CHAPTER PAGE BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION v I. A GENERAL SURVEY 1 II. FEUDAL FRANCE--ITS PEOPLE AND ITS CHÂTEAUX 18 III. THE PYRENEES--THEIR GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY 46 IV. THE PYRENEES--THEIR HISTORY AND PEOPLE 73 V. ROUSSILLON AND THE CATALANS 95 VI. FROM PERPIGNAN TO THE SPANISH FRONTIER 110 VII. THE CANIGOU AND ANDORRA 130 VIII. THE HIGH VALLEY OF THE AUDE 152 IX. THE WALLS OF CARCASSONNE 161 X. THE COUNTS OF FOIX 175 XI. FOIX AND ITS CHÂTEAU 185 XII. THE VALLEY OF THE ARIÈGE 197 XIII. ST. LIZIER AND THE COUSERANS 211