referred to, p. 150). The corbels at the angles which are right angles have the usual additional courses in the height. A bold ovolo moulding runs round beneath the corbel-course, the object of which is to keep the inner face of the machicolation well clear of the front of the wall, so that stone balls or other missiles thrown down would run no risk of being diverted from their course by striking any of the projections of the rough-faced masonry with which the tower is built. The parapet is provided with large embrasures, and the merlons or spaces between are pierced with loops of the crossed shape adopted in the fourteenth century. The parapet wall partly carried on corbels is seen winding round the summit of the wall of enceinte (_see_ Fig. 71), with steps where the heights vary; and in the south-east angle of the inner courtyard adjoining the ruined gateway from the outer to the inner courtyard, there still stands the very interesting twelfth century chapel of the castle. This oratory is generally similar in design to the one within the castle at Villeneuve (_ante_, Fig. 52). The doorway at the west end is round-arched, and contains details which are remarkably characteristic of Provence, the purely Roman egg and leaf enrichments being mixed with dogtooth and other ornaments of Romanesque design. The small square tower which crowns the west gable is peculiar, being more in the style of the belfries further North and East, than those of the South. From Tarascon a branch railway runs to St Remy (the Roman ruins at which have already been described), and from that point the strange old town of Les Baux may be reached. LES BAUX.--This ancient but decayed fortress is one of the most picturesque and remarkable objects in the district. It is situated on the top of a rocky height (Fig. 72), not far from where the Alpines begin to rise from the plain of the Rhone, over which it has a commanding and extensive prospect. Formerly a considerable fortified town, it is now deserted, save by a few wanderers and beggars, and presents the melancholy appearance of an abandoned city, of which the empty houses are fast falling into ruin. This, however, as we shall hereafter notice, is by no means a solitary example of a Southern town overtaken by a similar fate. But Les Baux has this striking peculiarity to distinguish it, that it is a city _not built_, but excavated out of the rock. It is not uncommon to find houses cut in the rock in several parts of France, where a dry and soft formation renders such an operation suitable, and, as is well known, rock-hewn temples, tombs, and other buildings abound in Egypt, Syria, and the East. Possibly some of the great chiefs of the family of Les Baux (who were distinguished Crusaders) may have adopted the idea from examples they saw in the Holy Land. [Illustration: FIG. 72. FORTRESS OF LES BAUX.] The town is now almost a heap of ruins, although some façades of good Renaissance design still adorn the silent streets.