[563] Unpublished despatches from Louvois to Saint-Mars:--Archives of the Ministry of War. CHAPTER XXII. The Isles Sainte-Marguerite--Their Appearance--Their Past--Various Causes of their Celebrity--How I was led to suppose that Matthioly was not taken to Exiles by Saint-Mars--Documents which prove him to have been left at Pignerol--Obscurity of the two Prisoners transferred to Exiles by Saint-Mars--Neither of them could have been the Man with the Iron Mask--Removal of the Prisoners of Pignerol to the Isles Sainte-Marguerite. On each side of Cannes, the coast of Provence, describing a slight curve, forms the two gulfs of Napoule and Jouan, separated by the Point of the Croisette.[564] Off this point, distant about a mile from shore, are two islands, situated one in front of the other like advanced sentinels, and affording each other mutual protection. The approach to them is rendered far from easy by the rocks and reefs with which nature has surrounded them. Both are oblong in shape, lying from east to west, and the one nearest to the shore is also much the larger. Owing to the great number of pines with which they are covered, the view from them is limited; but if we ascend one of the highest towers, we behold the most dazzling and wonderful of pictures. On every side is a marvellous profusion of light; just in front of us is Cannes, and its elegant villas, bathed by the waves of the sea; a little further inland lies the magnificent valley of Grasse, with its hills covered with olive-trees, its green mountain-slopes, and luxuriant vegetation;[565] on the left is the sharp and varied outline of the long chain of the Esterel; on the right, the Maritime Alps, almost touching the sky, with their snowy summits glittering in the sun; and in the background, a pile of savage mountains and gigantic rocks forms a striking contrast with this privileged spot, and provides for it at once both a sure shelter and a most picturesque framework.