On leaving Angoulême the road crosses a common of almost English type, and then a good deal of woodland, until one reaches the village of Dignac, prettily situated on hilly ground, with the tower of its Romanesque church showing prominently. Then follows a wood of oaks and more common-land, succeeded by open country with wide views. Near La Rochebeaucourt the road goes to the right, and curves downhill to a level-crossing by the railway-station adjoining the village. Close by, on the left, is the château, among trees, with circular machicolated towers and conical roofs. The Romanesque church has a fine rose-window on the south side. Going to the right, at the cross-roads in the village, there is a pleasant run by the stream called La Belle Rivière, which the road follows almost to its source among the hills above Monsec. On approaching Mareuil-sur-Belle, the first building to be seen is the interesting château of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, to the left in the marshy ground by the river. The big cylindrical towers of the gateway and the round staircase tower at the north-east corner are in excellent preservation, and so are the buildings on three sides of the courtyard; but having fallen from its dignity as a seat of one of the four baronies of Périgord, it is now an unkempt farmhouse. There are some beautifully designed doorways and windows in the courtyard, and one can look into the chapel, which is now given over to secular uses. An inscription to the memory of the troubadour Arnant de Mareuil (twelfth century) was placed over the doorway in 1903 by the Félibres of Périgord. An old wooden cross and a stone one stand outside the church, which is not interesting. Huge views appear at intervals as the car follows the windings of the white road, running with great smoothness on a perfect surface.[C] The peasants of the district drive to market in quaint little [Illustration: No. 9. ANGOULÊME TO PÉRIGUEUX AND BERGERAC.] donkey-carts, into which three men or women pack themselves in the quaintest fashion imaginable. After Monsec a watershed is crossed, and there are some considerable hills, in a more or less wild state, heather and juniper growing between small oaks. BRANTÔME is a delightfully picturesque little place on the very attractive River Dronne. The chief interest in the town is the monastery, founded by Charlemagne about the year 769. Before that time a small religious community had inhabited the grottoes in the rocky escarpments that rise above the town. These were enlarged natural cavities, and one of them continued to be venerated all through the Middle Ages. Its walls were covered during the sixteenth century with sculptures in high relief representing the Last Judgment and the Crucifixion.