Produced by Carlo Traverso, Michelle Shephard and Distributed Proofreaders. HTML version by Al Haines. THE ROOF OF FRANCE OR THE CAUSSES OF THE LOZÈRE BY M. BETHAM-EDWARDS To M. SADI CARNOT. THIS VOLUME, THE THIRD OF MY PUBLISHED TRAVELS IN FRANCE, IS INSCRIBED WITH ALL RESPECT TO HER HONOURED PRESIDENT. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTORY PART I. _MY FIRST JOURNEY IN SEARCH OF THE CAUSSES_. CHAP. I. FROM LE PUY TO MENDE II. MENDE III. A GLIMPSE OF THE CAUSSES IV. ON THE TOP OF THE ROOF V. RODEZ AND AURILLAC VI. THE LAND OF THE BURON PART II. _MY SECOND JOURNEY IN SEARCH OF THE CAUSSES._ I. THROUGH THE MORVAN II. THROUGH THE MORVAN (_continued_) III. FROM LYONS TO AVIGNON BY THE RHÔNE IV. AVIGNON AND ORANGE V. LE VIGAN VI. NANT (AVEYRON) VII. MILLAU (AVEYRON) VIII. FROM MENDE TO ST. ÉNIMIE IX. ST. ÉNIMIE X. THE CAÑON OF THE TARN XI. SHOOTING THE RAPIDS XII. LE ROZIER XIII. MONTPELLIER-LE-VIEUX XIV. MONTPELLIER-LE-VIEUX (_continued_) XV. LE ROZIER TO MILLAU AND RODEZ XVI. RODEZ, VIC-SUR-CÈRE REVISITED.--A BREAKFAST ON THE BANKS OF THE SAÔNE INTRODUCTORY. It is upon this occasion my rare and happy privilege to introduce the reader to something absolutely new. How many English-speaking tourists have found their way to the Roof of France--in other words, the ancient Gévaudan, the romantic department of the Lozère? How many English--or for the matter of that French travellers either--have so much as heard of the Causses, [Footnote: From calx, lime] those lofty tablelands of limestone, groups of a veritable archipelago, once an integral whole, now cleft asunder, forming the most picturesque gorges and magnificent defiles; offering contrasts of scenery as striking as they are sublime, and a phenomenon unique in geological history? On the plateau of the typical Causse, wide in extent as Dartmoor, lofty as Helvellyn, we realize all the sombreness and solitude of the Russian steppe. These stony wastes, aridity itself, yet a carpet of wild-flowers in spring, are sparsely peopled by a race having a peculiar language, a characteristic physique, and primitive customs. Here are laboriously cultivated oats, rye, potatoes--not a blade of wheat, not an apple-tree is to be discerned; no spring or rivulet freshens the parched soil. The length and severity of the winter are betokened by the trees and poles seen at intervals on either side of the road. But for such precautions, even the native wayfarer would be lost when six feet of snow cover the ground. Winter lasts eight months, and the short summer is tropical.