CHAPTER V.
ROAD FROM PAU TO TARBES--TABLE-LAND--THE PICS--THE HARAS OF TARBES--AUTUMN IN THE PYRENEES--MONT L'HERIS--GABRIELLE D'ESTREES--CHASSE AUX PALOMBES--PENNE DE L'HERIS--PIC DU MIDI--CHARLET THE GUIDE--VALLEY OF CAMPAN--LA GATTA--GRIP--THE TOURMALET--CAMPANA DEL VASSE--BAREGES-LUZ--CAGOT DOOR--GAVARNIE--THE FALL OF THE ROCK--CHAOS--CIRCUS--MAGNIFICENCE OF NATURE--PONT DE NEIGE--ROLAND--DURENDAL--IZARDS--LES CRANES--PIEREFITTE--CAUTERETZ--CERIZET--PONT D'ESPAGNE--LAC DE GAUBE--ARGELEZ.
THE road between Pau and Tarbes,[31] like most of the roads south of the Garonne, is an extremely fine one; it is perfectly macadamized, and admirably well kept; indeed, in this respect, the improvement that appears all over France is quite remarkable; but if superiority can be claimed anywhere it certainly belongs to Bearn and Bigorre.

It is not, however, the _condition_ of the road between the two towns that forms the attraction; it is the exquisite scenery that meets the eye wherever a break in the woods, or an inequality of the ground reveals the magnificent chain of the Pyrenees.

For some distance after leaving Pau the road is nearly level; but about half-way to Tarbes, after passing through a thick wood of oak, and having been rendered impatient by occasional glimpses of the mountains, the traveller climbs a long and winding ascent, and reaches the summit of a fine table-land, from whence an uninterrupted view of this glorious country is obtained.

Rich forests of chesnut clothe the steep sides of this table-land, and stretch far away to the southward, mingling with the well-cultivated plains that border the Gave de Pau; beyond these rise, in gradual succession, the lower ranges of the mountains, whose real height is entirely lost in the grandeur of the more stupendous Pyrenean giants, extending as far as the eye can reach, from the Mont Perdu at one extremity, and far beyond the Pic du Midi of the Vallee d'Ossau, at the other.

The general colour of these noble mountains is a deep purple, which becomes even more intense, and approaches almost to blackness, until it melts away in the misty valleys beneath.