But the most picturesque _flocks_ we observed on this road, were those of the round, pretty sheep, with thick snowy fleeces, just returned from the mountains, where, delicate as they look, they have been accustomed, all the summer, and till late in the autumn, to climb to the highest point of the Pic du Midi itself.

They were now being conducted to the valleys and plains for the winter, and the meadows were whitened with them in all directions.
This part of the country was, formerly, thickly-wooded, and occasionally a few oak woods are passed on the road; but the continuous forest which once spread abroad in this direction has disappeared.

On approaching the long, desolate-looking bourg of Peyrehorade,--which, however, on market-days, is bustling and crowded enough--a ruin, on a height not unlike that of Orthez, looks proudly over the plain, where two Gaves unite.

It is the Chateau d'Aspremont, once redoubted, and of great force, and belonging to that good and noble governor of Bayonne, who sent back to Charles IX.

the answer so often quoted, when commanded to execute all the Protestants in his town of Bayonne--that he had examined the persons under his command, and had found them brave and true soldiers, but no executioners.
The singular-sounding name of _Peyre-Hourade_ has the meaning of _Pierced Stone_, and comes from a Druidical monument in the neighbourhood.