THE PAU AND PYRENEES. SECT. I. PAU.. It was an old custom in Béarn to plant poles (pali) on the intended site of a town. Hence the etymology of Pau. There are three poles in the arms of the town. Founded in the tenth century, it now contains 26,000 inhabitants, and is the chef-lieu of the Basses-Pyrénées, a very large département, for it is little short of 100 miles from east to west. The city of Bayonne is larger, more populous, and is the religious capital, as the bishop is there; but the préfet is at Pau. Height above the level of the sea, not quite 700 feet (Place Royale). Distance from Paris, 500 miles; 18 hours by rail; 30 from London; 28 from Madrid. Pau owes its origin to the Viscounts of 'Béarn, who built a 'manor' there, round which a village, and then a town, gradually came into existence. It stands on a long hill running nearly east and west, and about 150 feet above the Gave, an impetuous, but graceful and winding river, which has its source in the glaciers of Gavarnie, where it leaps down 1,380 feet. South of the town, at an average distance of 20 miles, the Pyrenees extend in a magnificent line, or rather curve, which, besides charming the eye, has also the B PAU AND THE PYRENEES. SECT. I. PAU.. It was an old custom in Béarn to plant poles (pali) on the intended site of a town. Hence the etymology of Pau. There are three poles in the arms of the town. Founded in the tenth century, it now contains 26,000 inhabitants, and is the chef-lieu of the Basses-Pyrénées, a very large département, for it is little short of 100 miles from east to west. The city of Bayonne is larger, more populous, and is the religious capital, as the bishop is there; but the préfet is at Pau. Height above the level of the sea, not quite 700 feet (Place Royale). Distance from Paris, 500 miles; 18 hours by rail; 30 from London; 28 from Madrid. Pau owes its origin to the Viscounts of 'Béarn, who built a 'manor' there, round which a village, and then a town, gradually came into existence. It stands on a long hill running nearly east and west, and about 150 feet above the Gave, an impetuous, but graceful and winding river, which has its source in the glaciers of Gavarnie, where it leaps down 1,380 feet. South of the town, at an average distance of 20 miles, the Pyrenees extend in a magnificent line, or rather curve, which, besides charming the eye, has also the B advantage of breaking half of the winds which might otherwise be strongly felt at Pau, as Mr. Anderson and Dr. Cazenave have clearly explained it. But of the view I will speak hereafter. The climate, of course, is not like that of Algiers or Cairo; for that is not to be found in Europe. There is a winter at Pau, but it is short, even when severe. The sun is always strong, but it never used to be called 'dangerous' until a few years ago, when gentlemen began to think it necessary or graceful (?) to wear parasols. Sunstrokes are heard of in every latitude, even in Arctic ones, and it is hard not to smile when the Pau sun is compared with the sun of Bengal, and pronounced to be fiercer! Still, it is powerful, in all seasons; and even the January sun sometimes sends the mercury in the Fahrenheit thermometer up to 100° and 110°; but it scalds more than it penetrates. Winds scarcely ever blow. The north wind, intercepted by distant hills, blows over Pau without sinking to its surface. The southern sirocco is broken and cooled by the Pyrenees; the lofty trees of the park are a protection to westward, and the easterly wind very seldom blows at all. Geologists tell us that Pau and its beautiful park stand upon an old moraine, which means those immense accumulations of mud and stones carried down by glaciers on their surface (whether in the middle or near the edges), and finally dropped or hurled into the plain or gorge below, so as to form at the foot of the glacier a powerful hill of débris of all sorts, from every region traversed by the said glacier, and capable of checking for a time its further advance. It appears that once, or several times, a huge glacier, at least 30 miles in length, came down all the way from the Pic du Midi to Pau, where it left its terminal moraine. But it is happy for us we did not live in those freezing times, when from every valley in the Pyrenees great glaciers ran out far into the plains. In May, the heat at Pau becomes very real and oppressive, at least to a child of the North; and in summer it is sometimes 100° Fahr. in the shade. But then the mountains are close by the regions of perpetual winter can be reached in a few hours, almost before breakfast; and the breezy coasts of the Bay of Biscay are but a few hours distant. It is only 67 miles by rail to Biarritz. Pau is unquestionably a rainy place, especially in spring; and yet it is not at all damp. The soil being very sandy, immediately absorbs the rain, so that dust replaces mud in a few hours. This, added to a very strong evaporation, prevents any stagnation. There are no fogs. It freezes occasionally, but seldom after sunrise; and if any wind happens to blow, it is never cutting. On the whole, the climate is mild and sedative, its mean winter temperature placing Pau between Rome and Pisa. It is dry and sunny in winter, variable and wet in spring. But there is something peculiar and unaccountable in the quality of the air, for even in cold weather invalids feel the benefit of the climate, even as far as Dax, 50 miles in the north-west. According to Sir Alexander Taylor, an excellent authority on these matters, the mortality at Pau is far less than at Rome, Naples, or Nice. The history of this town is also remarkable and brilliant. It gave birth (1553) to Henri IV.; to Bernadotte, who, from a common soldier became King of Sweden, and of whom it was said by Napoleon that he had 'the head of a Frenchman and the heart of a Roman.' Here also was born Marshal De Gassion, to whom the victory of Rocroy (1643) was principally due. Louis XIII., who united Béarn to France, came to Pau in 1620 to re-establish Catholicism, which had been suppressed by Jeanne d'Albret. The old church of St. Martin (now replaced by a very handsome one) once belonged for fiftyseven years to the Calvinists. Napoleon I. also visited Pau in 1808, with the Empress |