The South of France-East Half Part 61

20 m. N.W. from Riom, by diligence starting at 6 A.M., are the mineral baths of +Chateauneuf+, pop. 1000. _Hotels:_ Viple; Denys; Mossier.

Water saline. Temperature of the fourteen springs from 60 to 102 Fahr. Recommended for obstruction of the liver, neuralgia, nervous affections of the heart, cutaneous diseases, glandular swellings.

Bath, 1 fr.

5 m. N. from Riom by omnibus are the hot mineral springs of Chatelguyon, most picturesquely situated among mountains. _Hotels:_ Bains; Thermes; Barthelemy; Marret; Lacroix. Bathing establishment with every accessory. Recommended for dyspepsia, constipation of the bowels, gall-stones, chronic bronchitis, syphilis. Water saline. Temp.

100 Fahr.

3 m. S.W. from Riom by diligence is Volvic, pop. 4000, built on lava.

Visit the church, the Musee in the Mairie, and the workshops where the lava brought from the quarries of the Puy de la Nugere is hewn (see p. 377).

[Headnote: CLERMONT-FERRAND.]

miles from PARIS miles to Ma.r.s.eILLES

{260}{269} +CLERMONT-FERRAND+, 1335 ft. above the sea, pop. 43,000, on an eminence crowned by the cathedral, of which the princ.i.p.al facade, the west entrance, is towards the Place de Jaude, while the chancel or eastern end is towards the railway station. _Hotels:_ in the Place de Jaude are the *Univers; *Poste, for commercials; Europe. Just off the Place de Jaude are the Paix; France. All the above are large houses. Near the Academie and the Botanic Gardens, the H. des Facultes, a small but good house. Among the hotels in front of the station the best is the H. des Voyageurs. Coaches from the Place de Jaude for Saint Mart, Royat, St.

Amand, and Champeix. During summer, coach to nearly the top of the Puy-de-Dome (see page 372). In the "Place" are a large cabstand and offices where carriages may be hired for excursions.

[Headnote: POST OFFICE. CATHEDRAL.]

The general post office is in the Place St. Herem, down from the N. side of the cathedral, just under the Promenade de la Poterne, whence there is a charming view of the Puy-de-Dome mountains. In the Place St. Herem is a bronze statue of Blaise Pascal, 1623-1662, in a sitting posture.

A little beyond the foot of the stairs to the right of the statue is the Temple Protestant, service 1 P.M. The first narrow street beyond the post office leads down to the Fontaine Petrifiante.

Large quant.i.ties of fruit are preserved in Clermont, both in the moist and crystalline (glace) state.

The most prominent edifice in Clermont is the Cathedral, founded in the 9th and rebuilt in the 14th cent. The material is basalt and Volvic lava, which admits of a very sharp edge. The narrow round belfry on the N. side is 165 ft. high. Round the nave and choir are twenty-eight, or, including those of the transepts, thirty-six fascicled piers, which rise nearly to the roof. Between are pointed arches, and immediately above, the triforium, having over each arch a treble window resting on four fascicled and three impost colonnettes. As the choir contracts towards the apsidal termination the piers become less ma.s.sive and the arches ?

narrower. The stained gla.s.s of the clerestory windows of the nave dates from the 15th cent.; but only a few are complete, having been injured by a hailstorm in 1835. The best gla.s.s is in the apse and in the N.

transept, dating from the 13th cent. The gla.s.s in the rose of the S.

transept, which is also beautiful, is modern. The clock, with its three men to strike the hours and quarters, dates from the 16th cent. Ten chapels radiate from the choir. In the first on the N. side is a miracle-working image of Mary and Child.

The house in which Blaise Pascal was born in 1623 is No. 2 Pa.s.sage Vernines, a small kind of court near the right or S. angle of the princ.i.p.al entrance into the cathedral. It is more easily found by going to the front, No. 2 Place de la Cathedral, on the third story of which is a bust of Pascal. This part of the building is modern. Through the shop in a little room up a few steps is the exact spot where he was born.

[Headnote: NOTRE DAME DU PORT.]

The Rue des Notaires leads down from the cathedral to the Place de la Poterne, where there is a good view of the surrounding mountains. The large block of buildings pa.s.sed on the right includes the Palais de Justice, the Hotel de Ville, and the prison. The second street beyond these buildings, the Rue du Port, leads down to Notre Dame du Port, built in 578, destroyed by the Normans in 853 and restored in 866, according to the inscriptions on the tablet in the N. transept. The exterior is decorated with blind arches, mouldings, and dental friezes, while the apse and its radiating chapels have besides patterns in mosaic. From the intersection of the transept rises an octagonal tower.

In the interior the roof is waggon-vaulted with no groining. Round the nave are fourteen piers with attached columns, having on their capitals sculptured figures of men, animals, and plants. The chancel is surrounded by columns of the same kind, on which rest arches more or less stilted according to the width of the s.p.a.ce. The triforium is ma.s.sive and on short columns. All the gla.s.s is modern, excepting in the window behind the high altar and in each of the windows in the S. and N.

ends of the chancel, which date from the beginning of the 13th cent.

Below the chancel is the crypt, supported on twelve ma.s.sive columns.

Over the altar is a miracle-working image, about 6 inches high, of Mary and child Jesus, found at the bottom of the well, 18 ft. deep, in 578, when the foundations of the first church were being laid. The well, which is covered, is in front of the altar. Its water is endowed with miraculous properties. The walls are lined with expressions of grat.i.tude for favours obtained by praying to this tiny representative of the woman Mary.

It was within the walls of the upper church, when Pope Urban II. and Peter the Hermit were exhorting their hearers in 1096 to undertake the first crusade, that the whole a.s.sembly, as if impelled by an immediate inspiration, exclaimed with one voice, "It is the will of G.o.d!" which words became the signal of battle in all the future exploits of the Crusaders.

The open s.p.a.ce behind the statue of General Desaix leads to the wide Rue Lagarlaye and to the Boulevard du Taureau, in which is situated the Academie or College of Clermont, containing, besides the cla.s.s-rooms, the picture gallery, the museum of natural history, and the Public Library founded by Ma.s.sillon when bishop of this diocese.

[Headnote: BOTANIC GARDENS.]

Behind the Academy are the Botanic Gardens, in which a considerable part is wisely devoted to the training, grafting, and pruning of fruit trees and vines. Attached is the ecole de Pisciculture, with tanks and a small aquarium. Near the Academy is the Hotel Dieu. Tolerable wine is made at Puy-de-Dome, but it is generally cold and flat, and does not sit easily on the stomach.

[Headnote: ROMAGNAT.]

3 m. S. from Clermont is Romagnat, pop. 2000, at the foot of M. Rognon, 1875 ft., and 1 m. more is Mt. Gergovia, 2240 ft., the site of the princ.i.p.al city of the Averni, which was successfully defended by Vercingetorix against a powerful army commanded by Caesar, whom he compelled to retreat with great loss. The Roman headquarters are supposed to have been on a lower hill called Le Crest. (See also under Les Laumes, p. 19.)

Coach to the Puy-de-Dome from Clermont. The road from Royat up to the Puy-de-Dome pa.s.ses by Fontanat and the poor village of Font-de-l'Arbre; or, if preferred, the road to Fontgieve may be taken as far as the +Baraque+, and ascend by the S. side, which is easier.

The +Puy-de-Dome+ is 4806 ft. above the level of the sea, has no crater, and is covered with a long tufted gra.s.s, with here and there a rough spongy rock cropping out, of volcanic origin, and called trachyte, of which the variety found here, and almost here alone, has been named domite. It is grayish-white, fine grained, compact, earthy, often friable, and with flakes of brown mica. It appears to be a decomposed trachyte, in which the feldspar has been affected, but not the mica. The most perfect craters here are the Puy-de-Pariou, 3970 ft. high, and the Nid de la Poule. On the top of the Puy-de-Dome is an observatory, connected with the keeper's house by an underground way. On the Puy are also the ruins of the chapel of St. Bernabe, 2d or 3d cent., and of a Gallo-Roman temple to Mercury.

For Clermont-Ferrand to Brive by Royat, Mont-Dore, and Bourboule, see p. 376. Junction at Clermont with rail to Lyons, 121 m. E. by Courty (where change for Thiers), Montbrison, St. Etienne, and Givors-Ca.n.a.l (see p. 349).

From Clermont-Ferrand the railway to Nimes ascends the course of the Allier to La Bastide, 116 m. S. Some parts of the valley are very picturesque. The train after Clermont pa.s.ses, 267 m., Le Cendre, 1145 ft.; 270 m., Les Martres-de-Veyre, 1148 ft.; 272 m., Vie-le-Comte, 1164 ft.; 276 m., Coudes. The station is near the Allier, 1173 ft., but the town is on the top of an adjoining hill, with the tower of Montpeyroux, 13th cent.

[Headnote: ISSOIRE.]

{282}{247} +ISSOIRE+, pop. 6400, and 1200 ft. above the sea-level. _Hotels:_ Poste; Pezissat; opposite each other in the princ.i.p.al street. It is a clean little town. The princ.i.p.al church, founded in the 10th cent., is a highly interesting specimen of the architecture of Auvergne. The exterior is plain, but the plan admirable. The transepts are just sufficiently developed to give expression to the edifice; while the elegant projection of the five apsidal chapels ill.u.s.trates one of the characteristic beauties of the style. A mosaic decoration of differently-coloured lavas under a handsome cornice runs round the chancel, resembling what is seen on the south transept and tower of St.

Amable at Riom. The interior is beautiful and harmonious, but the gaudy painting on the walls of an edifice of such a severe style surprises the eye on entering. The crypt (10th cent.), below the chancel, but not below the ground, consists of many short ma.s.sive columns, bearing a complex series of arches around a central arch, under which is the altar.

[Headnote: LE BREUIL.]

{287}{242} +LE BREUIL+, 1287 ft., pop. 1000. Opposite station, _Inn:_ H. Beranger.

Coaches await pa.s.sengers for St. Germain-Lembron, an agricultural town, 2 m. W., and Ardes. The road to Ardes from St. Germain ascends through a hilly and well-cultivated country, pa.s.sing, at 4 m. from St. Germain, a bathing establishment, possessing a copious spring containing the carbonate of iron and a large quant.i.ty of free carbonic acid gas.

2 m. farther is +Ardes+; _Inns:_ Paillardin; Barreyre; on an eminence rising from the Couze. In the low part of the village is the church, 11th cent., but restored and repaired. In the cemetery is a stone cross (1519) with Mary and Child against it, resting on a demure-looking figure holding an open book. The valley of the Couze, between high wooded mountains and great basaltic cliffs, offers an excellent field for geological and botanical rambles, while the river itself, which runs in a narrow bed at the foot of the mountains, through little meadows by the side of the road, contains excellent trout. High up are firs and forest trees, but below are apricot, apple, pear, quince, cherry, and walnut trees interspersed among small vineyards and meadows. The best display of the basaltic formation is between the first bridge and the village of Rentiere, perched on a basalt cliff rising from the road. A little way beyond, on the right or opposite bank of the river, is an isolated cliff resembling a statue of Mary with the back towards the spectator. About 4 m. up the valley are the ruins of a mill, La Graviere, destroyed by lightning in 1881. This is considered the commencement of the widest and most imposing part of the valley, which extends to the Cantal. About 5 m.

up, on the top of a hill on the right bank, is the chapel of St.

Pesade.

2 m. S. from Le Breuil is Le Saut du Loup, a village with mineral waters, picturesquely situated on the Allier, 1277 ft. above the sea.

Between Bra.s.sal, _Inn:_ Chevalier, 3 m. farther S., 1322 ft. above the sea, and Arvant are valuable coal-fields and a bed of kaolin clay.

[Headnote: ARVANT.]

miles from PARIS miles to Ma.r.s.eILLES

{298}{232} +ARVANT+, 1400 ft., a dirty hamlet on the Vergongheon, an affluent of the Allier. The best of the inns is the H. Voyageurs. Junction here with the line to Capdenac, 110 m. S.W., traversing the whole of the interesting geological region of the Cantal. (See Black's _South France_, West Half.)

From the hamlet of Neussargues, 30 m. S.W. from Arvant, commences the loop-line of the Chemins de Fer du Midi, which traverses the lofty woodless highlands of Lozere, the coal-region of Aveyron, and the wine and olive department of Herault to Beziers on the Mediterranean line, between Cette and Narbonne. On this line, 11 m. S. from Neussargues, 7 m. S. from St. Flour, and 37 m. N. from Marvejols, is the highest bridge in the world, the Pont de Garabit, which crosses the ravine of the Truyere 400 ft. above the river. The span of the great arch is 541 ft., and the length of the viaduct 1851 ft.

[Headnote: BRIOUDE.]

{304}{226} +BRIOUDE+, 1430 ft. above the sea, pop. 5000. _Inns:_ *Nord; Commerce.

A dirty town on a tableland, 1 m. from the Allier. The parish church St. Julien (restored) dates from the 11th and 12th cents. The W. facade, of red sandstone, is flat, with round-headed windows over the three portals. The largest, the centre one, is between two thick plain b.u.t.tresses, over which rises a low square tower. On the S. side of the church is another portal, preceded by a ma.s.sive portico on three large semicircular arches, resting on short square piers with attached columns bearing large foliaged capitals. On the N. side is a similar entrance, but plainer. From the choir rises a square tower, becoming octagonal in the two upper stages. From the apse, which is semicircular, radiate at a lower level five semicircular chapels, their roofs terminating in a cornice of tiny stone interlaced arches. The wall of the apse above the chapels is ornamented with a mosaic, chiefly stars, in black and white stones.

The interior of the church is surrounded by great, tall, square piers with attached columns and vaulting shafts bearing grotesque foliaged capitals. Over the arches, which are early pointed, run a built-up triforium and circular clerestory windows. The five chapels have a profusion of colonnettes, three round-headed windows each, and some beautiful sculpture in relief. Under the chancel is a crypt.

Behind the church is the covered market, and a little farther the Hotel de Ville, with the town promenade on a terrace overlooking the plain.