MR. MURRAY'S SUMMER IN THE PYRENEES.

THESE volumes contain a very pleasant alternation of sketches of scenery, manners, and individual characters ; a few valuable mud striking facts, showing the economical effects which now from the restrictive commercial system of France ; some inci- dental information upon the political state and feelings of the fron.

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tier provinces of France and Spain ; and a good deal of slight personal adventure in climbing mountains, hunting izaids, and encountering the peculiar kind of free traders—half thieves and wholly contrabandist, who swarm in the Pyrenean ranee, in defiance of weather, way, and donaniers. This variety of sub- ject, together with an unaffected manner, great clearness though some inaccuracy of style, and a strong spirit of good-nature springing from good health and animal spirits, impart interest to the narrative of a tour, whose substance, if rigidly analyzed, would be found closely akin to commonplace. As Mr. MURRAY performed the greater part of his journey on foot, plunging into secluded vilifies, visiting remote and out-of- the-way villages, and traversing mountain-paths, rarely if ever trodden save by the foot of the natives the reader cannot follow his route unless with a district map. Its leading points, however, may be given. Making Toulouse his starting.poinT‘t,1110'(Iiii.t.eArIrUalltleRaAny preceeded in the diligence to Perpignan, on the and tire barrier of the kingdom on the eastern side of France, as Bayonne is on the west. At Perpignan he commenced his Pyre- nean exploration; which he continued, so far as these volumes are concerned, to the Valley d'Aspe. In the course of it he ascended the CanigoO, long considered the loftiest of the Py- renees, and still unrivalled for a prospect, bounded only by the capabilities of human vision, of river and sea, distant moutvain and cultivated plain : he climbed Mont Perdu, surrounded by giants like itself of fantastic forms and snow-capped pinnacles, where Nature is beheld in her sternest and loftiest aspect : he gazed over the mountains and vallies of Aragon from the Breche de Roland—a gap in a wall of rock seven hundred feet high, which legends affirm was cleft asunder by the sword of the nephew of CHARLEMAGNE in his Moorish war: and he pondered an ascent of Maladetta, " the cursed mountain:* the Queen of the Py- renees, whose summit has never yet been trodden by human foot—but circumstances compelled him to postpone, though not abandon the enterprise. These, and many pilgrimages such as these, were made to the shrine of Nature. But Mr. MURRAY also mingled with men. Ile visited Andorre, a Pyrenean republic which has preserved a half independent existence since the age of CH ARLEMANGE, upon the principle that it was nut worth while for France or Spain to enslave it; and he luckily arrived at a stirring time, for both Christinos and Carlists bad violated the neutrality of the state, and the Andorrians were breathing wars, and holding assemblies, one of which Mr. MURRAY attended. He sojourned in Beam, the little paternal kingdom of HENRY the Fourth ; and gives an agreeable picture of its country and peasantry, a few specimens of' its poetry, and a brief view of its language, which, grounded on French, appears expressive and flexible in its character,—if the Bearnais people had ideas to express, and a genius arose with powers to render it worth while for foreigners to study his native tongue. And, what will he still more attractive to many who may ha thinking of a summer excursion Southwards, he de- scribes the various watering-places of the Pyrenees, criticizes the respective merits of the baths and their vicinities, and occa- sionally commemorates the hotels, and gives other practical in- formation.

According to Mr. MURRAY, the South of France not only

suffers in common with the rest of the kingdom through the shortsighted policy of the protective system, but has peculiar grievances of its own. The Northern departments return the greater number of Deputies to the Chamber ; so they, in con-

junction with the Government, not only resist all the claims of

the South to freedom of trade, but cripple the internal industry of the Southerns by maintaining vexatious restrictions,—the erection of machinery for commercial purposes, for example, not being permitted within a certain distance of the frontier. This is a peculiar grievance, but one whose operation, coupled with the general restrictions, must both limit national wealth and react upon the enterprise and intelligence of the national character. An extract or two relating to obvious subjects which fell under Mr. MURRAY'S notice, will render this point more striking.

The mules employed in transporting the ore from the mines to the forges, are furnished each with a pair of panniers, in which they can only conveys very small quantity, as it is none of. the purest, and it thus requires many mules loads to produce a small weight of iron. Could they smelt the ore at the mines, an enormous saving might be effected ; but in this case the charcoal must be conveyed from such a distance to them as to render the expense nearly equal so that of bringing the ironstone to Arles. All the forges in the Pyrenees are simie lady situated. The ore has to be brought to them for some leagues in one direction, the fuel for some leagues in another, and in no instance hive I ow erated,—convequently rendering the price of iron very high, almost probibiting the country from making use of it even in their most necessary article,. This accounts for the rude nature of the agricultural implements in France. The high price of iron prevents their adopting the more improved methods of eultivating the soil; and until their short-sighted and interested government repeal the obnoxious duties on foreign iron, both the agricultural and manu- facturing interests of the country —from the impossibility of obtaining an article the most necessary for their prosperity at any thing short of a ruinous price—must continue to remain stationary, while other countries, aware of the benefit of a liberal commercial law, prosper and precede it.

COMPARATIVE MERITS OF HORSES AND MULES.

We left Arles at five the next morning, in company with a troop of muleteers belonging to the forges, who every day cross to the mines upon the Valitiania side of the Canigoii, for the mineral smelted at Arles. There was a string of Mules, in number about fifty, decked in housings and traimings of all colours. The path by which we left the village, and indeed all the way across the flank of the Canigoil, admits of only single file; the consequence of which is, that when met by loaded mules returning from the mines, accidents sometimes happen from the difficulty of passing each other,—some of them not unite- queativ rolling over the steep.. I bad always had considerable doubts of the mule heing fully entitled to the high character generally bestowed upon it for cteadiness and security of footing among the mountains, and saw no reason why the horse should not be equally so. I was here and afterwai ds convinced that lay SU clarions were well-founded. and that the mule possessed not the safety imputed to It. Frequent stumbles, and an exammatiou of the knees of the troop, was evidence not to be contradicted ; and the curious encurnstance was elucidated, that five horses, which had carried mineral as long as most of the mules had dune, were perfectly sound. The only reason which can be given

far the mule having acquired the character which it ha., i i

s, that t is much more frequently wed among the mountain;, on account of its being mote able to endure hunger and fatigue. The horse is as safe to rble among rocks and precipices, if bred among them ; and I would far rather trust my neck to them than to the generality of mules I have seen. With the bridle upon the neck of one of these ponies, and allowing him to take his own tirne, (which a mule always doe% whether his rider wishes or not,) I have descended some steeps walch would require to be seen in order to judge of the animal's merits.

PYRENEAN SHEPHERDS.

The celerity with which the shepherds of the Pyrenees draw their scattered flocks around them, is not more astonishing than the process by which they effect it is simple and beautiful. If they are at no great distance from him, be whistles upon them, and they leave off feeding and obey the call : if they are far off and scattered, he utters a shrill cry, and instantly the flock are seen leaping down the rocks and scampering towards hint. Having waited until they have mustered round him, the shepherd then sets oft on his return to his cabin or resting-place, his flock following behind like so many well-trained hounds. Their fine-looking dogs, a couple of which are generally attached to each flock, have nobler duties to perform than that of chasing the flock to- gether, and biting the legs of stragglers ; they protect it from the attacks of the wolvea 'end bears, against whose approach they arc continually on the watch, and to whom they at once offer battle. So well aware ate the sheep of the fatherly care of these dogs, and that they themselves have nothing to fear from them, that they crowd around them, as if they really sought their protec • tion ; and dogs and sheep may be seen resting together, or trotting after the shepherd in the most perfect harmony. There is no such sight to be wit- nessed in '7 ese weuntierns as " sheep-driving; " no " knowing little collies" wed in coLecting the flocks, or keeping them from wandering ; the Pyrenean shephena his doge, and his flock, seem to understand each other's duties; mutual aecetity and affection are the bonds which unite them. The same con- fidence subsists between the Pyrenean shepherd and his flock, as that between the shepherd of Palestine and his, described in the parable of the goo,1 shep- herd, of whom it is said, "he goeth before them, and the theep follow him, fur they know his voice."

'the ruoumains in the vicinity of Urdino produce a sufficient quantity of Aarcoal to supply the forge ; but the mineral, as at Escaldos and other places, is brought from the mountains of Carol, a distance airich it takes the mules eight or ten hours to perform. The ascent of the Col d'Urdino is very steep ; and, for a long way up the mountains, we scrambled through forests of fir sod pine. I observed here, as in the more civilized parts of the French Pyrenees, the great havoc and waste which the ignorant charbonniers and woodcutters make in cutting down the wood. The implements are, in general, of such a simple nature, that they can only cut through a certain thickness; consequently, all the trees which exceed in diameter the powers of the work. men, are cut over at some distance from the ground, and the best and soundest past of the tree left to decay. In the mountains of Eaux Chandes and the Basque country, I have seen the finest timber ruined in this manner, where there could be no excuse for such negligence, as the forests were Government property, and the wood applied to public purposes ; and the Freech Govern• meot could not plead their poverty as a reason why they could not supply their workmen with the few tools which were requisite for therm The trunks of the largest trees are not so easily converted into charcoal as the lesser ones ; the Andorrian cbarbonnier, therefore, when be wants to destroy a large tree for the take of its branches, and cannot cut it down, sets fire to the trunk, and, consuming the support, the branches are obtained. The scene which an oak forest presents, when it has been cut down for the sake of the bark, with its blanched trunks and boughs scattered around,—and which some author has pampered to a field of battle after the slain have been stripped of their cloth- mg,—is a melancholy object, and can only be equalled by the desolate appear- ance of a wood which has been destroyed by fire. In the French Pyrenees, so careless were the inhabitants of preserving their forests, that it was by no means an uncommon circumstance for a peasant, when be wanted a pair of sabots, to cut down a couple of trees, and carve a shoe out of each. Govern- ment has laterly, however, paid more attention to the forests, and been more careful of their preservation ; but both government and people are still very. very far from possessing any practical knowledge of arboriculture, or, if they

do, it is never applied. * * • • Forests of the most magnificent silver firs and beeches cling to the steep sides of the Perilou and the other mountains which we passed ere reaching the valley of Broassate, some of the trees (the silver firs) being of prodigious cir- cumference and height. Many of these trees are cut clown for the French navy; and, considering the fine quality of the timber and its size, it seems very extraordivary that the Government do not evince a far greater degree of interest

regarding the forests which produce them. There are officers of vacuums grades, from Gerdes Furestiers to Inspecteurs.Ganerals, paid to take charge of the

forests belonging to Government; but one and all of them seem to know very little of the duties of their situations ; and consequently, the greatest havoc and destruction is committed upon the woods, not only by the short-sighted and unthinking villagers, but by the workmen employed by Government to cut them down. I have seen trees nearly twenty feet in circumference taken down by the hatchet, and so hacked and split in the operation as to be frequently left

to rot where they are felled. Upon such occasions, I have often wished that I bald have shown the inexperienced natives and ignorant officials bow neatly a couple of Scottish foresters, with their "cross-cut saws," would have taken down the trees. But the unskilfulness of the peasantry is not to be wondered at, neither is the simple nature of their tools a matter of astonishment. The selfish policy of the Government is the cause of both. The price of iron is maintained so exorbitantly high, that none but the wealthier classes (and they but seldom) are in the practice of using it for any purpose where wood can be substituted. In the South of France, a good useful spade is never seen, an iroft rake very seldom ; and their saws and other carpenter's tools are of a most in- ferior quality : indeed, in all their implements for agriculture and other pur- poses, the French are (as I once heard a liberal native of that country observe) a couple of hundred years behind us.

The French people are becoming every day more and more awakened to the injurious character of the policy of their Government upon the subject of the iron trade; and ere long will demand a repeal of the high duties on foreign iron. Until they attain this object, cheap iron cannot be procured in France railroads can never be formed to advantage, even in the most populousdistricts; nor can the internal prosperity of the kingdom be advanced.

In one sense Mr. MUREAV'S title is a misnomer : although the more continuous narrative of his Pyrenean tour is the result of only a summer's ramble, yet many of the other parts have been produced by a longer residence, and by excursions in winter as well as in the more genial season. He has also explored the en- tire range of the Pyrenees; and he promises a third volume descrip- tive of those parts he has left unmentioned, and " of wild sports. and adventures in the Basque country,"—a continuation we shall be glad to see.