THE GAVE D'OSSAU
On ascending the Gave d'Ossau, all the way to Laruns and beyond, one is
impressed by the beauty of the snow-crested peaks before them, unless by
chance an exceptionally warm spell of weather has melted the snow, which
is quite unlikely.
You can name every one of the peaks of the Pyrenees with the maps and
plans of Joanne's Guide, but you will glean little specific information
from the peasants en route, especially the women.
"_Attendez, monsieur, je vais demander à mon mari_," said a buxom,
lively-looking peasant woman when questioned at Laruns. Her "mari" came
to the rescue as well as he was able. "_Ma foi, je ne sais pas trop_,"
he replied, "_mais peut être_....;" there was no use going any further;
all he knew was that the mountains were the Pyrenees, and were the peaks
high or low, to him they were always "les Pyrénées" or "_la montagne_."
Not far from Pau, on mounting the Gave d'Ossau, is Gan, one of the
thirteen ancient cities of Béarn. In a modest castle flanked by a tiny
pepper-box tower Pierre de Marca, the historian of Béarn, first saw the
light, some years after the birth of Henri IV.
A little further on, but hemmed in among the high mountains between the
valley of the Ossau and the Pau, is a tiny bourg bearing the incongruous
name of Bruges.
It is not a simple coincidence in name, with the well-known Belgium
port, because the records show that this old feudal _bastide_ was
originally peopled by exiled Flemings, who gave to it the name of one of
their most glorious cities. The details of this foreign implantation are
not very precise. The little bourg enjoyed some special privileges, in
the way of being immune from certain taxes, up to the Revolution. There
are no architectural monuments of splendour to remark at Bruges, and its
sole industries are the manufacture of _espadrilles_, or rope-soled
shoes, and _chapelets_, the construction of these latter "objects of
piety" being wholly in the hands of the women-folk.
[Illustration: _Espadrille-makers_]
Like many a little town of the Pyrenees, Laruns, in the Val d'Ossau, is
a reminder of similar towns in the Savoian Alps-Barcelonnette, for
instance. They all have a certain grace and beauty, and are yet
possessed of a hardy character which gives that distinction to a
mountain town which one lying in the lowlands entirely lacks. Here the
houses are trim and well-kept, even dainty, and the church spire and all
the dependencies of the simple life of the inhabitants speak volumes for
their health and freedom from the annoyances and cares of the big towns.
Laruns merits all this, and is moreover more gay and active than one
might at first suppose of a little town of scarce fifteen hundred
inhabitants. This is because it is a centre for the tourist traffic of
Eaux-Bonnes and Eaux-Chaudes, not greatly higher up in the valley.
There are many quaint old Gothic houses with arched windows and
doorways, and occasionally a curious old buttress, but all is so
admirably kept and preserved that the whole looks like a newly furbished
stage-setting. For a contrast there are some Renaissance house fronts of
a later period, with here and there a statue-filled niche in the walls,
and a lamp bracket which would be worth appropriating if that were the
right thing to do.
There is a picturesqueness of costume among the women-folk of Laruns,
too. They wear a sort of white cap or bonnet, covered with a black
embroidered fichu, and a coloured shawl and apron which gives them a
holiday air every day in the week. When it comes Sunday or a fête-day
they do the thing in a still more startling fashion. The coiffes and
costumes of France are fast disappearing, but in the Pyrenees, and in
Brittany, and in just a few places along some parts of the coast line
bordering upon the Bay of Biscay, they may still be found in all their
pristine quaintness.
The Fête Dieu procession (the Thursday after Trinity) at Laruns is an
exceedingly picturesque and imposing celebration. Here in the pious
cortège one sees more frequent exhibitions of the local costumes of the
country than at any other time or place. The tiny girls and the older
unmarried girls have all the picturesque colouring that brilliant
neckerchiefs, fichus and foulards can give, with long braided tresses
like those of Marguerite, except that here they are never golden, but
always sable. The matrons are not far behind, but are more sedately
clothed. The men have, to a large extent, abandoned the ancient costume
of their forefathers, save the _béret_ and a high-cut pantaloon, which
replaces the vest. But for these two details one finds among the men a
certain family resemblance to a carpenter or a boiler maker of Paris
out at Courbevoie for a happy Sunday.
The procession at the Fête Dieu at Laruns is very calm and dignified,
but once it is dispersed, all thoughts of religion and devoutness are
gone to the winds. Then commences the invariable dance, and they don't
wait for night to begin. Most likely this is the first _Bal d'Été_,
though usually this comes with Easter in France. The dance is the
passion of the people of the Pays d'Ossau, but this occasion is purely a
town affair, and you will not see a peasant or a herder from the
countryside among all the throng of dancers. Their great day in town
comes at quite another season of the year, in the autumn, in the summer
of Saint Martin, which in America we know as the Indian summer.
On the highroad, not far from Laruns, is a great oak known locally as
the "Arbre de l'Ours" because on more than one occasion in the past a
bear or a whole family of them has treed many an unfortunate peasant
travelling by this route. This may have been a danger once, but the
bears have now all retreated further into the mountains. They are not by
any means impossible to find, and not long since one read in the local
journal that three were killed, practically on the same spot, not far
above Laruns, and that a sporting Russian prince had killed two within a
week.
In the high valley of the Ossau the bear is still the national
quadruped, and the arms of the district represent a cow struggling with
a bear and the motto VIVA LA TACHA, which in French means simply VIVE LA
VACHE.
Near Laruns is the little village of Louvie-Soubiron which takes its
name from an ancient seigneurie of the neighbourhood. It has no artistic
embellishments worthy of remark, but on this spot was quarried the stone
from which were carved the symbolical statues of the great cities of
France surrounding the Place de la Concorde at Paris.
The ancient capital of Ossau was Bielle, and up to the Revolution the
assemblies of the ancient government were held here. It hardly looks its
part to-day. The population is but seven hundred, and it is not even of
the rank of a market-town. Traditions still persist, however, and
delegates from all over the Pays d'Ossau meet here at least once a year
to discuss such common interests as the safeguarding of forests and
pastures. In a small chamber attached to the little parish church is
preserved the ancient coffer, or strong box, of the old Republic of
Ossau. It is still fastened by three locks, the keys being in the
possession of the mayors of Bielle, of Laruns, and of Saint Colome.
Ten kilometres from Laruns is Eaux-Bonnes. Their virtues have been known
for ages. The Béarnais who so well played their parts at the ill-fated
battle of Pavia were transported thither that they might benefit from
these "waters of the arquebusade," as the generic name is known. A
further development came under the leadership of a certain Comte de
Castellane, préfet of the department under the great Napoleon. He indeed
was the real exploiter, applying some of the ideas which had been put
into practice in the German spas. He set to with a will and beautified
the little town, laid out broad tree-lined avenues, and made a veritable
little paradise of this rocky gorge. The little bourg is therefore
to-day what the French describe as "_amiable_," and nothing else
describes it better. The town itself is dainty and charming enough, but
mostly its architectural characteristics are of the villa order. The
church is modern and everybody is "on the make."
It is not that the population are swindlers,--far from it; but they
have discovered that by exploiting tourists and "_malades imaginaires_"
for three months in the year they can make as ample a living as by
working at old-fashioned occupations for a twelvemonth. A sign on one
house front tells you that a "Guide-Chasseur" lives there, and that he
will take you on a bear hunt--_prix à forfait_; which means that if you
don't get your bear you pay nothing to your guide; but you have given
him a fine ten-days' excursion in the mountains, _at your expense_ for
his food and lodging nevertheless, beside which he has had the spending
of your money for the camp equipment and supplies. He really would make
a very good thing, even if you did not have to pay him a bonus for every
bear sighted, not shot, mind you, for all the guide undertakes to do is
to point out the bear, if he can.
Another very business-like sign may be seen at Eaux-Bonnes,--that of a
transatlantic steamship company. They gather traffic, the steamship
agents, even here in the fastnesses of the Pyrenees, and Amerique du Sud
especially is still depopulating southern France.
Eaux-Chaudes is another neighbouring thermal station. As its name
implies, it is a _source_ of hot water, and was already famous in the
reign of Henri IV. The little community points out with pride that the
archives record the fact that this monarch "took the waters here with
much benefit."
The little Pyrenean village of Gabas lies high up the valley under the
shelter of the Pic du Midi d'Ossau. It is not greatly known to fame; it
is what the French call a hamlet with but a few chimneys. A late census
gave it twenty-three inhabitants, but probably the most of these have
departed in the last year or so to become _femmes de chambre_ and
_garçons de café_ in the big towns.
The place is, however, very ancient, and was the outgrowth of a little
settlement which surrounded a chapel built as early as 1121, and a sort
of resting-house or hospital for pilgrims who passed this way in
mediæval times. This establishment was known as Santa-Christina, and was
consecrated to the pilgrims going and coming from Saint Jacques de
Compostelle.
Plastered up recently on the wall of the mayor's office in the little
village was a placard addressed to the "Messieurs d'Ossau," by the
Conseiller d'Arrondissement. This singular form of address is a survival
of the ancient constitution of this little village, which, in times
past, when everything else round about was feudal or monarchial, was
sort of demi-republican. The "Messieurs d'Ossau" recognized no superior
save the Prince of Béarn, and considered him only as a sort of a titular
dignitary with no powers over them worth speaking of.
Here in the communes of Laruns and Arudy the peasants have certain
rights of free pasture for their flocks and herds, a legacy which came
originally through the generosity of Henri IV, and which no later rule
of monarchy or republic has ever been able to assail. The "Messieurs
d'Ossau" also had the ancient right of gathering about the same council
table with the Vicomtes of Béarn when any discussion of the lands
included in the territorial limits of Béarn was concerned.