No pains have been spared to render the remainder of the journey attractive to either the rider or the pedestrian, and to us the drive up the broad zigzags, planted with plane trees, silver beech, ash, polonia, aspen, arbutus, burberis, and innumerable other handsome trees and shrubs, was a pleasant one indeed.  One rocky bit on the right of the way, completely overhung with beautiful ivy, seemed to us especially picturesque.  Admiring thus all the poetic touches in form or colouring as we passed, we suddenly, and almost without warning, found ourselves entering Eaux Bonnes (271/2 miles), and but a very few moments more sufficed for our conveyance to the excellent Hotel de France, where the hostess was ready to receive us.

It would, indeed, be hard to find a more charmingly compact little town than Eaux Bonnes, anywhere:  a perfect little miniature, very happily situated and beautifully clean and neat.  What more could an invalid desire?  Why, the very beauty of the surroundings ought to act perceptibly on the constitution, and when baths and perpetual tumblers of the rotten-egg fluid are indulged in besides, a perfect cure must be guaranteed.

It requires but few words to describe the shape and appearance of the place, but to convey an accurate idea to the reader is, we are afraid, a very difficult matter.  The town is triangular in shape—­almost an isosceles triangle, in fact—­and this triangle is formed by the shape of the gorge, whose rocky, tree-clothed sides overlook it.  Fine rows of hotels and restaurants, and other buildings—­mostly let as furnished apartments—­form the outer edge of the triangle.  A good road separates these from the Jardin Darralde, which is likewise triangular, and planted with trees and shrubs in the most agreeable manner, both for neatness and shade.  In the centre is the band-stand, and a bed of roses surrounds it.  This is a general description, but it does not speak of beauty, and we thought that Eaux Bonnes was undoubtedly a beautiful place.

Suppose a triangular slice were cut out of Hyde Park, combining some leafy trees and a pleasant flower-bed with a band-stand added, and hotels and restaurants were erected around it; then, that it were transported to a narrow part of the Llanberis Pass under the very frown of Snowdon; and snow should fall on the surrounding summits; and magnificent beech groves and cascades appear down the wild slopes below, some idea of what Eaux Bonnes is like might be gained; but even then it would be little more than an idea.

It certainly has not the grandeur of Cauterets, the freedom of St. Sauveur, or the expansive loveliness of Luchon.  It is hemmed in by the surrounding heights, of which, at the head of the Sourde (or Soude) valley (in which it lies) the magnificent Pic de Ger is most conspicuous, and doubtless this renders it a “warm retreat” in summer; but to see it as we saw it, with the sun shining on the rain-spangled