[The Trou des Fées.]—On the top of the hill (345 ft), opposite the E. side of the Oiseaux peak, is a cave called the Trou des Fées. The entrance is by a vertical cavity, resembling a well. The interior, covered with stalactites, is about 96 ft. long by 40 wide. To explore it lights are necessary. The hole is not very easy to find, though a path leads directly to it. It is situated under some fir trees. The road down by the eastern valley of the Montagnes des Oiseaux to the Costebelle road passes near one of the principal springs which supply the town. The other source is in the plain, on the road “du Père-Eternel,” nearly 2 m. S.E. from the town. It is pumped up by an engine of 26 horse-power. This water filters to this place from the Gapeau, 1 m. E., through the gravelly soil of the plain.
To mention all the drives and walks would be both difficult and confusing. As all the roads and paths are free, the tourist may ramble in whatever direction he pleases, either through the orchards or up the lonely but beautifully-wooded valleys and mountains. The only sound heard is the occasional report of a gun, fired by the “chasseurs” at such game as blackbirds, thrushes, jays, bullfinches, and larks. In the swamps about Giens are occasionally snipes and wild ducks. The Maure mountains and their interminable valleys offer ample scope for the walking powers of the most indefatigable pedestrian.
Cork-cutting.
The principal agricultural products of Hyères, as indeed of all the Riviera, are olives, wine, and cork. The olive-berry harvest commences
in December. The small berries make the best oil. The trunk has a curious propensity to separate and form new limbs, which by degrees become covered with bark. If the sap be still in a semi-dormant state, and the weather dry, the trunk and branches can bear a cold of 12° Fahr., while the orange and lemon are killed by a cold of 22°. The cold of 1820 killed the orange trees about Hyères, and nearly all the trunks and branches of the olive trees, but not the roots; from each of which sprang, in the course of time, two or three saplings, now trees growing round one common centre. Next to the Aleppo, maritime and umbrella pines, the most numerous of the forest trees is the cork oak, or [Quercus suber], generally accompanied with the diminutive member of the oak tribe, the Quercus coccifera. The bark forms an important article of commerce. When the stem of the young cork oak has become 4 inches in diameter, the bark is removed for the first time, but it is of no use. Ten or even fifteen years afterwards, when the bark is about an inch thick, the trunk is stripped again, by making two circular incisions 3 to 4 feet apart, and two vertical on opposite sides. This operation is repeated every tenth year in the month of June, when the sap is in full vigour. A cork tree does not produce fine-grained cork till it is fifty years old. Cork-cutting, which formed an important industry in the mountain villages, is gradually leaving them and settling in the towns on the railways, on account of the greater facility of transport. [ Processional Caterpillar.
Pipes.] The curious caterpillar of the Moth, Bombyx processionaria, feeds on the leaves of the Aleppo and maritime pine trees. Their nests, made of a cobweb material, and shaped like a soda-water bottle, are firmly attached to the branches. On cutting them open the caterpillars are found coiled up in a ball, and do not endeavour to escape. They feed during the night. When they leave the nest they go in procession, following each other with great precision. On the summits of the Maures, and on all the mountains bordering the Riviera, grows the heath Erica arborea, from whose roots [pipes] are made. The digging up and the preparing of these roots for the Paris manufacturers form now an important industry in the mountain villages. In England they are called briar-root pipes, briar being a corruption of the French word bruyère, signifying heath.
The “specialité” of Hyères is the rearing of early vegetables, fruits, and flowers, for the northern markets, especially roses, strawberries, peaches, apricots, artichokes, and peas. The broad flat alluvial plain between the town and the sea is admirably suited for this purpose. The gardens are easily irrigated, and besides, within a few feet of the surface, there is always abundance of water.
“About Hyères are many rare butterflies. Among the best is the Nymphalis-Jasius, the only representative in Europe of the genus Charaxes. The first brood appears early in June, the second at the beginning of September. It is found all over the Riviera, but most abundantly at Hyères. The Vanessa Antiopa appears in July and September, many of the latter generation living through the winter. Thais Medesicaste, T. Hypsipyle, Anthocaris Eupheno (the Aurore de Provence), Polyommatus
Ballus, and Rhodocera Cleopatra may be taken in April. A little later there is an abundance of the Podalirius (scarce Swallow Tail), the Machaon, the Thecla Betulæ, the Argynnis Pandora, the A. Niobe, the A. Dia, the A. Aglaia, the A. Valenzina, the Arge Psyche, the Satyrus Circe, the S. Briseis, the S. Hermione, the S. Fidia, the S. Phædra, the S. Cordula, the S. Actoæ, the S. Semele, and the S. Bathseba, all common more or less throughout the summer.” —W. A. Powell of the English Pharmacy of Hyères.
Climate of Hyères.