For continuation northwards see map, page 167.
[ ARDÈCHE.]
(See [Map, page 46]).
Ardèche should not be visited till June, and not later than September. In the villages and hamlets in the pastoral districts most of the best houses are inns or auberges, where a bed can be had, and abundance of fare, in the shape of fried potatoes, butter, milk, eggs, coffee, bread often of rye, and hard salt pork sausages. The national dish is potatoes sliced very thin and fried with butter. They make also a pleasant soup of herbs mixed with potatoes. The numerous inns are required for the accommodation of guests during the fairs, of which each hamlet has at least 2, while the larger villages and towns have from 4 to 8, besides market-days. One of the prettiest sights in Ardèche is to see the people flocking from every direction along the winding mountain roads to the village where the fair is being held—many on foot driving small parcels of pigs, sheep, goats, or cattle, or carrying baskets full of eggs, cheese, and butter, and often an old hen; others with carts loaded with potatoes; others travelling comfortably in their char-à-bancs; and others on horseback, the women as well as the men being astride.
Many of the inns, and even of the owners, are at first sight forbidding, but after a little kindly conversation the aspect of things improves rapidly. In the higher regions the agricultural products are potatoes and hay. In the next zone are wheat, chestnut, walnut, apple, pear, and cherry trees, cultivated on terraces supported by low stone walls of rough unhewn stones. Vineyards are in the lowest zone, on the sunny side of the mountains. The cattle are of a goodly size, mostly cream-coloured and light brown, with large bones and white horns generally tipped with black.
At the fairs, besides every kind of country produce, girls and grown-up women offer their hair for sale. The best do not yield above 8s., and many only 2s. 6d. or 3s. When the bargain is made a woman shears it off in the same way as sheep are shorn, leaving only
a little in front. It is all over in two minutes, twisted into a hank, and thrust into a sack. Instead of receiving money, they usually take the value in cloth and ribbons. The standard occupation of the females during their long winters is lace-making.
Among the remarkable sights in Ardèche are the volcanic rocks, Mont Mezenc and the Gerbier-de-Joncs, above the source of the Loire. The most central station of the diligences is [Le Cheilard] (see page 83).
After Valence the railway traverses some of the most picturesque parts of the valley of the Rhône. At Mornas, 44½ m. S. from Valence and 23½ m. N. from Avignon, begins the region of the olives.