Competent geologists, however, have noted a distinctive difference, namely:  that, of all the rivers running in the fissures of the causses, the Tarn is the only one whose water does not penetrate to the beds of marl beneath the lias; and this is said to partly explain the great height and verticality of the cliffs, for when the water reaches the marl it saps the foundations of the rocks, and these, subsiding, send their dislocated masses rolling to the bottom of the gorge.

I overtook a man and two boys who were hauling and pushing a boat up-stream.  The man was wading in the water with a towing-rope over his shoulder, and the boys were in the punt plying their boat-hooks against the rocks and the bed of the river.  They made very slow headway on account of the strength and frequency of the rapids.  In coming down the Tarn, all that the boatman has to do is to use his gaffe so as to keep clear of the rocks; but the return-journey is by no means so pleasant and exciting.

I passed a little cluster of hovels built against the rock, and here a kind woman offered me some sheep’s milk, which I declined for no better reason than because it was sheep’s.

Towards mid-day I reached the village of Les Vignes, which takes its name from the vineyards which have long been cultivated here, where the gorge widens somewhat, and offers opportunities to husbandry.  The great cliffs protect vegetation and human life from the mountain climate which prevails upon the dismal Causse Mejan and the Causse de Sauveterre, separated by the deep fissure.  Until tourists came to the Tarn, Les Vignes was quite cut off from the world, but now it is a halting-place for the boatmen and their passengers; and a little auberge, while retaining all its rustic charm, provides the traveller with a good meal at a fair price.  The rush of strangers during the summer has not yet been sufficient to spoil the river-side people between Sainte-Enimie and Peyreleau by fostering that spirit of speculation which, when it takes hold of an inn-keeper, almost fatally classifies him with predatory animals.

On reaching the auberge I walked straight into the kitchen as usual.  A fowl and a leg of mutton were turning on the spit, and the hostess was very busy with stewpans and other utensils on various parts of her broad hearth.  I soon learnt that a party of several persons had arrived before me, and that all these preparations were for them.  My application for a meal was not met with a refusal, but it was evident that I should have to wait until others were served, and that, they having bespoken the best of everything in the house, my position was not as satisfactory as could be desired.  I suppose I must have looked rather sad, for one of the party who had so swooped down upon the little inn and all its resources suggested that I should take my meal at their table.  I should have accepted this offer with more hesitation had I known that they had brought with them the piece de resistance, the leg of mutton, nearly as large as an English one, that was browning upon the spit before the blazing wood.  After thinking myself unlucky, it turned out that I was in luck’s way.