The family into whose possession this castle has
passed, although distinct from that of Salignac de la Motte, which has now
no representative, reverently preserves all that associates the spot with
the memory of the illustrious author of 'Telemaque.'
From the top of one of the machicolated towers I saw a vast expanse of
country, singularly grand, but very solemn. From each side of the Dordogne
Valley rose and stretched away into the distance a seemingly endless
succession of hills, broken up by narrow gorges and glens. Over all, or
nearly all these hills lay a dark and scarcely varying mantle of forest.
This tract of country is well named Perigord Noir. It is one of the few
districts of France which still draw a sum from the Government yearly in
the form of prize money for the wolves that are killed there.
I returned to St. Mondane and continued my journey westward by the valley,
which brought me every day a little nearer to the sea--still so far away.
As I had no need to hurry, I sat awhile in the late afternoon upon a low
mossy wall, in the deep shade of a dripping, whispering rock, from which
hung delicate green tresses of the maiden's-hair fern.
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