t Francois, is now
the cradle of commercialism.

The question as to what constitutes good brandy has ever been a
favourite one among possessors of a little knowledge. The same class
has also been known to state that there is no good brandy nowadays,
no _vrai cognac_. This is a mistake, but perhaps a natural one, as
the cognac district in the Charente was almost wholly devastated in
the phylloxera ravages of half a century ago.

Things have changed, however, and there is as good cognac to-day as
there ever was, though there is undoubtedly much more poor stuff
being sold.

Down through the heart of the cognac region we sped, through Blaye to
Bordeaux and all the busy traffic of its port.

Bordeaux is attractive to the automobilist in that one enters, from
any direction, by wide, broad avenues. It is one of the great
provincial capitals of France, a great gateway through which much of
the intercourse with the outside world goes on.

It is not so cosmopolitan as Marseilles, nor so historically or
architecturally interesting as Rouen, but it is the very ideal of an
opulent and well-conducted city, where one does not need to await the
arrival of the daily papers from Paris in order to know what has
happened during the last round of the clock.

Hotels? The town is full of them! You may put up your automobile in
the garage of the Hotel du Chapon-Fin, along with forty others, and
you yourself will be well cared for, according to city standards, for
twelve or fifteen francs a day,--which is not dear. On the other
hand, Bordeaux possesses second-class hotels where, all found, you
may sleep and eat for the modest sum of seven francs a day. One of
these is the Hotel Francais, a somewhat extensive establishment in a
tiny back street. It is the cheapest _city_ hotel the writer has
found in France. There was no garage at the Hotel Francais, and we
were forced to house our machine a block or two away, where, for the
moderate sum of two francs, you might leave it twenty-four hours, and
get it back washed and rubbed down, while for another fifty centimes
they would clean the brass work,--a nasty job well worth the price.
Yes! Bordeaux is pleasant for the automobilist!

[Illustration: Bourdeaux, the Gateway to the Landes]

Two things the stranger, who does not want to go too far back into
antiquity, will remark upon at Bordeaux, the exceeding ampleness,
up-to-date-ness, and cleanliness of the great open space in front of
the Ope