e of such
caverns or grottoes is still to be seen about a mile below Mialet, of
extraordinary magnitude. It extends under the hill which rises up on
the right-hand side of the road, and is entered from behind, nearly
at the summit. The entrance is narrow and difficult, but the interior
is large and spacious, widening out in some places into dome-shaped
chambers, with stalactites hanging from the roof. The whole extent of
this cavern cannot be much less than a quarter of a mile, judging from
the time it took to explore it and to return from the furthest point
in the interior to the entrance. The existence of this place had been
forgotten until a few years ago, when it was rediscovered by a man of
Anduze, who succeeded in entering it, but, being unable to find his
way out, he remained there for three days without food, until the
alarm was given and his friends came to his rescue and delivered him.

Immediately behind the village of Mialet, under the side of the hill,
is another large cavern, with other grottoes branching out of it,
capable, on an emergency, of accommodating the whole population. This
was used by Roland as his principal magazine. But perhaps the most
interesting of these caves is the one used as a hospital for the sick
and wounded. It is situated about a mile above Mialet, in a limestone
cliff almost overhanging the river. The approach to it is steep and
difficult, up a footpath cut in the face of the rock. At length a
little platform is reached, about a hundred feet above the level of
the river, behind which is a low wall extending across the entrance to
the cavern. This wall is pierced with two openings, intended for two
culverins, one of which commanded the road leading down the pass, and
the other the road up the valley from the direction of the village.
The outer vault is large and roomy, and extends back into a lofty
dome-shaped cavern about forty feet high, behind which a long tortuous
vault extends for several hundred feet. The place is quite dry, and
sufficiently spacious to accommodate a large number of persons; and
there can be no doubt as to the uses to which it was applied during
the wars of the Cevennes.

The person who guided us to the cave was an ordinary working man of
the village--apparently a blacksmith--a well-informed, intelligent
person--who left his smithy, opposite the Protestant temple at which
our pony-cart drew up, to show us over the place; and he took pride in
relating the tr