348 NOTES AND TESTIMONIES.

tion. With three hundred mnen it was impregnable in fiorbn
times, notwithstanding which, in consequence of its great
as a frontier fortification, it has hanged hands mor re fquetlf
than almost any fortress in France outside of Paris.
 I found a small garrison at the fort. con-i-ting mostly of w4:i
diera just returned from Italy, who were luunl'ing about in thie
last stages of disgust with the monotonous pe-rt b to which thC
were condemned. A chatty o1il woman, who a' ted as concwrer,'.
promptly responded to my requr-t to visit the castle, by run-,
ning for her keys. She then I,-d nim over the p:rti-ullis, LEd
ornaments of which showed that it waz built belbre battle-axeg
and bows and arrows went nut iif falhioi.n, int, the ..ourt-vard.
where th. tconimandant residl...J. Thb. firnt .-iirit-i.i to which
she invited my attention was the well Af' th.r a-,tle. dug through
the solid rock, down to the level of the little River Orbe, which
winds along the base of the hill. a depth of at least five hun-
dred feet. My cicerone, to give me somen idea of thi: depth of.
the well, threw in -one stone,, from whi, h no ountd or echo'
of any kind came up. This tell wa.s built lbr the use of the
garrison during a siege, though in ordinary time they are sup-
plied with water ':aught in rit,-runs. It has not becuu used for
many centuries, i ever; the ctadel, when it has bangedd hands,
having generally been betrayed, or 'bared the fate of battles';
fought elewhere.
 The well was built, my guide told m, and her itrfbrmation j
I have confirmed from other <taorn.e, by the serf, and rasasls
of the I;r-udal proprietor of thu Ibrt, in the, ninth century. She
lowered her ioice when she added that multitudes who went
down to work in its alby)se never returned to th- light of day. i
Indeed, the tradition is that they were trol wh,-n they were sent
to their work that they were not to return till it was finished.
They were obtlivged to dig large reC.i.ses at regular and con-
vrcnil.nt dl'tan,:,.' in the sides of the pit, as their excavations
progre.s:.l, and these were their honi:ms during their frightful
inpr;si'ument, f'roim whikh mot were ralieveld o nl y by death.
 Of all the dr,.adful shapes which "man's inhumanhiy to man" .