Page:Mistral - Mirèio. A Provençal poem.djvu/250

 NOTES TO CANTO XI.

$1$, a small river that risee in the Sainte Baume mountain (Var), flows past Aubagne, and reaches the sea at Marseilles, near the Prado. A poetical legend ascribes its origin to the tears of Ste. Magdalene.

$2$ Sambuco, a mountain to the east of Aix.

$3$ Esterel, a mountain and forest in the Var.

$4$ Trevaresso, a mountain-chain between the Touloulero and the Durance.

$5$ It has been seen, in the relation of the holy Maries, that the bark of the proscribed saints was cast upon the extremity of the isle of Camargue. These first apostles to the Gauls ascended the Rhone to Arles, and then dispersed over the South. It is even held that Joseph of Arimathea proceeded as far as England. Such is the Arlesian tradition. That of Baux continues the Odyssey of the holy nomen. It states that they went and preached the faith in the Alpines; and, to eternalize the memory of their doctrine, they miraculously carved their effigies on a rock. On the eastern side of Baux this mysterious and antique monument may still be seen. It is an enormous upright block, detached, and standing over the brink of a precipice. Upon its eastern side are sculptured three colossal faces, which ore objects of veneration to all the people of the region.