There are hotels of all sizes and pensions galore. The Hotel Gassion and the Hotel de France are both of them palatial and luxurious, and there is no lack of hospitality and sociability amongst the residents. Indeed the kindness which the writer, going as a perfect stranger, received from Mr. Foster Barham, the secretary, and from other members of the English club, when he visited Pau, on a golfing holiday a year or two ago, was unstinted, and he is glad to have this opportunity of acknowledging it.

A good game of golf can always be had at Pau, for there are to be found usually, Mr. J. R. Hutchinson and Mr. R. Boreel, both excellent players, while Mr. Charles Hutchings and Mr. Horace Hutchinson are also frequent visitors. The golf course is of good length, being 3 1/2 miles round. The putting greens are excellent, and there are plenty of natural and artificial hazards.

From Pau to Biarritz is not a far cry, and the golfer, weary of inland golf, can easily have a round at Biarritz, and fill his lungs with the briny air of the Bay of Biscay before returning to Pau in the evening. There is much charm in Biarritz golf. The course is short and easy, although good lies through the green are rare; but the course lies high, on the top of the cliffs over the bay, and the views are magnificent. To the north, the winding coast-line of sand and cliff is merged in the forests of the Landes. The huge sweep of the bay fills the western and north-western prospects, and in a westerly or north-westerly gale the seas are superb. To the south, behind the straggling spurs of the Basses Pyrenees, the Spanish mountains are visible, and the northern coast-line of Spain stretches away westwards, till it is lost on the distant horizon.

There is a comfortable golf club situated on the course, and visitors are admitted on introduction, and on payment of a weekly or monthly fee. There is also, as at Pau, an English club in the town. The climate of Biarritz is variable in the extreme, in the winter months, but from March till September or October, it is reliable and charming, and the place is full of life and gaiety.

Quite close, but nearer the Spanish frontier, is the delightful old town of Bayonne, historically interesting from the part it played at the close of the Peninsular War, and as being the birthplace of the bayonet. The bayonet-making industry has died out, and the inhabitants now devote their energies to the making of chocolate creams of fascinating flavour, a change of "métier" which seems to be going "one better" than turning spears into pruning-hooks.

For those who wish to escape, somewhat, from the constant presence of their fellow-countrymen, and to whom golf is not everything, Bayonne is the place to stop at. Thirty minutes by tram, or ten minutes by train, take the golfer to the Biarritz golf course, and if he decide to stop at home, he will find plenty of things in Bayonne to interest and amuse him. It is the headquarters of an army corps and bristles with fortifications. There is a bull-ring, and the streets and inhabitants are picturesque in the extreme. The cathedral is beautiful, and two rivers, moving with craft of all descriptions, meet in the town, and give it, at certain points, all the appearance and charm of Venice. Within easy distance, delightful excursions may be made, across the Spanish frontier, to Fuenterrabia, Pasajes, and San Sebastian, and for residence, there is an old-fashioned French hotel, called quaintly the "Hotel du Panier Fleuri," which, for comfort and cheapness, and the excellence of its wines and cuisine, is one of the wonders of the world.

A very good way to get to Biarritz or Bayonne, for those who do not mind the sea voyage, is to come by sea from London to Bordeaux, by the comfortable steamers of the General Steam Navigation Company, and from thence by train. The sea voyage occupies from 3 1/2 to 4 days.

Golf has also taken root in the Riviera, and at Cannes and Hyères there are now flourishing golf clubs. The difficulties which Englishmen experience in getting suitable ground to play golf on, in France, are enormous, and arise firstly from the absurd way in which even a small piece of land is held by a very large number of persons, all of whom require to be satisfied, and secondly from the prevalent French idea that every Englishman is rolling in money. The Cannes Golf Club, at the outset, had no fewer than thirty-six landlords, and the golfers at Dinard, before they finally succeeded in acquiring and making their present excellent course, had experiences which have been well-described by a writer in the "Golfing Annual." He says, "A Breton's one idea is to 'exploiter' the English. He considers the word 'milord' (not that they grow in great quantities at Dinard), signifies mille-or (thousands of gold)! 'Oh! dame, oui.' They must pay, 'ces Anglais.'" In this way a piece of land may be bought or rented, everything arranged, lease signed, for a rent four times the value of the land - cela va sans dire. The purchaser or tenant thinks he has only to enter into possession. Poor deluded mortal! His troubles are just commencing. What on Monday belonged to one most respectable, accommodating, and generally amiable père de famille, has by Tuesday become the property of countless sons, daughters, brothers, and, we were going to say, wives; but at any rate cousins, to the tenth degree, uncles, aunts, and all other available relations. Le gros Jean, Mathurin, Francois, Marie, Alphon-sine, Victorine, and even la pauvre petite Angeline must all have their share of the spoil; in short, what on one clay was leased from one proprietor, has by the next become the property of a dozen, who all put forward claims to be satisfied before the Briton can make use of Breton soil. Under these circumstances, it is evident what difficulties have to be overcome by those who were deputed to arrange matters for new golf links. Even after all preliminaries were so far advanced that it was considered safe to bring over Tom Dunn to arrange the course, and the work was actually commenced, troubles were anything but over; other proprietors cropped up, enormous sums were asked for the burning of a gorse bush or a bit of dry rushes, and the unfortunate secretary, whenever he made his appearance on the course, was met by threats of a procès, or something equally appalling."

British pluck and patience, however, both at Cannes and Dinard, have triumphed over all difficulties. The Cannes club acquired new ground where there was but one landlord, a few minutes by rail from the town. It is 60 acres in extent, and is let on a lease of 19 years, with option of renewal. An old farmhouse in the ground has been transformed into an excellent and picturesque club-house, and the course is of a very sporting character. There is also a small putting course for ladies.

Southampton to St. Malo, is the proper route for Englishmen going to Dinard, and Dinard itself is reached by a small steamer running from St. Malo. The neighbourhood is healthy and picturesque, and the Grand Hotel de Dinard is well appointed and moderate in its charges.

The golf course at Mayville (named after the Duchess of York) is near Boulogne, and is the nearest on the Continent to London. Though it has only lately been made, it gives promise of being one of the best of Continental golf courses. It is nearly four miles in length, and Taylor and Fernie, in consultation with whom the holes have been laid out, speak in the highest terms of its golfing qualities. Mayville will be situated - for the watering-place exists as yet mainly on paper - at the mouth of the Canche, close to the picturesque old fishing village of Etaples. It was in the estuary of the Canche that Napoleon made all his preparations for the invasion of England, and the neighbourhood is full of other interesting historic memories. Etaples, or Quentovic, as it was then called, was a favourite resort of the Romans, during their occupation of Northern Gaul and Britain. In the Middle Ages it was the scene of many a conflict between the French and the invading English, and the battlefields of Crécy and Poictiers are in the locality. With a fine golf course, a dry and bracing climate, and a situation within five hours of either London or Paris, the success and prosperity of Mayville seem assured.

There are eighteen holes at Paramé and a 9-hole course at Arcachon. At St. Jean de Luz, close to Spain, at Espinho in Portugal, in the Engadine, at Aix les Bains, Hyères, and Nice there are also young and growing clubs.

The Paris Golf Club has just been inaugurated at Maisons Lafitte, but no definite particulars can yet be given of the club and course. There is golf at Berlin, Homburg, and also at Antwerp, and at several places in Holland the Dutch are again taking to the game. This time they have copied it better, and abandoning the childish game of their ancestors, they are now "holing out" in the orthodox fashion.