By S · BARING · GOULD With Illustrations by J · WYLIE AND FROM PHOTOGRAPHS AND THREE MAPS LONDON METHUEN & CO. LTD. 36 Essex St. Strand LONDON METHUEN & CO. LTD. 36 Essex St. Strand Third Edition...

Brittany can hardly claim the attention of the tourist as a superlatively beautiful country. The way in which trees are clipped and tortured out of shape disfigures the sylvan landscape; and of mountain scenery there is none. The ranges of the Montaignes Noires and the Monts d'Arrez are insignificant. Yet the valleys are pretty, but never grand. The charm of Brittany is to be found in the people and in the churches. The former with their peculiar costumes, and their customs are full of interest,

The Montagnes Noires flank the central plain on the South. Their maximum height is 1050 ft. After running S.W., they bend abruptly towards the N.W., and terminate in the Menez-hom in the Crozon peninsula. In the Morbihan, the Lande de Lanvaux, running from W. to N.E., extends 50 kilometres, and rises to the height of from 240 to 320 ft. between the basins of the Claye and the Arz which unite at Redon to feed the Vilaine. The North coast of Brittany is eaten into bays from which the sea retreats

The botany of Brittany is little varied owing to the slight variation in the soil and subsoil, schist and granite. It is but in rare spots where occurs limestone that the flora is different. It may be roughly divided into the class of plants that affect the inland districts and the moors, and that which flourishes on the seaboard. The flora of a slate and granitic region, whether in Scotland, Cornwall or Brittany, is much the same. In the Guérande, where there are extensive marshes, an interesti

Brittany, whose ancient name was Armorica (Ar môr, by the sea), and which was known to the Britons and Irish as Llydau, was originally peopled by the race of the Dolmen-builders, a brown eyed and dark haired people, who strewed it with their monuments. To them followed the Gauls, blue eyed and with flaxen hair; these latter were divided into five tribes that occupied severally the departments of Ille-et-Vilaine (Redones), with their capital at Rennes; Côtes-du-Nord (Curiosoliti), with their head

The prehistoric remains that abound in Brittany consist of Dolmens , i.e. a certain number of stones set on end rudely forming a chamber, and covered with one or more capstones. The Allée Couverte is a dolmen on a large scale. Both served as family or tribal ossuaries. The Menhir is a single standing stone; the alignment is a number of these uprights often in parallel lines, extending some distance. The cromlech according to the signification accorded to it in France is a circle of standing ston

The Pardons are the religious gatherings of the people, not often in the towns, but about some chapel on an island, on a hill top, in a wood. There may be seen the costumes in all their holiday beauty. A Pardon begins with vespers on the night before the Feast. Pilgrims arrive for that, and sleep in the church, the chapel, under hedges. They sing their cantiques or hymns till they sing themselves to sleep. The first mass is said at 3 A.M. and the true pilgrims communicate till the last has recei

It may interest some travellers to be able to identify some of the more common Saints of Brittany whose statues are to be found in the churches, chapels, and over the Holy Wells. A few of the Roman Saints are added who are thrusting the native ones from their niches. Ste. Anne, with the B.V.M. at her side, sometimes with her on one arm and Christ on the other. S. Armel, in a brown habit, with a cap on his head, an amice over the right shoulder, with a dragon whom he holds by a stole. Ste. Aude o

Argentré (I.V.) chl. arr. Vitré. In the neighbourhood are many small lakes, forming one of the arms of the Vilaine, one of the sources of which is in the forest of Pertré. The château de Plessis is of the 15th cent. and has been restored. In it is a portrait of Mme. de Sevigné by Mignard. The circular chapel is of the 17th cent. At Primel is a chapel of the 15th cent. A calvary is in the parish churchyard. At Etrelles the church is of the beginning of the 16th cent. Arzano (F.) chl. arr. Quimper