EVERGLADES OF FLORIDA AND LANDES OF FRANCE 455 



Landes of France. Not only are the 

 physical conditions similar, but there 

 was the same opposition at the start. As 

 in the case of the Everglades, the work 

 in France was pushed by the personal 

 initiative and persistency of one or two 

 men, and the method of securing the 

 funds for the purpose was very much 

 the same. In the early part of this 

 century (before 1857), the condition 

 of the flat, triangular plain known as 

 the Landes, which is roughly bounded 

 by the Bay of Biscay, the River Adour 

 and the River Garonne, and the Medoc, 

 was, in brief, as follows: There were 

 miles of marshy, almost treeless wastes, 

 covered mainly with a low growth of 

 herbage. It was wet, unhealthy and 

 sparsely inhabited. The few people who 

 lived there depended upon their flocks. 

 The accompanying picture shows a na- 

 tive of the Landes standing upon stilts, 

 watching his sheep. He is dressed in a 

 heavy sheepskin paletot. By standing 

 on stilts, these shepherds can easily see 

 their sheep in the bushes and grass, and 

 can easily follow them through wet and 

 marshy regions. Their spare time is 

 spent in knitting stockings. The con- 



dition of the Landes is due to the im- 

 mense sand dunes, which arrayed them- 

 selves along the shore of the Bay of 

 Biscay. They moved inland, covered 

 villages and occluded inlets. Bremon- 

 tier tells of a dune which advanced in 

 a violent tempest at the rate of two feet 

 in three hours. The damage done by 

 these moving sands so increased that 

 the government officials studied the 

 work and devised and executed plans ; 

 and now, thanks to de Villers, Cham- 

 brelent and Bremontier, the pioneer 

 workers, the Dunes and Landes are cov- 

 ered with a beautiful growth of the 

 maritime pine. The region is now a 

 famous health resort, combining the 

 beauties and pleasures of the seashore 

 with those of a well-managed pine for- 

 est, which extends almost to the edge 

 of the ocean. 



There are evidences that originally the 

 Dunes were fixed naturally by forests. 

 These forests were destroyed by van- 

 dals, and all attempts to stop these men- 

 acing mountains of sand failed. In 1778 

 a talented engineer, Baron Charlevoix 

 de Villers, was sent to Arcachon for 

 the purpose of forming a military post. 



Forest of Maritime Pine on the Dunes in Gascony, The White Sand in the Foreground Is the Edge of the Fire-line 



