THE ARCHIPELAGO OF BREHAT. 77 



tremity of the edifice, which faced the open sea, the 

 walls of a narrow donjon or keep surmount a preci- 

 pitous rock. I asked myself whether it had been 

 intended as a place of refuge, or as a beacon tower, 

 and whether the light which gleamed from its 

 summit was reared on high to announce to the 

 storm-tossed mariner that friendly aid was near to 

 succour him, or whether it was planted there by 

 pirates thirsting for their bloody waifs, like the 

 monks of Chausey. In vain did I interrogate the 

 oldest of the fishermen who frequented L'lle Verte : 

 none could explain the mystery ; for tradition does 

 not inform us whether the dwellers of this rocky 

 fastness were pious cenobites or wily brigands, nor 

 does it even reveal to us the cause or the period of 

 the destruction of the monastery. 



Concealed as it were behind a belt of granite, and 

 exhibiting nothing to the eye of the distant ob- 

 server but rock-capped hills, Brehat appears to pre- 

 sent the aspect of an inhospitable soil, incapable of 

 maintaining life. A cursory view of the interior of 

 the island at once proves the fallacy of this appear- 

 ance, for a closer examination of the ground shows 

 that the whole of this rocky base is covered with a 

 stratum of vegetable soil, whose extreme fertility has 

 been improved by careful industry. I have seen very 

 few parts of France in which the land was so com- 

 pletely and usefully employed. There are many 

 points, indeed, at which the rocky skeleton of the 

 island may be seen projecting upwards, in the form 

 of heavy masses or sharp needles ; but the base of 

 these rocks is covered with crops of grain and ve- 



