THE ARCHIPELAGO OF BREHAT. 79 



room where two newspapers are taken, combine to 

 secure supremacy to the Bourg, and to constitute it 

 the true capital of the island. For the rest, here as 

 in all the other villages, the country maintains its 

 characteristic physiognomy. The streets, although 

 narrow and irregular, are always clean. The houses 

 are generally surrounded by small gardens, planted 

 with flowers and fruit-trees, and resemble in many 

 respects the rural habitations of Alsatia, which is 

 perhaps the most genuinely rich province of France. 

 These remarks apply more especially to the 

 southern half of the island. Immediately after cross- 

 ing Vauban's causeway and passing the neighbouring 

 houses, the character of the country changes suddenly, 

 everything bearing a wild and rugged aspect. The 

 rocks are more numerous and more elevated, and in 

 proportion as they encroach upon the soil they 

 render It less fertile. Vegetation is less active ; the 

 crops are less luxuriant, wheat being here replaced 

 by oats ; while in many parts nothing is to be seen 

 but broom and ferns. The habitations seem to have 

 succumbed to the same laws of decadence, for they 

 gradually become lower and more squalid, courts and 

 gardens disappear, and finally, on reaching Kerwa- 

 reva, the last village which we pass in going north- 

 ward, nothing is to be seen but huts built of rough 

 stone, imperfectly cemented with the mud from the 

 shore, and covered with sods. The inhabitants even 

 exhibit an air of rouo-hness and almost wildness in 

 their persons, which contrasts with the greater polish 

 of their more southern neighbours. In the south 

 every one speaks French, or at all events under- 



