80 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



stands the language when others speak it; but in the 

 north I rarely succeeded in making myself under- 

 stood when I wished to obtain the simplest informa- 

 tion. I learnt subsequently that wholly local cus- 

 toms prevail in the north, and that Breton words are 

 in use there which are not heard in the other parts 

 of the island ; indeed the inhabitants of the north of 

 Brehat are distinguished, even by their accent, from 

 those of the south. 



At some distance from Kerwareva rises the Pointe 

 du Paon, forming the northern extremity of the 

 island, which alone presents any of that character 

 of wild beauty so common at Chausey. The very 

 rarity of these features tends perhaps to augment 

 their charm by imparting to them an air of grand 

 sublimity. Beyond the last houses of the village, the 

 empire of man seems to give place to the elements of 

 air and water, which here dispute the supremacy 

 over this desolate res-ion. A barren heath lies before 

 us, where stunted ferns divide the thin crust of vege- 

 table soil with the straggling plants which spring up 

 from a layer of bog, rendered brackish by being con- 

 stantly sprinkled by the foam of the waves. Soon the 

 ferns even cease to appear. Lowly as they are, they 

 are ever being bent and broken beneath the lash of the 

 storms, which pour with full force upon this exposed 

 slope. Here and there fine soft grass as smooth as 

 velvet replaces the ruder vegetation, but it is unable 

 to extend to the extreme point, for there the sea 

 reigns supreme, or rather it may be said to carry on 

 a never-ceasing warfare with the giant rocks, w^hich 



