122 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



rapid rate at which we were moving, we saw Brehat 

 sink below the distant horizon behind us, whilst rock 

 after rock, and islet after islet, seemed at every 

 moment to emero;e from the waves towards which 

 we were advancing. 



After havino^ first directed our course towards the 

 north, we passed the island of Saint-Mode to our 

 left, and looked with interest at its batteries, where, 

 almost buried in the grass, lie heavy pieces of cannon, 

 ready to peal forth their hoarse thunders at the first 

 sio^nal of war, and to defend the entrance of the roads 

 of Pontrieux. Here too is the chapel with its holy 

 relics, which, if we may trust the testimony of those 

 wdio live in the vicinity, possess the virtue of ex- 

 pelling from the island every kind of parasitical 

 insect. We passed rapidly between Pen-ar-rest and 

 the plateau of the Sirlots, whose hidden rocks prove 

 a dangerous obstacle to the course of vessels passing 

 from Brest to Pontrieux. Steering towards the 

 north-east, we coasted along Roch Louet and its 

 shelving rocks, which although at a distance of more 

 than two miles from the shore are united Avith it by 

 means of a natural dyke of boulders, called the 

 Sillon, w^iich has been formed by the two opposite 

 currents which ebb and flow twice each day within 

 the basins of Pontrieux and Treguier. Here the 

 tide left us, the wind fell, and our sails flapped 

 loosely against the masts. The sailors now began 

 to pull with vigour, and soon the pinnace resumed 

 its former course beneath the measured strokes of 

 the long oars, leaving a white line of foam behind 

 it. The nearer we drew to Hehaux, the taller 



