PUNKERQUE. 179 



tbsse ; and the anecdote will furnish the reader with some 

 idea of the myriads of fish which crowd these waters. 



Immense fish are frequently caught here ; and yet you 

 may fish for days together, without meeting half a dozen 

 brethren of the craft; so little, as a nation, are the French 

 addicted to the sports of the field. 



Gravelines contains about 3,500 inhabitants, and is 

 situated in a dead flat. The soil about the place is a cold 

 clay, and in wet weather the whole neighbourhood is 

 sufficiently wretched. There is an enormous traffic in 

 eggs carried on with England; and smuggling to a vast 

 extent is effected on the English coast, by fast craft from 

 this port ; and vice versa : the inhabitants not being very 

 particular which revenue they cheat. 



The town is strongly fortified, and the Gravelines 

 people boast that it never has been taken. This is very 

 likely to be true ; because they have the power of laying 

 the whole country under water in a few hours by means 

 of their large salt-water sluices. Perhaps an active rum- 

 mage into the history of the wars in the Low Countries, 

 might blow away this bit of brag ; but it would be a pity 

 to disturb the vanity of the poor folks who vegetate in 

 such a district. The military call it the " grave of 

 France," and consider a twelvemonth's residence within 

 its walls, almost equivalent to a sentence for transportation. 

 After all, however, it is a capital place for fishing; and if 

 not disappointed in that respect, the angler will allow 

 nearly every other consideration to sink into insigni- 

 ficance. 



Bunfcerque. 



DUNKERQUE, is a well-built sea-port, a short distance 

 from the ocean, with which it communicates by a short 



