L4C A HISTORY OF 



It is happy for us of Britain, that we have no such calamity to .lea. 

 for from this even some parts of Europe are not entirely free. We. 

 nave an account given us in the History of the French Academy, of a 

 miserable town in France, that is constantly in danger of being buried 

 under a similar inundation ; with which I will take leave to close this 

 chapter. u In the neighbourhood of St. Paul de Leon, in Lower Brit- 

 tany,* there lies a tract of country along the sea-side, which before 

 the year 1666 was inhabited, but now lies deserted, by reason of the 

 sands which cover it, to the height of twenty feet ; and which every 

 year advance more and more inland, and gain ground continually. 

 From the time mentioned above, the sand has buried more than six 

 leagues of the country inward ; and it is now but half a league from the 

 town of St. Paul ; so that, in all appearance, the inhabitants must bo 

 obliged to abandon it entirely. In the country that has been over 

 whelmed, there are still to be seen the tops of some steeples peeping 

 through the sand, and many chimnies that still remain above this 

 sandy ocean. The inhabitants, however, had sufficient time to escape ; 

 but being deprived of their little all, they had no other resource but 

 begging for their subsistence. This calamity chiefly owes its advance- 

 ment to a north or an east wind, raising the sand, which is extremely 

 fine, in such great quantities, and with such velocity, that M. Deslands, 

 who gave the account, says, that while he was walking near the place, 

 during a moderate breeze of wind, he was obliged, from time to time, 

 to shake the sand from his clothes and his hat, on which it was lodged 

 in great quantities, and made them loo heavy to be easily borne. 

 Still further, when the wind was violent, it drove the sand across a 

 little arm of the sea, into the town of Roscoff, and covered the streets 

 of that place two feet deep ; so that they have been obliged to carry 

 it off in carts. It may also be observed, that there are several parti- 

 cles of iron mixed with the sand, which are readily affected by the 

 loadstone. The part of the coast that furnishes these sands, is a tract 

 of about four leagues in length ; and is upon a level with the sea at 

 high-water. The shore lies in such a manner as to leave its sands 

 subject only to the north and east winds, that bear them farther up the 

 shore. It is easy to conceive how the same sand that has at one 

 time been borne a short way inland, may, by some succeeding and 

 stronger blast, be carried up much higher; and thus the whole may 

 continue advancing forward, deluging the plain, and totally destroying 

 its fertility. At the same time the sea, from whence this deluge of 

 sand proceeds, may furnish it in inexhaustible quantities. This un- 

 happy country, thus overwhelmed in so singular a manner, may well 

 justify what the ancients and the moderns have reported concerning 

 ihose tempests of sand in Africa, that are said to destroy villages. 

 aud even armies, in their bosom." 



Histoire del' Academic des Sciences, an. 1722. 



