REPOPULATION 141 



the concession of the rights to prepare salt. Eleven 

 years later on August 3, 1789 the proprietor and the 

 tenant of the salt-marshes of Certes "were compelled," 

 according to the terms of the contract made between 

 them, " to put these lands to a totally different use." 

 Thus were the salt-marshes transformed into fishponds. 

 The authors of this innovation perhaps recollected that 

 on March 29, 1772, a merchant, by name Turpin, had 

 demanded of the intendant of Guyenne the authorisation 

 to establish a fishpond on the He aux Oiseaux, right in the 

 middle of the Bay of Arcachon, and that in Vendee there 

 were " fish-marshes." These fish-marshes, which are still 

 in use to-day, are, I believe, the first ever established 

 in France. About the year 1140 the Abb6 de Talmont 

 described them, and spoke of them as being old salt- 

 marshes. It is possible that some of them had been from 

 the outset especially devoted to the rearing of fish, but it 

 is certain that at that remote period the poverty of the 

 district was extreme. Even now the marshes are divided 

 into very small holdings. I shall be excused for having 

 furnished so many details if the reader will perceive in 

 my presentment of the matter a fresh example of the 

 influence of economic factors upon the social life. 



At the present time the fishponds of Arcachon, 

 which lie on either side of the estuary of the Leyre, 

 cover nearly 3,200 acres, or five square miles. The 

 largest are those of M. C. Descas at Audenge (1,150 acres) 

 and those of Mme. de Lespinasse at Teich (330 acres). 

 All are constructed on the same model. The dikes, 

 which slope gently towards the seaward side, are seven 

 to nine yards wide at the base and rise about 40 inches 

 above the highest high-tide mark. They are made of 

 beaten earth covered with grasses and planted with 

 wooden stakes connected by wires. A fishpond com- 



