THE ARCHIPELAGO OF BREHAT. /O 



tower in Alsatia and Germany whose ruins might be 

 advantageously compared in point of grandeur with 

 the rocks and boulders of this coast. 



Several islands and an infinite number of rocks 

 grouped around Brehat, combine to form a little ar- 

 chipelago, which extends in a south-westerly direction 

 towards the mouth of the River Pontrieux, and is 

 longitudinally divided by the principal island into two 

 unequal parts. To the east lie Logodec, Lavrec, 

 and Raguenez-Meur, which are separated from 

 Brehat by a tortuous arm of the sea, named La 

 Chambre ; to the west Beniguet, Raguenez-Bras and 

 Grouezen extend in a straight line along the shore of 

 a second channel, called Le Kerpont, which is cele- 

 brated in the district for the violence of its currents. 

 None of these islands equal Brehat in extent or im- 

 portance. Beniguet, indeed, can boast of a few 

 farm-houses and about thirty inhabitants, but the 

 others are deserted. They are not, however, the less 

 carefully cultivated on that account, for every rock, 

 whose summit is covered by a few square feet of 

 mould, is strictly appropriated and used as pasture 

 ground for cattle or sheep ; or, where the proprietor is 

 not possessed of any of these animals, the grass is 

 given up to a few goats, who here find ample 

 scope for the indulgence of their instinctive love of 

 climbing. 



It would seem that at some remote period the in- 

 habitants were more equably scattered over the 

 islands of the archipelago. Several of these isolated 

 masses of rock still exhibit the remains of former 

 buildings, which were probably occupied by fisher- 



