84 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



black or chestnut hair. These characteristics seem 

 to betray a southern origin. It is highly probable 

 indeed that the daring Basque seamen of the middle 

 ages should have amalgamated with the natives of 

 Bretagne on their annual visits to its shores in search 

 of cod and mackerel, or when engaged in the pursuit 

 of the whale, and that the Brehatain race should 

 have sprung from the fusion of the Vascon and 

 Armorican blood. 



I ought to observe, however, that my remarks are 

 of necessity limited to the women of the island. 

 Every Brehatain seems born a sailor, and as soon as 

 he is old enough to serve as a cabin boy he leaves 

 the island ; after a time he returns to take a wife 

 from among his compatriots, but marriage does not 

 bind him more closely to terra firma. It is only 

 when the weight of years compels him to relinquish 

 the dangers and exposure of a sailor's life that he 

 permanently settles on shore. In consequence of 

 these habits, the indigenous population of the island 

 is composed almost exclusively of women, children, 

 and old men, the latter of whom are all superannuated 

 seamen. In 1832 Brehat contained one vice- 

 admiral, six commanders of vessels, and several 

 lieutenants. At this period the cholera cut off 

 almost the whole generation of old seamen, who had 

 survived the storms and troubles of the long wars of 

 the Republic and the Empire. At the present day 

 there only remain some few lieutenants and one 

 captain, the grandson of the brave Comic, who was 

 alike celebrated for his courage and for the perse- 

 cutions which his merit brought upon him at the 



