262 KAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



disobey these commands, soon taught the army that 

 this prohibition was one which could not be safely 

 trifled with. 



Having made all his arrangements on the landside, 

 Richelieu next turned his attention to the sea. The 

 bay, at the termination of which the town is built, se- 

 parated the two extremities of his lines by a channel 

 of about 1500 yards, which the ships of La Rochelle 

 entered notwithstanding the fire of the batteries 

 and forts, and which consequently might be entered 

 by the English, the doubtful allies of the city. 

 Richelieu determined to bar the passage, and under 

 his directions stakes were driven in, vessels filled with 

 stones were sunk, and on the top of this foundation 

 a dyke was raised whose height exceeded the eleva- 

 tion of the highest tides. The narrow passage which 

 was left in the middle was protected by two acces- 

 sory piers, armed with two forts, and by a triple row 

 of ships of war, which were always ready for action, 

 while stakes were fastened together by iron rings, 

 and ships at anchor were ranged with their prows 

 turned towards the open sea, and armed with long 

 spikes for the purpose of arresting fire-ships or other 

 combustible matters that might be sent against them. 

 Richelieu then waited with that patience which 

 the certainty of success alone can engender. 



In fact the fall of Rochelle was a mere question of 

 time. Its inhabitants, who were thus completely cut 

 off from the rest of the world, very soon exhausted 

 all their provisions. The famine became horrible, and 

 the details that have been transmitted to us in refer- 

 ence to the subject by several eye-witnesses are truly 



