THE COASTS OF SAINTOXGE. 269 



day its well-known medicinal salts, brandies, and 

 various fishing expeditions, bring numerous ships 

 into the harbour, but the population has never ap- 

 proximated to its original numbers. It has been 

 at once reduced and transformed, for La Eochelle 

 contains now only 15,000 inhabitants, of whom only 

 about 800 are Protestants, while there is scarcely a 

 family that can trace its genealogy as far back as the 

 time of the sieges. The persecutions which began as 

 soon as the Calvinists were no longer to be feared, the 

 revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and the emigration 

 to which it gave rise, and lastly mixed marriages, 

 which have almost always been contracted to the 

 advantage of the dominant religion, have combined 

 to bring about these results. 



The town itself is but little changed ; the streets 

 are still bordered with porticoes or low galleries, 

 which entirely conceal the pedestrians, and give to 

 the city a desolate and sombre aspect which com- 

 pletely harmonises with the puritanical austerity of 

 the original builders. The Hotel-de-Ville, with its 

 smooth stone facade, with its fortress-like gate, its 

 two towers, and its rows of battlements and loop- 

 holes, is a faithful representation of the Maison 

 Commune of those haughty merchants who fought 

 under Morisson and Jean Guiton. But the ram- 

 parts which once protected the city have all dis- 

 appeared with the exception of three towers pre- 

 served by Richelieu as citadels, and subsequently 

 connected with the fortifications which were erected 

 in accordance with Vauban's plans. On a hill whose 

 summit commands the harbour and the town stands 



