THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 297 



was for a long time the principal city of the ancient 

 Aunis, and whose authority extended even over La 

 Rochelle. Founded, according to tradition, by Julius 

 Caesar, and fortified, as Arcere asserts, by Charlemagne, 

 it became, even before the twelfth century, a consider- 

 able barony and occasionally bore the title of a prin- 

 cipality. The Isamberts, its first lords, were fre- 

 quently allied in marriage with the families of the 

 reigning sovereigns. It was often at war with the 

 powerful counts of Poitou and the dukes of Aquitaine. 

 At a later period Chatelaillon numbered amongst its 

 rulers the Richemonts and Dunois. It was then 

 a fortified town surrounded by high walls and deep 

 fosses. At its base lay a vast harbour, and every 

 ship which entered its waters was compelled, under 

 penalty of heavy reprisals, to lower her flag. Not a 

 trace now remains of these walls and fosses, which 

 have all been engulfed in the sea. In 1660 seven 

 towers which formerly commanded the neighbouring 

 country still commanded the bay, but the storms of 

 one winter carried away the last remains of these for- 

 tifications. At the beginning of the present century, 

 during the wars of the empire, a fort was erected 

 upon the Point, but this too has been thrown down. 

 At the present day a humble Custom-house depot has 

 succeeded these fortresses of past ages, but it has not 

 been erected upon their remains, for on these ever- 

 crumbling heights, towers and bastions have scarcely 

 time to leave a trace, so rapidly are they undermined 

 by the power of the waves. 



MM. Viviers and Beltremieux, two men who 

 combine an ardent love of science with the absorbing 



