V 





Ch. 



•1 



LOSS OF LAND ON COAST OF FRANCE. 



547 



taut, as demonstrating- that the earliest inhabitants were 

 familiar with the phenomenon of incursions of the sea. 



Loss of 



yf 



The French coast, 



particularly that of Brittany, where the tides rise to an ex- 

 traordinary height, is the constant .prey of the waves. In 

 the ninth century many villages and woods are reported to 

 have been carried away, the coast undergoing great change, 

 whereby the hill of St. Michael was detached from the main- 

 land. The parish of Bourgneuf, and several others in that 

 neighbourhood, were overflowed in the year 1500. In 1735, 

 during a great storm, the ruins of Palnel were seen uncovered 

 in the sea.* 



* Von Hoff, G-eschichte, &c. vol. i. p. 49. 



N N 1 



