278 ANGLING 



small rivers to cross ; and if he is induced to keep, what 

 the English call, loio dmvn in their course, he may find 

 crossing their waters very troublesome. The sands 

 sink prodigiously, and the tide rushes with amazing 

 velocity, so that a traveller may he placed in great 

 jeopardy without much previous intimation. 



" On arriving at Pontorson, I struck up into the 

 country. I soon got to the eminence of a long hill, 

 from which there is a most enchanting prospect to the 

 traveller's eye. The varied and undulating nature of 

 the country, the yellow cornfields studded up and 

 down, and the clusters of apple orchards, present to the 

 mind a variety of objects of great beauty and interest. 



" Travelling onwards, I came to the higher parts of 

 the river Couesnon, which forms the boundary between 

 Normandy and Brittany. Here I readily perceived that 

 I was entering upon a part of France considerably 

 difi'erent from that which I had just left. Brittany is 

 the country where the real portion of the Celtic char- 

 acter is to be met with in all its purity. The inhabitants 

 of Normandy have, generally, long oval features, and 

 very expressive blue eyes, and fair complexions ; whereas 

 the Bretons are characterised by a brown swarthy skin, 

 sharp peering black eyes, short round faces, and broad 

 jawbones. They are likewise of a lower statiue than 

 the Normans. In the manners and customs of the two 

 people there is also a wide and palpable distinction. In 

 Normandy the men wear almost universally a Nouse of 

 blue cotton, while the Bretons have a sort of coat, 

 sometimes made of calf-skin, and sometimes of sheep- 

 skin, with the hair or wool outside. This coat reaches 

 a little below their knees, and gives a very unculti- 

 vated and savage appearance to the person. The 

 Normans are active, industrious, and thrifty, while the 

 natives of Brittany are idle, careless, and improvident. 

 The former are likewise very superior to the latter in all 

 their domestic arrangements and habits, and are, in fact, 

 a couple of centuries before them in everything that 

 appertains to social comfort, cleanliness, and civilised 

 deportment. 



