CHAPTER I. 

 THE ANCIENT PROVINCE OF THE PEECHE. 



One of the smallest provinces of old France, the 

 district known as The Perche, derived its name from 

 the ancient forest, Perticus Saltus, which originally 

 covered almost the entire region. Vestiges of this 

 great wooded tract exist today in the forests of 

 Belleme, Eeno and Du Val. What is now known as 

 The Perche Forest in Normandy was also once a part 

 of it. During the time of the Grauls the province was 

 too thickly wooded to permit of much settlement. 

 Some time about the beginning of the ninth century 

 the monks are said to have made clearings in the 

 forests; but long before this period it is probable 

 that restricted tracts had been brought under culti- 

 vation in some of the more favored valleys. 



Topography of the District. — The Perche really 

 comprises a region lying between Normandy on the 

 north and west, Maine on the southwest, Vendome 

 and Dunois on the south, and the Beauce country, 

 the so-called granary of France, on the east. If 

 viewed from an aeroplane, one would observe that 

 the relatively prominent relief of the district, com- 

 pared with the level countries that surround it, helps 

 to solve the problem of how the Percheron breed 

 came to be evolved within such a comparatively 



