THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



STATUTE MILES 



Drawn by James M. Darley 



LA CAMARGUE, THE ISLAND "WILD WEST" OE SOUTHERN FRANCE 



It lies between the two main arms of the River Rhone and is 26 miles long with a mean 



width of 11 miles. 



the people of Provence and Languedoc, 

 the Camargue might be given over to 

 waste. But local patriotism, founded on 

 poetry, horsemanship, and such love of 

 the land as comes from outdoor life 

 among the herds, is rehabilitating the 

 region which once rivaled in richness the 

 delta of the Nile. 



IRRIGATION IS RECLAIMING THE DESERT 



Now irrigation is making the desert 

 blossom and the vineyards grow, and 

 drainage is reclaiming the swampy wastes. 

 Highroads have been constructed along 

 elevated bunds, shaded by umbrella pines, 

 and railways laid across the moor, thus 

 opening up the Camargue to easy access 

 from the outside world. But the customs 

 and traditions of the land preserve the 

 mellow flavor of the olden days when 

 Vincen visited M ireio at the mas on Lotus 

 Farm. 



Among the clumps of scrubby tamarisks 

 dotting the landscape like tiny islands on 

 a dead-calm sea may be found a great 

 variety of game. From all sides come 

 flocks of sea-ravens, plovers, herons, and 

 wild ducks of all sorts. On the shallow 

 borders of the marsh stand lines of pink 



flamingoes. Sometimes a blue Egyptian 

 ibis strays this way. 



On the salt moor the rabbit multiplies 

 as in Australia, in spite of the inroads 

 made by the sportsmen, who are not 

 forced to depend upon cap hunting, as 

 was the mighty hunter Tartarin. Beavers 

 which were numerous many years ago, 

 are still found on the banks of the Rhone, 

 and small land-tortoises are often seen. 



When you have crossed the wonderfully 

 fertile lands, where crops and vineyards 

 grow, you enter the wild Camargue. It 

 is a marshy plain reaching to the shores 

 of the sea. Thereon is found the san- 

 soitiro, the salt moor, and what scanty 

 vegetation may grow along these marshes. 



The extraordinary feature of this wild 

 section of France is the great herds of 

 bulls and horses grazing peacefully, with 

 flocks of sheep nibbling the scant grasses 

 of the desolate moor. 



THE MISTRAL, THE GREAT MUD-EATER 



Camargue is a land of cloudless skies 

 and a hot sun, sometimes dangerous in 

 its intensity. But down from the cold 

 central plateau of France there sweeps 

 the mistral, a chilling wind which blows, 



