CAMARGUE, COWBOY COUNTRY OF SOUTHERN FRANCE 



15 



AU, CAMARGUE KNOWS HIS FAMOUS BRANDS 



Monsieur Bonfort's tiny smithy is a favorite rendezvous of herdsmen. Whether it be 

 to point a trident or form a cattle brand, this jolly blacksmith leads his field. Here he is 

 putting the finishing touches on a cattle brand for a cattle king whose range lies far to 

 the south. 



vent to such surprising outbursts of 

 boisterous gaiety. 



THE GARDIAN'S TRIDENT 



While mounted, the gardian uses a 

 ficJieiroun, or trident. This is a hand- 

 forged piece of iron, of which the classic 

 and ancient form is a half-moon with 

 sharp horns and a third short, triangular 

 point in the middle. This trident is 

 helved on a staff seven feet long. 



Gardians handle the ficheiroun with 

 great cleverness. With it they throw 

 down calves for branding or weaning, 

 control unruly bulls, or stop a stampede 

 in the herd, and on occasion protect them- 

 selves from attack. They also use the 

 long staff in fording streams. 



For these cowboys the trident is the 

 emblem of free life. It has been em- 

 ployed as a theme for many Provengal 

 poems and popular songs. 



The poem of J. d'Arbaud is a familiar 

 example: "O trident, arm of Provence — 

 arm of captains and gardians — to pre- 

 serve our old traditions, I hoist thee on 

 thy staff of chestnut wood/' 



This trident of the cattle-herder might 

 also stand as the emblem of the land, 

 whose shape it so nearly resembles, for 

 it is the mainstay of the gardian. About 

 the new statue of Mistral's girlish hero- 

 ine, in the Place Mistral of Les Saintes 

 Maries de la Mer, is a low iron railing 

 whose alternate prongs are trident heads 

 (see illustration, page 22). 



The herdsman's horsehair lariat 



While the sturdy ficheiroun is the rod 

 and staff of the herdsman, of almost 

 equal importance is the seden, a horse- 

 hair lariat, sometimes 36 feet in length, 

 which is used as a lasso. It is never 

 thrown from horseback, as it is light in 

 weight and does not carry well in the air. 



In making the seden, strands of horse- 

 hair are slowly spun from a rough bundle 

 and tightly twisted by a heavy spindle, 

 which is used in a horizontal position 

 instead of hanging at the knee, as does 

 the distaff of the spinners of the East. 



The hair used in these sedens is care- 

 fully selected, not only for length and 

 strength, but also for color. Strands of 



