CAMARGUE, COWBOY COUNTRY OF SOUTHERN FRANCE 



31 



bres, Mistral's col- 

 leagues in literature. 

 So attired in their 

 Provenqal costumes, 

 the girls of the Ca- 

 margue go to the festi- 

 vals over the wide salt 

 moor, mounted like 

 fair Ellens on the 

 strong white steeds of 

 their brave Lochin- 

 vars. 



MISTRAL SAVED THE 

 OLD COSTUME 



A quarter of a cen- 

 tury ago, the fair Ar- 

 lesiennes, fearing hu- 

 miliation if they failed 

 to follow the style dic- 

 tates of Paris, gradu- 

 ally began to discard 

 the far more lovely 

 peasant dress. Mis- 

 tral, who loved fine 

 costumes as he did the 

 muse, sought to retain 

 for the Camargue the 

 graceful dress of olden 

 time. In 1903, just 

 before he brought 

 added fame to his be- 

 loved land by winning 

 the Nobel prize in 

 literature, the poet of 

 Provence made a 

 speech in which he 

 felicitated the girls 

 upon the beauty of 

 their dress and begged 

 them to perpetuate forever such a charm- 

 ing habit. 



So was the Festo Vicrgincnco, or 

 young girls' festival, established. In 

 1904 the same ceremony took place at a 

 great popular meeting in the splendid 

 ruins of the ancient Roman theater of 

 Aries. 



On a glorious Easter Monday there 

 was a great parade of young Provencal 

 girls in full dress, and the people were 

 most enthusiastic over those who came 

 from their moorland homes riding on 

 horseback behind their knights of swamp 

 and sage. It was a triumphal exhibition. 

 The Arlesian people roundly praised the 

 graceful procession of Provenqal beauties 





THE GAME-KEEPER OE A CAMARGUE ESTATE 



The great brass plate on this keeper's breast advertises him to be 

 "the law" and the keeper for M. Vitou's Mas de Pebre. 



and the return of the traditional costume. 

 In 1899 Mistral created in the town of 

 Aries a Provenqal museum, called the 

 Museon Arlaten. With the proceeds of 

 the prize which Mircio won for him, he 

 added to the collection in the museum of 

 Aries. 



Here has been gathered an almost 

 priceless exhibit of Provenqal peasant art. 

 There is also an important collection of 

 old Provenqal furniture, which is at once 

 beautiful and perfectly adapted to the 

 people's simple needs. One sees large 

 cupboards and wardrobes made of carved 

 oak, with high iron hinges, and the 

 familiar decorated kneading-board and 

 long-case clock. 



