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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



WINDING HORSEHAIR TO MAKE THE SEDEN 



The man is pulling out an even strand of horsehair from the bundle under his left arm. 

 Some distance away to his right there is a spindle like that which rests against the box 

 and which twists the even strand of hair into a small rope. This is in turn twisted with 

 others to form the lariat of the gardian (see text, page 15). 



Rooms have been arranged to repre- 

 sent in detail the life of Provence. One 

 shows a traditional Christmas dinner in 

 a gentleman farmer's living-room. Here 

 has been gathered the ancient rustic earth- 

 ernware, baskets such as Vincen and his 

 father wove, and everything typical of 

 the rural life of Provence. 



A special room is devoted to the cow- 

 boy life in Camargue. It is decorated 

 with the homely objects and implements 

 of the pastoral life. 



Proud as the people are of their finery, 

 there is nothing effeminate about the Ca- 

 margue. Courage and chivalry are native 

 to the soil. 



THE LANDING OF THE HOLY MARIES OF 

 THE SEA 



Home of supple cowboys, whose feats 

 of daring rival those of the toreador of 

 Spain or neighboring Nimes, Camargue's 

 wider reputation rests upon a religious 

 legend, whose holy personages saved the 

 sand-dunes from oblivion and gave them 

 a lasting merit as the landing place of the 

 Holy Maries of the Sea, exiled from the 



Holy Land to unfamiliar scenes, upon 

 which, when they died, the mantle of their 

 holiness fell ; so that to this day the lame 

 walk and the sick are healed through pil- 

 grimage to their shrine. 



On a spit of land so low that in the 

 churchyard there are tying-posts for 

 boats like those beside the Grand Canal 

 at Venice, there stands the fortress- 

 church to which ex voto offerings have 

 come from kings and fishermen. Just 

 beyond, spearing the sky with towers 

 which make the ancient steepled roofs 

 seem low, rise the standards of wireless 

 aerials. 



Among the marshes and the vast 

 wastes of salt moor, where only saltwort 

 grows, lies this little fishing village of 

 Saintes Maries de la Mer. Its red-tiled 

 cottages border the blue Mediterranean 

 and nestle against the fortified walls of 

 the cathedral. 



Saintes Maries de la Mer, or "Li 

 Santo," as the people often call it, is the 

 lodestone that attracts each year many 

 pilgrims from Provence and Languedoc. 

 A legend told in this quaint village relates 



