A Corner of Brittany. 107 
general character of the monument. This monument, as all the 
others of similar kind, is associated with the worship of the Druids, 
and dates back to ancient times. More of its use we do not know, but 
we were well repaid for our short visit. We turn back towards 
Roscoff from this antique structure along the road. In the distance 
we see the beautiful cathedral of St. Pol, but we must reserve our 
visit to this city to another time. The far distant sea, the He de Batz 
and the beautiful town of Roscoff stretching along the shore lies 
just before us, lit up by the rays of a setting sun. 
The Roscovite is a Celt with traces of the Spaniard. He is in- 
dustrious and frugal, always conservative and religious. He still 
retains the costumes of his fathers, h\s gilet with conspicuous but- 
tons, his waist girt by a highly-colored band, his round hat with rib- 
bons falling on his shoulders. He wears the sabots, he clings to 
the old language of Gaul. 
The women are not beautiful, but they have fine eyes and well- 
preserved teeth. They also still retain the old costumes. The small 
white bonnet, worn at all times, is so tightly bound about the head 
that nothing can be seen of the hair. On the days of baptism or mar- 
riage, howe^^er, when the bonnet is taken off, a charming coiffure is 
seen and the beautiful hair bursts forth in all its charms from its 
hermetically-sealed prison. Each town in Brittany has a peculiar 
bonnet and that of the young maidens differs from the matrons. 
If you wish to see religious faith go to Breton, to Roscoff. Mod- 
ern science, modern free thought, has not yet a hold in this place. 
The Breton is religious by nature. Every one goes to the church 
and the whole population turns out en masse to the morning ser- 
vice. According to Reclus, Brittany is still pagan, but while the in- 
habitants do not worship the forces of nature, the rocks, the foun- 
tains, or the trees, they repeat the same prayers to God in the Chris- 
addressed to a new divinity. " It is always the same religion con- 
tinued from century to century without the inhabitants of the land 
perceiving the change in their divinities." The geographer, how- 
ever, has drawn an exaggerated picture. The country has emerged 
from its old beliefs, but while much of the middle-age thought still 
clings to the religion, it moves less rapidly, more conservatively than 
in many other lands. 
^ No one who visits Roscoff should fail to see th^ giant fig-tree. 
The soil of France nourishes no greater marvel of plant-life than 
