BRITTANY: THE LAND OF THE SARDINE 



551 



for the army, and it has become abso- 

 lutely necessary for the women to carry 

 on practically every branch of agricul- 

 tural work. It is therefore the rule to 

 find women, and the exception to see 

 men, cultivating the fields, harvesting the 

 grains, digging the potatoes, stacking" the 

 hay, threshing the rye, and preparing the 

 farm products for market. 



Of course, from one viewpoint, this 

 condition of affairs is not only tolerable 

 "but desirable, for one result is the devel- 

 opment of a sturdy, healthful race that 

 would not exist if the women and girls 

 lived in insanitary, crowded tenements 

 and spent their days in dark factories or 

 sweatshops. Still, one cannot help think- 

 ing how much better it would be if the 

 men were there to do the men's work as 

 we see it, and if the women had a little 

 time to devote to the improvement of the 

 mental condition of themselves and their 

 children, and to the amelioration of the 

 numerous discomforts of their homes, 

 which are cheerless in the extreme. 



Many of the farming methods and 

 tools are of the crudest character. The 

 threshing is done with jointed flails, just 

 as in the time of Ruth, and for the win- 

 nowing of the grain the most primitive 

 appliances are used. One is now and 

 then surprised to come upon a windmill 

 in the middle of a grain field, but it is a 

 very different structure from the wind- 

 mill of the Low Countries. Some as- 

 pects of the farming, on the other hand, 

 might easily pass muster in Virginia or 

 Pennsylvania, if it were not for the dress 

 of the people and the presence of women 

 on the scene doing work as laborious as 

 any performed by the men. 



In the interior districts the carding of 

 the flax that is destined for their pretty 

 caps and collars is done by the women 

 themselves, with the simplest accessories ; 

 and likewise the spinning of the yarn for 

 the fishermen's caps, mits, and socks is 

 done after a fashion that is hoary with 

 age. 



a race oE Fishermen 



Fishing and the shore industries con- 

 nected therewith furnish a livelihood to a 



very large proportion of the inhabitants. 

 With only one-thirtieth as many people as 

 the United States, Brittany has half as 

 many fishermen and one-twelfth to one- 

 fifteenth the value of products. If the 

 fisheries appear to receive an undue 

 amount of attention, I ask you to remem- 

 ber that they are the mainstay of the en- 

 tire coastwise population. Furthermore, 

 I had rather talk about fishing than any 

 other subject. 



The Breton coast furnishes staple 

 water products in great abundance and 

 variety, and is perhaps as highly favored 

 by nature for the support of important 

 fisheries as any other region in the world. 

 In no other country, with the possible ex- 

 ception of Newfoundland, does the suc- 

 cess or failure of the fisheries mean as 

 much to the people. It is from among 

 the Breton fishermen that a large part of 

 the best material in the French navy and 

 merchant marine is recruited. In fact, 

 among every five sailors and seamen of 

 France, one is a native of Brittany and in 

 all probability a fisherman by occupation. 

 The fishermen are brave, hardy, hard- 

 working, and competent. Their chief de- 

 ficiencies as fishermen arise from their 

 conservatism, which sometimes verges on 

 obstinacy, their ignorance, and their su- 

 perstition, and are manifested in their 

 disinclination to adopt new methods and 

 their tendency to attribute to occult or 

 supernatural influences results that de- 

 pend on their own efforts or on purely 

 natural causes. 



The most valuable of the fishes are the 

 herring, sardine, anchovy, mackerel, and 

 tunny. The tunny is more extensively 

 caught on the Mediterranean shores of 

 France than elsewhere, but quite a large 

 number of Breton fishermen make a live- 

 lihood by tunny fishing. Small schooner- 

 rigged vessels are employed, and the 

 active, powerful, voracious fish are se- 

 cured by trolling, a number of lines being 

 attached to each of six or eight immense 

 poles or rods that are extended over the 

 sides of the vessel while the latter sails 

 to and fro over the fishing grounds. 



Among crustaceans, lobsters, lan- 

 goustes, or spiny lobsters, and shrimps 



