Description of the Landes of Acquitania. 109 
would be of the most important utility, and under every circum- 
stance, highly worthy of being attempted. | 
. Thenlittle corn which ‘is cultivated in the Landes are, Hordeum 
vulgare, H. distichon, Secale cereale, Triticum estivum, T. hyber- 
num, and T.turgidum. The Trifolium incarnatum, indigenous in| 
the department of Arriege, (Eastern Pyrenees,) has for several 
years past been very much employed in the formation of artificial 
pastures, to the exclusion of all other forage. .The Olea Kuropxa, 
native of Corsica and ancient Languedoc, a friend to light and warm 
soils, would very probably succeed in Maransin, and in habitations | 
surrounded by pignadas. The Asparagus officinalis, universally 
disseminated on the moving sands, as well as in the vineyards of 
the Teste, may be looked upon as acclimated and indigenous. 
The leaves of the A’sculus hippocastanum are much burnt. for 
potash, of which they furnish three-fourths of their weight. | 
The fruit of the Trapa natans, much eaten by the peasants of Li- 
mousin, and which grows in the ponds bordering the coast, is un- 
noticed by the Landais.. They eat several Fungi; among them 
Agaricus solitarius, Boletus edulis, &c. They make a soup with 
the seeds of the Dolichos unguiculatus, cabbage and turnips, with 
a little pork. They make an abundant use of pepper, garlic, and 
piment, (Capsicum annuum ;) the latter they eat for breakfast, 
often without any condiment. Soups are also made of the flour of 
maize and millet ; while the abundance of acorns allows them to 
feed numerous pigs, from which they obtain a moderate supply of 
bacon for the greater part: of the year. 
Vineyards are met with in the neighbourhood of some villages, 
and frequently on the mobile sands ; but they do not any where 
form: plantations sufficiently extensive to constitute an important 
branch of commerce. : Much wine appears, however, to have been 
made:at Cape Breton when it was a harbour. 
The commerce of the Landes depends, then, principally upon 
their pignadas, their iron works, their cork trees, and their fisheries. 
The basin of Arcachon supplies Bordeaux with a great variety of 
fish and crustacea, which are carried from thence into the interior, 
We have already had occasion to notice the products of the lagune ; 
but from' Lent to Easter the fisheries take place in the open sea, 
the fishermen then living in the huts which are fixed on the wild 
solitude of the Downs, casting their nets in depths with which they 
are well acquainted ; so much so, that the fishermen of the Teste, 
of Cape Breton, of St. Jean de Luz, and Biarritz, will meet in the 
very same parallels. They use the term Can to denote these spots ; 
itis of Gascon origin, signifying margin: their bottoms are rocky, 
and generally of considerable depth. The principal Cans are those 
of de la Barriere, de,Carrisearix, de Tambour, de Plassate, de 
Sarricote, and de Bagues, being from 130 to 240 brasses in depth. 
The Can de. Tambour abounds in corals ‘of different species, from 
7 to 32 inches in length. It is also upen these spots that grow the 
larger fuci, which the sea throws up. 
. Upon the shallows of the basin of Arcachon, in the cold dark 
