Granville women, soberer than most others of Brittany. Save for his
buttons, the buckle on his hat, and the clasps of white metal
fastening his leather shoes, his dress, including spencer, waistcoat,
trousers, and stockings, is of black, and his hair is worn falling on
his shoulders, while he rarely carries the _pen-bas_--an indication,
perhaps, of his rather meditative, pious temperament.

At Villecheret the cap of the women is bewilderingly varied and very
peculiar. At first sight it appears to consist of several large sheets
of stiff white paper, in some cases a sheet of the apparent paper
spreading out at either side of the head and having another roll
placed across it; in other cases a ridged roof seems to rest upon the
hair, a roof with the sides rolling upward and fastened at the top
with a frail thread; while a third type of head-dress is of the
skull-cap order, from which is suspended two ties quite twenty inches
long and eight inches wide, which are doubled back midway and fastened
again to the top of the skull-cap. The unmarried woman who adopts this
_coiffe_ must wear the ties hanging over the shoulders.

Originality in head-dress the male peasant leaves almost entirely to
the woman, for nearly everywhere in Brittany one meets with the long,
wide-brimmed, black hat, with a black band, the dullness of which is
relieved by a white or blue metal buckle, as large as those usually
found on belts. To this rule the Plougastel man is one of the
exceptions, wearing a red cap with his trousers and coat of white
flannel.

At Muzillac, some miles distant from La Roche-Bernard, the women
supplant the white _coiffe_ with a huge black cap resembling the cowl
of a friar, while at Pont l'Abbe and along the Bay of Audierne the cap
or _bigouden_ is formed of two pieces, the first a species of
skull-cap fitting closely over the head and ears, the second a small
circular piece of starched linen, shaped into a three-cornered peak,
the centre point being embroidered and kept in position by a white
tape tie which fastens under the chin. Over the skull-cap the hair is
dressed _en chignon_. The dress accompanying this singular _coiffe_
and _coiffure_ has a large yellow _piece_, with sleeves to match. The
men wear a number of short coats, one above the other, the shortest
and last being trimmed with a fringe, and occasionally ornamented with
sentences embroidered in coloured wools round the border, describing
the patriotic or perso