boxes are stamped with the name of the
establishment, and packed in deal cases for exportation. The sardine is a
very delicate fish, and easily decays. It is only taken out of the net
with a rake (_raquette_); in summer, numbers are spoiled from being heaped
in the boats, and at whatever hour the boats come in the fish go through
the whole process of curing, as they will not keep till the next day.
Concarneau exports from 15,000 to 20,000 barrels of sardines annually.
Only a part are "anchoitee," that is, preserved like the anchovies of the
Mediterranean, the others are salted in casks; and quantities, only
slightly salted, are packed in baskets, to be sent to the provincial
markets. It is estimated that twelve hundred million fish have been caught
this year. The sardine fishery extends along the whole western coast of
Brittany from Douarnenez to the Loire.

One of the curiosities of Concarneau is its aquarium, under the direction
of M. Guillon. It consists of six cisterns, made by the blasting of the
solid rock, and comprising an area of large extent, within a walled
enclosure. In these cisterns the water is renewed at each turn of the tide
through narrow openings in the wall. Three of these reservoirs are
reserved for fish, the others for crustacea--lobsters and langoustes. Of
these they keep from 10,000 to 15,000 at a time, and send them off daily,
when fattened, to Paris and the principal markets of France. It was
curious to see the dread shown by the common lobster to the langouste.
They all were adhering to the sides of the reservoirs as if afraid to
encounter their more powerful companions. Quantities of turbot, also
reared for sale, were in one of the cisterns, darting with the greatest
rapidity in the water when the keeper threw in pieces of sardines for them
to eat. At the end of these cisterns is a building, with every arrangement
for the culture of fishes--rows of little troughs, and other vessels, to
contain them. Many of the fish are so tame, they came immediately to the
keeper on his making a noise in the water with his fingers. Here are fish
of every description, and naturalists have every facility of studying
their habits. Among others, we saw the graceful little sea-horse or
hippocampus, a native of the seas of Brittany as well as of the
Mediterranean.

[Illustration: 30. Dolmen. Tregunc.]

From Concarneau to Quimperle is a distance of above eighteen miles. The
road runs near the sea, over a large t