e, called Le Four, extending for a league in front.
The inhabitants of Le Croisic are principally engaged in the sardine
fishery, and the curing of these fish consumes much of the salt of the
marshes. The people complain this year they have no large orders for
sardines, and there is but little white salt.

The chapel of St. Goustan, on the edge of the harbour, is singularly
built; its western gable perched upon a little rock, half of which is
inside and half outside the building. The church is no longer open for
Divine service; but the peasant-girl who desires to know if she will be
married this year, tries to pass a pin through the bars of the northern
window without touching the wall. On the opposite side of the estuary are
Periac and La Turbale, both seats of the sardine fishery. Returning the
way we came, we stopped at the Plage Valentin, another bathing-place in a
pretty little bay; with dressing-rooms and a small Etablissement. An
omnibus conveys the bathers from Le Croisic, for two sous. The sea looks
more inviting here and at Poulignan than at Le Croisic, where there is so
much seaweed in the harbour. We returned through Batz; the cathedral tower
of Saint Aubin at Guerande is to be seen at a great distance, and is a
prominent object in the scenery; the whole country is covered with
salt-pans. Guerande stands on a height, and turning back, the view of the
whole district is most extensive. We passed through Saille, where Duke
John IV. married Joan of Navarre, afterwards the second wife of Henry of
Lancaster.

Guerande, built on a vine-covered granite slope, is a singular old feudal
town of the fifteenth century. It was fortified by Duke John V., and is
nearly surrounded by granite walls, with ten towers and four old gateways,
placed at the cardinal points of the compass. St. Michel, the principal
gate, or rather a fortress, is flanked by two high towers, and contains
the prison, archives, and hotel de ville. A moat formerly surrounded the
walls; but it has long been filled in, and boulevards substituted. From
the battlements hang festoons of honeysuckle and ivy, and the moat is full
of the yellow iris and water-lilies; nevertheless, Guerande has an
austere, sombre aspect. There is a fine terrace walk, called the Mail,
commanding a view of the whole country over Poulignan, Batz, and Le
Croisic--a tented plain of salt.

[Illustration: 47. La Roche Bernard.]

The church of St. Aubin has Romanesque columns, with gr