ficers looked at each other silently in astonishment.

It is necessary here to make a digression, or the fears of the
commandant will not be intelligible to those stay-at-home persons who
are in the habit of doubting everything because they have seen nothing,
and who might therefore deny the existence of Marche-a-Terre and the
peasantry of the West, whose conduct, in the times we are speaking of,
was often sublime.

The word "gars" pronounced "ga" is a relic of the Celtic language. It
has passed from low Breton into French, and the word in our present
speech has more ancient associations than any other. The "gais" was the
principal weapon of the Gauls; "gaisde" meant armed; "gais" courage;
"gas," force. The word has an analogy with the Latin word "vir" man,
the root of "virtus" strength, courage. The present dissertation is
excusable as of national interest; besides, it may help to restore the
use of such words as: "gars, garcon, garconette, garce, garcette,"
now discarded from our speech as unseemly; whereas their origin is so
warlike that we shall use them from time to time in the course of this
history. "She is a famous 'garce'!" was a compliment little understood
by Madame de Stael when it was paid to her in a little village of La
Vendee, where she spent a few days of her exile.

Brittany is the region in all France where the manners and customs
of the Gauls have left their strongest imprint. That portion of the
province where, even to our own times, the savage life and superstitious
ideas of our rude ancestors still continue--if we may use the
word--rampant, is called "the country of the Gars." When a canton (or
district) is inhabited by a number of half-savages like the one who has
just appeared upon the scene, the inhabitants call them "the Gars of
such or such a parish." This classic name is a reward for the fidelity
with which they struggle to preserve the traditions of the language and
manners of their Gaelic ancestors; their lives show to this day many
remarkable and deeply embedded vestiges of the beliefs and superstitious
practices of those ancient times. Feudal customs are still maintained.
Antiquaries find Druidic monuments still standing. The genius of modern
civilization shrinks from forcing its way through those impenetrable
primordial forests. An unheard-of ferociousness, a brutal obstinacy, but
also a regard for the sanctity of an oath; a complete ignoring of our
laws, our customs, our dress, our m