Every attempt has been made to replicate the original book as printed. Some typographical errors have been corrected. No attempt has been made to correct or normalize the printed accentuation or spelling of French names or words. The images have been moved from the middle of a paragraph to the closest paragraph break. (etext transcriber’s note)

RAMBLES IN BRITTANY

WORKS OF
FRANCIS MILTOUN

The following, each 1 vol., library 12mo, cloth, gilt top, profusely illustrated. Net, $2.00; postpaid, $2.16

Rambles in Normandy

Rambles in Brittany

The Cathedrals and Churches of the Rhine

The following, each 1 vol., library 12mo, cloth, gilt top, profusely illustrated. Postpaid, $2.50

The Cathedrals of Northern France

The Cathedrals of Southern France

L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
New England Building, Boston, Mass.



Constable’s Tower, Vannes
([See page 147])

Rambles
in
B R I T T A N Y

By Francis Miltoun
With Many Illustrations
By Blanche McManus

Boston
L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
1906

Copyright, 1905
By L. C. Page & Company
(INCORPORATED)
——
All rights reserved
Published October, 1905
COLONIAL PRESS
Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co.
Boston, U. S. A.

APOLOGIA

NO promise given to the hostess of one’s inn is alleged as an excuse for writing this book, but it is true that rosy, busy Madame X of the Soleil d’Or, in the fishing village in which the work received its final collation and revision, watched its growth for many a week, daily declaring her hope of some day receiving a volume containing “your impressions.” And, indeed, her hope shall not be vain, for one of the first copies shall be most speedily despatched to her. Moreover, the author and artist hope that it may be acceptable to her critical mind, for she is not likely to be lenient, though she knows full well that to the many authors and artists who make a refuge of her modest inn for months she owes her livelihood.

The book is a record of many journeys and many rambles by road and rail around the coast, and in no sense is it put forth either as a special or as a complete survey of things and matters Breton.

Many lights and shadows have been thrown upon the screen from various points, but the effort has been made to blend them all into a pleasing whole, which shall supplement the guide-books of convention.

It were not possible to do more than has been attempted within the limits of a volume such as this, and therefore many details of routes, and historical data of a relative sort, and a certain amount of topographical information have been scattered through the volume or placed in the appendix, in the belief that such information is greatly needed in a work attempting to purvey “travel talk” even in small measure.

Some of this knowledge is so little subject to change that it may well stand for all time, and, in these days of well-nigh universal travel, may be not thought out of place in a volume intended both for the armchair traveller and also for him who journeys by road and rail. That only a very limited quantity of such information can be included is a misfortune, inasmuch as such a handbook is often used when no other aid is accessible to the traveller.

Finally, the illustrative material, the large number of drawings of sights and scenes, of great architectural monuments, and of the dress of the people, is offered less as a complete pictorial survey than as a panorama of impressions received on and off the beaten track,—and more satisfying and truthful than the mere snap-shots of hurried travel.

In addition, many maps, plans, and diagrams should give many of the itineraries a lucidity often lacking in the usual railway maps.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
[Apologia][v]
[PART I.]
[I.] Introductory[3]
[II.] The Province and the People[11]
[III.] The Topography of the Province[33]
[IV.] Travel Routes in Brittany[45]
[V.] The Breton Tongue and Legend[59]
[VI.] Manners and Customs[70]
[VII.] The Fisheries[88]
[PART II.]
[I.] The Loire in Brittany[99]
[II.] Nantes To Vannes[116]
[III.] The Morbihan—Vannes and the “Golfe”[140]
[IV.] Auray and the Megalithic Monuments of
Morbihan		[159]
[V.] Morbihan—Lorient and Its Neighbourhood[179]
[VI.] Finistère—South[187]
[VII.] Finistère—North[221]
[VIII.] The Côtes du Nord[249]
[IX.] The Emerald Coast[271]
[X.] On the Road in Brittany—Mayenne,
Fougères, Laval, and Vitré		[309]
[XI.] Rennes and Beyond[329]
[XII.] Religious Festivals and Pardons[341]
[Appendices][359]
[Index]:[A],[B],[C],[D],[E],[F],[G],[H],[J],[K],[L],[M],[N],[O],[P],[Q],[R],[S],[T],[V].[373]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE
Constable’s Tower, Vannes (See [page 147])[ Frontispiece]
The Loire at Nantesfacing [4]
Device of Anne of Brittany[17]
Anne of Brittany[18]
Breton Post-card[21]
St. Brieucfacing [30]
Croisicfacing [42]
Map of Brittanyfacing [44]
The Main Roads of Brittany[48]
Travel Routes in Brittany[55]
St. Pol de Léonfacing [60]
The Breton Tongue[62]
Gilles de Laval[66]
Young Bretons[78]
From the Artist’s Sketch Book[80]
La Coiffe Polka[81]
Ironing Coifs[83]
Breton Types[85]
Douarnenezfacing [88]
Pornic[113]
Donjon of Clissonfacing [114]
St. Nazaire[123]
Ancient Fortifications of Guérande (Diagram)[126]
Châteaubriantfacing [128]
Children of Redon[133]
Tour d’Elvenfacing [138]
Market-woman, Vannes[142]
The Country near Vannes[143]
Ancient City Walls, Vannes (Diagram)[147]
Château of Suscinofacing [148]
General Plan of Château of Suscino (Diagram)[149]
Ploërmelfacing [152]
Shrine of St. Etienne, Josselin[154]
Château de Josselinfacing [156]
Interior of Market-house, Aurayfacing [160]
Shrine of St. Roch, Auray[162]
The Lines of Carnac[168]
The Lines of Carnacfacing [168]
Map of Carnac and the Surrounding Country[170]
Quiberonfacing [172]
Hennebontfacing [182]
Quimperléfacing [188]
Market-house, Faouëtfacing [192]
Market-day[193]
Rosporden[196]
Stone Crucifix, Concarneaufacing [198]
Concarneau[199]
Pont Avenfacing [202]
Environs of Pont Aven (Map)[204]
From the Museum at Quimper[207]
Cape de la Chèvrefacing [214]
Woman of Chateaulin[217]
Camaretfacing [220]
Landerneaufacing [224]
Calvary, Plougastelfacing [228]
Lighthouse of Créac’h, Ouessantfacing [236]
Roscoff[239]
Ma Douez[244]
Carved Wood Staircase, Morlaixfacing [246]
Procession of Sailors, St. Jean du Doigt[247]
Old House, Tréguier[253]
House of Ernest Renan, Tréguier[254]
Shrine of St. Yves, Tréguier[256]
A Binou Player[261]
Binic[267]
Ramparts of St. Malofacing [272]
House of Duguay-Trouin, St. Malo[281]
Tower of Solidor, St. Servanfacing [284]
Plans of the Tower of Solidor[285]
The Valley of the Rance (Map)[292]
Duguesclin[293]
Rez-de-Chaussée of Donjon, Dinan (Diagram)[295]
Coif of Miniac[307]
Mayennefacing [310]
Plan of the Ancient Walls and Towers Of
Fougères		[314]
Beucheresse Gate, Laval[319]
Plan of Vitré in 1811, Showing City Walls[321]
Château de Vitréfacing [322]
Tower of St. Martin, Vitré[323]
Château de Rochers[325]
Arms of Madame de Sévigné[327]
Monastery of St. Mélaine, Rennes[331]
Huelgoatfacing [340]
Pardon of St. Jean du Doigtfacing [352]
The Provinces of France (Map)[359]
The Ancient Provinces of France (Map)[361]
Comparative Metric Scale (Diagram)[364]
Sketch Map of Circular Tour in Brittany[366]
Architectural Names of the Various Parts Of
A Feudal Château (Diagram)		[367]
Tide and Weather Signals in the Ports of
Brittany (Diagram)		[368]

PART I.