Brittany

Text derived from Brittany by S. Baring-Gold, Project Gutenberg.

I. General Features and Geography

Brittany, the extreme Western promontory of the North of France, comprises the five departments of Côtes-du-Nord, Ille-et-Vilaine, Finistère, Morbihan, and Loire-Inférieure. It is distinguished into Upper and Lower Brittany. In the former the French language is spoken, in the latter the Breton, and French is an acquired tongue.

The back-bone of Upper Brittany is the chain of the Menez that runs from East to West, and then branches, forming on the North the Montagnes d'Arrée, and on the South, the Montagnes Noires. The system may be likened to a hay-fork or a pair of tongs, where the prongs of the fork form the above-named ranges. The whole rests on an elevated plateau that slopes to the sea North and West, and on the South dies down into the plain of the Vilaine and the Loire.

On the North this plateau is seamed by the rivers that have cut narrow valleys and ravines through which they make their way to the sea. Such are the Rance, the Gouet, the rivière de Morlaix, with the result that there is no coast-road, and the traveller passes along the main arteries of traffic at some distance from the sea, catching a glimpse of it only once at the Anse d'Iffinac, and has to branch off from it to the coast so as to make acquaintance with the bold and picturesque coast.

The mountain range is nowhere high, and rarely reaches a thousand feet. The highest point is the Mont Saint Michel which attains to slightly over 1200 ft. The freshman arriving at Cambridge asked where was the Gogmagog range, and was told that he might see it when an intervening cart got out of the way. Owing to the ridges rising out of an elevated plateau, they are almost as insignificant as the Gogmagogs. However, the Menez-hom most nearly attains to the dignity of a mountain, as it stands above the Bay of Douarnenez, reaches however only to 990 ft.

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IV. Antiquities

The prehistoric remains that abound in Brittany consist of Dolmens, i.e. a certain number of stones set on end rudely forming a chamber, and covered with one or more capstones.

• The Allée Couverte is a dolmen on a large scale. Both served as family or tribal ossuaries.
• The Menhir is a single standing stone; the alignment is a number of these uprights often in parallel lines, extending some distance.
• The cromlech according to the signification accorded to it in France is a circle of standing stones.
• The lech is the lineal descendant of the menhir. It is a stone often bearing an inscription, or a rude cross, set up by the British or Irish settlers. The lech is sometimes round.
• Tumuli and Camps are numerous, but they are not often referred to in the following pages.

Of Roman remains, there are relics of an aqueduct near Carhaix, and there have been numerous villas uncovered, notably near Carnac, but these are almost all recovered with earth. The most remarkable Roman monument extant is the Temple of Mars, a fragment near Corseul.

The Venus of Quinipili, a Roman Gallic idol, shall be spoken of under the head of Baud.

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