hindrance, and the latter, reclaimed within the present century by an
enterprising governor, formed for centuries a channel of the sea by
which the Clos du Valle, on which the Vale Church stands, was separated
from the mainland. A stratum of peat extends over the whole arm of the
Braye, while as regards Vazon there is the remarkable evidence of an
occurrence which took place in December, 1847. A strong westerly gale,
blowing into the bay concurrently with a low spring tide, broke up the
bed of peat and wood underlying the sand and gravel, and lifted it up
like an ice-floe; it was then carried landwards by the force of the
waves. The inhabitants flocked to the spot, and the phenomenon was
carefully inspected by scientific observers. Trunks of full-sized trees
were seen, accompanied by meadow plants and roots of rushes and weeds,
surrounded by those of grasses and mosses; the perfect state of the
trees showed that they had been long buried under the sand. Some of the
trees and boughs were at first mistaken for wreckage, but the fishermen
soon discovered their error and loaded their carts with the treasure
locally known as "gorban." Subsequent researches have shown that acorns
and hazel-nuts, teeth of horses and hogs, also pottery and instruments
of the same character as those found in the cromlechs, exist among the
Vazon peat deposits. There is therefore abundant evidence that the
legends relating to the former inhabitants of the forest are based on
traditions resting on an historical foundation.




CONTENTS.


CHAPTER I.--TRADITION