The annexed view of the Moulin aux Chêvres, which is rendered
interesting from the account given by Madame de la Roche-Jaquelin of
the battle fought near it, will convey a tolerable idea of the scenery
of the country.

The prodigious growth of the willow tree in Bretagne, is such as to
claim the peculiar notice of travellers: here they attain a gigantic
height, no where else to be seen. Batard, in his "_Notices sur
les Végétaux_" mentions one in the commune of Pommeraie in the
arrondissement de Beaupréau, whose age was supposed to be nearly two
thousand years. Within the Château at Clisson are some very old ones,
but the finest I observed were at the Moulin aux Chêvres.




CHAP. VI.

LIMITS AND GENERAL APPEARANCE OF LE BOCAGE. MODE OF WARFARE PRACTISED
BY THE VENDEANS.


My opportunity of becoming acquainted with that singular district
called Le Bocage, will be best understood by very briefly sketching my
route through it. I traversed it, and the district called Le Loroux,
by the route of Montaigne and Lege, and on my return I passed through
Clisson, Vallet, and Loroux, along the banks of the Loire. By pursuing
this route, I had every where the interesting opportunity of exploring
the scene of that destructive warfare which had ravaged the towns and