THE CRAU.


The Basin of Berre--A neglected harbour--The diluvium--Formation of the
Crau--The two Craus--Canal of Craponne--Climate of the Crau--The Bise and
Mistral--Force of the wind--Cypresses--A vision of kobolds.


On leaving Marseilles by train for Arles, the line cuts through the
limestone ridge of the Estaque, and the traveller passes from the basin of
Marseilles into the much more extensive basin of Berre, surrounded by hills
on all sides, a wide bowl like a volcanic crater, with the great inland
salt lake of the Etang de Berre occupying its depths. This is a great
natural harbour, seven times the size of the port of Toulon, and varying in
depth from 28 to 32 feet; it is perfectly sheltered from every wind, and
entire fleets might anchor there in security, not only out of reach, but
out of sight of an enemy, for the chain of l'Estaque intervenes between it
and the sea. It would seem as though Nature herself had designed Berre as a
safe harbour for the merchant vessels that visit the south coast of France.
It is almost inconceivable how this sheet of water, communicating with the
sea by the channel of Martignes, can have been neglected; how it is that
its still blue waters are not crowded with ships, and its smiling shores
not studded with a chain of industrial and populous towns. "The neglect of
this little inland sea as a port of refuge," says M. Elisee Reclus, "is an
economic scandal. Whilst on dangerous coasts harbours are constructed
at vast expense, here we have one that is perfect, and which has been
neglected for fifteen centuries." But though the Romans or Greeks had a
station here, they did not utilise the lagoon. At S. Chamas are remains of
the masters of the ancient world, but no evidence that they had there a
naval station.