The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1871-10-06
4 Lost European City.

In the London Athenaeum we find the
following
As a striking example Of the manner
IN which legendary lore OF the widest
and most improbable character may
sometimes receive confirmation, through
the investigations of modern science,
the following may be acceptable to
some Of the readers of the Ahenaeum.
The legend which it is sought in this
case to restore, in measure at least, to
the realms of truth, is one with which
Mr.. Tom Taylor's translations of Breton
songs have rendered most of us fami.
liar. Moreover, the ballad which en-
bodies it has been brought of late before
the notice of the public, by being sim
gled out in the violent attack upon Nj.
de la Nillemarvuez's - Barzas Breiz,"
which appeared in the Athenaeum as
being palpably an invention of the
patriotic antiquary's brain. The sub
ject of the ballad is the "Tall of Is"
and the main points of the story are
these:
In the time of King Gradlon (the
first Christian King of America) the
chief city of his kingdom was Is. 1t
was situated far to the west, close to the
sea, and so low that it was protected
from the inroads of the tides only 10y a
gate, of which the king himself kept
the KEY. Now, after a feast, at which
Grandlon is rebuked for his excessive
libations by his minister, st. Gwenole,
the Princess Oahu, his wicked daughter,
at the instigation OF lover OF hers,
Prince Conan, steals the key of the sea-
gate from her sleeping sire. Conan
then opens the gate and the liberated
ocean comes roaring over the plain, the
king being obliged to fly on horseback,
with his faithless daughter behind him.
The waves, however, overtake them,
and it is only when he obeys voice
from the pillows which calls on him to
cast away the devil from behind him,
and throws Oahu into the water, where
where she is left to perish, that the tor
rent stops and he is saved. Thus says
the ballad, and in truth, there does not
in all this seem, at first sight, TO be
much worthy of credence.
Calling history to our aid, some faint
light, however, is thrown upon the sub
ect. In the first place the king, the
chief actor in the story, is not myth
there was a King Gradlon, Graalon, OF
Gradalonus, and he was the first Chris
tian king of Brittany. He fourished
in the fourth and fifth centuries, and
founded the celebrated Abbey of Lam
devenec, where both he and st. Gwenole
were inferred. OF the loves Of Oahu
and Conan, and of the other subordi-
nate incidents of the legend, we, OF
course only hear in song.
OF the existence of the town Of Is.
and of its locality, however, tradition
has something to say. Not only do the
present inhabitants Of the Western
coast firmly believe in their lost town,
but they all point to what is now known
us the Bay of Douarnenez, as its former
site. Several we'll made and carefully
paved roads of very ancient origin, con
verged from various parts OF Basse Bre
tango, such as Quimper and CarhaiX,
toward point in the southern portion
of the Bay of Douarnenez, where there
was, and had been for centuries, moth
ing to explain them, and ended abrupt
ly on the coast-line. Traces of these
roads are even now very distinctly pre-
served in many places.
Antiquarian evidence tends to GER
tain extent to prove the existence OF
town somewhere in the Bay of Douar
nenez 1t is circumstantial in charac-
ter, but from the nature OF the case it
could scarcely be otherwise. 1t is true
that l have repeatedly heard sardine
fishers in the bay declare that they had
seen towers and walls looming in its
depths, but such testimony may be dis
missed with that of the gazers into
Tough Neagh. The question now re-
solves itself into this: There is tradi-
tional proof of land having existed at a
not very remote period in the Bay of
Douarnenez where now is nothing but
water Is this in any way corroborated
by physical facts?