The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1896-09-03
THE ISLE OF TERROR.
SUCH IS usHANT, WHERE THE DRUM
MOND CASTLE WENT DOWN.
Though the Place Has n Had Name, the
People Arc Honest and Generous-N Noted
Events of which History Treats Have
Happened In It's Vicinity.

Events Of which History Treats Have
Happened In Its Vicinity.
Ushant, the island upon whose out
lying reefs the steamer Drummond Cas-
tie ran, sinking three minutes after
ward and carrying down every soul on
board, except three, lies off the north
west extremity of France and forms
the corner around which vessels from
the south turn into the English channel
after crossing the bay of Biscay.
Distant is the Anglicized form OF
"Ouessant," the French name. Pliny
calls the island "Uxantis," and the
Britons know it as "Enez Heussa,
which means 1.-The Isle Of Terror" 1t
well deserves the Celtic name.
The inhabitants of Ushant are hardy
race, the men all fishermen and seamen,
the women all tillers of the rocky soil.
The latter ON high days and holidays
still often display their ancient costume,
with its fiat Golf, which strikingly re-
calls the feminine headgear OF southern
Italy, and whence their dark hair
streams in freedom below their waists.
Within the last quarter of century q
breed Of ponies still roamed in semi
wildness over large part OF the island.
and for centuries the inhabitants them
selves were looked upon as savages. De-
barred, often for long weeks at a time,
| from any intercourse with the niain-
land, they certainly led very primitive
| lives. But at the same time they pre-
served the primitive virtues, and hon.
esty and hospitality have ever been ar
ticles of faith among them.
Losing year by year, with upfailing
| regularity, score or two Of their OWL
kith and kindred in the treacherous
| waters around their isle, their sympa'
thies have always been with those
whom shipwreck has imperiled. Several
of the Breton islands have notoriously
har bored communities of wreckers
but the people of Ushant have agaiI
and again distinguished themselves b,
their efforts to save distressed vessel
or their crews.
Whenever one Of the islanders is los
at sea, touching ceremony. called "th
proella" is performed. The relative
and friends of the deceased carry to hi
house "a small wooden cross, over whic
the clergy repeat the prayers for tn
dead, as if this symbol were the corps
ITSELF Then the cross bearer, who
whenever practicable, is the godfathe
| of the defunct (this again touchin
instance of symbolism), incloses it In
Golfer, and, followed by all the mourn
ers, deposits it at the foot of statue {
st. Pol Aurelien, the patron of the isle
A few years ago hundred or so OF thes
Golfers could be seen assembled aroun
the statue.
Ushant is known to history. As earl
as 1888 an English expedition lande
on the island and ravaged 1T with I'll
and sword. Then, in 177S, its watel
| witnessed the much criticised naval el
gagement between Keppel and do
yilliers, which English histories usual
describe as drawn battle, whereas Il
French invariably claim it as decisi'
| victory. Finally, 16 years later, Ushal
saw the GLORIOUS first of June, F" whe
| Lord Howe certainly shattered Il
French ships of war commanded
, | Villaret- Joyeuse, but ut the same tin
: signally failed to prevent the large file
, of French merchantmen, on whose a
! | rival France depended for means TO pre-
ecute the war, from getting safely Ill
the port of Brest.
That Ushant is, in Breton estimatio
predestined to deeds of blood and dea
is shown by a strange rhymed proven
| which Chateaubriand quotes in b
. memoirs From Beyond the Grave,
and which may be Englished thu
"He who sees Belle Isle doth see b
isle; He who seeth Groi doth see h
Joy, but gaze on Ushant's food, you s
! your blood.
II OF the wild scenery around Usha
( there has probably never been any bt
! ter description than that given
4 Chateaubriand. The island is the Ia
gest and from the mainland the me
distant, of those forming the archipela
= to which it gives its name. Molene, t
! next in size, trades largely in its ov
n soil, which on account of certain chez
: ical properties is sought after by Bret
Q agriculturists. Then, In addition
{ scores of little islets, some Of them me
ats and rocks, there is Quement
!, which is about quarter the size
= Ushant, while near to the mainland
= Beniquet, or the Blessed Isle, so call
i ON account of its proximity to the b
!. ton shore and the refuge 1T offers am
u the most dangerous Of all the adjace
reefs, that of Les Pierres Noires.
. Many q stout ship and many a fr
Fishing boat have been shattered amo
4. 1these reefs, where the waters ever sect
a and roar, even ON calm summer da,
o But winter is the time to see Ushs
v and its neighboring isles, all bare a
ii rugged, rising from amid the gale lash
!. waves. No rock bound coast can offel
II more impressive spectacle than Il
Is which the ocean then presents as
ID leaps in its dread, blind might arou
:. The Isle of Terror "-Westminster {
y Zette.