The Somerset reporter., 1896-08-20
THE ISLE OF TERROR.
SUCH is USHANT, WHERE THE DRUM
MONO CASTLE WENT DOWN.
Though the Place Has a Bad Name, the
People Are Honest and Generous-No
Events of Which History Treats Have
Happened In Its vicinity.


Events of Which History Treats Have
Happened In Its Vicinity.
JShant, the island upon whose out
lying reefs the steamer Drummond Cas-
tle 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 bSy of Biscay
"Ushant" is the Anglicized form of
"Ouessant, " the French name. Pliny
calls the island "Uxantis, " and the
Britons know it as "Enez Heussa, g"
which means 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 i'll freedom below their waists
Within the last quarter of century a
breed Of ponies still roamed in semi
wildness over a large part Of the island,
and for centuries the inhabitants them
selves We're locked upon rs savages De
barred, often for long weeks at time,"
from any intercourse with the main
land, they certainly led very primitive
lives. But ut 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 unfailing
regularity, Il score or two of their own
kith and kindred in the treacherous
waters around their isle, their sympa-
thies have always been with those
whom shipwreek has imperilcd Several
of the Breton islands have notoriously
harbOrod communities of wreckers,
but the people of Ushant have again
and again distinguished themselves by
their efforts TO save distressed vessels
or their crews.
Whenever one of the islanders is lost
at sea, Il touching ceremony, called the
proellao is performed. The relatives
and friends of the deceased carry to his
house Il small wooden cross, over which
the clergy repeat the prayers for the
dead, as if this symbol were the corpse
itself. Then the cross bearer, who,
whenever practicable, is the godfather
of the defunct (this again touching
instance of symbolism), incloses it i'll u
Golfer, and, followed by all the mourn
ers, deposits it at the foot of statue of
st. Pol Aurelien, the patron of the isle.
a few years ago hundred or so of these
Golfers could he seen assembled around
the statue
Ushant is known to history. AS early
as 1888 an English expedition landed
on the island and ravaged it with fire
and sword. Then, i'll 1878, its waters
witnessed the much criticised naval en-
gagement between Keppel and dor
villiers, which English histories usually
describe as a drawn battle, whereas the
FrencH invariably claim it as decisive
victory. Finally, 8 years later, Ushant
saw the glorious first of June, when
Lord Howe certainly shattered the
French ships of war commanded by
Villaret-Joyeuse, but at the same time
signally failed to prevent the large fleet
of French merchantmen, on whose ar
rival France depended for means to pros
ecute the war, from getting safely into
the port of Brest.
That Ushant is, in Breton estimation,
predestined to deeds of blood and death
Is shown by Il strange rhymed proverb,
which Chateaubriand quotes in his
memoirs From Beyond the Grave, 4"
and which may be Englished thus :
He who sees Belle Isle doth see his
isle; He who sccth Groi doth see his
JOY, but gaze on L shant's flood, you see
your blood. 3"
OF the wild scenery around Ushant
there has probably never been any bet
ter description than that given by
Chateaubriand The island is the lar
gest and from the mainland the most
distant, of those forming the archipelago
to which il gives its name. Molene, the
next in size, trades largely i'll its own
soil, which on account of certain chem
ical properties is sought after by Breton
agriculturists. Then, i'll addition to
scores of little islets, some of them mere
ats and rocks, there is Quemenez,
which is about quarter the size of
Ushant, while near to the mainland is
Beniquet, or the Blessed Isle, so called
on account of its proximity to the Bre-
ton shore and the refuge it offers amid
the most dangerous Of all the adjace2.
reefs, that of Les Pierres Noires.
Many "A stout ship and mony frail
fishing boat have been shattered among
these reefs, where the waters ever seethe
and roar, even on calm summer days
But winter is the time to see Ushant
and its neighboring isles, all bare and
rugged, rising from amid the gale lashed
waves. No brock bound coast can offer a
more impressive spectacle than that
which the ocean then presents as it
leaps in its dread, blind might around
The Isle of Terror w Westminster Ga
zette.
HG, Nerve Saved Ills Life.
Len Henry, a well known pioneer,