The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1896-08-13
1.-THE ISLE OF TERROR

1.-THE ISLE OF TERROR"
Description OF Ushant. Whore the Drum
mond Castle Went Down.
Ushans, the island upon whose out.
laying reefs the steamer Drummond
Castle ran on June II, sinking three
minutes afterward and carrying down
every soul except three, lies off the
northwest coast of France and forms the
corner around which vessels from the
south turn into the English channel
after crossing the Bay of Biscay.
''Ushant" is the Anglicized form of
"Ouessant," the French name. Pliny
calls the island "Uxantis," and the
Bretons knew it as "Enez Heussa,"
which means "the Isle of Terror" It
we'll deserves the Celtic name.
The inhabitants of Ushant are hardy
race-thc men all fishermen and seamen,
the women all tillers of the rocky soil.
The latter OH 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 q century
breed of ponies still roamed in SEMI
wildness over large portion OF tho
island, and for centuries the inhabitants
themselves were looked upon as savagcs.
Declared. often for long weeks at time,
from any intercourse with the mainland,
they certainly led very primitive lives.
But at the same time they preserved the
primitive virtues, and honesty and hos
pitality have ever been articles of faith
among them.
Losing year by year, with unfailing
regularity, a score or two of their own
kin and kindred in the treacherous
waters around their isle, their SYM.
pathies have always been with those
whom shipwreck has imperiled. Sew
eral of the Breton islands have notori-
ously harbored communities of wreck
ers," but the people of Ushant have
again and again distinguished them
selves by their efforts to save distressed
vessels and their crews.
Whenever one of the islanders is lost
at sea, touching ceremony, called the
Proella," is performed. the relatives
and friends of the deceased carry to his
house small wooden cross, over which
the clergy repeat the prayers for the
dead, as if this symbol were the corpse
itself. Then the crossbearer, who,
whenever practicable, is the godfather
of the defunct (this again a touching in
stance Ct symbolism), incloses it in a
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 a hundred of these
Golfers could be seen assembled around
| the statue.
! Ushant is known to history. AS early
as 1883 an English expedition landed on
the island, and ravaged it with fire and
sword. Then, in 177S, its waters wit
messed the much-criticised naval en-
gag&ment between Keppel and dor
villiers, which English histories usually
describe as Il drawn battle, whereas
! the.-French claim it as decisive victory.
Finally, 16 years later, Ushant saw The
"glorious 1st of June" when Lord Howe
certainly shattered the French ships
of war. commanded by Villaret-Joy-
euse, but at the same time signally
failed to prevent the large fleet of
French merchantmen, on whose arrival
| France depended for means to prose-
cute 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 a strange rhymed provefb,
which Chateaubriand quotes in his
'Memoirs from Beyond the Grave" and
which may be Englished thus: HE
who sees Belle Isle doth see his isle; he
who seeth Grol doth see his joy; but
gaze on Ushants food, you see your
blood"
OF the wild scenery around Ushant
there has probably never been any bet
ter description than that given by
Chateaubriand. The island is the larg-
est, and, frora the mainland, the most
distant, of those forming the archi-
pelago to which it gives its name. Mo-
lene, the next in size, trades largely in
its own soil, which on account of certain
chemical proprieties, is sought after by
Breton agriculturists. Then, in addi-
ton to scores of little islets, some OF
them mere alts and rocks, there is
Quemenez, which is about quarter OF
the size of Ushant, while near to the
mainland is Beniquet, or the Blessed
isle, so called on account of it's proximity
to the Breton shore, and the refuge it
offers amid the most dangerous of all
the adjacent reefs, that of Les Pierres
Noires.
Many stout ship and many q frail
fishing boat have been shattered among
these reefs, where the waters ever
seeth aud roar, even on calm summer
days. But winter is the time to see
Ushant and it's neighboring isles oil
bare and rugged, rising from amid the
gale-lashed waves. No rockbound coast
can offer q more impressive spectacle
than that which the ocean than pre-
sents as it leaps in it's dread, blind might
around the Isle of Terror.-Westmin-
ster Gazette.