St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1900-11-28
Letter from Arcachon, France.
Story of Greek NRvigntOrs Adhesion,
its many Atfra CIiOns -The Oyster I'm"
dusGry.-A French Home.


its many Attra CIiOns The Oyster In
dustry.-A French Home.
DEAR CALIFORNIAN: About $50 years
after Romulus and Remus and the moth
erly wolf had been doing pioneer work
on the banks of the Tiber, for the glory
of Rome, some Greek navigators from
Crete were working out some of the am
bilious colonial ideas of their native land.
They sailed past the pillars OF Hercules,
and turning north cruised along the
coast of the Atlantic as far as the Bay OF
Bscay. That bit of the ocean had an
, evil reputation then as now, and after
many perils they at last found, about 100
miles north of Bayonne narrow inlet
through which they safely passed into
the deep and winding channel which con-
nected the stormy gulf with land-locked
bay, in size quite like an inland sea, with
waters as quiet as a mountain lake.
They had found at last refuge in safe
harbor, and they named the place in
their own beautiful language "Arkesi
on" the port OF safety" The modern
name is not as musical as the original
but sufficiently Greek to betray its pedi-
gree, and then, too, the fishing boats
used here today by these hardy sailors
are the same in form and size as you
would see in Crete from which the old
explorers sailed nearly IS centuries ago.
The bay, nearly so miles in circumfer-
ence, is of triangular shape, its apex at
the north, its base forming the site of the
present town, which though less adver.
tised and fashionable than many water
ing places, is one of the ost attractive
in France. Little fishing villages line the
shore of the bay, the I'd side barri-
caded by sand dunes, crowned with for
ests of pines. The southern shore OF the
bay is bordered with elegant villas and
hotels which front upon wide boule-
ward on the land side, with spacious and
elegant grounds, making the setting of
these beautiful summer homes most
pleasing. The beach is gently shelving
one, of fine sand and there is no surf or
undertow to make bathing danger Gus,
and for Yachting there could be no finer
stretch of waters than those which Area
chon overlooks. Many English and a
| farry A rnaar,oop f,vf hou tho,,- will &C
among the French in this beautiful place
and the three flags are scattered all
along the shore.
On quiet evenings the roar of the At.
lantic, eight miles away, is distinctly
heard. South OF this summer quarter is
the winter resort with hundreds of villas
among the pine groves where the deli
cate and the weak-lunged can escape the
chill of those mistraIs" which are the
bane Of the Riviera. No snow falls here,
the frosts are not severe, and palms,
magnolias and semi-tropical shrubs
thrive in the open air. No two villas
have | seen here which are alike. The
! roads are winding, and at every turn the
: eye is charmed with something fresh in
! the way of architecture and landscape
: gardening. Many rich merchants and
:, bankers from Paris and Bordeaux have
summer and winter homes here. Dor
: deaux is only 35 miles to the north and
S,,,,ol, fro1nc ba d;c+o, -,
hour. Paris, over $50 miles from Bor.
deaux, is hardly seven hours distant
f from that great wine center on the
Tironde. Biarrtz is 100 miles to the
' south, barren pine land most OF the
t distance, a bad farming country but
: good for the sportsman; the game, foxes
+ wild hogs and otter. A lady showed mi
;, an elegant otter cloak, tie result of he
s husbands gun within 80 miles of Area
e chon.
e This place is the center of an industr,
g which gives employment to thousand
IF of poor people. Oysters have made Ar
1t cachon as famous all over Europe a
IL scales the place where your sanctum i
= located, and the yearly product of thes
&c oyster parks is over 300000,000. Al
o Englishman believes in encouraging
'e home industries, and when it comes t.
o oysters he prefers natives" to anything
le of foreign extraction. Oyster dealers i
$, England take advantage of this and in
Is port from Arcachon millions of voun
g French oysters to be raised for the EMS
" fish market and they are called native
1T from the moment they touch English sol
n \ If the oysters daily consumed in Englan
6 could speak, their French tongues woul
ut betray their pedigree and expose one {
the biggest frauds of the age. Let n
-. 40 one who visits Arcachon tail to visit, a
Iv low tide, these immense oyster park
On which give employment to so many pee
le' pie and are such a source of revenue
~, those engaged in this industry. 1t SD
n. prised me to find that no one here knew
n as we do in America, the many choiC
nc dishes of which the oyster is capable
the hands of even the most ordlnar
IS. cooks. | could not find hotel or re
ST. taurant which recognized anything b
VrfN Il 4la.. l.. AL