Along France's river of romance: . h les Varennes, thewaste-lands traversed t>y the Indre. The population ofthese lowlands—ttirough which wander the old channelof the Cher, and the Indre, protected by huge banks fromthe floods of the Loire—are a distinct and interestingrace. The cultivation of the hemp which forms thewealth of the district seems to have tiad its effect onthe inhabitants. They lack altogether the gaiety of thevine-dressers and fruit-growing peasants who live on thehigher ground ; a fact which may perhaps be due to thedamp, rather feverish nature of their climate. Thedwellers
Along France's river of romance: . h les Varennes, thewaste-lands traversed t>y the Indre. The population ofthese lowlands—ttirough which wander the old channelof the Cher, and the Indre, protected by huge banks fromthe floods of the Loire—are a distinct and interestingrace. The cultivation of the hemp which forms thewealth of the district seems to have tiad its effect onthe inhabitants. They lack altogether the gaiety of thevine-dressers and fruit-growing peasants who live on thehigher ground ; a fact which may perhaps be due to thedamp, rather feverish nature of their climate. Thedwellers in the Varennes, particularly those of Br(;hd- 258 THE LOIRE mont and the neighbouring villages of Liguieres andla Chapelle-aux-Naux, are the butt of the more pleasantlyplaced vignerons. When these want to insult a manand call him a fool they say, II est de Brehemont. The spade is the indispensable instrument for theinhabitants of the Varennes, and with it they dig overthe fertile fields in which is grown the finest hemp in I. The Loire at Port-Boulet France. The ground is divided up into the tiniestplots, not large enough to allow the use of the spade, therefore, is necessary, and it is very largeand of a peculiar shape, which demands a speciallyheavy sabot, so soon does its shoulder wear a sabot is only worn in the fields, which is the reasonwhy the peasant is seen walking to work bearing, inaddition to the heavy spade, a trident, on the teeth FROM TOURS TO SAUMUR 259 of which the wooden shoes are stuck. Other andlighter sabots form the ordinary footgear ; but in ordernot to wear these out the peasants often prefer to walkbarefooted, carrying them in their hands. The finesand of the soil renders this not unpleasant. Thewomen of the district are not less hard-working thanthe men. Elles se tuent a force de travailler, saysthe authority from whom these facts are taken. Ellesbechent, sen vont queri au loin et portent sur leur dostoute la nourriture de
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidalongfrances, bookyear1913
