borne out by the strong defences effected by men at a period, when such a work, in connexion with its natural defences, was impregnable. These defences consist of five entrenchments, and two lines of stones set up edgewise, and running right across the tongue of land which gives access to the rock.

The following is the arrangement of the various defences. At the entrance of the peninsula, and where the slope of the ground is such as almost of itself to serve as a defence, two banks start from a common point above a little creek, and run divergingly towards the south-west, thus forming an angle. They have no ditch or foss on either side of them, and are about a yard high. The one which runs a little more to the south is composed of stones and earth, and loses itself on the hill which commands the beach at a distance of fortyfour yards from its commencement; the other, formed almost entirely of blocks of granite, runs right across the strip of land. Beyond these two lines of defence the ground slightly inclines towards the north as far as that part of the isthmus, where it rises to the platform of the rock terminating the peninsula. It is exactly at the spot where the ground thus commences to rise, and nearly one hundred and ten yards from the two lines just mentioned, that a system of defence occurs which I have not observed in other ancient fortresses in Lower Britanny. It consists of two rows of stones, from 2 to 3 ft. high, set upright, like little menhirs, in two rows, 4 ft. 8 ins. apart, and running across the whole breadth of the neck of land. Some of these have been removed, principally in the central portion of the lines; but are very perfect at each extremity, and reaching to the very edges of the precipices on each side, thus completely intercepting all approach to the interior.

The escarpment which separates these lines of stones from the rocky platform has three entrenchments accompanied with fosses, and placed about 13 or 14 yards from each other. The first two are composed of earth and stones, one of them measuring in height, from the bottom.

of the foss, 2 yards 8 inches; and the other, 11 yards 4 inches; the third and innermost one, which touches the platform, serves as the base of a wall, 2 yards 2 inches thick, of dry but regular masonry. In its centre is the entrance, 5 ft. wide, the sides of which are flanked by two large blocks of stone. The height of this third line, including the wall on its summit, is 20 ft.

On the other side of this line stretches the platform, divided by a rocky crest into two slopes of unequal extent, the western one of which is not very steep, while the other forms an escarpment on the eastern side. It is on this crest that the buildings of the semaphore and corps de garde now stand. A parapet with its chemin de ronde, constructed of earth and stones, some of them being of considerable size, runs round on the west, north, and east sides of the platform, and continues following the precipice as far as the entrance to the peninsula, where it ends after having turned the little creek, from which start the two diverging lines already mentioned. In this particular portion it is formed entirely of large upright stones placed near each other. This parapet, which is in its highest parts about a yard high, appears to have been made, not so much with a view to defence, as to prevent dangerous accidents to the inhabitants, especially during storms, and at night time, when a false step might cause immediate destruction.

The whole surface of the platform, and especially the western slope, is marked with shallow depressions of a somewhat rectangular outline, and surrounded with a ridge of earth of greater or less height. These depressions are the sites of ancient dwellings, and are so numerous and so regularly arranged that they remind one of the cells of a beehive, or the cellular tissue of certain plants. More particularly in the evening, when the sun's rays fall obliquely, is this arrangement conspicuous. Notwithstanding, however, the care exhibited in this economical use of all available space, still there was apparently not sufficient room, for several

dwellings have been established outside the parapet on the steepest slopes, giving the appearance, as it were, of hanging over the sea. Some of these have been partly destroyed by the falls of rock, which are constantly taking place in different parts of the coast.

A group of six houses alongside of the third wall which defends the entrance to the platform on the south side deserves more particular notice. The first two, of triangular form and very small dimensions, have been built inside the wall one each side of the entrance-gate A.1 The third (B), situated a little more than two yards to the east of this entrance, is of rectangular form, thirty feet long by nearly seventeen broad, touching the rampart, and constructed of flat stones of a moderate size sunk in the ground with their sides touching. Other stones are placed above this first course, or range, so as to form as regular courses as the material permitted.

About thirty-two yards to the west of the main entrance occurs the most important structure of the whole fortress (c). Rectangular in form, like the preceding one, and also resting against the ramparts, it measures fourteen yards long by nine broad. The walls, nearly a yard thick, are of dry masonry, but the stones are smaller than those used in the building B, and are arranged very carefully. An enclosure, the banks of which at present are very low and composed of earth and stone, runs from the north-west angle and connects it with a building, E, of the same rectangular form as the preceding, placed about twelve yards further to the west, and constructed exactly in the same manner as B, but measuring only five and a-half yards by three. A kind of court, in which a depression of the ground indicates the remains of a house, lies between the rampart and the enclosure which connects the two houses c and E.

In company with M. Grenot, in the month of June,

1 These two houses are simply forked ends of the walls. They seem more like guard chambers. See plan.-EDITOR.