ontained bundles of hemp and
a hemp-breaker. One of the top stones overhangs the others, showing the
dolmen to have been originally larger. A number of ragged children
clustered upon the top, as if they had been accustomed to group themselves
for a picture. They effectually prevented any of us sketching the dolmen,
for, as soon as we began to draw, they all, in number about forty, came
down from their height and pressed closely around us. From Auray we took a
carriage to Vannes, a tidal port, one league from the gulf of Morbihan,
and capital of that department.

Its people, the Veneti, were the head of the Armorican confederation, and
commanded the fleet in time of war. Their vessels had sails of prepared
skins, their cables were chains of iron. They traded with the Scilly
Islands, and brought back tin, copper, skins, slaves, and dogs, objects of
traffic with other nations. The Armorican confederation made a vigorous
resistance against Caesar, who sent round for the Roman fleet and beat them
in a naval battle in the Morbihan sea. The Romans had attached to their
ships large sharp scythes which mowed down masts and rigging, and a dead
calm rendering the enemy's ships immovable, they were soon taken, burnt,
or sunk. This battle ended the war with the maritime states of the west.
Caesar showed little mercy to the conquered: all the senators were put to
death, and the rest of the population sold by auction to furnish the
slave-markets of Italy.

We walked to the promenade, called the "Garenne," where Sombreuil, Renee
de Herce, bishop of Dol, and twenty-two others of the emigrants, were
shot. Sombreuil was about twenty-six or twenty-seven years of age, a
native of Perigord. He always persisted in the same account of the
capitulation. His last words were:-"Si j'avais pu imaginer que des
militaires pussent manquer a leur parole donnee sur le champ de bataille,
je n'aurais jamais consenti a une capitulation; elle me cause des regrets
amers qui me suivront jusqu'au tombeau. Adieu, Messieurs, nous trouverons
justice et clemence devant un tribunal ou la fraude des hommes ne saurait
jamais parvenir." A republican officer offered to bandage his eyes: "Non,"
he exclaimed, "je veux voir mon ennemi jusqu'au dernier instant."
Requested to kneel, Sombreuil answered: "Je le veux bien; mais je fais
observer que je mets un genou pour mon Dieu, et l'autre pour mon roi."
Thus ended the most ill-fated expedition that history has ever had to
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