An Island of Women Farmers.

Otago Witness, Issue 2849, 21 October 1908, Page 73

An Island of Women Farmers.

At Ouessant, a little ;si and off the coast of Brittany, few men are ever seen and the women do all the work. The men of Ouessant do no farm work. They belong to the sea, and the sea .is a jealous mistress. At 15 the lads go off as sailors. Then they serve in the navy. When the- navy sets them free they usually re-enlist, so as to earn a pension when they 1 are too old to work. Others are in the merchant service, and all, navy men or merchant men, are married. A very few are fishermen, but they are at sea nearly always, and you will rarely meet them about in the island. When the sea is too rough they sit and watch it. They do not know or care about the land. The Jand is the woman's business. This idea is carried .out in, the women's costume an^J in their hair,' which they wear short, as the men peasants of old time used to wear it. They are straight, well-bajlt, 'handsome women, dark, with big brown-coloured eyes. They are en- , tirely unlike, the women of the mainland of France and look more like Italians. They are calm and dignified and kindly ; to the stranger, and they are afraid of nothing except the photographer. They do not like photographers, for they fear that their pictures may go abroad on postcards, and that they would not like. When news comes of a loss at sea — and such news comes often — the widow and friends of the dead man hold n wake. In the living room of the little cottage a little waxen cross, called " Proella," is put on a clean napkin in the centre I of a tableT and round it are placed a few lighted candles. The dead man's friends and relatives are there, and a nun reads a chapter from the " Lives of the Saints " and mumbles a prayer for the dead. The door and windows of the cottage are left open, so that the spirits that are abroad at night (the Ouessants believe in wandering spirits) may stop and listen to the prayer. In the morning the priest comes with his incense swingers for the "Proella" and gives absolution at the house door. The little church bell sounds the glas, or funeral knell. The widow, followed by the priest' and her friends, carries the " Proella " down to the church". Here, after more prayers, everybody kisses the small waxen cross, and on the following " day of the dead," which is

the day after Ash Wednesday, the " Proella " -is carried to the cemetery, where it is placed, with many others, in a special place. All around the resting place of the Proella are tombstones, on which are names of women only, foi all the men of Ouessant have died at sea. •