THE PLEASAXT LAXD Ofi FRANCE

uusks, revelers protect their hair with
hooded cloaks and the streets soon become
ankle-deep. People dance to the blare of
a street band, a dog show is held and there
is a regatta on the bay. It is related that
here, during the siege of 1543, Barba-
rossa was aided at a crucial moment by
a laundress, Catarina Segurana, likewise
known as "Old Ugly Face," who clubbed
Janiz over the head with her washing-
bat, and so raised the siege of Nice. The
carnival spirit on the Riviera appears to
demand that men dress as women, and
women as men, though faces are masked
and voices more or less disguised. A
dance with a swift whirling step, the fa-
randole, is danced by country girls in
shawls and lace caps. Even* village in
France observes the day of its patron
saint. Then jugglers, peddlers, games
and dancing and a final community feast
add to the fun.

Harbor City of Marseilles

The average visitor is likely to judge
France from Paris. The French capital
is described elsewhere in this book. When
we come to know France the pictures show
other cities rich, powerful and beautiful,
each possessing a charm of its own—
Marseilles, the gateway to the important
French colonies in North Africa; Lyons,
Bordeaux, and the rest

Marseilles is the oldest town in West-
ern Europe, founded six hundred years
before the birth of Christ and to-day the
great port fcr Africa and the East. The
people of Marseilles, rich, prosperous and
self-confident, have a saying concerning
their main street, the Cannebiere: "If
Paris had a Cannebiere, it would be a little
Marseilles." Its harbor is one of the
wonders of the world. The mighty trans-
porter bridge, which swings a load of
vehicles and passengers across this harbor,
is a marvel of engineering. Its Corniche
road, which leads to Italy, is one of the
most beautiful in the world. Outside
Marseilles stands the grim Chateau d'lf,
immortalized by Dumas in Monte Cristo.
The dark cdls, where mea lay forgotten,
were unspeakably dreadful. In one at
a mat* cotdd neither lie down nor

stand up. One may still see the "oubli-
ettes/' the cells under cells, into which
men were lowered through a hole in the
floor.

Bordeaux a Wine Centre

Bordeaux is the main centre of the
French wine industry. A broad promenade
parallels its water-front, over which pre-
side statues of Commerce and Navigation
mounted on two columns.

France is the land whither all pleasure-
lovers go. A long chain of holiday re-
sorts has been formed all around the
coast. To the north are watering-places,
like Trouville and Dieppe, which many
British as well as French folk visit. To
the west are famous resorts like Biarritz.
The most wonderful of the pleasure cities
are in the south, along the coast of the
Mediterranean. Cannes and Nice, with
their avenues and sea-fronts lined with
palms, their orange blossoms and rich
tropical foliage, their music and enter-
tainments, are the most famous of these,
and visitors flock to them in winter and
spring.

In the highlands behind'Nice and Monte
Carlo are quaint old mountain cities like
Grasse, which is famous as the centre of
the manufacture of exquisite perfumes.
Still farther back, in the hills of Savoy,
near the borders of Switzerland and Italy,
are a number of towns, of which Aix-
les-Bains is the most famous, that are
frequented by invalids who take the
waters. The organization of pleasure
and recreation for the holiday-seekers of
the world is one of the great French in-
dustries.

Where Joan of Arc Was Burned

Rouen has a greater claim to attention
than its buildings, for here was burned
sainted Joan of Arc, the girl who still
remains a living and vital force in French
life, nearly five hundred years after her
death.

Reims Cathedral, deemed by many
people to be the finest Gothic building in
the world, combines majesty with charm
and is part of France's history. Bombs
in two world wars have threatened It

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