They say an image is worth a thousand words. This one, drawn in 1855, made me pause. It’s from Forrester’s Pictorial Miscellany for the Family Circle by Matthew Forrester.
French shepherd sitting on raised stool and stilts. Book illustration, pen drawing. Image @Wikimedia Commons
Here’s the accompanying text (p. 65-67):
The Shepherds of Les Bas Landes.
In the south-western part of France, bounded on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the south by the Pyrenees, a chain of high mountains separating France from Spain, there is a large barren tract of land, that, from the number of its heaths, has conferred the title of Les Landes on the department to which it belongs. Being generally a level plain, intermixed with shrubs and swamps, it is naturally described as being the most desolate and dreary portion of France. A few spots, like the oases of the African deserts, are to be found at long intervals of space, and here only can rye be grown, the rest being a dreary waste, dotted with heath, firs, or cork trees.
The climate is very unhealthy, the heat in summer being scorching, and in winter the marshes are enveloped in dense fogs. From the « level nature of the land, and from the fact that a considerable portion of it is under water, the shepherds have recourse to stilts, and the dexterity which is manifested in their management has often elicited wonder and admiration from the passing traveller, who rarely meets with many traces of civilization. You will see a picture of one of these shepherds on the preceding page. There he sits from morning till night, knitting away, and watching his flock.
The shepherds in these parts are very careful of their flocks, whose docility is remarkable. Not less so is the good understanding between the sheep and the dogs. The celerity with which the shepherds draw their flocks around them is not more astonishing than the process by which they effect it is simple and beautiful. If they are at no great distance from him, he gives a peculiar whistle, and they leave off feeding, and obey the call; if they are afar off and scattered, he utters a shrill cry, and instantly the flocks are seen leaping over the swamps, and scampering towards him. When they have mustered around him, the shepherd sets off on his return to the cabin, or resting place he has secured, and the flock follow behind, like so many well-trained hounds.
Their fine looking dogs, a couple of which are generally attached to each flock, have nobler duties to perform than that of chasing the animals together, and biting the legs of stragglers. To their protection is confided the flock from the predatory expeditions of wolves and bears, against whose approach they are continually on the watch, and to whom they at once offer battle. So well aware are the sheep of the fatherly care of these dogs, and that they themselves have nothing to fear from them, that they crowd around them as if they really sought their protection, and dogs and sheep may be seen resting together in perfect harmony. Thus habituated to scenes of such gentleness and magnanimity, the shepherds themselves are brave, generous, and humane, and though, as may be imagined, for the most part plunged in the deepest ignorance, are highly sensitive among themselves to the slightest dereliction from the strict paths of true morality.
Given this bucolic description, would the shepherd’s heart be torn asunder once his sheep were ripped from his protection and driven to market?
Jane Austen's World 
Amazing! I cant help but wonder if the sheep needed stilts too!
Whatever next?
I imagine they must have suffered from trench foot if the land was indeed so swampy. I have since learned that the stilts helped the shepherds keep track of the sheep over that vast land.
I can’t see the image (oh! Technology! The minute we come to depend on it, it lets us down) but have seen photographs of shepherds in that part of France sitting back on a third stilt to eat their lunch. So clearly the practice existed late enough that they could be photographs. (I suppose they could be doing it right now, but somehow it doesn’t seem likely.)
He needs a Kindle.
If the shepherd had stilts, how did the sheep and dogs make do I wonder?
That was interesting.
Thanks!
funny looking dog. wonder what kind/
I haven’t a clue. I wonder if it could have been a Belgian shepherd. Would this post help? Sheepdog training in 18th century France: http://www.herdingontheweb.com/training18thFrance.htm
very interesting, I am so glad I found this site.
How interesting! Thanks for this great post.
I love your posts! I always look forward to the next! In this one, it makes me wonder if those stilts didn’t sink way down into the soft earth when he stood up!
Don’t mean to be a party pooper, but I have to wonder if this was first printed on April the First (in some year). Flooded land would be the last place to herd sheep, and that looks like a very well dressed shepherd. The land/climate is so bad it can only be used to grow rye? I live in a place like that; rye and barley are the main grains and grown for feed. We don’t have shepherds on stilts tho’.
In the other hand, information about that corner of France is hard to find in the usual history/geography sources. It seems to be more secret than Shangri La. Thanks for offering us someone’s impressions of the place.
You’re absolutely correct, Kester2. Very little is written about Les Landes. Apparently the French planted pine trees in the region in 1855 to stabilize the shifting dunes and drain the swamps, and today the area is forested. You might be interested in this link, which, along with some photos, verifies the 19th century tale: http://www.abelard.org/france/les_landes_forestry_industry1.php#sheep
The book from which I copied the text was a family/child’s book, much like one I used to have when I was young, that featured short stories and poetry interspersed with some interesting history.Here’s a painting of the landscape by Theodore Rousseau during the mid-19th century: http://www.lessing-photo.com/dispimg.asp?i=40110948+&cr=17&cl=1
This guide book describes Les Landes as well. Click here.
Thanks for the responses Vic and mefoley, and thanks for the link and the info about salt marsh raised sheep. I was aware that sheep can thrive on almost any land, but I was imagining the image of sheep grazing like dolphins.
Chris H.
It’s no April fool joke, unless it’s one that the hardworking peasantry has been taking time out to perpetuate for generations, given the documentation. The photo I saw did not show the shepherds in foppish clothing (I still cant get my system to show me th photo, but I cansee the thumbnail on Facebook).
Marshland sheep are not unheard of; the meat of the sheep from salt marshes is prized in some places as being already salted. I had it in Mont St-Michel, and have seen it advertized elsewhere. Don’t knowhow it works–reminds me of a sitcom inwhich one character talks about his dream of farming in Fiji on cheap land and another points out that the land is cheap because it is slowly sinking into the ocean. He moves his hand like a dolphin jumping out of the water and says “Baa! Sploosh! Baa! Sploosh! Maybe you’ll invent the world’s first wet-look knitwear.”
ME, Do you think your problem viewing the jpg could be with your browser? Have you tried Firefox or Chrome? Vic
I can see it today via Firefox on my desktop machine. I can’t remember what computer I was using before (sorry — brain fog — trying to do to many things at once!) but it might very well have been the iPad, and it certainly has various peculiarities! I’ll shut up about it unless it happens again and I’m sure it was on desktop or laptop. Sorry — I didn’t mean it to sound like a complaint.
I did a double-take when I saw this image and thought “yeah, right” but then it turned up in a QI re-run :)