Page:Mistral - Mirèio. A Provençal poem.djvu/211

 NOTES TO CANTO IX.

$1$, a light meal taken by the reapers about ten in the morning.

$2$ Quercus ilex.

$3$ Jean Althen, an Arminian adventurer, introduced in 1774 the cultivation of madder into the Comtat Venaissen (department of Vaucluse). In 1850, a statue was erected to him on the rock of Avignon.

$4$ The Provence cane, Arundo vulgaris, is very common in this region. Cattle-pens and angling-rods are made of it.

$5 6 7$ All the world has heard of La Tarasque, a monster who, according to tradition, ravaged the banks of the Rhone, and was destroyed by Ste. Martha. Every year the people of Tarascon celebrate this deliverance by burning the monster in effigy; and, at intervals of time more or less long, the fête is enhanced by various games,—such as that of the pike and flag here mentioned, which consists in gracefully waving, throwing to a great height, and then catching with address, a standard with large folds, or a javelin. Lagadigadèu is the ritournello of a popular song ascribed to King RenèRené [sic], and sung at Tarascon at this fête. The following is the best known couplet:—