Another of the specialties of Perpignan is the _micocoulier_, or "_bois de Perpignan_," something better suited for making whip handles than any other wood known. Each French city has its special industry; it may elsewhere be _bérets_, _sabots_, truffles, pork-pies or sausages, but here it is whips. Perpignan has given two great men to the world, Jean Blanca and Hyacinthe Rigaud. Jean Blanca, Bourgeois de Perpignan, was first consul of the city when Louis XI besieged it in 1475. His son had been captured by the besiegers and word was sent that he would be put to death if the gates were not opened forthwith. The courageous consul replied simply that the ties of blood and paternal love are not great enough to make one a traitor to his God, his king and his native land. His son was, in consequence, massacred beneath his very eyes. Hyacinthe Rigaud was a celebrated painter, born at Perpignan in the eighteenth century. His talents were so great that he was known as the _Van Dyck français_. Canet is a sort of seaside overflow of Perpignan, a dozen kilometres away on the shores of the Mediterranean. On the way one passes the scant, clumsy remains of the old twelfth-century Château Roussillon, now remodelled into a little ill-assorted cluster of houses, a chapel and a storehouse. The circular tower, really a svelt and admirable pile, is all that remains of the château of other days, the last vestige of the dignity that once was Ruscino's, the ancient capital of the Comté de Roussillon. [Illustration: CHÂTEAU ROUSSILLON] At Canet itself there are imposing ruins, sitting hard by the sea, of centuries of regal splendour, though now they rank only as an attraction of the humble little village of Roussillon. The belfry of Canet's humble church looks like a little brother of that of "Perpignan-le-Rouge" and points plainly to the fact that styles in architecture are as distinctly local as are fashions in footwear. Canet to-day is a watering place for the people of Perpignan, but in the past it was venerated by the holy hermits and monks of Roussillon for much the same attractions that it to-day possesses. Saint Galdric, patron of the Abbey of Saint Martin du Canigou, and, later, Saints Abdon and Sennen were frequenters of the spot. Rivesaltes, practically a suburb of Perpignan, a dozen kilometres north, is approached by as awful a road as one will find in France. The town will not suggest much or appeal greatly to the passing traveller, unless indeed he stops there for a little refreshment and has a glass of _muscat_, that sweet, sticky liquor which might well be called simply raisin juice. It is a "_specialité du pays_," and really should be tasted, though it may be had anywhere in the neighbourhood. It is a wine celebrated throughout France.