[35] EDITOR’S NOTE.--The titles of the eleven vavasseurs are:--(1) Gervaise--(2) Capelle--(3) Soulaire--(4) Maresq--(5) Grent Maison--(6) Garis--(7) Béhon--(8) Agenor--(9) Piquemie--(10) Le Moye--(11) Houët. The titles of the sergeants:--(1) Gaillot--(2) Bordier Paisson--(3) de la Lande--(4) Roques des Roques--(5) Bourg--(6) l’Ange. The titles of the bordiers:--(1) Béquerel--(2) Rebour--(3) Renost--(4) Ricard--(5) Nant--(6) Salmon--(7) Infart--(8) Scarabie. “Briser La Hanse.” This was a curious civic ceremony which was abolished in the early part of this century. In each of our parishes there are a certain number of functionaries called douzeniers, because the corps in question consists of twelve (douze) members, except in St. Peter Port, where there are twenty, and at St. Michel du Valle, where there are sixteen. When one of these officers was elected, he had to give a feast, to which the electors carried an enormous bouquet of flowers “à deux hanses”--with two handles. The dinner finished and the cloth removed, each man filled his glass, and the abdicating douzenier (le douzenier _déhansé_) broke one of these handles, previously dipping the bouquet into his glass, and drinking the health of the douzenier _hansé_. Then the bouquet went round from hand to hand, each man, while moistening it with the spirit that bubbled in his glass, adding his toast to the newly elected or _hansé_ douzenier. Local Customs--Aquatic. “Heureux peuple des champs, vos travaux sont des fêtes.” --_St. Lambert._ Vraicing. The months of June, July, and August, form one of the principal seasons for the collection of the seaweed with which the rocky shores of Guernsey abound, and which, from time immemorial, has proved a most valuable resource to the farmer, not only as affording an excellent manure for the land, but also, in the case of the poorer cottagers and fishermen who inhabit the coast, an unfailing supply of fuel. Many indeed of these gain almost their entire livelihood by collecting the “vraic” as it is locally termed, which they sell to their richer neighbours for dressing the land, or which, after drying on the shore, they stack for their winter firing. The ashes, which are carefully preserved, always command a ready market, being considered one of the best manures that can be applied to the land in preparing it for certain crops. The qualities of seaweed in general as a fertilizer are so highly appreciated that it has given rise to the agricultural adage “_point de vraic, point de hautgard_”--no sea-weed, no stack yard. It has been remarked that dry seasons are unfavourable to the growth of sea-weed, and that rain is almost as essential to its development as it is to that of the grass of the field--a singular fact, when we remember that the marine plant has always a supply of moisture. [Illustration: Vraicing.]