CAMARGO

camargo, marie anne de cupis de (1710-1770), french dancer, of spanish descent, was born in brussels on the 15th of april 1710. her father, ferdinand joseph de cupis, earned a scanty living as violinist and dancing-master, and from childhood she was trained for the stage. at ten years of age she was given lessons by mlle francoise prevost (1680-1741), then the first dancer at the paris opera, and at once obtained an engagement as _premiere danseuse_, first at brussels and then at rouen. under her grandmother's family name of camargo she made her paris _debut_ in 1726, and at once became the rage. every new fashion bore her name; her manner of doing her hair was copied by all at court; her shoemaker--she had a tiny foot--made his fortune. she had many titled adorers whom she nearly ruined by her extravagances, among others louis de bourbon, comte de clermont. at his wish she retired from the stage from 1736 to 1741. in her time she appeared in seventy-eight ballets or operas, always to the delight of the public. she was the first ballet-dancer to shorten the skirt to what afterwards became the regulation length. there is a charming portrait of her by nicolas lancret in the wallace collection, london. camargue (_insula camaria_), a thinly-populated region of southern france contained wholly in the department of bouches-du-rhone, and comprising the delta of the rhone. the camargue is a marshy plain of alluvial formation enclosed between the two branches of the river, the grand rhone to the east and the petit rhone to the west. its average elevation is from 61⁄2 to 8 ft. the camargue has a coast-line some 30 m. in length and an area of 290 sq. m., of which about a quarter consists of cultivated and fertile land. this is in the north and on the banks of the rivers. the rest consists of rough pasture grazed by the black bulls and white horses of the region and by large flocks of sheep, or of marsh, stagnant water and waste land impregnated with salt. the region is inhabited by flocks of flamingoes, bustards, partridge, and by sea-birds of various kinds. the etang de vaccares, the largest of the numerous lagoons and pools, covers about 23 sq. m.; it receives three main canals constructed to drain off the minor lagoons. the camargue is protected by dikes from the inundations both of the sea and of the rivers. inlets in the sea-dike let in water for the purposes of the lagoon fisheries and the salt-pans; and the river-water is used for irrigation and for the submersion of vines. the climate is characterized by hard winters and scorching summers. rain falls in torrents, but at considerable intervals. the mistral, blowing from the north and north-west, is the prevailing wind. the south-eastern portion of the camargue is known as the ile du plan du bourg. a secondary delta to the west of the petit rhone goes by the name of petite camargue.