"The bathing is on fine sand laid with planks for the convenience of bare feet... Here on hot days revels a carnival of mermaids à la mode, who in the most coquettish and not always the most modest of costumes dive, splash, swim, and paddle themselves about...To the sound of music this spectacle is watched by a crowd at the edge, forming a garden of gay dresses and brilliant sunshades that glow in rivalry with the glaring sand, the white tents, the gigantic fungus-like umbrellas, the green shutters, the striped awnings, the tricolored flags, and the gilded balconies loaded with flowers in the background. It is certainly a most animated a