Sables D'Olonne
LES, a seaport of France; department of Vendée; on the Atlantic coast, 50 miles S. by W. of Nantes. It owes its early importance to Louis XI., who excavated (1472) the port and erected the fortifications . There is a trade in grain, wine, salt, cattle, timber, and tar. Salt making, shipbuilding , and fishing (sardines and oysters) are the chief occupations. The town is visited for its sea-bathing. Pop. about 15,000.
SABOT (sab'o), a wooden shoe made of one piece hollowed out by boring tools and scrapers. The kinds of woods used are willow, poplar (Lombardy), beech, birch, aspen, ash, hornbeam, walnut. Sabots are worn by the peasants of France , Belgium, etc.