LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAICN 942.34 An8c The person charging this material is re- sponsible for its return to the library from which it was withdrawn on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University. To renew call Telephone Center, 333-8400 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates https://archive.org/details/channelislandsOOanst BATTLE OF JERSEY, A.D. 1 78 1. Front Copley's famous pictures now hi the National Gallery THE CHANNEL ISLANDS BY THE LATE DAVID THOMAS ANSTED M A F R S etc late Fellow of Jesus College Cambridge AND THE LATE ROBERT GORDON LATHAM MA M D F R S etc late Fellow of Kings College Cambridge REVISED AND EDITED BY E TOULMIN NICOLLE THIRD EDITION LONDON W H ALLEN & CO LIMITED 13 WATERLOO PLACE SW WYMAN AND SONS, LIMITED, PRINTERS, LONDON AND REDHILL. PREFACE TO THE FIRST & SECOND EDITIONS. More than four years’ residence in Guernsey, — a central position, where frequent opportunities are afforded of visiting Jersey, Alderney, Sark and Herm, — and an inti- mate acquaintance with various residents in the Channel Islands and visitors interested in literary and scientific pursuits, have seemed to the writer to justify him in undertaking the present work. He may be regarded as the general Editor as well as one of the Authors. That the Channel Islands, as a group, deserve and require a monograph, will, it is believed, be admitted without a question. That no treatise, combining a general description of them with a careful account of their Natural History, Ethnology and Archaeology, has yet been published, is certain. It is for the public to decide how far the present work is sufficient and satisfactory. The work is divided into four parts. For the first part — a Physical and Descriptive account of the Islands and their Climate — the Editor is alone responsible. With regard to the second part — general Natural History — the case is different. The Editor not being conversant with the details of Botany and Zoology, has sought and ob- tained the assistance of many friends and acquaintances, 690602 VI PREFACE. residents and visitors, all zealous and able Naturalists, who have communicated the results of their investigations in the most frank and friendly manner. A list of the names of these, and of others to whom the Authors are indebted for information, is published at the end of the Preface, and an acknowledgment of the special services of each will be found in the text. The magnitude and importance of the assistance obtained in Technical Botany and Zoology will be at once seen by examining the lists of species in Chapters VIII. and IX. The account of the Geology of the Islands is entirely by the Editor. The third part of the book, on the History, Archaeology, and Language of the Channel Islands is the exclusive work of Dr. R. G. Latham. He believes that in the doctrine he has advanced concerning the comparative unimportance of the Norse, and the comparative import- ance of certain other elements of the early history of the islands, he has suggested a series of obscure and neglected facts which, when recognised, will largely influence the opinion of future historians, Normandy and the southern parts of England, as well as of the Channel Islands. He offers this as his excuse for the insertion of a certain amount of matter and certain negative conclusions, which might otherwise seem to be irrelevant. Lor the later history he has drawn freely upon various well-known books. Among these, he would more es- pecially indicate the writings of Lalle, Duncan, and Dr. Hoskins. Lor the antiquarian details Mr. L. C. Lukis, of Guernsey, is the principal authority. The fourth part of the work and the Appendices have PREFACE. Vll been prepared by the Editor. In the chapter on the Laws and Constitution of the Islands he has to acknowledge important assistance, chiefly from the Bailiff of Guernsey* The picturesque illustrations must be noticed here, on account of the peculiarly favourable auspices under which they appear. Almost all the drawings were executed on wood from original sketches, taken expressly with a view to illustrate points selected by the Editor. Two artists have combined to give value to this department. Of PAUL J. Naftel, the name alone will be sufficient to satisfy every reader who appreciates art that the most conscientious accuracy has been obtained, as well as the most exquisite taste in drawing. Of Mr. Peter Le Lievre, whose pictures are only known to those who have visited his studio in Guernsey, it may safely be said that his success in Art is not less remarkable than his familiarity with the details of Natural History. Ample proof of both will be found in the following pages. It rarely falls to the lot of an Author to have his ideas and wishes with regard to illustration so completely carried out as has been the case in the volume now published. It is with singular satisfaction that the Editor finds his name associated on the title page with the names of friends whose assistance has tended to give a character of completeness to the work not otherwise attainable. It is right to state, that the execution of the various drawings has been almost entirely a labour of love. D. T. ANSTED. Impington Hall, Cambridge, The late Sir P. Stafford Carey PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. The treatise on the Channel Islands from the joint pens of the late Professor Ansted and the late Dr. Latham* has always been esteemed of the highest value by the historical and literary, as well as by the scientific student. The work written over thirty years ago has now become scarce, and considering the absence of any reliable and compre- hensive account of this interesting group of islands, it has been decided to publish a new and cheaper edition, in order that it may come more within the range of the general reader. With this end in view, the present Editor has en- deavoured to render the work as popular as possible, and this must be his apology for the numerous and extensive alterations he has been constrained to make in the original text. During the past thirty years vast changes have been effected in these islands, which has rendered the task of revising and bringing up to date a by no means easy one. How far this task has been successful, it will be for the public to judge. It should be distinctly understood that the work is not intended as a mere visitors’ hand-book. * Professor Ansted died in 1880, and Dr. Latham in 1888. X PREFACE. No attempt has been made to make it such ; and a mere- glance at its pages will at once convince the reader that this would have been inconsistent with the general plan ; but it is none the less hoped that it may assist the tourist and the student in search of romantic and interesting scenery, and prove a useful and, at the same time, an in- structive companion. The general division of the book into four parts has not been interfered with. For the revision of the first, third and fourth parts the Editor is alone responsible. To the third part, treating of the Civil History of the Islands, ex- tensive additions have been made. With regard to part the second, the chapter on Botany has been revised by Mr.. J. Piquet, of Jersey, a venerable and enthusiastic botanist,, who originally supplied Dr. Ansted with many of the details on this subject. The Geology has been annotated by the highest authority on the geology of these islands,. M. Charles Noury, S.J., of the “ Maison St. Louis,” Jersey,, who has specially drawn the geological maps incorporated with the text. The great changes and discoveries which have been made in the department of Zoology since Dr. Ansted wrote have necessitated the re-writing of the whole of Chapter IX. This has been entrusted to the care of two able Naturalists,. Mr. J. Sinel and Mr. James Hornell. It is well to remark that both in this section and in that treating of the Botany it has been deemed advisable to omit the lengthy lists of species, some of which are incomplete, whilst others are in some respects erroneous. These lists are, however, of great value, and the student who may wish to consult them must be referred to the previous editions. PREFACE. Xi A list of the principal works considered as authorities on the islands is appended, which it is hoped may prove useful for reference. Many of the original woodcuts have been retained, whilst other illustrations reproduced from photographs have been added. Most of these photographs are repro- duced by the kind permission of Mr. P. Godfray, photo- grapher, of Jersey, but it is right to state that some — and those not by any means the least interesting or picturesque — have been kindly furnished by amateur photographers, friends of the Editor. The Editor would here acknowledge the kind and ready assistance he has received from many friends and others, resident in the islands, from whom he has sought informa- mation, and to whom he is greatly indebted. St. Helier’s, Jersey, June, 1893. E. T. N. CONTENTS PART THE FIRST. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. PAGE CHAPTER I. The English Channel and the Channel Islands 3 CHAPTER II. Alderney, Ortach, and the Casquets 16 CHAPTER III. The Island and Coast of Guernsey 32 CHAPTER IV. Islands and Rocks near Guernsey 55 CHAPTER V. The Island of Jersey and the Adjacent Rocks 81 CHAPTER VI. The Chausey Archipelago and the Minquiers 116 CHAPTER VII. Climyte of the Islands ... 125 CONTENTS. xm PART THE SECOND. NATURAL HISTORY. Botany Zoology Geology Geology ( continued ) CHAPTER VIII. CHAPTER IX. CHAPTER X. CHAPTER XI. PAGE 137 157 197 22S PART THE THIRD. CIVIL HISTORY. CHAPTER XII. Pagan and Legendary Period 247 CHAPTER XIII. Early History ( continued ) 265 CHAPTER XIV. Later History, from the Norman Conquest to the Begin- ning of the Civil Wars 28$ CHAPTER XV. Period of the Civil War 304 XIV CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVI. PAGE Modern History, from the Accession of William HI. to the Present Time 334 CITAPTER XVII. Antiquities and Archaeology 346 CHAPTER XVIII. Language and Literature 362 PART THE FOURTH. ECONOMICS AND TRADE. CHAPTER XIX. Agriculture 393 CHAPTER XX. Horticulture ... 406 CHAPTER XXI. Trade, Commerce, and Manufactures 414 CHAPTER XXII Constitution and Laws.. ... 420 CHAPTER XXIII. Manners and Customs of the Inhabitants and Principal Public Institutions... 445 Appendix .. 437 Index to Illustrations 463 465 General Index LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL WORKS OF REFERENCE ON THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. Falle’s “ History of Jersey,” edited by Durell. 1837. Le Quesne’s “Constitutional History of Jersey.” 1856. Duncan’s “ History of Guernsey.” Tupper’s “History of Guernsey.” 2nd ed. 1876. '“ Chronicles of Castle Cornet,” by Tupper. 2nd ed. 1851. ■“Charles II. in the Channel Islands,’ by Dr. Hoskins. 2 vols. 1854. “ Histoire des lies de la Manche, par Pegot-Ogier.” 1881. “Jersey,” by De la Croix. “ La Ville de St. Helier,” and “ Les Etats,” by the same Author. 1847. Le Geyt on the Constitution and Laws of Jersey,” published in 1847. 4 vols. “ Les Cours Royales des lies normandes,” par J. Havet. 1878. Plees’ “ Plistory of Jersey.” 1824. “ Archipel des Isles Normandes,” by T. Le Cerf. 1863. “Histoire du Cotentin et de ses lies,” par Gustave Dupont. 4 vols. 1870- 1885. “Geologie de Jersey,” par C. Noury, S.J. 1886. FART THE FIRST PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLANDS. NATURAL ARCH— ILE AGOIS, CRABBE, JERSEY. B THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. CHAPTER I. THE ENGLISH CHANNEL AND THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. “ O! ever happy isles, your heads so high that rear, By nature strongly fenc’d, which never need to fear ; On Neptune’s wat’ry realms, when ^Eolus raiseth wars, And every billow bounds as though to quench the stars. Fair Jersey, first of these, here scatter’d in the deep, Peculiarly that boast’st thy double-horned sheep ; Inferior not to thee, thou Guernsey ! bravely crown’d ! With rough embattl’d rocks, whose venom-hating ground The harden’d emeril hath, which thou abroad doth send ; Thou Ligou, her belov’d, and Sark, that doth attend Her pleasure every hour, as Jethou, them at need, With pheasants, fallow-deer, and conies thou dost feed ! Ye seven small sister isles and sorlings, which to see, The half-sunk seaman joys; or whatsoe’er you be ! From fruitful Aurency, near to the ancient Celtic shore, To Ushant and the Seams, whereat those nuns of yore Gave answers from their caves, and took what shapes they please — Ye happy islands set within the British seas.” — Drayton’s “ Polyolbion.” The entrance to the English Channel (la Manche), about a hundred miles wide between the Land’s End in Cornwall and the Island of Ushant, near Brest, retains that width, with a nearly easterly bearing, for a distance of ioo miles. From Start Point, in Devonshire, the coast of England recedes northwards ; and from the opposite land, in Brit- B 2 4 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. tany, the French coast recedes southwards rather abruptly, so that the width of the Channel is increased to 1 50 miles. At a distance of about fifty miles more to the east, near Mont St. Michel, in Normandy, the French coast abruptly bends round to the north, and continues in that direction for about eighty miles, terminating at Cape la Hague ; while the English land, rounding to the south-east some- what gradually, terminates in Portland Bill, almost exactly opposite. The distance between France and England, or the width of the Channel between these two points of land, is thus narrowed to little more than fifty miles. It is in this wide expanse of the Channel, and within the deep recess or elbow of land formed by part of the coasts of Brittany and Normandy, opposite West Bay on the south coast of England, that we find the remarkable group of islands known collectively as the Channel Islands. With one exception (the Chausey Archipelago),* all these islands now belong to England, having originally (as indeed the names of the principal islands and rocky groups clearly import) received visits from the northern navigators. When the Normans afterwards united with the Saxon and Danish tribes, who had already occupied England, these islands continued to be held by them. For a long time, this was the case rather by accident than design ; but it is many centuries since their position has been felt to be too commanding and important to allow of their being other than English, so long as Great Britain retains its place among the maritime powers of Europe. Geographically, no doubt, the Channel Islands belong to the continent and to France; and they must be looked upon as outlying possessions of England, although their communi- cations are much more frequent and complete with Eng- land than with the continent. It is not, however, altogether to political reasons that the * The dependency of the Chausey Archipelago on France has been on several occasions questioned by England, and it is a curious and noteworthy fact that in a Bull of Pope Alexander VI., dated January 20, r499, transferring the Chan- nel Islands from the diocese of Coutances to that of Winchester, Chausey is included, which would lead one to suppose that it was considered at that period as a dependency of the English Crown. POSITION IN THE CHANNEL. 5 greater communication with England is due. While on the opposite land, to the north, there are numerous natural harbours, and many important towns and maritime stations, there is not a harbour of the smallest importance along the whole enclosing land of Brittany or Normandy, between Heaux and La Hague, except that of St. Malo ; and only two towns (St. Malo and Granville) larger than fishing stations. This part of the French coast of the Channel is only approachable by small vessels and at great risk. There are thus good physical reasons why these islands should still remain English ; and we need not be surprised that it is only within the last few years that, owing to im- proved travelling accommodation, they have become much more frequented by French tourists.* The area of sea including the Channel Islands is thus defined : on the south, it is limited by about seventy miles of the coast of Brittany, from near Paimpol to Mont St. Michel, in Normandy; on the east, it is bounded by about eighty miles of the Normandy coast, running northwards from Mont St. Michel to Cape la Hague. From this cape to the Casquets is a line running west about twenty-five miles, which forms the northern boundary of the group, and consists of a rocky ledge, very little of which is sunk twenty fathoms, and which rises at frequent intervals to form groups of rocks and rocky islets. From the Casquets rocks, a line of about sixty-five miles, clearing the rocks off the west coast of Guernsey, and passing outside the “ Roches Douvres,” reaches the coast of Brittany at “ Les Heaux” lighthouse — completing a nearly regular trapezium, con- taining an area of about 3,000 square miles. Within this space, the groups of islands, rocks, and shoals, are as follows: — (i). A northern group, including Alderney, Burhou, and the Casquets, together with several rocky ledges. (2). A north-central group, including Guern- sey, Herm, Jethou, Sark, and a singular complication of rocks and islets. (3). A south-central group, including * The Channel Islands have from time to time sheltered French political refugees. At the period of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, 1683, many distinguished families settled in Jersey. Both Jersey and Guernsey have been honoured as the residence of Victor Hugo. 6 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. Jersey, three groups of shoals and rocky islands connect- ing the north of Jersey with France, and some others, running out from the south-east of Jersey, also towards France. (4). A southern group, including the Minquiers, the Chausey Islands, and some outlying rocks to the far west. When Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark, are quoted as the Channel Islands, the expression must then be under- stood with some reserve. These are the principal inhabited tracts of land, stated in order of magnitude and population ; but the smaller inhabited islands — the numerous large rocks and ledges, above and under water — the sand-banks, from which fishes are taken, and on which ships are often stranded — and the smaller islets and rocks, with their rocky coves and inlets, important for shelter, or requiring to be known that they may be avoided — are also of very con- siderable interest. Few parts of the world present, in so small a space, so much variety as is the case with this archipelago ; and few groups of islands are so remakable for their great political and historical interest, combined with singular natural beauty. Constructed for the most part of hard crystalline rock, decomposing or weathering by the constant action of the sea and weather ; exposed to the incessant dash of the waves coming in from the Atlantic, which are thrown back by the coast of the Cotentin, only to meet a fresh arrival of others, all bound on the errand of destruction ; — the islands have been for countless ages beaten about, penetrated, rounded, broken and carried away, leaving now only a fret-work of those hardest barriers that have still resisted the attack, and are enabled to present a bold and serried front against their relentless enemy. It is very essential to a right understanding of the scenery of these islands that their physical and geological features, and the changes they have undergone to bring them into their present state, should be appreciated. They were originally connected together, and formed part of French land. The separation being once made at various localities, the softer and more easily weathered rocks would soon be swept away by the sea, while the tougher and harder PHYSICAL FEATURES. 7 materials would offer much longer and more successful resistance. Intersected in every direction by veins and crevices, some of the veins being filled with rock yet tougher than the granite of the mass, and some with soft minerals and clay, the result has been the production of the islands and rocks as we see them. It is inevitable that in this contest, the land above water, that between wind and water, and that permanently below water, must have been differently though always greatly affected. Bearing in mind these few observations, it will not be surprising that Guernsey, the outlying island, should now present a bare mass of the toughest syenite, with a coast affording the grandest and boldest scenery ; while Jersey, although a much larger tract of land, more within the gulf, is softer and rounder, with larger bays, but a less severe style of beauty. Sark, somewhat the loftiest of the islands, is also the most weather-worn, and is being gradually torn to shreds. Alderney is a rounded mass : the Casquets are jagged pinnacles. The Chausey islands are like the debris of a worn-out series of quarries. Each group has its own characteristic, and each is a resisting centre, on which the waves have long beaten, but still have only partially done their work. But there is little real difference. The granites or syenites of Guernsey and of the Chausey islands present differences of detail, but not more so than we often find in granites from adjacent quarries. Each decomposes into a similar soil, and the practical difference between them amounts to little more than a non-agreement as to their rates of decomposition. Islands placed as these are must be subject to certain in- conveniences inseparable from those spots whose approach involves the crossing of troubled water; but this annoyance has now been minimised by the use of the fine fleets of steamers belonging to the London and South-Western and Great Western Companies. The course of the tidal wave through the waters that surround the Channel Islands may be thus stated. The great wave coming in from the Atlantic advances from the south-west and is turned to the east. A part of it passes 8 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. on to the north-east, north of the islands ; but a part enters among them by various channels, and being first lifted by shoal water, and then thrown back by the coast of Nor- mandy, it is both detained in its course and is deflected to the north. At Mont St. Michel, the magnitude of the wave is at its maximum. Owing to the vast extent of the shallow water, and the narrowness of the deeper passages throughout the great bay enclosing the islands, the wave remains extremely large, amounting in Jersey to nearly forty feet, in Guernsey to almost thirty, and in Alderney to about twenty feet at high spring tides ; the difference be- tween high water at spring and neap tides being seventeen feet at the Minquiers and Jersey, eleven at Guernsey, and seven at Alderney, though sometimes very much greater on the occasion of great spring tides or equinoctial tides. High water takes place at Jersey nearly half an hour before it reaches Guernsey, and three-quarters of an hour before Alderney. The velocity of the tidal current, where not increased by narrow passages, is from two and a-half to three miles per hour. Although the course of the tidal wave may thus be traced, the current by no means follows the same law. In this respect the complication is so great that it would be quite impossible to describe it in detail in this place ; but in a general way it may be stated that the stream does not flow northwards with the advancing tide wave in the open channels till the wave has been flowing three hours, and that when it has turned it continues in that direction not only till the flood has turned, but till the retiring wave has receded half its course. In other words, the stream flows from half flood to half ebb, and ebbs from half ebb to half flood. While, however, this is the case in certain channels, the direction of the stream is not only different, but often diametrically opposite, at no great distance, but somewhat nearer shore.* * Between Guernsey and the Casquets the current sets from every point of the compass, during each advance and recession of the tidal wave. Hence the navigation is exceedingly difficult and dangerous in foggy weather, ships being sometimes drifted for miles out of their course. SCENERY. 9 No wonder, then, that the rocks are jagged ; no wonder the sand-banks are numerous and shifting ; no wonder the ship heaves, and tosses, and groans, while forcing its way through these angry and powerful bodies of moving water. Rather is it wonderful that in all the islands the climate is so equable, and the weather generally so pleasant ; that so little rains falls, so few fogs obscure the air, and so much comfort can be obtained at all seasons. Owing to their geographical position, these islands are rich in certain departments of natural history. They are surrounded by shallow water, rocks, and sands, at a tem- perature very favourable for animal life. The water is always well aerated, there is abundant vegetation, and plenty of shelter in little caves and nooks. In this respect few parts of the coast of Europe, or its adjacent islands, are more rich. Zoophytes of almost all kinds, crustaceans, molluscs, and sponges, may be studied to perfection in natural rocky basins and caverns, and may be easily re- moved for study ; while the sea-weeds and lichens are equally abundant, and equally available for natural-history investigation. Owing to the climate, the vegetable productions of the land are equally remarkable Having a more equable temperature than almost any part of the western shores of Europe, but not a larger rain-fall, there is every facility for cultivating whole classes of plants elsewhere difficult to keep alive ; and, though there is little intense heat in sum- mer, still the absence of cold in winter is sufficiently marked to admit of the orange-tree bearing fruit, while the camellia is loaded with flowers in sheltered gardens from December to March. Placed close to Normandy, with whose early history they were intimately connected, the inhabitants of the Channel Islands have never lost the associations that were hence derived. In language and literature, and in laws and cus- toms, they retain many early forms adapted for a young people, and thus they offer abundant material for useful study and comparison to the ethnologist, the philologist, the student of history, and the lawyer. They have also abounded in antiquities referring to the earliest inhabitants IO THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. of Western Europe, although such remains have disap- peared rapidly of late years. But chiefly are these little spots remarkable for ex- quisite and varied beauty of scenery. Each island has its own beauty, but all are remarkable. The artist may study for weeks the trees and ferns of a few acres of ground, or the rocks and lichens of some hundred yards of cliff ; and the naturalist may wander for days over a space of a few square miles, without half exhausting its treasures. That the Channel Islands are not known to the public generally cannot be said. But the knowledge concerning them is vague, and not at all in proportion to the interest they are calculated to afford. The islands are popularly little distinguished from each other, though essentially very different. Their magnitude and relative importance are scarcely ever appreciated by those who have not visited them ; and those who do visit one are frequently induced to pass over the others as of minor interest ; al- though, in fact, there is hardly any resemblance in the characteristics of each, and all are worthy of a prolonged examination. It must not be imagined that size is a criterion by which their relative interest can be guessed at, or that any of the islands can be understood by a rapid survey. There are difficulties in the way of really reaching the spots best worth seeing in all the islands, while the readily accessible views, and various points of view dwelt on in guide books, with the unction peculiar in that class of literature, cannot safely be accepted, either as those which will satisfy the true lover of the picturesque, or as in any way worthy of the exclusive notice they have been favoured with. As in most small tracts of country where there are ob- jects of special interest, some little time and trouble must, in fact, be devoted to their discovery. A carriage will doubtless place one near the spot where these things are to be looked for, and the roads are generally good ; but a pair of legs, accustomed to convey their owner without com- plaint, and a steady head, not alarmed at a precipice, are necessary for any one who would do justice to nature, and GENERAL REMARKS. I 1 seek her where she loves to linger, and where she pours forth her most valuable treasures. As a place to visit during summer and autumn, but es- pecially in the late autumn, up to November, it may safely be said that these islands are, beyond comparison, superior to any of the ordinary resorts of tourists unable to reach the south of Europe. Much more varied in the style of beauty, though much smaller than the Isle of Wight, we have in most parts of Jersey and Guernsey conditions only found in the most sheltered parts of the Undercliff in the Isle of Wight. The winds blow, and may be troublesome, but in the latter half of the year they are seldom cold, and never treacherous ; there are then no fogs, and night frosts are extremely rare. The flowers continue to bloom, the fall of the leaf has more of softness and tenderness than of stern- ness, and the approach of winter is so quiet and gradual that it is almost unheeded. There may be better sum- mers on the Continent, though they are pleasant enough here, and the spring is ungenial in all northern latitudes ; but for late autumn there is no rival to the Channel Islands within several hundred miles. In describing the islands, it will be best to proceed sys- tematically, beginning with those that form the northern boundary of the tract of sea they are contained in. Those whose time is limited cannot indeed follow this course in their travels ; and many do little more than drive round Jersey and Guernsey, and spend a few hours in a fatiguing walk over the flat table-land of Sark. To them this sys- tematic course cannot fail to be useful ; for though they no doubt fancy they have seen everything, they may thus discover that there remains material for another visit, when they will do well to devote time to each island in succes- sion, and look out for the points before neglected. They may be assured that they will find few places so small that take so long to see. Those also who have not yet visited these outlying pos- sessions, these ancient fiefs of our Queen whose inhabitants regard themselves as independent of parliamentary juris- diction, being governed by their own houses of assembly, 12 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. and by officers appointed by the crown without reference to the laws of England, will be enabled thus to obtain beforehand a general glimpse of what is to be seen and studied, which may save much time and trouble when they do come. That the Channel Islands possess great importance as military stations, and are capable of affording refuge to shipping in time of war, is a fact that has always been felt, and from time to time acted on by Great Britain. Large sums of public money have been expended in fortifying them and building harbours. Perfect freedom from customs’- duties, and all other taxation for the benefit of England, an absence of interference with local laws, and the use in the public courts, and for public occasions, of the French lan- guage, and to employ French coins in circulation, are a few of the privileges enjoyed by the islanders. That a people so governed should be loyal, and should do all in their power to retain the customs and privileges under which they have so long flourished, is not surprising. That a people so greatly favoured by nature in climate and fertile soil, and by political circumstances in their local govern- ments, should be free and independent, jealous of interfer- ence, and rather proud of what they have already done, than careful to adopt new systems of which they have had no experience, is also neither to be wondered at nor blamed. In visiting these possessions, therefore, or while reading an account of them, the traveller in the one case, and the reader in the other, will do well to bear in mind that both place and subject are neutral ground. The islands can neither be regarded properly from an English nor from a continental point of view. The people have customs vener- able from age and historical association — customs super- seded in Normandy and England, but not, perhaps, the less adapted to small communities. They have a language which, in its peculiarities, must be regarded as unformed rather than deformed. They are, in Guernsey especially, and in some respects also elsewhere, singularly tenacious of their family ties, and apt to narrow rather than ex- tend their social circle. They are, in a word, islanders rather than English. NUMBER OF ISLAND GROUPS. 13 It must also be borne in mind that hardly any Celtic element is recognisable in these islanders. They are not like the Manxmen, the Welsh, or the Bretons. They are Normans, but Normans of the old school — Norman free- men before they were Norman barons and vassals of the crown, retaining the northern love of independence, and not at all the Gallic tendency to depend on the fostering hand of a central government. They thus offer curious points of character ; and, till lately, the mass of the population in some of the islands had undergone marvellously little change. But the time of change has come. Roads, steam-boats, railways, and public works, have already so far altered the peculiar features of the larger islands and the national peculiarities of their inhabitants, that we must now seek for many quaint and interesting characteristics that, only a few years ago, openly presented themselves in the streets and market places. Legitimate trade has assumed large proportions ; excellent roads, and noble piers, quays and harbours, have been constructed at vast expense. Prices of all kinds of food, house-rent, and other necessary items of expenditure, have become gradually higher and higher — have approximated, in fact, more and more to the prices of similar articles in the great centres of population ; so that now the islands have almost ceased to tempt the possessors of small incomes and large families to migrate thither. In the place of these, of whom, however, many remain, there is a rapid increase in the number of tourists, who flock over by hundreds, in search of health, amusement, and relaxation ; and who will find their time well spent in examining the numerous objects of interest that here abound. It is desirable to clear the way for their benefit, and state briefly what is distinctly remarkable and best worthy of notice in every part of our little Channel archi- pelago ; and in the history, antiquities, science, natural history and literature belonging to its various members. To give the reader some idea of the very great number of islands, islets, rocks and shoals, forming the Channel Islands, a list is subjoined of the various groups, as named in charts; and to this is appended the proximate area, in THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. H square miles, of the space each group may be considered to occupy. It must be understood that the area given is not that of the actual land. In some of the groups, the surface of rock exposed at high water is not more than a few square yards in area, for every square mile of dangerous surrounding sea ; but, estimating the dimensions by the extent of dangerous water, a very fair idea will be formed of the relative importance of each group in navigation. It would, perhaps, have been interesting, had it been possible, to state the number of rocks beyond a certain size visible at all times of tide; but no sufficient materials exist for this. Names of the principal islands and groups of rocks and shoals . Area in sq. miles. I. Alderney,* and adjacent rocks . 4 Burhou, and other rocks and islets 4 Casquets rocks* 1 Banc du Schole .... 3 II. Jersey,* and its surrounding rocks 80 Dirouilles and Ecrehou* rocks 16 Paternosters, or Pierres de Lecq 2 \ Bancs Feles 2 The Anquettes 5 The Fruquier 2 The Boeufs 3 Area in sq. miles. III. Guernsey,* and adjacent rocks and islets 20 Herm,* Jethou,* and other islets and rocks 12 Sark,* Brechou, and its islets and rocks 5 IV. The Minquiers 80 The Chausey islands* and adja- cent rocks 15 The Roches Douvres ... 7 Plateau de Barnouic .... 6 In this list, the names of all those islands that are regularly inhabited are indicated by a star (*). On the Ecrehou rocks are the ruins of a chapel of great antiquity, built in 1203 by the monks of Val Richer, near Lisieux in Normandy. The French Government attempted in 1883 to annex these rocks, from which resulted some slight international excitement. These dreary rocks are the abode of a solitary old sailor, Philip Pinel, a Jersey man, nicknamed King of the Ecrehous, who has lived there alone for over forty years. In addition to this long list of names, each of which re- presents a group, and often a very numerous group of rocks, there are many smaller groups, and a multitude, LIGHT HOUSES. IS almost countless, of detached rocks, either visible at some time of tide, or dangerous to navigation from the sea breaking over them. Close to the French shore, both of Brittany and Normandy, but especially the former, the rocks and shoals are almost too numerous to be marked in any chart. A very important chain of lighthouses indicates, by a line of fire, the outlying points of the Channel Islands and the whole adjacent land. From Cape la Hague, in Normandy, to Les Heaux, in Brittany, there are no less than thirteen lights, several of them of the first class, placed at intervals on the French coast. The Casquets and the Hanois Lighthouses mark the approach to the islands from the Channel ; while vari- ous coast and harbour lights on all the principal islands assist in pointing out to the mariner the dangers that exist to navigation and the welcome refuge offered. The subjoined cut represents the C/iasse maree , a kind of French coasting vessel, characteristic of the Channel, and often seen in Guernsey seeking shelter from westerly gales. These craft are extremely picturesque, and were formerly common. Diminished smuggling and improved navigation have rendered their visits less frequent of late years. “CHASSE MAREES” Running into St. Peter’s Port, Guernsey. CHAPTER II. ALDERNEY, ORTACH, AND THE CASQUETS. A FORMIDABLE mass of hard rock, forming the north- western extremity of the Cotentin and terminated by Cape la Hague, serves as a buttress protecting that part of Nor- mandy which ranges northwards from Mont St. Michel. This headland is separated by a narrow channel of no great depth from the northernmost of the three principal groups of the Channel Islands ; and, through this channel, the sea, at high spring tides, sweeps at the rate of eight miles an hour, in a steady current. From the rocks beyond Cape la Hague, to those that fringe Alderney (the nearest land), there is a distance of only six miles, of which little more than two miles exceeds twenty fathoms in depth. This passage is called the Race (or Ras) of Alderney. The extreme distance from the Cape la Hague to the near- est land of Alderney is about eight and a-half miles, the direction being nearly due west. Alderney is the largest and principal island of the north- ern group ; and, as a military position, it may be regarded as the Ehrenbreitstein of the English Channel.* It is oblong, or long oval, in form, lying north-east and south- west. It lies between 39 0 42' and 39 0 44' north latitude; and between 2° 9^' and 2° 14' west longitude. One half of the island, divided by a line running east and west from the * It corresponds, however, to what Ehrenbreitstein would be if in the hands of the French, and held against Germany, rather than to the value of that for- tress in the hands of Prussia. As an island, Alderney is considered defen- sible ; but it has a large exposed surface ; and only one of the forts (la Touraille), is constructed to hold out against a serious land attack with heavy artillery. FORM OF ALDERNEY. 17 Braye to Longy, is high ; the extreme height being about 280 feet. The length of the island from north-east to south- west is about three and a-half miles, and its width about one mile. The greater part of the island is a flat table-land, more or less cultivated. The land continues flat to the edge of the south-eastern and southern cliffs, which are wonder- fully grand, and there descends almost vertically into the sea, presenting to the lover of fine scenery a succession of magnificent examples of broken and perpendicular walls of rock. On the north side of the island the ground slopes gradually towards a succession of bays more or less tame. It will now be desirable to communicate to the reader some idea of the island, by a survey of the coast. Approach- ing from Guernsey, the exceedingly lofty and abrupt cliffs of Alderney are somewhat masked by a number of detached rocks or islets, lying a short distance from the south-western extremity of the land. A still nearer approach separates them, and shows something of their magnitude and import- ance. This coast terminates at a small battery or rock fortress, standing out about a furlong from the land, with which it connects by a causeway. The Clanque , as this fortress is named, is the first of an important series of defences which run round nearly five miles of coast, reach- ing from the Clanque to Fort Essex. The Clanque is situated near the south-western extremity of the island, and the part of the coast requiring defence includes not only the whole of the side of the island facing the north-west, but the whole northern extremity, and about a mile of the side facing south-east. The rest of the south-eastern side and the southern extremity are naturally defended, and may safely be left to take care of themselves. The form of Alderney has been mentioned. The ground rises from the sea, on the north-western side, in some places by a gradual slope, and in others by a succession of terraces, to a plateau about 250 feet above the sea level. The whole of the coast is rocky ; on one side (the west) there is a cliff of irregular angular blocks of granite, fallen away from above, and deposited as a natural talus, reaching about half- way up the ancient cliff. On the other side is a bluff C i8 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. precipice of rock, reaching to the sea, and defended by an outer barrier, or fringe of granite islands. Beyond the heap of detritus on the west side there is also a fringe of unbroken portions of the granite rising out of the sea. The talus, just described, extends from the Clanque to- wards the north-east to the commencement of the new harbour, and renders it impossible to strengthen this part of the island except by coast forts adapted to resist a land- ing on the dangerous shores of the bays that exist between the Clanque and Touraille (now called Albert) forts. Of these bays there are three ; the westernmost, Clanque Bay, is between the Clanque and Fort Tourgis. It is very rocky, and not deeply indented ; nor is the land very ap- proachable from it. The next is the Plate Saline, extend- ing to Fort Doyle, between which and Grosnez is a small bay, called Crabbie. There are sands at low water in these two bays. At Grosnez, the pier commences. On the side of the Plate Saline, nearest Fort Tourgis, is a pretty opening communicating with a valley, giving easy access to the interior of the island, and connecting with other valleys opening in the opposite direction, at a point called Tres Vaux, or Three Valleys. These valleys terminate abruptly at a lofty, vertical cliff. The part of the rock out of which these valleys are scooped is an exceedingly rotten granitic vein, readily acted on by the weather. A small stream of water comes down to the western coast, and has been made use of to turn a wheel. Roads communicate from the Plate Saline to the town, which lies above, on the plateau, at a short distance. A neck of land, near Cape Grosnez, is called the Braye, and gives its name to the next bay — the largest and most important of all. From the extremity of this headland, on which is a strong fort, the long arm of the western breakwater of Alderney harbour takes its origin. This naval harbour was begun in 1847 and said to be completed in 1872, but it has never been finished, one arm only of the two proposed break- waters having been constructed. The harbour originally projected required the construction of two small break- waters : one goo yards to the east from Cape Grosnez ; and THE HARBOUR. 19 another, north-west from Roselle Point, running out 400 yards. These would have enclosed the natural bay. To enlarge this design (which was originally either too much or too little), it was, unfortunately, determined to alter the direction of the west breakwater to east north-east. This involved a large quantity of work done in water up- wards of twenty fathoms deep, and has completely cut across the excellent anchorage that might have been se- cured by carrying the breakwater from rock to rock. Mad this latter work been decided on, a magnificent harbour would have been secured at a comparatively small expense, whereas, after years of labour, and after an expenditure of over one and a-half millions sterling, the works had to be practically abandoned. Two attempts were made to com- mence the northern breakwater, but these also failed. Since 1872 considerable breaches have been made by the sea, nearly one-half of the breakwater having been washed away. These submerged remains have formed a reef, which renders the entrance to the harbour most dangerous, and has actually spoilt the harbour as a refuge for small vessels. Before the breakwater was built, vessels during south-westerly gales would often seek shelter under Alderney, but now the place is carefully avoided. Steamers prefer to steer miles out of their course in order to obtain shelter at Cherbourg. The annexed plan represents the works, and the two methods suggested for completing the harbour are indicated by broken lines. Thus, like St. Catherine’s breakwater in Jersey, this har- bour of refuge has proved a ridiculous failure, and, like the former, stands as a monument of the folly of the naval and military authorities of Great Britain and of the waste of the British taxpayers’ money. But this is not all. Vast sums of British money were also expended in constructing a large series of forts to command and shelter the harbour in the event of war. These batteries are now almost use- less. That the gradual destruction of the works is still going on is evident, and in the course of a few years it is most probable that hardly a vestige will remain of this stupendous undertaking. On the northern side of the harbour is a hill of no great 20 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. height, but of an exceedingly hard porphyritic rock, which has been strengthened, and on which is constructed the prin- cipal defence of the island. This is Fort Albert. Beyond N. N. E. PLAN OF BRAYE HARBOUR, ALDERNEY. Scale, 1,000 )ards to i inch. References. A. Fort Albert and Roselle Point. B. Grosnez Fort. C. Bibette Point. D. “ Chateau l'Etoc ” Fort. a-b. Sectiona. view across the Breakwater. N.B. — The figures are soundings in fathoms. The fine-dotted line represents low-water mark. it is another, much smaller, but also important work — the Chateau a l’Etoc. Between the two forts is another rocky little bay. At the foot of a small hill near Fort Albert is the first of a series of extensive quarries, opened and worked for the purposes of the harbour. The stone here is a grit- stone, partly fine and partly coarse-grained ; moderately hard, compact, and capable of being worked in blocks of FORTIFICATIONS. 21 considerable size.* This kind of sandstone rock forms the whole of a small, low promontory at the north-easternmost extremity of the island. In a military sense, this extremity is the weakest point of the island. The coast is low, and though certainly very rocky, and with a considerable cur- rent generally driving past, it might, in favourable weather, be made use of for landing men and artillery. To strengthen as much as possible this part of the island, no less than six forts and batteries have been constructed, the total length of coast-line being only about two miles ; but it still remains weak, should an attack be made with mail-clad ships able to silence the batteries. There would be no difficulty in constructing a deep and wide canal, de- taching this weak part of Alderney altogether, reducing the number of men and guns required for the defence of the place, and greatly strengthening the remaining de- fences, by rendering the landing of artillery almost impos- sible, except in Braye Harbour or the Plate Saline. This little promontory of sandstone has several small rocky bays, the last and largest of which, and that which cuts deepest into the shore, is called Longy Bay. Sand partly covers the rocks in all these bays ; but the gritstone rises in small jagged ledges and angular blocks, often ex- tremely picturesque, and giving a curious appearance to the shore at low water. A small island of sandstone is con- nected by a causeway with the northern side of Longy Bay. It is called the “ Isle du Ras ” — the island of the Race (of Alderney) — a name corrupted into Rat Island. On it is a fort of some importance. Similar islands, occupied by forts and communicating by causeways, may be seen to the east and west of the northernmost point of Alderney, com- pleting, as far as possible, the defences of those parts of the coast regarded as assailable. The scenery of the coast, from the Clanque round to Longy, is not either grand or very picturesque. There are some small valleys with a few trees ; but for the most part, * It is a fact of some interest that many old buildings in Guernsey are partly constructed of this stone. It was, no doubt, much less costly to work and carry it from Alderney than to break the island granite with the imperfect tools at command. 22 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. the aspect of the land is naked and tame. Fort Albert is an exception ; and, from its severe simplicity of outline, it impresses one more with an idea of strength than any other part of the island. It is well placed, the approaches are few, and the intensely hard porphyritic rock on which it is built has been made available on all sides. From Longy Bay the rest of the south-eastern part of the island, a distance of nearly five miles, offers a succession LA ROCHE PENDANTE, NEAR FORT ESSEX. of grand and beautiful examples of cliff scenery. These, however, are only approachable with some little difficulty, by following the line of the cliff and descending from place to place where the ground admits. There is hardly a single THE CLIFFS. 23 point along this whole coast at which it is possible to reach the sea without incurring greater trouble and risk than the occasion altogether warrants ; but, without this, enough may be done to satisfy the lover of the picturesque, how- ever severe and critical his taste may be. Commencing at Longy, one can ascend the steep cliff to the south by a good road, which continues as far as Fort Essex, said to have been built by the Earl of Essex towards the latter part of the 16th century, and intended by him as a prison for Queen Elizabeth, should she refuse to settle on him the crown of England. From this, a rough climb conducts to the Roche Pendante, one of the most magnificent isolated masses of sandstone rock to be seen. This grand pinnacle rises from a heap of broken fragments of sandstone, but is itself a part of the cliff. The separation is a narrow gorge, whose walls are absolutely vertical. The rock, having a stratification parallel with that of the cliff, stands — a huge, square block of stone — on a base, whose area is some two or three thousand square feet. It is at least thirty, perhaps forty feet in height, and there is another similar but smaller block a little below, which again connects with a succession of rocky eminences extending out into the sea. A noble view is obtained from the rocks at the foot of the Roche Pendante, the sandstone being seen in a succession of stratified plates, dipping away into the sea, and covering the cliffs as far as the cliffs can be seen. Many inlets occur, and each of them presents peculiar and beautiful features, produced by numerous thinly-bedded grey rocks, coated with lichens, projecting beyond the soil. Passing on along the slope of the cliff, the gritstone may be walked on for more than a mile. It then ceases, and is succeeded by deep hollows, alternating with bold, narrow ridges of hard granitic rock, several of the granitic masses extending out to sea, and forming detached islands. The cliffs are here, without exception, far too steep to render a descent possible ; but one can generally perceive the nature of the coast by going some distance down on the deeply shelving slope, overgrown with broom, heather, and grass. At one place a huge arched rock is seen, the light piercing through from the further side. In another is a small beach, 24 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. covered with black sand, mixed up with numerous large rounded blocks of granite. Here the rocks descend at once into a deep black pool ; there the water is so clear that the rocky bottom is visible from the cliffs above, although their height is nearly 200 feet. Continuing to work our way round the various inlets, we come again, after a time, to the sandstone, of which there is a second small patch, quarried near the top of the cliff, and seen reaching the sea. Afterwards there is nothing but naked and rough granite and porphyry. Wonderfully broken and precipitous are the cliffs thus formed. Many of them are quite vertical, either to the sea or to very small bays, where the water is seen foaming and boiling in the most extraordinary manner. From one headland to another — round great hollow depressions, where the granite is soft and decomposing — along parts of the cliff where wide cracks at the surface show the possibility of the ground sinking under his feet, the visitor may pick his way, rewarded occasionally by bursts of unexpected grandeur and beauty. The cliffs are often so vertical that one may look down to the sea rolling at one’s feet, and across a narrow inlet perceive clearly the geological structure of an op- posite cliff. There is one spot in particular, where a wall of rock, a couple of hundred feet deep, displays a beautiful olive-coloured porphyry, crossed by great horizontal veins of flesh-coloured feldspar, succeeding one another at in- tervals down to the sea line. The scenery of the cliffs varies a good deal, and much of it is almost peculiar to Alderney. In many places de- pressions of the surface are observable, and one is obliged either to make a wide circuit, or descend a deep hollow. Two or three such scoopings out of the surface are passed on the south-east coast. They correspond to the presence of a peculiarly decomposing rotten material that alternates with the harder parts of the rock. As there are generally hard walls to these softer hollows, they are often in the highest degree picturesque, for the action of the sea having worn away a deep inlet, the wall of rock on each side allows of the inlet being approached pretty closely without incon- venience. ST. ANNE. 25 Towards the south-western extremity of the island there is a succession of very bold and grand cliffs, beyond which is a reef of picturesque rocks, some of them of large size. At length we come in sight of Clanque Battery, and the little island beyond, marking the termination of the bold line of coast. The fragments of a magnificent Druidical monument may be traced on the cliff at this point It is the fashion, and has become almost a tradition, to speak of Alderney as a desolate station, offering no single object of interest, and nothing to occupy any rational per- son for many hours. But those who are capable of appreciating grand, rocky scenery, and who are able to look at it ; persons who would regard Wales, Scotland and Switzerland, as worth visiting for themselves, for their wild beauty, and for the sublimity of their scenery, ought not to complain of this remarkable island. Such persons may, beyond a doubt, find along the coast we have been de- scribing quite as much grandeur and beauty as they have anywhere seen in a day’s ramble. And although there is certainly no extended line of this fine rocky cliff, owing to the smallness of the island, still even a distance of only five miles, where every hundred yards exhibits something worth pausing to admire, will occupy a good deal of time. A considerable drawback exists, owing to the great diffi- culty, often amounting to impossibility, of getting down safely to the water’s edge, and rambling on from point to point, at low tide, as can be done in Sark. To get to the small beaches a boat is necessary ; and it is not often, even in weather apparently fine, that boatmen would be found willing to venture so near the shore as to enable one to visit the beaches, and examine closely the naked rocks and the caverns. Although the coast certainly affords the principal objects of interest in Alderney, there are other not trifling matters on the plateau. The town itself, called St. Anne, is pretty much what might be expected from the circumstances of its origin and growth. A vast multitude of new, small, plain houses, covers the part looking towards the new harbour. There is nothing either in their design or execution that requires a single remark. There are few public buildings 26 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. except the church, and not one of them exhibits anything but the worst style and most vulgar taste, if we except the Independent chapel, which is creditable, even elegant. The parish church, however, forms a marked exception. Placed unfortunately in a depression, and not on the top of the high ground, the massive Semi-Norman or Early English style prevents it from being favourably seen, except from one or two points not easily reached. Thus its noble and severe proportions, instead of being felt as elements of strength and beauty, as they would have been had the building occupied a commanding position on so small an island in an open sea, now communicate an opposite im- pression, and some of the best parts of the design cannot be at all appreciated. Still it is a remarkable building, and does great credit to its eminent designer, the late Mr. Gilbert Scott. The walls are of island sandstone, with quoins of Caen stone — a se- lection much to be regretted, as this latter stone is eminently ill-adapted for out-door work, in such a climate as that of Alderney.'* Accordingly, although not con- structed more than forty-three years, all the faces of these stones on west and south-west exposures are scaling and falling away. The effect of the combination of the stones is, however, very beautiful. Except the doors, which want size and importance, and the windows, which, even for the style, seem extremely narrow, the exterior of this fine church must be regarded as satisfactory, if we exclude from consideration the unfor- tunate want of adaptation of the building to its site. Within, few modern churches could be pointed out which show better taste and feeling for the sacred purpose of their con- struction. Everything here harmonises, and even the smallness of the windows is not objectionable, so soft and well arranged is the light. A beautiful circular apse, at the extremity of the choir, forms a proper finish, and is connected with the building by * The foundation stone was laid on September 24th, 1847, and the church was consecrated on August 21st, 1850. The ancient parish church has been pulled down with the exception of the tower, in which has been placed a clock. THE COURT-HOUSE. 27 an arch of exquisite proportions. The choir is very spa- cious. The roof is simple and effective, not at all promi- nent, rather original and very ingenious, while there reigns throughout a mixture of order and variety that cannot but please the most fastidious taste. The church is a worthy memorial of the family of Le Mesurier, long the hereditary governors of the island ; and was erected, with that intention, by the son of the last of the hereditary governors, Lieut-General Le Mesurier. An extremely fine portrait and good picture, said to be by Opie, representing this active and energetic officer, is suspended in the Court-house. It is a picture remarkable as well for its drawing as its colouring ; evidently true to nature, and rendering, without flattery, the higher qualities of the intellect ; and this in a manner rarely seen in English art. The present Court-house was built in 1850. It is a fac- simile on a smaller scale of the Guernsey Court-house, and is a plain, unpretending building. Portraits of the late Judges Gaudion and Barbenson, besides that of Lieut.- General Le Mesurier, ornament its walls. Outside the town, and in the open country, away from the cliff, there is not much in Alderney that is interesting to the general tourist. The geologist will find some re- marks that may be worth attention, in the chapter devoted to that subject ; and the antiquarian, if also a geologist, may study to advantage a number of supposed cromlechs, which, in comparatively recent times, seem to have been far more perfect than they now are. In one part of the island, near Fort Albert, called Les Rockers , a common is strewn with a vast multitude of round blocks of granite. These have not really been water-worn, as might be sup- posed. Similar blocks exist in great abundance just below the surface. Those standing alone on the surface are probably in situ ; but, where several are near together, especially if arranged in any order or heaped one upon another, they have, perhaps, been removed a short dis- tance.* See an account of them in the chapter on Geology. 28 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. There are few trees in Alderney, except in the two or three small valleys opening to the sea, on the side facing the Channel. Over the whole of the plateau the land is naked, and divided into long, narrow strips by a few boun- dary marks ; or, at the most, by low stone fences. Near the edge, the ground is usually uncultivated, and is often not very easy to walk upon, as it slopes rapidly, and termi- nates abruptly in steep and dangerous cliffs. Alderney is amply supplied with water, obtained from wells in most parts of the island, and from a few small running streams. The water is of good quality. From Alderney, towards the west, there extend several groups of islands and rocks, with two intervening channels of moderate width and small depth. About a mile from the south-western part of Alderney, but leaving a safe passage of not more than a few hundred yards, extends a large shoal, from which rise several islands and rocks. This shoal is about two and a-half miles from north-east to south-west, and a mile and a-half wide. The nearest islands, called the Burhou Islands, are almost flat, and of considerable size. One of them is nearly half-a-mile in length. They are all uninhabited ; but a house has been erected on the largest islet, to shelter fishermen and others, who may be driven to land there by stress of weather. The shape of this land is broken and rather picturesque ; and a multitude of small rocks run out, at low water, making the length, at such times, nearly three times as great as at high water. The passage between Alderney and the Burhou shoal is called the “Passe au Singe,’ 5 Anglicised into “The Swinge.” It is always dangerous, and often unapproachable ; and, in the narrowest part, there is barely ten fathoms of water. It is funnel-shaped, widest towards the north-east. The width is least between the Burhou Islands and the rocky bay in- cluded in that part of Alderney extending from Mont Tourgis to the Clanque. A second similar range of low islets extends behind. Other rocks are continued, at intervals, until we reach the singular and picturesque islet BURIIOU ISLANDS. 29 called Ortach. This rocky mass, well shown in the engrav- ing at the end of this chapter, from a sketch taken about three miles to the south-east, is about sixty feet in height, and is a striking object from the south, being seen, in clear weather, at a distance of upwards of twelve miles. Towards the south it goes down vertically into the sea to a depth of sixty or seventy feet; but, on the west side, a ledge of rock runs out from it, at a depth of fourteen feet below low water. Not far from it, to the south-east, is a concealed rock, called the “ Pierre au Vraic,” over which the water dashes and foams incessantly, even in the calmest weather. Between the Burhou Islands and Ortach rock, and the rocks farther westward, there is a passage called the Passe d’Ortach, wider and deeper than the Swinge, but even more dangerous, owing to the peculiar set of the tides. This passage separates the shoal already described from the group of rocks terminating with the Casquets. The latter rocks are very important, from their position in the Channel. They are nearly midway between England and France; and rise abruptly out of deep water, in the direct line of a ship’s course advancing up Channel, whether from the Atlantic, the Bay of Biscay, or St. George’s Channel. The Casquets group of rocks is about a mile and a-half in length, from west to east, and about half-a-mile across. The northern islet, which is of conical form, and bears the light towers, is about 100 feet above high-water spring tide; the southern islet is much lower, and flat-topped. They both rise from a mass of rock uncovered at low water, from which rise six other large rocks. To the east the mass extends for some distance, terminating abruptly in a large rock, named “ Cottette Point.” Originally there were three lighthouses, each called by its own name ; one has that of St. Peter, another St. Thomas, and the third is called the Donjon. In 1877 two were abolished and the remaining one improved. The latter light, which is about 113 feet above high water, is produced by a dioptric apparatus of the first order, and gives three quick flashes every half-minute. The illumi- nant is mineral oil. There is also a siren fog signal giving three blasts in quick succession every two minutes. THE CHANNEL ISLANDS, 30 The first light at the Casquets was placed in 1726, con- sisting merely of burning coals, kept glowing by bellows. Many wrecks are recorded to have taken place upon them before this time. In 1790 a system of revolving Argand lamps was substituted. On October 31st, 1823, during a fearful storm, the lighthouses were partially destroyed. There are two landing-places for boats on the Casquets ; but there is rarely a possibility of using them, owing to the incessant swell and frequent breaking of large waves. The two landing-places are hardly ever accessible at the same time. The provisions and oil are supplied monthly from Guernsey; but it is always thought right that three months’ provisions should be kept on the rock. Fish and lobsters are caught around and on the rocks. About a mile and a-half from the Casquets to the S.S.W. is a singular bank of coarse sand, nearly three and a-half THE “ORTACH” ROCK, NEAR ALDERNEY. miles in length, by half-a-mile wide, the top of which is more than ten fathoms below the surface, but is a steep ridge, narrow at the top, and bearing about S.S.E. This is generally described as the Casquets’ middle or S.S.W. bank, and there is reason to suppose that this direction may have been applied to it at the time of Admiral White’s survey, although it is now not only very much smaller in extent, but altogether different in position. THE CASQUETS. 31 This ridge is probably one of the, results of the peculiar course of the tides, part of the tidal wave sweeping between Jersey and Guernsey, and so through the Swinge and Ortach passage, while another part coasts the island of Guernsey, passing outside the Casquets. About five miles due south of the island of Alderney is a very extensive bank and shoal, measuring about seven miles by two, and covered by only ten feet of water at the lowest tides. It lies in a direct line between the Race of Alderney and the entrance to the Great Russel. This is the Banc du Schole. It is shifting and very dangerous, as the sea breaks on all parts of it. It is composed of sand, gravel, and shells. It appears to be broadening. CHAPTER III. THE ISLAND AND COAST OF GUERNSEY. Guernsey is a wedge of granite, serving, like the Casquets, as one of the last remaining outworks of a tract of ancient land, at the entrance of the English Channel. It is the most westerly and exposed island of the Channel, covering and sheltering, by its position, several smaller islands. It is admirably adapted, in time of peace, to build ships and hold communication with the world ; and it has been found equally well adapted, in time of war, to fit out and receive privateers, to destroy and harass the trade of an enemy. The geographical position of Guernsey is as follows : — It lies between 49 0 25' and 49 0 31' north latitude, and between 2° 30' and 2° 41' west longitude. Its shape is triangular, two sides of the island making a right angle at the small south-eastern promontory of Jerbourg. The hypotenuse, or longer side of the triangle, bears nearly south-west and north-east, and measures about nine and a-half statute miles in length. From south to north (on the east side) the length is about six and a-half miles, and from east to west (on the south side) about seven miles. These distances do not include the outlying rocks. The total area of land and rock, at low water, is rather more than twenty-four square miles, the measurement usually recognised giving 15,560 English acres. Of this area, about 10,000 acres are under cultivation. The whole of the southern part of Guernsey consists of a plateau, with very few undulations, slighly broken at various places by narrow ravines ; some towards the sea, and others landwards. The surface is almost entirely cultivated, and covered with farms. 1 ) THE HANOIS LIGHTHOUSE. .34 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. By far the finest coast scenery of the island is that pro- duced where this plateau terminates abruptly towards the sea. Whether on the plateau itself, looking down the valleys which conduct to the various little bays and coves, some rocky and some sandy, we notice the wooded scenery of the island opening out to the sea ; or, wandering round on the cliffs, follow the outline of the rocks, and notice the wild and picturesque beauties from point to point, to the west- ernmost extremity of the island ; we shall be sure to find everywhere a combination of the beautiful with the grand, not easily matched in other parts of the British Islands, or indeed of Western Europe. The highest part of the island is at Haut-nez, above Icart Point ; and is 349 feet above mean tide. This elevation continues, with very little change, along the whole of the south coast. Towards the north, the land falls somewhat gradually ; and at length dies away to the sea level, before the northern extremity of the island is reached. Until within a comparatively recent period, the sea, at high water, could wash across the island from the Grand Havre to St. Sampson’s Harbour, crossing the tract of land called the Braye du Val, a part of which, though now reclaimed and cultivated, still contains a brackish-water pond, from which the sea is kept out by embankments. It has been doubted, and with some reason, whether anything has been gained by reclaiming this land, without leaving a ship canal of salt water. Beyond the Braye to the north, there is a tract of low ground, much of it covered with sand ; and ledges of rocks extend in every direction, far beyond the extreme low-water mark. Still beyond this, to the north-east and west, are numerous outlying rocks, rising out of deep water, to a distance of more than two miles. The largest of these rocks is the Silleuse. A singular fringe of rocks, rising from the sea-bottom to the surface from various depths up to twenty fathoms, entirely surrounds the whole island of Guernsey. Off the steep south coast, the depth increases most rapidly, and the rocks are there nearer the shore than to the east, north, and north-west. In these latter directions, the number of rocks, at all times of tide, is almost countless ; but at dead low TOWN OF ST. PETER’S PORT. 35 water they present an appearance only to be matched where coral reefs rise out of a tropical sea, as mushrooms out of the ground on an August night — limited only by the space open to them. The most important of the defined groups of outlying rocks, towards the Channel, are the Hanois (Hanways), the Sambule and the Grunes,* which follow in succession parallel to the south-western side of Guernsey, at a distance of about two miles from the shore. The islet of Lihou, con- nected by a reef with the land at low water, is nearer, and requires separate notice. They are all either granitic, or veins in granite. The principal rocks are the Hanois, on one of which is a lighthouse, erected in ic362. It is built throughout, in the soundest manner, of Cornish granite each stone dovetailed, and the whole solid to a considerable height. The middle of the eastern coast of Guernsey, from Vale Castle to beyond Castle Cornet, is called Belgrave Bay. It is a wide open bay with a shingle and sand beach, from which the land rises gradually into the interior to a moderate height. The country behind is pretty, and the approach from the sea is picturesque. On the northern side of this bay are the small town and natural harbour of St. Sampson’s ; and at the southern extremity is St. Peter’s Port, the principal town of the island. North of St. Sampson’s are the rocks, covered with loose sands, of l’Ancresse ; and south of St. Peter’s Port the cliffs rise almost immediately, and are crowned by Fort George. Castle Cornet, situated on a ledge of rocks, about a quarter of a mile from the shore, was formerly disconnected, except at very low water, but is now united to the main island by the south arm of the harbour. St. Peter’s Port presents a straggling frontage of nearly a mile and a-half towards the sea. Along the whole of this distance and beyond nearly to St. Sampson’s the sea is kept off by a permanent sea-wall and esplanade. The buildings near the sea are irregular and for the most part * This name is given to rocks rising a little above low-water mark in the neighbourhood of all the islands. D 2 3 6 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. poor ; but not unpicturesque from a distance. Behind them the rising ground is much broken, and is covered with houses and other buildings, rising one behind another, and crowned by several constructions of greater pretensions, though scarcely in better taste. Of these buildings, one of the most prominent, and by no means the least pleasing, is the Victoria tower, commemorative of the Queen’s visit in 1846. Another is Elizabeth College, built in a style which it would be unfair to call Gothic, except in a sense now exploded. Castle Carey, built as a private habitation, but now the Government House, is another rather anoma- lous pile : these, with one or two churches, in a mongrel style, popular about half-a-century ago, but not at present in favour, form the more prominent objects : bad as they are, they cannot destroy the picturesque effect produced by the shape of the ground, and by the considerable variety of domestic architecture which still remains, and is character- istic of the island. There is, however, fronting the sea, although in a position too low-to command attention or attract notice from a dis- tance, a really important ecclesiastical building, known as the Town Church, consecrated in 1312. It is far superior in design and execution, as well as in historical interest, to any old building within the compass of the Channel Islands, and might well bear comparison with many in England or the Low Countries. The style is Flamboyant Gothic, but with many marks of early work retained. The painted windows are modern, but very good. The church has been recently restored in a manner reflecting the highest credit on all concerned. The most prominent near objects, on approaching St. Peter’s Port from the sea, are Castle Cornet and the har- bour. The former will be referred to presently. The latter occupies a magnificent natural position, which has been made the most of, and does credit to the Guernsey people and their engineers. The old harbour of Guernsey, ordered to be built A.D. I2 75 by King Edward the First, and in course of construc- tion for two centuries, from 1580 to 1780, was only four and a-half acres in extent, and the quay-room was ex- GUERNSEY HARBOUR. 37 tremely narrow and restricted. Plans for its enlargement, still retaining the character of a tidal harbour, were sub- mitted to the states in 1836 by Mr. James Walker, and subsequently others by Mr. Rendell. The latter, though not very different from the former, were accepted ; and their execution entrusted to Mr. G. Fosberry Lyster on the recommendation of Mr. Rendell. Soon after the com- mencement of the works, important alterations were pro- posed ; and it was decided that, instead of a mere tidal harbour, the natural features of the locality should be taken advantage of, the old harbour being entirely closed. It has also since been greatly improved. The whole of the altera- tions were planned and carried out by Mr. Lyster. An idea of the present harbour will be obtained from the accompanying view of Castle Cornet. Two noble esplanades have been constructed, one on each side of the old harbour, running parallel with the sea-front of the town, their total length being 2,500 feet, with a breadth of 150 feet. From the two extremities of this spring breakwaters : one at the south extremity, reaching beyond Castle Cornet, connects the castle with the mainland ; the other, at the northern end, runs out to a distance of 1,300 feet in an easterly direc- tion, and is thence continued to form landing-stages, accessible at all times of the tide and in all weathers. Within the space enclosed there is a large and excellent anchorage-ground of fifty-seven acres. The masonry of the work executed for the harbour is of granite. A fine bronze statue of the late Prince Consort, a copy of the original statue by Durham, was erected on the open space of ground near the old harbour in 1862. Castle Cornet was a far more picturesque object when a detached island fort, in the time of Charles the Second, than it has since been. It could then well compare, in this re- spect, with Elizabeth Castle in Jersey. Although much dismantled, it still contains many architectural gems, point- ing to the twelfth century as the period of its construction. In modern times the castle has been extensively adapted to the requirements of modern warfare, which has certainly not improved its appearance. Though now useless as a fortress, the military authorities as late as 1850 con tern- CASTLE CORNET AND GUERNSEY HARBOUR. CASTLE CORNET. 59 plated demolishing the most ancient portion in order to make room for some modern fortifications. This act of vandalism was justly resented by the inhabitants, and the proposals, it would appear, were in consequence abandoned. The following spirited lines were written by the late Martin Tupper on the occasion of a visit to the castle, when he was informed of the intended act of spoliation. The poet therein invokes the well-known appeal to the ancient Dukes of Normandy — the “Clameur de Haro,” an explanation of which is to be found in another chapter of this work : THE CLAMEUR DE HARO. Haro, Haro ! a l’aide, mon Prince ! A loyal people calls ; Bring out Duke Rollo’s Norman lance To stay destruction’s fell advance Against the castle walls ; — Haro, Haro ! a l’aide, ma Reine ! Thy duteous children not in vain Plead for old Cornet yet again To spare it, ere it falls ! What ! shall Earl Rodolph’s sturdy strength After six hundred years at length Be recklessly laid low ? His grey machicolated tower Torn down within one outraged hour By worse than Vandal’s ruthless power? Haro ! a l’aide, Haro ! Nine years old Cornet for the Throne Against Rebellion stood alone, — And honoured still shall stand Sor heroism so sublime, A relic of the olden time, Renowned in Guernsey prose and rhyme, The glory of her land ! Ay, — let your science scheme and plan With better skill than so : Touch not this dear old barbican, Nor dare to lay it low ! On Vazon’s ill-protected bay Build and blow up, as best ye may, And do your worst to scare away Some visionary foe, — But, if in brute and blundering power You tear down Rodolph’s granite tower, Defeat, and scorn, and shame, that hour Shall whelm you like an arrowy shower, — • Haro ! a l’aide, Haro ! 40 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. In olden times the governors of Guernsey resided in the castle, and for a long time, till the year 1 8 1 1 , it was the island prison ; but this use is now superseded by a building near St. James’ church, immediately behind the Court- house, in the centre of the town. The new gaol is, how- ever, too small, and is ill adapted for its purpose. It is a singular fact that all the modern buildings in the island arc, without exception, singularly wanting in good taste ; but whether this arises from want of cultivation, from the remains of Puritanical feeling, still very marked, or from absence of natural power of appreciating what is beautiful, is not easy to say. St. Sampson’s, the only other town, is much smaller than St. Peter’s Port, and is now almost connected with it by houses and rows of buildings along the shore. It is a place of some business in connection with the stone trade, which is centred there, to take advantage both of the adjacent quarries and of the little harbour. Many improvements have been made in the harbour, and it is continually in- creasing in importance. There is little to attract or interest a stranger in the town ; all the buildings, except the church, being small and of modern construction. The wide shingle bay, having at intervals large spits of sand, that extends between St. Sampson’s and St. Peter’s Port, has already been mentioned as presenting few features of interest. About half-way between, however, there is a curious ivy-covered fragment of antiquity, called the “Chateau des Marais,” better known as Ivy Castle. It is surrounded by a fosse and by an outer wall, enclosing a space of about four acres, and is said to have been built in the middle of the ninth century by Robert, Duke of Nor- mandy. Not far from here is seen the De Saumarez monument, erected in 1876 as a memorial to that distin- guished British Admiral, Lord de Saumarez, a native of Guernsey, who died in 1836. To form an idea of Guernsey, it must be visited in two ways; for the interior gives but little idea of the coast, and the fine scenery of the coast seldom opens at all into the island. As a whole, there are few parts of the Atlantic coast of Europe where the cliffs communicate so little, by ST. SAMPSON’S. 41 picturesque open valleys, with the interior of the country ; but this arises chiefly from the fact that the rock is every- where granite, sloping with some degree of regularity in one direction. The natural fractures, produced by the elevation of the mass, have been already deeply penetrated by the sea, and have produced a multitude of detached islands and rocks, so that what remains consist of hard, rocky masses of table-land, often high, but nowhere hilly. It will be advisable to describe, first, the coast scenery, and afterwards that of the interior ; and, as the most con- venient order, we may, with advantage, commence in the vicinity of the town, and notice the chief points of interest as we follow the line of cliff immediately to the south. From the harbour the sea-wall continues for a short distance to a part of the coast called Les Terres, near which are the bathing places. Two or three small bays beyond, included within the enceinte of Fort George, and not accessible to the public, terminate at a small projecting headland, marked with a very unsightly white turret, serv- ing as a sea mark. Fermain Bay, at the foot of the cliff at this point, is a pretty sandy cove, behind which is one of the few narrow glens opening into the interior. A little further on is a small fisherman’s landing-place, called the Bee du Nez, near which are two open, rocky caverns. Still further on, the same path enters a grassy and ferny hollow, below the Doyle column at Jerbourg. It is quite possible to reach this point at all seasons, at the risk of tearing clothes with brambles and wetting feet in the damp, boggy earth. From the hollow, which is always rather wet, the shore may easily be reached, and it is well worthy of the effort. To the left there is a cavern, superior to any in Guernsey, except the Creux Mahie, and remark- able for its noble and simple proportions, and magnificent entry through and amongst huge broken rocks. Turning to the left as you enter, several fine fragments of rock and grand arched rocks conduct to an imperfect representation of a cavern and funnel well known in Sark, and called there The Pot. The chimney, or opening above, is here much less lofty than in Sark, and the top is concealed by a thick growth of brambles. In this respect it agrees 42 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. better with the Creux at Herm. In all these cases the hole has been originally produced in a soft vein, by rain- water. The vein is a very dark green decomposing rock, and contrasts finely with the pink granite. It is continued across to a corresponding bay on the other side of Jerbourg promontory, called “Petit Port.” Besides this vein there is one of quartz, and several very interesting minerals are found near. The chief source of interest is, however, de- rived from the noble forms of broken rock, and the thick vegetation that comes down almost to the water’s edge. Considering its wild beauty, it is singular that this little bay, so near the town, is not more frequently visited and better known. Mounting the cliff at this point we reach Jerbourg Point, where a column has been erected in honour of Sir John Doyle, a former governor, to whom the island was indebted for its roads, and for numerous improvements. The views from hence, and also from the rocks about a quarter of a mile beyond, are very fine. The promontory on which the column is placed forms the south-eastern ex- tremity of Guernsey. It is the nearest point in the island to Jersey, being somewhat less than eighteen miles north- east of Cape Grosnez, in that island. The height of the cliff at the base of the column is about 300 feet. Beyond the foot of the cliff there are several detached rocks, rising out of deep water. The depth of water almost immedi- ately outside Jerbourg Point, and close to these rocks, is at least twenty fathoms. Petit Port, Moulin Huet, and Saints’ Bay are small inlets of a large bay, with excellent anchorage, enclosed between Jerbourg promontory and an almost detached headland, called Icart Point, about a mile and a-half to the east. There is good shelter in this extremely picturesque bay from all northerly winds ; and it might have been selected with advantage for a harbour of refuge, as the entrance, except near Jerbourg Point, is entirely free from rocks. The ground close to the shore is generally rocky, although at intervals there are small coves, with sands adapted for bathing. Each of the small coves is worthy not only of a visit, but MOULIN HUET. 43 of prolonged study. Every visitor to Guernsey is taken to Moulin Huet,* the central and most important of them ; and few parts of the island are more crowded with exquisite morsels of rocky scenery. Petit Port, smaller, and not easily reached, is hardly inferior, and Saints’ Bay is a charming little bathing-place. From Saints’ Bay we may scale the hillside through furze and brake to Icart Common, and thence proceed along the cliffs towards Icart Point. Passing a small farmhouse now occupied, and a ruined house behind it, we come upon a steep slope of ground, thinly covered with coarse grass, and often very slippery. Down this slope anyone accustomed to clamber will walk securely enough, till he or she reaches a singular isthmus, almost corresponding to the Coupe of Sark. The sea on both sides has at this point eaten away a narrow passage, through a vein of softer rock than the granite beyond, leaving a natural causeway about five or six feet wide, and several yards in length, on either side of which is a precipice of some sixty or eighty feet. There is much less action of the weather on the surface here than in the island opposite ; but in other respects Icart Point and its isthmus strictly correspond with Little Sark and its Coupe. The sea and rock views, both from the extremity of the point, and from the shore below, which can be reached at low water, are very fine. From the higher point the whole of the two receding sweeps of coast, the one east to Jerbourg, and the other west to Moye Point, are within view. Both are picturesque and finely broken, and are characteristic of the island. That to the west has been already described. The other is as nearly as possible of the same width, and recedes to about the same distance, but is more regular. To the west of the centre is a small cove, called Petit Bot, reached from St. Martin’s by an extremely picturesque Welsh valley, watered by a small stream, which turns a mill at the bottom, where another valley, equally picturesque, comes in from the Forest church. The little cove itself has * A view of Moulin Huet is given in a later chapter. See Index of Illustrations. SAINTS BAY. SOUTH COAST. 45 a wide spit of fine sand at low water, and at its western end is a bold, rocky cavern, often visited, and celebrated as the abode of a somewhat rare fern, the Asplenium marinum . Those, however, who would obtain specimens must provide themselves with some means of reaching high up near the roof of the cavern, as plants growing near the ground have long since been carried away. The headland that forms the western extremity of Icart Bay is Moye Point.* It is bold and precipitous, rising at once from tolerably deep water, and is the last prominent point along the south coast Beyond it, to the west, there is a succession of indentations of the coast, not amount- ing to bays, but producing very picturesque scenery, and at intervals interrupted by narrow gorges. The best of these is called La Corbiere, and is about another mile to the west. The Gouffre is a fine intermediate point of view, often visited. The Corbiere exhibits much varied scenery, and several veins of dark greenish rock traversing the pinkish and grey cliff give additional interest to the view. A very accurate representation of it is given in the chapter on Geology. A path down to the sea at the Corbiere enables the pedestrian to obtain a noble view of the deep, rocky indentations of the coast at this point. About a mile from the Corbiere is the Creux Mahie, the largest cavern in Guernsey. The approach is not difficult, but the mouth of the cavern is almost closed by large blocks of stone, either drifted up by the sea or fallen in from above. A vein of decomposing rock, entering the cliff nearly at right angles, is the origin of this, as of many of the caverns in the Channel Islands. When once entered, the space is found to be large for a granite cavern, opening out into a natural hall, 200 feet long, with a width of forty or fifty feet, and a height of from forty to sixty feet. Beyond this there are smaller crevices. * Moie , a mass of stones, old French ; Monceati is a word similarly used in Herm. Moye is used in Jersey and Sark as well as Guernsey. In all the islands it refers to a dangerous headland. Many of these ancient names are now inapplicable, owing to the destruction of the coast that has taken place. t The haunt of the corb (cormorant or sea-raven). This name occurs also in J ersey. 46 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. Among the most striking examples of the cliff scenery of Guernsey are those near the south-western most angle in the neighbourhood of Pleinmont, commencing at the Gull Cliff, and passing several rocky headlands to Pezerie Battery. One may walk along the edge and side of the cliff for more than two miles, on a succession of jagged promontories, connected by narrow necks of rock with the main island. At each point a fresh view is opened. The coast is everywhere deeply indented, and there are some detached islets close in shore. Besides these the group of rocks called the Hanois, already alluded to, come into sight, and add much to the picturesque effect. These rocks are an extension of the south-western extremity of the island and are very easily recognised. At high water the waves dash angrily on the shore, between and among the half- detached rocks, and conceal the numerous ledges and reefs that render this coast so dangerous. Seated on one of these headlands of the south coast, and tracing the in-coming or out-going tide on its restless course of destruction and renovation, no one can fail to recognise the mode in which this part of the island of Guernsey — the loftiest part, and that rising out of the deepest water — is continued by many ledges of rocks and rocky islands, far beyond the land ; and also how the land itself is still being encroached upon, so that the present cliffs will be turned into similar rocks. These geological remarks, it is true, belong rather to another chapter than to the description to which we are here limited ; but as they greatly help to explain the physical features of the whole group of islands and rocks, and as these can only be rightly considered in their mutual relations, such incidental allusions are not altogether out of place. Past Pleinmont Point and the Pezerie Battery the coast scenery of Guernsey changes entirely. The continuous rocky and precipitous cliffs drop down to the sea level, or recede into the interior ; but bare jagged rocks and rocky ledges are continued out to sea in numerous reefs and islets. A vast floor of rocks is laid bare at low water, and covered at high tide, in the open bay of Rocquaine, the first of the LIHOU. 47 flat bays on the south-west coast ; but large sweeps of sand partly conceal them. Rocquaine Bay is well named, as it presents a bristling array of rocks, stretching out seawards more than two miles, and terminating on the south with the Hanois rocks, and to the north by a reef some distance beyond Lihou. The Bissets are detached rocks, opposite the middle of the bay, rising out of deep water. It would be very difficult to mark and number the rocks jutting out of the water at all times of tide in this bay ; and the effect seen from the cliff above Pezerie is very picturesque. Lihou is a singular and interesting spot. It is a detached extremity of the northern arm of Rocquaine Bay, and is two miles in a direct line from Pezerie, from which it bears nearly north. It may be regarded as the extreme north- westerly extremity, jutting out into the sea, of the belt of high land in the south of Guernsey, the corresponding point on the eastern side of the island being Castle Cornet. Castle Cornet on the east side, and Lihou on the west, occupy, indeed, corresponding positions ; but Lihou is very much the larger, being about 600 yards long by 150 wide, including, therefore, about eighteen acres, while Castle Cornet is only large enough for a small group of buildings. Lihou is nearly rectangular in form, and its greatest length is from east to west. It is connected with Guernsey at Le Ree Barracks by a rough causeway, about 700 yards long, covered during at least half of every tide. Lihou is one of the few places in the Channel Islands where there are ruins of monastic buildings which have some architectural pretensions, although without much de- coration. At the beginning of the present century they included interesting remains of a chapel, dating so far back as the commencement of the twelfth century, some frag- ments of which may still be traced. These belonged to a priory, which was surrounded by cultivated land and gar- dens. There is a good deal of fine rocky scenery about the island, and some capital rock pools contain much to interest the zoologist. Beyond Lihou there are four sandy and rocky bays (Le Ree, Perelle, Vazon, and Cobo), terminated by the head- 4-8 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. land called Grande Rocque, a picturesque, but not lofty, mass of granite, about three and a-half miles to the north- east. This part of the coast has a very different character from the southern part ; and, although in its way highly picturesque, especially at the season of gathering seaweed, there are no cliffs, and the land near the sea is low and marshy. Few scenes, indeed, are more striking than these bays when the peasants, anxious to secure their harvest of weed, are busied either removing it from the rock, turning it over to dry, or stacking it for winter use. The seasons selected for this are spring and autumn ; spring, when the intense orange yellow of the gorse is dazzling in its intensity on the hillside ; autumn, when the fern is acquiring that rich burnt brown that forms so fine a contrast with the yellow and colder browns of the rocks, and. their living coats of lichen. Beyond Grande Rocque something of the same character of coast prevails as far as Grande Havre, where the sea formerly entered. Between this and St. Sampson’s there was formerly a salt marsh, separating the northern part from the main island. The inroads of the sea all along this coast have been checked, wherever necessary, by a sea-wall, which also in- terferes with and prevents the advance of drifting sands. The sea breaks heavily on the rocky floor of the bays, and there can be little doubt that the condition of this part of the island has been considerably improved since the road and sea-wall were constructed and the land was reclaimed. We have now reached the northern extremity of the island, which not long ago was almost detached, and is in parts little above high-water mark. The neck of reclaimed land connecting Guernsey with l’Ancresse, its northern end, is called the “ Braye du Val,” or more gene- rally the Vale. L’Ancresse is, for the most part, common land, and consists of granite rock, covered with blown sand. No part of it is high, but the floor of granite rises in hillocks from a few yards to sixty feet. In the northern part of this higher plateau, and per- manently above water, are two or three sandy and rocky bays of some interest. L’Ancresse Bay and Bordeaux VALE CASTLE. 49 Harbour* are the most extensive, and the latter, close to the Vale Castle, is picturesque. Several old towers and modern forts are placed at intervals along the coast, chiefly on the various headlands ; and on the sandy surface of the common are some Megalithic remains in a good state of preservation. Vale Castle, once called the Chateau de l’Arch-ange, has long ceased to have any other use than as a small barrack, but the exterior is not without a certain amount of picturesque effect, and the view from the slightly-raised ground outside is one of the prettiest in Guernsey. The eye takes in at once the wooded scenery of the Vale and rising ground thence towards the Catel, the town of St. Peter’s Port stretching out below in a semicircle, and the coast-view terminating with the harbour and Castle Cor- net. Behind this is seen an upper terrace ; the high plateau of the south of the island, which rises boldly, and is seen as far as Jerbourg. At one’s feet is the harbour of St. Samp- son’s, with its shipping. Turning round, innumerable rocks are perceived at low water, almost connecting 1’ Ancresse with Herm ; and another totally different, but almost equally pic- turesque, view is obtained over the northern part of Guernsey. Vale Castle is supposed to have been built by a body of monks who settled there in the tenth century, having been banished from St. Michel in Normandy. From various points in the interior, especially on the rising ground near the Fort, and on the road to Catel, views of the northern part of the island are obtained which are singularly picturesque. Black reefs of rock, both to north-east and north-west, but especially the former, are seen running out like spiders’ legs, at low water ; and the form of the land, gradually sloping and little interrupted by hills, adds to the effect. In these cases there is a mixture of land and rock scenery, with distant sea and occasional islands, altogether peculiar to Guernsey, and not in any way represented in Jersey. The valleys, gorges, and glens of Guernsey must now be * Bordeaux Harbour is of special interest to the zoologist, as it has yielded many rare and beautiful specimens for the aquarium. There are many rocky pools at low water, and the tide runs out to a great distance. E THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 50 referred to. Of inland valleys there are few, and they are not very important, though two or three are not unworthy of notice. Thus behind, and not far from, St. Martin’s church the little dell called “ Haviland ” deserves a visit for its mixture of wild, rocky hill, with pretty houses, gar- dens, and trees. In St. Andrew’s there is a singularly beau- tiful valley, to reach which a cross-road must be followed, but which can be seen in a drive from the town towards the north-western coast. Perhaps the prettiest of all, however, is at St. Saviour’s, seen in going towards Perelle Bay, and exhibiting, at all times of the year, a variety of rich-wooded and cultivated scenery, with picturesque houses and cot- tages. There are many other very pleasing, quiet valley scenes, unconnected with the sea; and besides them are not a few where the distant expanse of water, studded with islands and rocks, lends a peculiar charm to the woodland scenery. There are several glens of great beauty. First, and most remarkable, is the double glen leading from the bay called Petit Bot. The character of the scenery in both branches is bold, and such as to give an idea of far greater magni- tude, both of height and distance, than a reference to actual measurement would warrant. There are hardly any trees ; but the forms of the rock are simple and effective. One of the branches, opening from the road near I cart, will remind the traveller strongly of North Wales. Another, opening from near the Forest church, is yet more Welsh. Both are covered with heather and gorse, so that in early spring and late autumn they are luxuriant and brilliant. There is a third narrow way between the other two, through narrow paths overhung with trees. The glens opening into Fermain Bay are much smaller, but more wooded, and the sea view finer than at Petit Bot. They have been already alluded to. The approach to Moulin Huet is totally different, and introduces a new element, as some small streams here trickle down to the sea, and the paths, often crossed by the little rills, making their way onwards, are enclosed on each side by tall hedges or steep, stony banks. They are called “ water-lanes,” and are characteristic of the island. PETIT BOT BAY. Si A rich harvest of ferns, especially of the broad-leaved hart’s-tongue, innumerable brambles meeting overhead, and loaded with fruit in the autumn, a carpet of flowers in the spring ; these are beauties that the reader may say are neither confined to water-lanes nor to the island of Guernsey ; but they are very pleasing and charming in the narrow winding path leading to Moulin Huet, with its stream of pure water sparkling through the middle, and the granite here and there showing itself in a small quarry. Some way down — for the lane descends rapidly — the view opens out towards the sea, revealing several pointed pin- nacles of rock, with the beach below, and a charming little gorge, with a few ruined houses and sheds in the middle distance. Words do not fitly describe scenes of this kind ; but they may be worth something if they remind those who are familiar with such scenes of thoughts and feelings they have suggested, or help the stranger to become acquainted with what he might otherwise pass by. The real source of the beauty of this spot lies, no doubt, in the ever-changing effects at all times and seasons ; the freshness and life derived from the running stream ; and the exquisite and sudden shifting of the scene by the occasional introduction of the sea, with its numerous rocks and islets, and the enclosing cliff. Rivers in Guernsey there are none ; nor is there a stream of any kind that boasts of a name. Such natural drainage as there is follows the fall of the land, branching off to the sea on the north-western and north-eastern shores. There are a few ponds, but no other waters on the surface. Little rills trickle down most of the glens and gorges to the sea. The properties in Guernsey are for the most part very small ; and there are hardly any estates large enough to render park scenery possible. The orchards, also, which in Jersey may be said to replace parks, are not very numerous. Still, there is a fair share of wooded scenery, the trees being small, but much less stunted and much more regularly grown than might be expected. The best gardens are almost everywhere enclosed, and hardly can be said to add to the beauty of that part of the island seen by E 2 52 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. the tourist. They may, however, be easily visited by strangers ; and many of them are extremely beautiful and remarkable for the variety of foreign trees and shrubs, rare in England, but here growing luxuriantly, without risk of frost and cold. The churches of the island are not unpicturesque at a distance, although almost all have lost the stone tracery of the windows, and have been greatly neglected. Most of them have low spires ; but St. Saviour’s and St. Peter’s-in- the-Wood have towers. There are some interesting morsels of Norman work in some of the doorways, especially the PORCH OF ST. MARTIN’S CHURCH. Vale* and St. Martin’s. They are treated of more at length in the chapter on Antiquities. Of the houses, there are few that require much notice. Most of the principal mansions and manor-houses, whether old or new, are placed so as to exclude a sea view, and built so as to take as little advantage as possible of any natural beauty in the vicinity. Saumarez manor-house, formerly occupied by the family of that name, and the Haye du puits, belonging to the Le Marchant family, are A sketch of the Porch of the Vale Church is engraved in another chapter. MILITARY DEFENCES. S3 good examples of manor-houses thus placed. Woodlands is prettily placed ; and St. George is surrounded by grounds that have more of the character of an English park than is usual in the island. Many houses in and near the town are well placed for a sea view ; but few of them combine wood with water. The house called Candie ; Castle Carey, at present the Government house ; and the adjacent resi- dences, Les Coutils and Beau Sejour, are all placed so as to look upon the sea and on the numerous islands to the east. Many of the farmhouses throughout the island are interesting, partly from their antiquity, and partly for historiettes connected with them. Most of them have good doorways with semicircular granite arches that have stood without the slightest injury for many centuries. A pretty sketch of one of these very characteristic doorways is here AN OLD COTTAGE DOORWAY. given. These houses are placed generally in sheltered positions away from the sea. The military defences of Guernsey are on a large scale, and important. A cordon of detached forts, connected for the most part with barracks, has been placed round those parts of the island where the cliffs are low enough to offer no difficulties to an enemy’s approach ; and there is one strong and large fortress (Fort George), mounting a large number of heavy guns, and tenable from the land for about thirty days. This fort, like that at Alderney, could only be 54 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. taken by a large attacking force, provided with siege train, and by an enemy having command of the Channel. The main security, however, both of Alderney and Guernsey, is derived from the extreme variety and complexity of the currents, the great range of the tide, and the multitude of rocks and shoals that beset the passages by which ships must approach. The island thus possesses the defensive strength of the porcupine and hedgehog, if not the massive proportions of the lion and elephant. CHAPTER IV. ISLANDS AND ROCKS NEAR GUERNSEY. The east coast of Guernsey is separated by a narrow channel from a formidable group of rocks and islands, ranging north-east and south-west, and nearly parallel to the main island. This channel is called the Little Russel, and in the narrowest part, opposite Vale Castle, there is not more than seven fathoms of water. The whole group of islands and rocks is nearly six miles in length, from the Anfroque to the Ferriere rocks, and the width is about two miles. It includes Herm and Jethou — both inhabited — Crevichon, with a few other rocks, partially covered with vegetation, and Brehou, on which a small fort has been constructed. There are some other large detached rocks always above water ; many others that are exhibited only during a part of each tide, and a multitude quite as dan- gerous as these, that never appear at all. One of the most dangerous rocks in the Little Russel is the Roustel, which lies exactly in mid-channel, and only shows within two hours of low water. HERM. That part of the island of Herm permanently above water is an irregular oval, measuring about a mile and a-half from south to north, and half as much across. As in Guernsey, the southern and eastern part of the island is high and precipitous, while the western and northern parts are lower and more accessible. The summit of Herm is flat. There is a valley at the north end, opening out to the smaller shell beach, and a well-marked though narrow depression on the south side, near Jethou. The central 56 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. table-land is, for the most part, cultivated ; but the slopes, especially near the sea, are still wild and covered with coarse, wiry, tufted grass, brambles, and gorse. Among them it is difficult to walk. It is possible, however, to make one’s way round by the cliffs and scramble down to the rocks at various points, although at the risk of being embayed, should the tide be rising. The scenery of the coast is remarkable. A beautiful white and black granite rock forms the hard backbone, and may be recognised at intervals around the coast, some- times projecting from the ground in jagged pinnacles, sometimes seen in boulders and detached rocks. This granite is intersected by many wide veins, extremely vari- able in their nature, but generally either soft or readily decaying. Deep ravines have consequently been cut by the sea at various places, terminating in small caverns ; none of which, however, run in very far. Where the vein is decomposing it turns readily into soil ; a great thickness of micaceous sand and fine gravel exists at the surface, and the entrances to the caverns are, in these cases, deeply and richly fringed with ferns, whose brilliant metallic green singularly and beautifully contrasts with the peculiar square, hard lines produced by the parallel walls and straight top of the sides and roof. But besides these caverns, eaten in by the sea, there is also a noble creux* in this little island. The top is about as large as the Pot in Sark, but the depth is less consider- able. At the bottom is a tunnel, communicating with the sea. The origin of this creux is clearly to be traced to the action of water from the surface ; and is quite unconnected with the sea ; although, no doubt, when the water had once made its way downwards and a channel at the bottom was opened, the carrying away of the fallen rubbish greatly facilitated the enlargement of the hole above. Singularly wild and picturesque are the rocky bits to be * The word creux (a hollow space), already made use of, is applied in Guernsey to a cavern, but elsewhere in the Channel Islands it means rather a funnel-shaped depression or shaft, communicating at the bottom with the sea by a kind of tunnel. Occasionally the walls of this tunnel are broken away. SHELL-BEACH AT HERM. 57 seen at the back of Herm. Some rocks, now quite detached at half tide, are worn into battlements and pinnacles ; blafckened, and presenting all the features of a ruined mediaeval castle. Some large, flat expansions of hard but much weathered rock afford a kind of irregular pavement, on which those shod with stout boots can walk pleasantly enough, except when it is interrupted by deep fissures with vertical walls, serving as inlets to the sea. Here and there is a Cyclopean mass of ruined masonry, of nature’s own construction. It is in many places almost impossible, or, at any rate, very troublesome, to get down to the sea at the back of Herm ; but when the coast is reached, and with a fall- ing tide, a large part may be walked over with only the ordinary difficulties of cliffing, and with more than the ordinary satisfaction derived from doing a difficult thing, owing to the nature of the veins, and the variety of minerals met with in a short space. The granite of Herm has been quarried to some extent. It is probably sound, but, on the whole, it seems to decom- pose more rapidly than that of Guernsey. The numerous rabbits that abound both here and in the adjacent still smaller island of Jethou are at once a proof of the decomposability of the granite rock, and a cause of the destruction going on with greater vigour than might otherwise be the case. The rabbits take advantage of the sandy subsoil, where the granite has become rotten, and the long holes they burrow tend to weaken the face of the cliff by facilitating the passage of water. Herm possesses a great attraction, its shell-beach, ex- tending over half a mile. This beach — well-known to conchologists — is composed solely of minute perfect shells. Upwards of forty genera of shells, with about two hundred varieties, have been found in this wonderful little bay, richer in species than the shores of all the rest of the British Islands. It is not easy for a stranger to trace the cause of so extensive a shell-beach at this particular part of the Channel. There is nothing of the kind elsewhere in the whole group of the islands, although at Vazon and other bays in Guernsey, and St. Aubin’s Bay, St. Ouen’s 58 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. Bay, and elsewhere in Jersey, there are not wanting sands of considerable extent. The shell-beach of Herm is quite a different thing from these sands, which are composed of quartz or of pounded granite. A careful consideration of the course of the tidal wave, and the circumstances under which it passes through the two channels of the Great and Little Russel, will, however, explain this anomaly. While a part of the main wave sweeps towards the north-east through all the channels, that portion which has reached the French coast, being turned backwards, produces a north-westerly wave running along the coast of the Cotentin, and expanding when past the rocks north of Jersey. The north of Herm is the point of land where there would be slack water, from the meeting of these currents a short distance to the north ; and a submerged island between this and Herm effectually protects the coast from any eddy that might otherwise dis- turb the shelly sands once accumulated. The-shell, sand being lighter, accumulates at the tail of the drift. Traces of copper ore are said to have been found in veins in the granite of Herm; and mining operations were at one time commenced. The chief mineral product of the island is, however, its granite ; although, owing to the vari- able and often decomposing character of the rock, this also has been neglected. No doubt good material might be selected ; but the veins of rotten stuff are numerous and large, and there would always be a risk of taking bad with good. It is hardly equal to the best black Guernsey granite for macadamised paving and kerbstones. This island is much visited from Guernsey during the summer season. Except, however, for those able to reach the back of the island and scramble among the rocks and round the cliffs, to enjoy the views over Jethou and Sark, there is little that is attractive to the tourist, with the ex- ception of the shell-beach. So long ago as the middle of the fifteenth century, we learn from documents that means were taken for the supply of religious instruction in Herm, proving that the popula- tion was at that time very much larger than at present. Even of late years, however, there have been frequent and ECONOMIC RESOURCES. 59 great fluctuations in this respect, according as at different times the resources of the island have been made use of or neglected. The last important works in the island were carried on about sixty years ago. The owner of the island at that time had entered into a speculation to supply granite, both for building and paving ; and for this purpose a harbour and pier were constructed, an iron tramway laid down, houses built, and other conveniences and appliances for a fixed population introduced. Stone was at first extracted in very large blocks, and favourable reports were made of its beauty and quality. After a time, however, the owner disposed of his interests to a company ; and shortly afterwards the company was dissolved, the quarries were abandoned, the harbour and pier neglected, and the whole establishment collapsed. Quite recently Herm was ac- quired by Prince Bliicher, who has converted it into a game warren. In former times there would seem to have been much game of various kinds in Herm. Thus, in 1716, an inquest was held “ for the discovery of certain persons who had killed stags, roebucks and pheasants on the island, con- trary to the ordinance”; and it is recorded that the last two deer were killed about the year 1773. Rabbits, we have already said, are common, and the soil is eminently favourable for them. Small as it is, many hours may be spent with advantage in this island ; and its resources are by no means exhausted in a single visit. To see all that it contains of interest, several days would be needed, even without taking into consideration the shell-beach, which, to the conchologist, is absolutely inexhaustible. The appearance of the island at high and low water is so different that it would hardly be recognised as the same by an occasional visitor ; and to see this difference to advantage involves several visits. Herm has good fresh water in natural springs, and in two places there is running water. Fresh water may be seen trickling down within some of the quartz veins tra- versing the granite ; and no doubt a supply might be ob- tained from wells sunk into the solid rock. 6o THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. There are scarcely any trees in Herm. There is no military occupation of Herm, as it could be of little value to an enemy. Indeed, the absence of a suffi- cient landing-place, and of roads of any importance, would greatly interfere with any attempt to render it available, even if it were not commanded by the guns of Fort George, whose distance, however, is as much as 7,000 yards. The whole coast of Herm is exceedingly dangerous at all times. JETHOU. A narrow passage, of a few hundred yards in width and not very deep, separates the south-western extremity of Herm, at low water, from a singular and very picturesque group of three islets — one, in the centre, being a round hummock of granite about half a mile in diameter, the others, much smaller, pinnacles of granite, nearly equi- distant from the central rock. Nothing can be more pic- turesque than the whole group, as seen either from Herm or from a boat approaching that island from Guernsey. The central rock of these three is not only by far the largest, and covered with vegetation, but boasts of human inhabitants. It is a private estate, partly under cultivation, but chiefly valuable for the rabbits it contains, and the stone of which it consists. There is a tolerable residence upon it with outhouses, besides a small plantation and several clumps of trees. Except towards Herm, the sides of Jethou are precipi- tous, and without a landing-place. This island is higher than Herm, and looks conical, but the summit is table-land, and cultivated. It has a creux corresponding to that on Herm, and the cliffs are fine and bold. The islets near Jethou, both of which are surmounted by white sea-marks, are not very large, but are, from some points of view, remarkably symmetrical. At certain times of tide they are cut off by water from the central islands. The one towards Guernsey is the larger, and is called Cre- vichon. It has some vegetable growth upon it, but is too small to be inhabited. There is an old quarry on it, which forms a picturesque object at a little distance. To the south of Jethou a number of rocks rise out of THE FERRIERES ROCKS. 6l comparatively deep water in sharp, jagged, and dangerous pinnacles. These are called the Ferrieres, and are seen in greater or less number, according to the height of the tide, for a distance of about two miles. Between these rocks are dangerous passages. The space they occupy narrows gradually towards the south ; and the depth of water around, # and often that immediately outside them, is gener- ally nearly twenty fathoms, on the side towards Sark. On the west side there are few places in the Little Russel where there is more than fifteen fathoms of water, but the rocks are more thickly grouped. The southernmost rock of this group, called the Sardriere, rises out of water upwards of 120 feet deep on three sides, and is curiously connected with the isle of-Brechou, close to Sark, by two pinnacles of rock rising in the same way — one to within thirty, and the other to within fifty feet of the surface — from water 180 feet deep, the distance (about three miles) being divided into three parts by these rocks. On the other side there is an important bank, less than a mile from Guernsey, inter- vening between this same rock and the Guernsey high land. SARK. “ The pearl set in the silver sea.” With the exception of the two dangerous rocks just alluded to, Sark is separated from the Herm group of islands and rocks by a tolerably wide and open passage, with from twenty-five to thirty fathoms of water, called the Great Russel. Although, however, it is usual to speak of Sark as one island, it is, like the others, a group of islands, islets, and rocks, of which the number is very considerable. In describing it here, we allude first to the group, and after- wards to the largest and most important member of it. Great Sark and Little Sark form one connected island, the connecting link being a natural causeway, at an eleva- tion of nearly 300 feet above the sea. Beyond Great Sark, to the north, and Little Sark, to the south, are a number of islets, which we may regard as recently detached, and several islets and rocks, separated at a more ancient date, and much lower and smaller. On both the east and west sides are other and much 62 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. more important pieces of land ; one, the island of Brechou,* looking towards Guernsey ; the other, the “ Burons,” a number of islets on the east side. Rocks appear at inter- vals nearly three miles beyond the Sark coast on the east, after which there is a clear space, the depth being at first thirty fathoms, and then gradually shoaling to the French coast. The distance of Sark from France is about twenty- four miles. Great Sark is rather more than two miles (4,100 yards) in length, from north to south, and Little Sark rather less d’ixcart bay. than a mile. Including both islands and the rocks beyond, the total length of the group is about five miles. The greatest width of land in the principal island is about 3,000 yards ; but, including Brechou and the Burons, it amounts to fully three miles. From St. Martin’s Point in Guernsey, the distance to Little Sark is about seven miles, and from Belgrave Bay to the detached rock at the northern extremity of Great Sark, is about eight miles. The whole island somewhat resembles the figure 8 ; but the upper part of the figure should be * Brechou or Brek’hou ; the islet of the gap or breach (breche, Swiss French, or breke, old Dutch). BRECHOU. 63 much larger than the lower part. Its outline is, in fact, a double loop; the two loops of different sizes connected by a short line. Both Great and Little Sark are table-lands, and their elevation above the sea is upwards of 350 feet. The ground sinks towards the south, but is everywhere surrounded by lofty perpendicular cliffs. The island of Brechou is about 1,200 yards in length from east to west, and about 250 yards wide. It rises at least 150 feet above the sea. The Burons are much smaller and lower. The coasts of Sark, both Great and Little, and of the island of Brechou, are broken into numerous small coves, with sandy, shingly, or rocky beaches. Not one of these, however, in either island, communicates naturally and conveniently with the table-land above, and not one is approachable by boats, except when the weather is favourable. No boat can put off from any part of either island during the severe gales that are so frequent in these seas. The wild scenery of the vertical wall of rock which sur- rounds Sark is wonderfully enhanced in beauty and pic- turesque effect by the caverns with which it is everywhere penetrated, and the huge isolated masses of rock, often pierced with large natural vaults or tunnels, that form a kind of advanced guard in every direction, appearing to repel for a time the action of the waves, but really only serving as proofs of the destruction thus caused. Nowhere can the destroying power of the sea be better studied than in the grand scenes presented at every point round this re- markable island. Detached portions of the main island, others nearly detached, and only connected by natural bridges or narrow necks of land, huge vaults through which the sea dashes at all times, or into which it penetrates only at high water, fragments of rock of all dimensions, some jagged and recently broken, some — and these the hardest and toughest — rounded and smooth, vast piles of smaller rocks heaped around : all these offer abundant illustrations of nature’s course when the elements meet on the battle- field of an exposed coast, the tidal wave undermining and tearing asunder even the hardest porphyries and granites 64 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. however they may seem to present a bold front, and bear the reputation of being indestructible ! The small bays, detached rocks, and pierced rocks and caverns are the chief objects of interest in Sark ; and they are so not only to the lover of the picturesque, and to the artist who dares undertake to represent what many will deem unnatural, but also to the naturalist in all depart- ments. The geologist will here find many interesting studies in the alternation of almost stratified granite with masses of greenstone, serpentine and actynolite, traversed by numerous veins and fissures, filled with soft clay, coloured by iron and manganese, or occupied by some of the infinite varieties of the rock once called trap. Many beautiful and interesting minerals may also be obtained, and much may be learnt as to the way in which these minerals were formed. The botanist will not, perhaps, discover many new plants ; but there are known kinds under peculiar conditions of growth, for the climate is singularly favourable to certain kinds of vegetation, owing to its average temperature and constant moisture, without much cold. But chiefly will the lover of marine zoology be rewarded for the trouble of visiting this spot. Nowhere in Europe, under the most favourable circumstances, can so great a wealth of animal life be found within a small space as in some of the Sark caverns. These are as remarkable for their extraordinary grandeur and beauty as for the singular multitude and variety of the zoophytes they contain. A detailed account of the animal productions belongs to another chapter, and the exact spot of their occurrence will presently be described ; but no account of Sark could be in any way complete without a reference to this source of interesting investigation. The ordinary and best landing-place in Sark is called the Creux ; but before attempting a description of it, let us first attempt to give the reader a general idea of the coast scenery of the whole island. Approaching the island from the south, we first reach and pass a small island called Le Tas,* near which are some fine detached rocks on the shore, * This name is often written, both in books and charts, “ /’ Etacf There can, however, be no doubt that it alludes to the form of the rock, viz. : — Tas , CREUX DU DERRIBLE. 65 and a large cave. Beyond this, to the east, small recesses are seen in the vertical cliff ; one of them clothed with green to the water’s edge, at a point where a narrow opening conducts to a kind of large open funnel, called the Pot. With some little difficulty this can be descended from the top, and the fringe of ferns and other plants around it, with the curious appearance of the opening seen from below, render it well worthy of a visit. Past the Pot is another smaller bay, with caverns, to which there is no land access ; and then comes a third bay, with a pebble beach, im- mediately below the eastern and most perpendicular side of the celebrated Coupee , the narrow neck connecting Great and Little Sark. After this is an exceedingly broken and wild larger bay, in which are many caverns and large rocks, entirely pierced through. The shore here, as indeed every- where, is covered with large angular and rolled rocks. This is d’lxcart Bay, and towards it a very pretty valley (called Baker’s Valley) comes down from the interior of the island. The valley, however, terminates at a steep cliff. There then succeed two singular points of land, the Point du Chateau, connecting which with the interior is a curious ridge called the Hog’s Back, and the Point du Derrible.* The latter headland is separated from the cliffs by a nearly vertical gap, but not by a sea passage. A comparatively narrow inlet, enclosed by these two headlands, terminates in a fine rocky bay, within which are many caverns, and also the entries to one of those curious funnel-shaped openings called creux , of which the Pot in Little Sark, and several others round the coast, are less perfect examples. The “ Creux du Derrible,” as this is called, is a large natural shaft or chimney, communicating below with the sea, and opening above into a field. It resembles the shaft of a mine, and a wild growth of brambles and furze sur- a heap,, such as is made with hay or corn. There are many rocks so called among the islands. * This headland and the Creux are generally spoken of and described as Point Terrible and the Creux Terrible. There is, however, no doubt that the word Terrible is a corruption of Derrible , an old French word signifying a fallen mass of rock. F 66 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. rounds the opening, one side of which is much lower than the other. To look down requires a steady head, for the walls are absolutely vertical, and only overgrown with vege- tation round the outer rim, where a small earthen wall has been built to keep off stragglers. There is, however, little real danger. At high water the sea rushes in below by two large entrances ; one wave following another with a rapidity and force only possible where the water has but a few hours to rise thirty or forty feet into a funnel-shaped land-locked bay. The white foam of the angry water rises high in the cave, and is said in former times, when the entrance was narrower, to have splashed up nearly to the top during severe storms. The roar of the waves, and the disturbance caused by the rolling of the pebbles and the boulders over the floor, reverberates in the shaft. Such is the Creux du Derrible at high water, and then a nearer view is impossible. But it may be visited under other circumstances. It is possible, though not very easy, to make a descent by a narrow winding path, overgrown with ivy v to the brink of a cliff, down which, by the help of some iron rings fastened in the rock, one can reach the bay, into which, at the further extremity, the Creux opens. A wild rocky beach, covered with boulders, being crossed, we reach a yawning cavern, having a somewhat regular entry. It is one of two natural tunnels, about ioo feet long, that lead to an amphitheatre, having an oval floor, covered with pebbles, about ioo feet in length by fifty feet across. Within the amphitheatre the walls of naked rock rise 1 50 feet or more in height, and are quite perpendicular. The colour of the rock varies. At the furthest extremity from the sea is a vein of rich, reddish brown, clayey material ; but around, and on the floor, are several kinds of granite, and much hard stratified schistose rock is seen. The variety of colour, arising partly from the different weathering of the rock, and partly from lichens, is very striking. The stillness, broken only by the waves as they break over the pebbles ; the blue sky or fleecy cloud seen through the opening above ; the bright, sharply-defined rocks of the Point du Derrible visible through one of the entrances, and a part of Jersey through the other ; a little CREUX HARBOUR. 67 overhanging vegetation at the top, and the rolled pebbles of the floor : these form together a scene rarely approached in majesty and picturesque beauty. Beyond the entrances to the Creux, the wet rocks, covered with seaweed, may safely be crossed during a receding tide, and another small bay is then entered, in which is a vast detached rock, pierced with a natural arch, while beyond this again is another detached mass — a group of pinnacles, somewhat resembling one of the Autelets,* which is, however, in so insecure a state that it may per- haps be washed away, or, at any rate, greatly modified, in the course of a few years. Woe to the unhappy tourist who is found here after the tide begins to rise. Without climbing over a mass of steep, jagged rock, he will be cut off from the open bay of the Creux ; and should he succeed in reaching this, he may still miss the approach to the ascent and be kept on the beach for some hours. Between d’lxcart Bay and the Creux harbour one can find rough paths along the cliffs, which afford many ad- mirable points of view. From the Hog’s Back, a long, narrow ridge of hard rock, formerly a place of refuge, t and now marked by a tower, one is enabled to see not only d’lxcart Bay, but Little Sark and the outline of the pecu- liar jagged depression over which the Coupee road passes, revealing the true nature of that curious isthmus, and justifying the name given to it. The castellated rocks of the Point du Derrible, and the noble form of the ex- tremity of that jutting, rocky mass, are also here seen to great advantage. From one part of the cliffs, beyond the Point du Der- rible, a descent conducts us to a fisherman’s cove, just op- posite the Creux harbour, sheltered by a small, rocky island, but not connected with any bay. The singular form and picturesque outline of the Burons is here well * The Autelets , or small altars, are detached pinnacles on the other side of the island, well known to all visitors to Sark. They will be described further on, and a view of them is given in Chapter XI. f Like Jerbourg and other places in Guernsey, these promontories were no doubt, rendered defensible against the chance attacks of pirates. F 2 68 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. seen, although their number cannot be made out ; and they rather resemble a few large islands than a group of rocks entirely detached at high water, The Creux harbour, constructed in 1823, is one of the most curious of the Sark wonders. It is very small, and sheltered with a little breakwater, leaving an entry only just wide enough for a small boat. Even within the break- water, however, the boats are not secure in rough weather, without being drawn up to the highest point and made fast by ropes and chains. Improvements are, however, CREUX HARBOUR : LOOKING OUTWARDS. now (1893) being carried out. The Pier-head is to be re- constructed, and it is hoped that small steamers will then be able to enter the harbour. From the breakwater there is no appearance of a practicable road into the island, and no apparent path up the steep and lofty cliff. Access to the road is gained through a gloomy tunnel cut at the time of the reconstruction of the harbour (1868). The following account of this curious harbour is from an old brochure, published in London in 1673, entitled, “ News from the Channel ; or the discovery and perfect Descrip- tion of the Island of Serke, by a Gentleman now inhabit- ing there, to his friend and kinsman in London.” “Two only ascents or passages there are into it: the first, where all goods and commodities are received, called GREVE DE LA VILLE. 69 La Soguien (the Creux harbour), where, for a large space through a solid rock, there is a cartway cut by art down to the sea,* with two strong gates for its defence, wherein most of the storage for navigation, as masts, sails, anchors, &c., belonging to the island, are kept, and two pieces of ordnance above, always ready planted to prevent any sur- prise. The other is La Frickeree (no doubt the Havre Gosselin), where only passengers can land, climbing up a rock by certain steps or stairs, cut therein to a vast height and somewhat dangerously. Nor is it possible then for above one person to come up at once.” A pretty valley, wider than Baker’s Valley, but not quite so picturesque or well wooded, opens to the back of the tunnel, and so communicates with the harbour. A road also passes through this valley to the table-land above. It is curious that neither this nor Baker’s Valley open quite down to the sea, both terminating in a precipitous, though not lofty, cliff. Until the tunnel was bored, and made the direct road, the Eperquerief was the chief land- ing-place. From the Creux harbour, and from the hill above, very beautiful views of the Burons are obtained, altogether different from those before described. All the rocks are now perceived, with the passages between them, and they look small and almost grotesque. To the left is another corresponding group of rocks, projecting beyond the southern arm of the bay, called the Greve de la Ville ; and as there is a small intermediate inlet, the view is sym- metrical and exceedingly picturesque. The Greve de la Ville is a wide sweep of pebble and rocky beach, with a noble group of caverns at its south- ern extremity, connected with a large arched rock — the “ Chapelle Mauve.” These caverns are only accessible at low water, and are not easily visited. The shingles here do not afford a land- * The cartway through the rock here mentioned was cut in 1588, at the time of the colonisation of Sark from Jersey, and still exists. It leads to the beach, whilst the new tunnel communicates with the Pier. f Eperquei'ie — the harvest of dried fish, from perques , the perches or poles on which the fish was hung up to dry. The name thus derived is now applied to the place where the drying was carried on. 70 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. ing-place, but the bay can be entered from above, and there is good anchorage. Boats are moored at a point called the Banquet, and a rough road leads to the top. Beyond this is the Eperquerie, in some states of the weather a more con- venient harbour than the Creux. We now approach the northern extremity of the island, which, like all the rest of the rocky coast, is penetrated by noble caverns and cut into shreds by the mixed action of weather and the sea. The principal caves are the “ Boutiques,” a group eminently characteristic of the island, and highly-interesting and instructive. They are best entered from above, at a point where an island is nearly formed, by the action of the sea upon a vein of soft, clayey mineral. At the foot of this narrow cleft are piled gigantic boulders of granite ; but about half-way down is a transverse cleft of considerable length ; the roof not yet fallen in, and the floor composed of rocks, whose edges and corners are still sharp and angular. At the end of this is an opening to the sea, to the left, and a continuance of this opening into the solid rock by caverns to the right. Beyond is a continuation of the main cleft to the extreme point of the island. Not possessing the rich lining of zoophytes seen in the Gouliots, this series of caverns is less interest- ing to the zoologist ; but as illustrating the mode in which Sark is being destroyed, there can be imagined nothing more striking or more instructive to the geologist. Round the Bee du Nez,* as the little island north of Sark is called, and past the entrance to the Boutiques, we come to a confused pile of rocks, extending to a pretty bay (Saignie Bay), whence are seen the detached islets called the Autelets, one of the most picturesque groups of rocky masses around Sark. A footpath has been constructed down the face of the cliff, chiefly in a vein containing much iron and manganese ore, so that the little bay can be * Judging from old maps, as well as from the probabilities of the case, not only has the Bee du Nez become recently detached, but the land formerly stretched out to some distance towards the north, with a greater breadth than at present. The appearance of the fallen and still angular blocks, con- trasted with the perfect roundness of those that have been longer exposed, testi- fies to the fact of enormous destruction in a short period. GOULTOT CAVES. 7 I reached. The view, shut in by the steep face of rock, the picturesque “ Autelets ” on one side and the pile of angular masses of granite on the shore, is extremely fine. At low water there is a walk quite round to the Port du Moulin, beyond which again is a noble detached rocky mass, the Tin- tageu ;* and then another bay, the Grand Pegane, and the Port a la Jument. Beyond the latter is the Moie de Mouton, a nearly detached rock, forming a sort of promontory, ap- proachable only by a boat. Like the Point du Derrible on the opposite side of the island, and other rocks of its kind, of which we have already mentioned so many, it is strikingly bold, angular, and apparently capable of resisting almost indefinitely the grinding action of the tidal and storm wave. But like the rest, it is on the road to destruction ; and some other mass, now a part of Sark, will succeed it in due time. There is no access to the shore beyond the Moie de Mouton till the celebrated Gouliot caves are reached. They are approached by a rather troublesome descent from the table- land, the path leading past the Havre Gosselin, which may be conveniently visited on the same excursion. They con- sist of noble, vaulted caverns, piercing a promontory which extends towards, and has originally been connected with, the Gouliot rock and the island of Brechou (lie des Marchands). The whole of the rock at and near the water level, beneath the promontory called the Sault de San Jehan (St. John’s Leap), is honeycombed in a singular manner, forming a succession of caverns constantly altered by the action of the waves. A very fine view of the Gouliot rock and passage, with the caverns just visible, and the island of Brechou to the left, is obtained from the Havre Gosselin. It is represented in the annexed engraving. The Gouliot caves, f which may at all times be reached from above, can only be thoroughly explored at extremely low tides ; and even then the visitor must be prepared to wade through some depth of water. * Tintageu — Tint-a-jeu— Tin Tagel (as in Cornwall), the Devil’s Castle. One of the very few Celtic words remaining in the Channel Islands. The Htiet , in Moulin Huet (Guernsey), is also Celtic. f Gouliot — Coulot or Goulet, a narrow inlet, like the neck of a bottle. — Anglice , the gullet. 72 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. The descent is not a very easy task to anyone not ac- customed to cliffing, and not endowed by nature with a steady head. In this case, however, as in many others, there is little danger when there is no fear. A path has been made on the rocky face of a small inlet, and terminates on THE GOULIOT ROCK AND CAVERNS. some large rocks, covered with black slippery seaweed and little barnacles, the rocks having been thrown by the sea in its angry moments above the reach of ordinary tides. Over these one has to pick one’s way into the first great cave, which is a long natural tunnel, something like theBoutiques’ HAVRE GOSSELIN. 73 penetrating completely through a small promontory that stretches out beyond the middle of the west coast of Sark, and separated from the island of Brechou and the Gouliot rock by a tunnel, passable at all times. This first cavern is of noble proportions, and the floor is roughly piled with immense boulders, giving many a varied view of the small but picturesque “ Havre Gosselin,” seen through the opening at the farther extremity. But this cavern, though fine, is, as it were, a mere outer court, preparing us for the glories to be revealed within. Its walls are partly covered with those singular currant-jelly-like animals one sees expanded like living flowers in marine aquaria ; deep blood-red is the prevailing colour, but dark olive-green varieties are also common, and numerous yellow and brick-red patches are seen at intervals. A few mussels, and tens of thousands of limpets and barnacles, cover the boulders. Abundance of life is seen, and some of the specimens are as rare as they are beautiful. A branch of the first cavern, in which is a deep pool of water, conducts to the sea ; but it is better to wait till low water and creep round out- side. We then enter a gloomy series of vaults, lighted from the sea, and communicating with each other by natural passages. Every square inch of surface is covered with living coral- lines ; and, in some parts, an infinite number of Tubular ice are seen occupying the walls. As it is only at rare intervals that these animals are deprived of water, and the caverns are always damp and gloomy, the conditions are particularly favourable for their development, and their dimensions and vigour sufficiently prove the healthiness and suitableness of the locality. The Havre Gosselin succeeds the Gouliots ; and in it also are caverns of considerable magnitude. They afford fresh examples of vertical cliffs, connecting with and originating small bays. More caverns and small coves succeed ; another little harbour, the Port-es-Saies, is passed, and we then come to the expanse of sand and shingle from which the western and more sloping side of the Coupee commences to rise. There is a path down to this bay from the Coupee. It 74 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. is a steep zigzag, not pleasant to descend, although not very difficult of ascent. The rest of the coast is that of Little Sark. The rocks are somewhat lower here than on the larger division of the island, and there is nothing calling for special remark till we reach the little harbour of Gouray, where, in former times, vessels were moored, bringing stores from Cornwall for the mines adjacent. A large group of rocks and small islands forms a temporary barricade to this part of the island, and keeps off some of the heavy seas that sweep round during the equinoctial gales, and at other seasons. We have thus completed our survey of the coast-line of Sark, as it may be seen by walking round it on the cliffs, or sailing along the shores, according as circumstances per- mit ; but the detached islands and rocks are not often safely to be reached, although the many stout boats seen moored at all the little landing-places show that the Sark fishermen are not afraid of braving rough seas and dangerous shores. About twenty small nooks and coves may be counted along the shore, but access to the land from some of them is so difficult that nothing but necessity would induce any ordi- nary tourist to undertake the trip. Between Sark and Brechou is the detached rock called the Gouliot rock, the celebrated Gouliot caverns, already alluded to, opening under the cliffs that face this rock. The water-passage between the Gouliot Rock and Brechou is deep, dark, and dangerous. The current is swift, and varies with the tide, so that at times it would be impossible to row against it. There is, however, depth of water sufficient to float a frigate, and daring sailors, in time of need, have ventured to sail through it. There is only one landing-place at Brechou, worthy of the name, and that is not accessible at all times of tide, even in a rowing-boat. The cliffs all round the island are high and exceedingly steep, but their height is inferior to that of the Sark cliffs. The top of the island is partly cultivated, and there are two farms. Like the larger island adjacent, Brechou is almost inter- sected by caverns and surrounded by picturesque rocks. Seen from the sea — their jagged and varied forms re- THE COUPEE. 75 sembling pinnacles and castles, with cormorants standing sentinel on the flat edges, and gulls perched on the com- manding heights — these rocks contrast finely with the black overhanging precipices of the island. But the overfalls and the white foam, also visible in the sea near them, give notice of the hidden dangers that lurk beneath, and remind the boatman of the caution that is needed in threading his way through the narrow channels that alone are safe. From the highest point of Brechou, where a small cairn has been placed, there is a fine view of Sark in its whole length, with all the detached and pierced rocks, and the entrances to the dark caverns that penetrate its western face. The distance is so short, the position so nearly central, and the level so nearly that which is best adapted for a good coup doeil , that the view is quite panoramic. At a greater distance the surface of Sark looks comparatively flat, but here all the principal undulations are seen, and the most striking peculiarities of structure are readily made out. It will be evident, then, that there is plenty of work in Sark for several days, even for the most energetic tourist. Many of the points of view can only be seen to advantage at certain times of tide ; whilst some of the descents to the beach include wanderings for one or more hours in romantic caverns. In the Channel Islands, moreover — across which Atlantic gales sweep with fierce violence, and which, by their elevation, attract no small quantity of rain, — it is not possible to continue one’s investigations for many days without being stopped by unfavourable weather. All these considerations show that Sark, small as it is, cannot be appreciated without a prolonged visit ; and, indeed, it re- quires not only time, but a good guide to enable a stranger to reach the most interesting points. We have as yet spoken chiefly of the coast, and it is true that this is the chief attraction of Sark. But several hours may well be devoted to visiting the gardens and grounds of the Seigneurie, the wooded glade called Baker’s Valley, and the magnificent Coupee, the glory of the Channel Islands. In its present state the Coupee is. deprived of much of THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 76 the charm which danger must formerly have lent to so curious a phenomenon ; but, although more easily visited, it is also preserved from further change by the road that has been constructed across it. Soft veins of clay, deeply cut into by long exposure to weather, have gradually lowered the surface of the island at this point, while the waves below have assisted, removing all the debris washed down, and undermining the foundation. The result is very curious. For a space of about 200 yards there is now a narrow road- way, with a precipice on each side, partially sheltered in two places by a shoulder of harder rock than the rest. The THE COUPEE. road is reached by a deep cutting through the rock on the northern or Great Sark side, and the whole requires more attention than it now receives to prevent its becoming still more steep and dangerous than it is * Standing in the middle of the Coupee, one is able to see the sands and boulders of two small bays, one to the right and the other to the left, at the foot of a precipitous cliff of * In the year 18 11 a portion of the surface was detached from near the centre, and fell to the bottom, leaving the width of the passage only a few inches more than two feet. In 1813, after the repairs of this part, the width was only five feet. SARK CHURCH. 77 nearly 300 feet, the greater part of which is almost vertical. On the Sark side there is a flat wall of flesh-coloured clay ; and at various places between the larger and smaller tracts of land is a very decomposing granite, which helps to vary and improve the outline, although without strengthening the causeway. Defended by the road, the work of destruc- tion goes on slowly ; but a very little neglect might result in the entire separation of the two divisions of Sark. It seems to have escaped the notice of most writers on Sark that the Coupee is the result of atmospheric influences above, as well as of the action of the waves below. The latter cannot now act very much, as the sea rarely beats against the earthen buttresses, which support the road, except at highest tides, and during severe storms. The rain, however, never fails to remove some of the soft material of which the interspace between the granite on the two sides is formed. There is a fine view of the island of Brechou, and the entrance to the Gouliots, from a new road, constructed in Little Sark, to bring up the seaweed from the rocks. From this point, also, the Coupee Bay is well seen, and the islands of Guernsey, Herm, and Jethou are all visible. With the exception of the mines, which are quite aban- doned, and a few habitations adjacent, there is little to be seen at the surface in this division of the island. The view of the Tas, and other rocks, and a small Megalithic monu- ment still remaining, are, however, interesting. No one should visit Sark without paying a visit to the garden and grounds of the Seigneurie. The inhabited part includes a very picturesque group of buildings, with .a tower rising from the dwelling-house, and a number of small constructions, some modern, some very old, but all in good condition and excellent taste. In the grounds every possible advantage is taken of the natural features and lawns, ponds, shrubberies, plantations, with flower and fruit gardens, are most conveniently and charmingly at hand. Of the other Sark buildings, the church is not one that can be commended. It was built in 1820, and remains in its original naked ugliness; a chancel was added in 1878. It 78 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. unluckily occupies a very prominent position, and produces a most disagreeable effect to the eye from every point of view. The little parsonage is a neat, picturesque cottage ; one of a group which might almost be called a village. It was the old manor-house, and was. conceded by the seigneur towards the middle of the last century. At some little distance is the principal hotel, called d’lxcart, which lies on a slope in Baker’s Valley, and is a group of irregular buildings. The farmhouse in Baker’s Valley is charmingly placed, and of appropriate rustic style. The few other dwelling-places, collected in groups in different parts of the island, are all, with the exception of the miners’ cottages in Little Sark, picturesquely but stoutly built, and with comfortable, well-devised roofs, whether of thatch or tiles. Many of the old buildings are of amazing strength, the walls being sometimes six feet thick, built of solid granite. It is a curious fact that, notwithstanding the abundance of good granite in Sark, both Jersey and Guernsey stones, especially the former, have very commonly been used for building. On the whole, it may safely be said that there are very few islands, even though many times larger than Sark, that contain so much of beauty, romantic scenery, and interest. Notwithstanding its extreme smallness, days, and even weeks, slip away, and there is always something new to see, some new effect of light and shade on the rocks or foliage to watch, some singular phenomenon of natural history to study, so that one leaves the place at last, even after a lengthened stay, with a feeling that there remains much work to be done, and much to be seen that is new and interesting. There are no streams in Sark, but water is plentiful, and good at all seasons. The houses being for the most part detached, the population small (about 580), and the rain-fall considerable, there has never occurred any want in this respect. With regard to food the case is different. It is often impossible to obtain meat, this and other commodities having to be supplied from Guernsey. Poultry, rabbits, and fish, however, abound. Certainly the island is not worse off now than formerly, and the following account of the FOOD RESOURCES. 79 resources of Sark, borrowed from an author already quoted, and referring to its condition three centuries ago, is quite sufficiently accurate at the present time to supersede any remarks we might be inclined to offer in reference to the matter. “ For belly timber, our three staple commodities are fish, fowl, and rabbits. Of the first, a little industry will purchase us a hundred sorts, particularly a large fish we call a vrack- fish (rock fish), which we split, and nailing it to our walls, dry it in the sun, for part of our winter provision. As also a large shel-fish, taken plentifully at low tides, called an Ormond,* that sticks to the rocks, whence we beat them off with a forck or iron hook. Tis much bigger than an oyster, and like that, good, either fresh or pickled, but infinitely more pleasant to the gusto ; so that an epicure would think his pallat in paradice, if he might but always gormandise on such delitious ambrosia. “ For fowl, your city cannot be better furnisht with wood- cocks or widgeons, besides the abundance of duck, mallard, teal, and other wild fowl, with cliff pidgeons, with which at some seasons almost the whole island is covered. “ Of conies we have everywhere exceeding plenty ; and yet least we should want, nature has provided us with a regular warren, placing at a small distance in the sea an island, of about half a mile every way over (the lie des Marchands, or Brechou), which is inhabited by nothing else, whither we commonly go a ferreting, and have thence such abundance, that it has been confidently told me some families here have made £ 1 $ or £20 a year only of their skins. If all this rich fare will not content you, we have a most excellent pottage made of milk, bacon, coleworts, mackarel, and gooseberries, boyled together all to pieces, which our mode is to eat, not with the ceremony of a spoon, but the more courtly way of a great piece of bread, furiously plying between your mouth and the kettle/'t * Ormond, ormer ( anreille de mer ). The sea-ear o^r Haliotis. It is still largely consumed in Sark and the other islands, though not found on the coast of England. t “ News from the Channel,” &c., ante> p. 68 8o THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. As in the other islands, the seaweed is used in Sark for agricultural purposes ; but owing to the extreme difficulty of approach, it is found more economical to lift it by machinery to a convenient level than draw it up from the beach. A large quantity of the seaweed is imported from Herm. CHAPTER V. THE ISLAND OF JERSEY AND THE ADJACENT ROCKS. OLD JERSEY FARMHOUSE, MONT COCHON. From the rocks off Jerbourg and St. Martin’s Point in Guernsey, to Cape Grosnez, the nearest point of Jersey, is a distance of seventeen and a-half statute miles, of which about thirteen miles is a channel, having from twenty-five to thirty-five fathoms of water, the bottom consisting of rock, coarse stones, shingle, and shell-sand or shells. This channel is called “ La Deroute ” ; and from it, eastwards, to the Normandy coast, the water gradually shoals. Before THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. reaching the northern coast of Jersey, and about three miles distant from it, there is a succession of almost continuous banks and shoals, which reach to the French coast. The rocks above water reduce themselves into three principal groups : one to the west, called the Paternosters ; another, nearly central, called “ Dirouilles ” ; and a third, to the east, called the Ecrehou rocks. Between the eastern extremity of the latter rocks and Cape Carteret, the nearest French land, there are unsafe channels, interrupted by violent over- falls ; sand-banks, almost exposed at low water, and some rocks. There is a tolerably good channel between the Dirouilles and the Ecrehous into Bouley Bay, on the north coast of Jersey; but on the whole the navigation along the north of the island, and also between Jersey and France, is very dangerous, except for vessels of small burden. Jersey is a compact island, of oblong form, ranging east and west, and situated between north latitudes 49 0 15J' and 49 0 10', and between west longitudes 2° of' and 2° 1 5 J'. It is twelve statute miles in length, from east to west, and in some places half that width. It is estimated to contain 39,580 English acres, or about sixty-two square statute miles — this estimate including all the land to low-water mark. Of this area, about 25,000 acres are under cultivation. The distance of Jersey from the nearest point of France (Carteret) is not more than fifteen miles. The usual com- munications are from St. Helier’s with St. Malo, on the coast of Brittany, situated due south, and with Granville to the east ; which latter port is about thirty miles distant In Jersey, a belt of elevated land, from 250 to 300 feet above the sea, ranges from east to west, rising very abruptly from the north coast, and less abruptly from the south-east and west coasts ; differing, therefore, in this respect from Guernsey, where the slope is towards the north, and more gradual. The natural drainage of the island is by several small pellucid streams, rather deeply intersecting the land. Of these streams, the largest enter St. Aubin’s Bay. One small group is lost in the sands to the east, near Gorey, and another is lost in a similar manner at St. Ouen’s, on the west coast. Several small streamlets fall into the sea, in GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 83 miniature cascades, over the cliffs on the north and north- west coasts. On the east, south, and west, the coast of Jersey consists of large, open bays, each terminated by rocky headlands. Within these bays the country remains low and flat for some little distance, except where rolling sand-hills inter- vene. In this respect there is little real resemblance to any part of Guernsey, though the bays between Lihou and Grande Havre, in that island, are not at first sight very dis- similar. On the north, north-east, and north-west shores of Jersey there is much picturesque rocky and cliff scenery, of the same kind as that on the south coast of Guernsey, but more indented.* Here are the principal steep cliffs, caverns, arched rocks and large semi-detached masses of rock, or separate islets. The island throughout is well wooded ; in the interior the numerous cross-roads being almost concealed by the overhanging branches of trees planted in the hedges or fields adjoining. The wood often grows on the slopes of the hills, even to the water’s edge, and is generally distributed so as to give a peculiarly rich and pleasing expression to the landscape, either from the little bays or wherever a wide and distant view can be obtained. Almost the whole island is broken up into small en- closures by lofty hedges. In the western part of the parish of St. Brelade (on the south-west of the island) is an extensive tract, at some height above the sea, called the Quenvais, covered with drifted sand, and below, but near it, to the west, is the sandy district of St. Ouen’s. Wet places occur in several of the valleys ; but the principal marshes are near the sea, such as Goose Green, Beaumont ; St. Ouen’s Pond, in the bay of that name ; and one at Samares, St. Clement’s. Approached from the sea, the view of Jersey, especially on a fine summer’s day, is wonderfully varied and pictur- * The highest ground in Jersey is Les Platons, 485 feet above sea-level. In Sark, the most elevated ground is Sark Mill, 375 feet. Guernsey ranks next, its highest point being Hautnez, 363 feet ; Alderney, 306 ; Jethou, 248 ; and Ilerm, 232. G 2 8 4 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. esque. The two principal bays of St. Ouen’s and St. Aubin’s are very much larger than any of those of Guernsey, and are better enclosed by cliffs than those on the western side of the latter island, which, in other respects, most nearly resemble them. Detached rocks, visible on the south-western extremity, are bold and numerous; and Elizabeth Castle, on the south-coast, stands out among a group of high rocks and islets, detached at half tide. In some of the wide, open bays, the water runs out at low tide for a great distance over a noble expanse of sands, but the rocks are nowhere very far off. As the central part of these bays recedes, and the shore is perfectly level and well sheltered, there are roads and houses always in sight, and cultivated lands, to break the monotony of the scenery. Some of the bays, however, are characterised by rather high, rolling sand-hills, near high-water mark ; and within these is another flat expanse of sand, below the level of the highest tides. There are small towns and villages at various points of the coast, which we shall notice in giving a rapid survey of its most striking points of view. It will be convenient to begin our account of Jersey at the principal town, which is situated near the middle of the south side of the island, in the bay of St. Aubin, and is called St. Helier’s. The town of St. Helier’s, whether seen from the sea, or indeed from any other of its approaches, is altogether wanting both in architectural and picturesque effect. This want of beauty in itself is, however, somewhat redeemed by Elizabeth Castle and Fort Regent, which stand as two sentinels, one on either side of the harbour. The effect is also somewhat improved by the green background. St. Helier’s has, however, vastly improved of recent years. Many of the streets have been widened, and shops of an extensive character are now to be seen. Though it may not boast of anything in the shape of handsome public buildings, yet there are many objects of interest, such as the Court-house, the Local Parliament Plouse, the Public Library, the Parish Church, the Markets, the French Roman Catholic Church, the Town Hall, and Victoria College, which stands on high ground to the east of the TOWN OF ST. HELIER. 85 town, and is surrounded by a rich belt of well-grown trees, beneath whose shade are public walks. One view of the College is good ; and though wanting vigour, the style selected is not without merit. There is, however, a want of some centralising feature especially noticeable from the west to north ; and the building is hardly seen from most parts of the town, owing to the absence of any tower or prominent elevation. Two railways have been established in Jersey, one line connecting St. Helier’s with Gorey on the east coast, whilst the other runs to St. Aubin’s, and thence to the Corbiere lighthouse. The most important public works of St. Helier’s are the harbour-works and pier, and the fort. The former are very extensive, and no doubt have proved of great value in a commercial sense. But, although large and costly, they are not complete, as they still do not enable the steamers to enter and land passengers at all times of the tide ; nor is the entrance wide or sheltered enough to allow large steamers to enter safely during very bad weather. Pro- bably, if these works had been constructed at Noirmont, to the west of St. Aubin’s Bay instead of to the east, the result would have been much better in many respects, as a larger harbour, with deeper water and better shelter, might have been obtained in that direction at far smaller cost. The old harbour constructed towards the end of the last century has been entirely enclosed within another, commenced in 1841, called the Victoria and Albert Piers respectively. In 1867, the want of a low-water landing- stage becoming more and more felt, the States adopted an extensive plan recommended by the late Sir John Coode, which was commenced in 1872. After an enormous waste of money, however, the scheme was abandoned and the works stopped in 1877. In 1886 dredging was resorted to inside the harbour and between the pier-heads. Some slight advantage has been gained, hardly commensurate, however, with the cost, whilst the harbour still remains a tidal one. The Hermitage breakwater has'been lengthened to the extent of 500 feet beyond where Sir John Coode left it, and this has proved a work of great utility in pro- 86 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. tecting the harbour from the strong westerly gales and the swell of the Atlantic, to which it is mercilessly exposed. The annexed plan will give some idea of the harbour. The outer breakwaters represent Sir John Coode’s plan. A mark across the Hermitage breakwater shows the extent to which it has been lengthened. A statue of the Queen was erected in 1890, in honour ST. helier’s harbour. of the Jubilee, near the entrance to the town from the harbours. Fort Regent, from which a magnificent panoramic view of the town of St. Helier’s and the bay of St. Aubin’s is obtained, is built on a high projecting granite promon- tory, overhanging the harbour, in former times called the Town Hill, or Mont de la Ville. The foundation of this fortress, which has cost the British nation nearly a million sterling, was laid in 1806. A long range of rocks, many of them covered every tide, is seen at low water, stretching out parallel with the ST. CLEMENT’S BAY. 87 town ; and on parts of them are Elizabeth Castle and the Hermitage. These rocks are connected with the ridge on which Fort Regent is built, and the latter terminates in a promontory, Point des Pas, separating St. Aubin’s Bay from the Greve d’Azette or Samares Bay, a flat bay of consid- erable magnitude, within which is the manor-house Samares. Beyond this, again, is St. Clement’s Bay, a more interesting but sandy tract, extending to Plate Rocque. Throughout this bay, but especially at the eastern extremity, a vast floor of rocks is laid bare at low water, and only a small number of islands, islets, and rocks rise above high-water mark. Several of these are covered with vegetation, and have evidently been torn from the mainland at no distant period. “ La Motte,” or Green Island, is one of the largest. The country within these bays is flat and sandy, and in- cludes much marsh-land. There is no cliff, and the hills are low and not very interesting. In summer, however, the scenery is pretty, as there is cultivation, in some parts, close to the water’s edge, and the rocks here and there pro- ject above the cultivated fields. There are also houses and villages at intervals. Pontac is a pretty village, near the middle of St. Clement’s Bay. Past Plate Rocque the coast at once trends northwards and a second bay opens, called Grouville Bay. For the most part this is not much more interesting than St Clement’s Bay and the Greve d’Azette, as the shore is still covered with low sand-hills, the loose sand constantly blowing over them, and preventing cultivation ; but all parts of the bay command views, both of Mont Orgueil Castle at the northern, and of La Rocque Point at the southern extremity. Mont Orgueil* Castle stands on a projecting headland of porphyritic rock that separates Grouville Bay from an adjoining small cove, and includes within its irregular sea- ward termination not only the ground on which the castle is built, but a little harbour called Anne Port, a * The title “ Mont Orgueil ” is said to have been given to this castle by the Duke of Clarence in the reign of Henry V., but it is well to remember that this name was commonly applied in the middle ages to fortresses of great strength. 88 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. number of fine cliffs, and some jagged pinnacles of rock that rise well out of the sea. This is the commencement of the northern division of Jersey, which has been already alluded to as resembling the southern part of Guernsey. It is the most rocky and picturesque part of the coast. The position of Mont Orgueil, a good specimen of a mediaeval castle and fortress, is certainly very fine ; and the effect in its present state is satisfactory. It is solid, massive, and imposing, and harmonises well with the surrounding scenery. From its approaches, from the various terraces, and from the windows, are brought successively into view the open bay to the south, including the harbour of Gorey, the harbour of St. Catherine, and the wooded interior of the island. On the distant horizon the white shores of Nor- mandy and the cathedral spires of Coutances are distinctly seen when the sky is tolerably clear. This castle is the commanding object of the east coast of the island, and occupies the central point of that coast. Seen at a distance, it is a grand mass of building, the walls covered with a rich mantle of ivy, in fine union with the grey tint of age, and the “ rents that time has made.” It is a cause for regret that the remains of its last occupation and the marks of adaptation for barrack purposes have interfered with the historical as well as the picturesque impressions. At present in many parts the castle is in a very dilapidated condition ; the walls, massive as they are, have yielded to the pressure of time, and it is to be hoped that the Island Govern- ment will not allow this precious remnant of antiquity, so rich in historical recollections, and so closely connected, with the chivalrous deeds of past ages, to fall into irre- trievable ruin. Mont Orgueil, anciently called Castellum de Gurrit, and later Gouray Castle, bears all the characteristics of a genuine Norman castle, commenced about the tenth or eleventh century, and possibly erected on the ruins of some Roman fort or encampment. This latter supposition is most probable, as to this day are to be seen some ruins called Caesar’s Fort, of greater antiquity than the rest of the architecture of the castle. At various periods this fortress has been subjected to considerable modifications and en- MONT ORGUEIL CASTLE. 89 largements. In 1476 Sir Richard Harliston, then gov- ernor of the island, built a tower, called by his name. The “Tour de la Cloche,” or Bell Tower, was constructed by Sir Thomas Overay, governor in 1494, whilst the “Tour duMont” was commenced by Henry Cornyshe, governor from 1540 to 1549, and completed by Sir Hugh Pawlet. In olden times, and until a prison was built in St. Helier’s, Mont Orgueil was used as the island prison, whilst during the great rebellion it also served as a State prison, in which many distinguished prisoners were confined. The famous William Prynne was banished to Jersey, and imprisoned there from 1637 to 1640, the gloomy cell he occupied being still shown. Sir Philip de Carteret was at that time gov- ernor, and, possibly through a humane treatment of his prisoner, a lasting friendship grew up between them. The austere Puritan did not forget the kindness with which he had been treated by Sir Philip when, a few years later, the latter required his protection, through the vindictiveness of his enemies, who arraigned him before a Committee of the House of Commons. There Prynne nobly defended his friend and benefactor, who, had it not been for him, would in all probability have perished on the scaffold. Prynne further wrote a pamphlet in defence of Sir Philip’s memory, entitled “ The Lyar Confounded,” which was an- swered by the “ Pseudo-Mastix, or the Lyar’s Whipp,” a bitter indictment both of Sir Philip and his defender. A curious passage in this pamphlet reproaches the stern roundhead with having, whilst a prisoner in Mont Orgueil, “played at cardes with my Lady Carteret and his (Sir Philip’s) daughters till midnight, or two of the clock in the morning.” During his imprisonment, Prynne amused himself by writing verses, severely ridiculed by the poet Cowley, who dubbed their author “The Jersey Muse” and “ The Homer of the Isles.” The following description of Mont Orgueil is from Prynne’s pen, and will give a very good idea of his astonishing metrical productions : — Mont Orgueil castle is a lofty pile Within the eastern part of Jersey isle, Seated upon a rocke, full large and high, 90 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. Close by the sea-shore, next to Normandie, Near to a sandy bay, where boats doe ride Within a peere, safe from both wind and tide. Three parts thereof the flowing seas surround, The fourth (north-westwards) is firm rockie ground. A proud high mount it hath, a rampier long, Foure gates, foure posternes, bulwarks, sconces strong ; All built with stone, on which there mounted lie Fifteen cast pieces of artillery, With sundry murdering chambers planted so, As best may fence itself, and hurt a foe ; A guard of soldiers (strong enough til warre Begins to thunder) in it lodged are, Who watch and ward it duly night and day, For which the king allows them monthly pay. The Governor, if present, here doth lye, If absent, his lieutenant deputy ; A man of warre the keys doth keep, and lock The gates each night of this high towering rock. The castle’s ample, airy, healthy, and The prospect pleasant both by sea and land. Two boystrous foes, sometimes assault with losse The fortresse which their progresse seems to crosse. The raging waves below, which ever dash Themselves in pieces, whiles with it they clash, &c., &c. Beyond Mont Orgueil the coast begins to assume a different character. Immediately beyond the castle is a fine mass of broken jagged granitic rock of bright pink colour, and with much jasper, numerous fragments of which are to be found in the boulders on the shore. A little farther on is a headland, called La Crete, which is bold and high. There is much grandeur in the Crete Point : the rocks project from the soil, broken into extremely regular shapes, and the intervals between them are grown over with furze and the prickly plant called Butcher’s Broom. The hard tough rock that here breaks out is not altogether peculiar to this part of the island, but is nowhere seen in such regular forms. Between the Crete and the detached syenitic rock on which is Archirondelle Tower is another small but pictur- esque cove, called Havre de Fer, where vegetation comes down to the water’s edge, and a small village is seen nestled prettily among rocky cliffs and trees. Beyond the Tower, the open, regular sweep of St. Catherine’s Bay commences, and continues about a mile, being terminated by a long, ST. CATHERINE’S BREAKWATER. 91 useless breakwater, constructed by the British Government in the middle of this century. Another breakwater was commenced near Archirondelle Tower, intended as a south arm of the proposed St. Catherine’s Harbour, but after an enormous expenditure it was found that the situation was bad, and, like the works at Alderney, it stands as a monument of human folly and waste of the British taxpayers’ money. The breakwater is over half a mile in length, and at the extremity a small lighthouse has been erected. The bay of St. Catherine’s is broken and fine. Three distinct valleys open into it, and at a point about two-thirds of the distance across, the conglomerate rock, or pudding- stone, projects, abruptly and grandly, quite into the sea. At this point a road is cut deeply through the rock, show- ing all its peculiarities. Here, also, the vegetation so com- pletely covers the rock that the artist and lover of fine scenery would revel in the numerous picturesque bits to be seen at every turn. Close to the breakwater is another deep cutting, from which large quantities of material have been removed for the harbour works. A detached rock — Verclut Point — intervenes between these quarries and the sea. At every season, and under all conceivable circumstances, the scenery at this point is grand and impressive. For the geologist it has additional charms, which will be alluded to in another chapter. Fliquet Bay succeeds St. Catherine’s, and is terminated by a headland almost detached, called “ La Coupe,” cor- responding with the Coupee of Sark. This is the extreme north-easterly point of Jersey. The altitude of the Coupe is not very great, and the neck of land that connects it with the main island is neither very narrow nor deeply cut ; nor, indeed, are the sides precipitous ; but it is a fine projecting mass, and the few rocky heads jutting out above the grass at the extremity have good forms. Fliquet Bay has a pebble beach, and a small martello tower is placed in its centre, near a few houses, called the village of Fliquet. Here, as so often in Jersey, the vegetation coming down to the water, and the sands at intervals covering and replacing 92 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. pebbles and hard rock, give interest to the landscape, and lend it a charm which is rarely found in Guernsey, and never in Sark. Next to La Coupe is an exceedingly picturesque and broken bay, “ Saie Harbour.” The beach is composed of very irregular ridges of pudding-stone, covered with the common bladderwrack, and rising out of a field of pebbles, of all shapes, sizes, and colours, derived from the same rock. Near the steep, rocky background of cliff there are huge masses of the conglomerate, not yet broken up by the waves, but strewn about in the richest confusion. It is impossible to find anything grander of its kind, or more picturesque, than these huge masses, blackened below by the thin slimy coat of marine vegetation, grey above by the lichens, of all conceivable forms and dimensions, and evidently all waiting their turns to be broken up into simi- lar pebbles to those that strew the ground in every direc- tion between them and the sea. A headland, called the Couperon, something like the Coupe, terminates this little bay, and forms one side of an exquisite little gully, the “ Douet de la Mer,” separating Saie Harbour from Rozel Bay, which next succeeds. At this point there is a deep narrow valley, opening into the interior. The sides of the hill are without trees near the sea, and all along this coast the hills are rather monotonous, for want of some variety of vegetation. Above the Cou- peron are some Megalithic remains. Rozel is a pretty fishing village, with a miniature har- bour, at the foot of a fine bold valley, running up the country, and traversed by a carriageable road. There are several neat houses and some barracks near, and in sum- mer it is a place of great resort for pic-nics. Hard by are some gardens, open to visitors, where some interesting hor- ticultural experiments have been made, and which con- tain many sub-tropical varieties. Between the Nez du Guet, which forms the western horn of Rozel Bay, and an extremely picturesque headland called La Tour de Rozel — a pyramidal rock, barely separated by a narrow channel from the main island — there is another small bay, covered with fragments of stone, called Le BOULEY BAY. 93 Sauchet. A deep gully is being cut by the sea, which will before long greatly widen the interval. The course pud- ding-stone is here easily broken up, and leaves behind the usual accumulation of rounded pebbles. The view from La Tour across Bouley Bay is very fine. The bay itself is two miles across, and recedes fully one mile. On the side to the east are numerous broken, rocky headlands projecting into the sea. The cliffs are high, and rise gradually towards the west, where they are at least 250 feet above the sea, but the forms there are not remark- able for picturesque beauty. The headland that encloses the bay to the west is bold and bluff, and from it a good idea is obtained of the coast-line. The reef of islands and rocks called the Dirouilles and Ecrehous are opposite Bouley Bay, and form a continuous line at low water, a little to the north and east, while in clear weather the French coast and the other Channel Islands may also be seen. Between La Tour and the small dismantled fort of l’Etaquerel is a natural chasm greatly resembling the Pot at Sark, and also a volcanic rift of some depth and of peculiar formation. There is good anchorage in Bouley Bay, and only a few dangerous rocks, which might be removed. The channel to it is open, the water from the Deroute gradually shoal- ing from thirty to twenty fathoms, and then gradually, also, to fifteen. There is at least six fathoms of water everywhere in the bay, quite close to the land, except where the three or four rocks alluded to come near the surface. It was at one time proposed to continue the small breakwater already commenced, and form here a harbour of refuge, but the plan has been abandoned. The cliffs enclosing Bouley Bay are everywhere high and steep, but they are almost without exception clothed with verdure even in mid-winter. They are too vertical close to the sea to allow of a descent in many places ; but it is possible, though not very pleasant, to follow a sheep path about half-way down the cliff, which will enable the pedes- trian to pass completely round every part. The road descent to Bouley Bay is by a steep zigzag, opening out numerous fine views from the “Jardin d’Olivet.” Imme- 94 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. diately beyond Vicard, the western extremity of Bouley Bay, is a small harbour and a little fishing-station, called Petit Port, behind which the cliff rises rapidly and forms a bold, bluff headland. There is here a pretty coomb, or semicircular depression of the surface, communicating with the interior, but the hills are bare and rather monotonous. From the high ground at this point (Belle Hougue), which juts out into the sea, the coast recedes slightly in a number of exceedingly picturesque, but rather formal, semicircular bays, to Ronez and Sorel Points, the latter the most northerly point of Jersey. These exactly correspond, and, although more broken and picturesque, they resemble Moye Point and some others of the head- lands on the south coast of Guernsey. Among the bays alluded to are Havre Giffard and Bonne Nuit, which in- deed are one for all purposes of the picturesque, being separated only by a low reef of rocks running out to a point. The whole of the beach in this part of the island is of rounded pebbles, but the cliffs behind are generally com- posed of a great thickness of angular blocks, fallen from above and much decomposed, covered by good vegetable soil, and a thick coat of green even in vvinter. Bonne Nuit is bare, especially in the upper part, where the rocks jut out from the stone-covered surface in a number of fanciful forms. The descent to Bonne Nuit from the picturesque granite quarries of Mont Mado immediately behind, is very beautiful, and includes a rich variety of rock and water scenery, with reefs of rock running out into the sea at a short distance. The north coast of Jersey at this part is somewhat similar to the south-east coast of Alderney. It is greatly broken and precipitous near the sea, but falls back in rocky islets or fiords, penetrating the land without opening into the interior. The face of the cliff, for a considerable distance, is deeply cut into by granite quarries opened on rather a large scale about half-way down towards the sea. The points called Ronez and Sorel Point, and the highly- interesting little bay or cove between them, Le Fosse Vicq, are well worth visiting. From Sorel Point is a magnificent view in both direc- THE DEVIL’S HOLE. 95 tions, this headland stretching out far into the sea in a number of jagged peaks of deep pink colour. Remarkable veins of flesh-coloured mineral are seen in the inaccessible cliffs a little to the east, and these are continued for some distance, forming striking combinations also met with in Alderney. There is a very grand ocean pool, nearly surrounded by high, precipitous cliffs, immediately beyond Sorel Point. It is appropriately named “La Houle” — the hole. A quarter of a mile further is a deep gorge in the granite, through which a considerable stream of water runs, in a succession of falls, from St. John’s in the interior, to the sea. This is one of the few streams worthy of the name entering the sea on the north coast. It feeds several mills, which are, however, without exception, in a most dilapidated state. It would be very difficult to find any object more utterly desolate than the ruins of the lowest of these mills close to the sea — far removed from any appearance of life, scarcely one stone remaining upon another, not a tree in sight, and the water rushing past in a rapid stream, till at length it leaps down a nearly vertical wall of granite some twenty feet into a dark pool, almost enclosed by detached jagged rocks of similar kind and of greater height. This spot is called “Les Mouriers.” On the other side of this hill, and not far off, we approach a magnificent gorge called “ Les Reuses,” where avast mass of granite, fallen away from the cliff, has left a yawning cavity, called the Creux de Vis, popularly known as the Devil’s Hole — one of those creux or holes met with in all the islands, though with various degrees of picturesque effect. In this case the walls of the gorge are nearly vertical, and a fiord or inlet penetrates far into the land, the entrance being partly closed up by the fallen rock. Viewed from above, there is a wonderful intensity and grandeur in this gap. There are numerous boulders and large masses of rock at the bottom, from which an opening or tunnel will be found communicating with the sea. Still further on is another ravine, a deep, funnel-shaped gorge, running far back into the land, called Crabbe. To this there is access by a steep path ; and few things are finer 96 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. than the appearance of the naked, vertical walls of granite and frowning, jagged precipices enclosing the little cove that opens below. This, and two other similar but rather smaller inlets, equally characterised by their lofty vertical walls and rocky bottom, with numerous caves, complete the coast-line as far as the Greve de Lecq, a well-known sandy bay, to which there are two good roads from the interior of the island. The descent to the Greve de Lecq from St. Mary’s church is exceedingly pretty, and richly wooded with many varieties of trees. The other descent, from St. Ouen’s manor- house, is even more picturesque, though the road is not so good. The bay itself is pleasing, but not remarkable either for rural beauty or rocky scenery. In 1872 a small harbour was built in this bay for the protection of fishing-boats, but it has been partially destroyed by the sea, and no steps have been taken to repair the breach. Mounting the cliff again on the west, from which a fine view of the Pater- noster rocks* is obtained, a rough path leads over the shoulder of the hill, and descends to a gully, the Douet de la Mer, in which is a pretty waterfall, and a small cavern, with a broken foreground of boulders and detached rocks, some of them of very large size. The cave is overhung with ferns. Pursuing the path along the cliffs, one or two somewhat similar gullies are passed, and one deep narrow fiord, called Le Creux Gros, with lofty vertical walls of granite, and into which a little stream tumbles precipitously down some eighty or a hundred feet to shingle beach. A little further on we reach the headland of Plemont, almost detached by two deep cuts, one on each side, affording another example of a Coupee, so characteristic of the Channel Islands. On the north side, besides the inlet forming the Coupee on that side, there are several caves, all entering the rock through natural clefts worn out of soft veins in the granite. None of them is very remarkable. On the other side there is a descent, by no means difficult or dangerous, into the “ Greve au Lan^on,” one of the finest of the small * These rocks are also called Pierres de Lecq. 97 GREVE AU LAN^ON. bays of the Channel Islands. No one can be said to have seen what is best worth seeing of Jersey scenery without a visit to, and a careful examination of, this singular and most beautiful spot. The bay is enclosed by precipitous cliffs. For the most part these are lofty as well as inaccessible. At one point, where the cliff is less lofty than elsewhere, a valley opens into the interior, conveying a stream of water, which falls over a wall of rock about fifty feet high, into a nest of caverns. Behind this valley the hills rise rapidly, so that at a little distance the effect of a lofty enclosed bay is preserved from whatever part it is regarded* The great peculiarity of the bay is the succession of noble and picturesque caverns and deep narrow fiords alternating with rocky reefs, projecting for some distance into the sea, These are continued far beyond the lowest tide, extending, indeed, to the extremity of Cape Grosnez, under which is the last cavern. It is difficult to state the number of caverns in the bay with precision. Six may be visited in succession at all times, except near high water, and all are strikingly picturesque. Some are connected one with another by low, natural arches, but most of them are de- tached. The first enters by an open inlet forty or fifty yards wide, and more than sixty yards in length, before narrowing. The inlet continues in the same direction. On one side, however, to the right, it is open for another fifty yards, and to the left becomes a magnificent natural hall, perfectly straight, entering about 120 feet, with a width of nearly fifty at the entrance, and gradually narrowing. The height of the roof is some twenty feet or more, and the floor is strewed with large perfectly-rounded pebbles, and large rocks of extremely white granite, although the walls are of pinkish and dark grey stone. Some distance beyond the first opening is a group of three caverns, connected by a low, natural arch, and having in the foreground a remarkable group of detached rocks, pinnacles, and large boulders. A cascade — the water fall- ing exactly over the entry of one of the caves, which is situated between two others, all visible from the same point, produces a variety of rock scenery only to be met with in the Channel Islands in this remarkable bay. In H THE NEEDLE ROCK, PLEMONT. COTTE A LA CHEVRE. 99 front of the caverns, and on the rocks immediately adjacent, is a wide expanse of perfectly smooth and unbroken sand, over which the water ripples gently with the advancing or receding tide. Past this singular group the opening to another fine cavern is seen, but the cavern itself is not very easily entered, owing THE COTTE X LA CHEVRE. to the intervention of large and rather deep pools of salt water. Other broken rocks and partial caverns are observ- able beyond, but they cannot be reached. About half a mile eastward of Grosnez Castle is an ancient cave-dwelling, H 2 IOC THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. called the “Cotte a la Chevre.” It has recently been ex- plored by Mr. Sinel, the author of the chapter on Zoology in this work. A large quantity of flint chippings and many completed implements of the stone age were discovered em- bedded in a pure white china clay forming the floor, the result of a decomposition of the feldspar from the granite sides and roof. The “Cotte,’' which is about ioo feet above the sea-level, is situated at the extreme end of a promontory, and is reached by an easy winding pathway. Fishermen make use of it for storing tackle. From a path on the cliffs, at some height above the sea, the hardy pedestrian may still pursue his investigations, and he will discover many other fiords that occur with singular regularity and parallelism between this point and Cape Grosnez. It would be quite impossible to communicate an idea of the wild grandeur of this scenery, for it must be very nearly approached to be at all understood, and is not an excursion fitted for those who are timid or delicate. The inlets are narrow ; but in some a rocky islet breaks the water into foam, and increases the savage character of the view. Most of them are floored with vast masses of granite, some angular, some rounded ; and they all enter at right angles to the coast, with a degree of formal squareness very singular, and only to be understood when we consider their origin and the peculiarly systematic character of the veins of soft rock that once penetrated the granite, and whose former existence they now mark. The headland called Grosnez is marked by a picturesque ruined arch,* and the views from it are extremely striking. It is the north- westerly point of Jersey. Nothing certain is known of the history of Grosnez Castle, either as to its foundation or destruction. From excavations recently made, and from the style of the ruined archway, it is probable that it dates from the fourteenth century . A tradition exists that during the Wars of the Roses Sir Philip De Carteret held the castle against the French under the Count de Maulevrier. One thing, however, is certain: from an enquiry held in 1607 we gather that the oldest inhabitants of the island always re- membered having seen the castle in ruins. * See the vignette, referred to in the Index of Illustrations. PINNACLE ROCK. IOI From Cape Grosnez, round to the south-west, the cliffs continue almost vertical, and are extremely broken ; but not in the same manner, or with the same regularity, as on the other side. The inlets are more rugged and wider, but hardly more easily reached ; and a horizontal vein of basalt is the cause of a step-like appearance at the point called Rouge Nez, which is very striking. A little further we reach one of the most singular isolated rocks in the island. It is called the Pinnacle rock, and is almost detached, although a grassy slope still remains connecting it with the cliff behind. This grand pinnacle rises almost vertically out of the sea, and cannot be less than 150 to 180 feet in height. It is entirely granite, but presents a singular appearance of parallel layers of rock, inclining inland. A sketch of it will be found in the chapter on Modern Geology, taken from a picturesque headland a little to the north. The land in this part of Jersey is high, and nearly level, but not cultivable near the sea. It is called Les Landes, and is covered with tufts of heather, with a small growth of furze, but there is no great thickness of soil, and occasionally some tracts of marsh intervene. The cliffs are at first precipitous, and continue so for nearly two miles beyond Cape Grosnez, when they fall back a little, and a transverse valley opens, through which a good road runs into the interior. At this angle of the cliff is the remarkable and prominent rock called l’Etac.* Few single rocks on the coast of Jersey are more pic- turesque than this detached pyramid. It is not very lofty, but in form — in the associated cubical and broken blocks of granite behind — the martello tower below — the roads winding and twisting to the bottom, and the houses of the little village clustered by the roadside — the floor of rocks, black with seaweed, spreading out far into the sea — and the mixture of a certain amount of vegetation with all these sources of the picturesque — in all these points the picture is one not easily forgotten. * V Etac — le Tas , the heap, as in Sark, where the same word is changed to FEtaL The shape of l’Etac is pyramidal, and seen at a distance it has the form of a pile of stones. 102 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. At l’Etac the bay of St. Ouen opens. It is without ex- ception the grandest, the most picturesque, and the least visited of all the Jersey bays.* Stretching across, in one noble sweep of more than five miles, from north to south, and receding to a range of hills forming a semi-elliptical background, nearly four miles in its shorter semi-diameter, this magnificent bay is almost everywhere covered with sands, half a mile wide at low water. The coast is, how- ever, broken by several rocks, which become more and more prominent towards the south, and there terminate at the Corbieret — a group of very grand and picturesque rocks, jutting out into the sea with extreme boldness, Of these we shall speak again presently. Beyond the sands at this, the south-western, as well as the south-eastern extremity of the island, is a far-spread floor of granite, out of which project many rocky pinnacles. Elsewhere in the bay the hills rise gradually and gently, and are covered to their summit by blown sand, whose intense whiteness and bril- liancy, and the total absence of any other than a thin, grassy vegetation, insufficient to hold back the sands, is one of the most marked characteristics of this singular district. It must not be supposed, however, that the sands on the slopes near St. Ouen’s Bay are without signs of life. At short intervals in most parts, but especially in the middle, where the granite has been replaced by a kind of rotten shale, there is evidently good soil and fair cultivation. Numerous farm- houses are dotted over the wide plain, and are seen on the rising hills ; and there is thus by no means the air of desola- tion that a sandy waste suggests. The hills that enclose the bay are, perhaps, from ioo to 150 feet in height, and they slope at first rapidly, and afterwards more gently, to a wide stretch of perfectly flat ground, defended from the sea * The latter statement applies only to the stretch of the bay towards the Cor- biere. The small village of l’Etac is one of the common resorts of tourists and islanders, for summer pic-nics ; but the distance from St. Helier’s leaves little time to explore the coast. f Many of the common names of rocks are the same in all the islands, and for a manifest reason. The Corbiere is the haunt of the cormorant here, as in Guernsey, and the Moie, an adjacent headland, has the same reason for its name as in that island. L’Etac, also, we have already explained, is a corrup- tion of Le Tas. THE CORBIERE ROCKS. 103 only by the ridge of sand-hills near the present high water line and a small sea-wall. There is every evidence of the land having formerly extended further out to sea ; and the roots of trees are occasionally drifted in, after heavy south- westerly gales, whilst from ancient documents it is almost certain that a manor and castle called La Brequette once existed on the land now covered by the sea, and that the ruins were still visible in recent times. Near the centre of this flat tract is St. Ouen’s Pond, inhabited by several kinds of fresh-water fish. The southern part of St. Ouen’s Bay is extremely bold. About a mile before reaching the Corbiere is a picturesque little fort on a rock, detached at high water, called La Rocco, built in 1800. Beyond this and connected with it, are ledges of granite projecting into the sea. For a long distance there are no intervals between the rocks, except a number of narrow channels intersecting them in long lines, parallel and at right angles to each other. Some of these channels are used as cart roads for the seaweed, at extreme low water, but they soon fill with the rising tide, and then form serious obstacles, preventing any advance on foot from point to point. As we approach the Corbiere the scenery becomes very striking, although the cliffs are not lofty. Looking back before reaching the rocks, across some of the deep inlets running into the land, views of the most varied and extreme beauty are obtained. The Corbiere rocks, represented in the engraving on p. 104, upon which is seen the lighthouse erected in 1874, are detached at high water, but a broad cemented causeway connects them with Jersey during a large part of each tide Their varied and broken outline, whether seen from the sea or the neighbouring shore, is always in the highest degree picturesque. They rise in majestic grandeur, forming a fine extremity to the island in this direction, and group well with every rocky bit of coast with which they are seen. Beyond the Corbiere the cliffs rise very rapidly and very boldly, and the view of them obtained from the rocks is wild and magnificent. The most remarkable object be- tween them and La Moye Point is a nearly detached pro- THE CORBIEiRE ROCKS. LA MOVE POINT. 105 montory, resembling the little Coupee of Icart in Guernsey; but yet more striking, owing to the presence of two high pinnacles of granite projecting from it — one of these over- hangs the sea, and both are highly picturesque. A spout- ing-hole or “ souffleur,” not much known, and, by the ap- pearance of the small chimney-aperture, probably of recent formation, is to be found in the rocks below these pinnacles. This chimney communicates with a small cavern below, and when the tide is high and a heavy sea rolling in, a PROMONTORY AT LA MOYE. column of spray ascends through the aperture to a height of several feet ; whilst the noise caused by the air filling the vacuum as the waves in turn recede can be distinctly heard from the cliffs above and at a considerable distance. The above is a view of this headland. At La Moye Point is a funnel-shaped chasm or shaft some 100 feet deep communicating with the sea below, called La Fosse Vourin, of which an illustration is given elsewhere. 106 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. From La Moye there is an exceedingly broken coast for some little distance, the most remarkable part of which is a little natural recess in the cliff, called Beau Port, presenting examples of wild rock scenery that can be visited at all times and seasons, by anyone who is prepared to walk half a mile over moorland. Turning off from the road to the Corbiere, a little before reaching the sixth milestone from St. Helier’s, a path leads to within a few a hundred yards of this remarkable spot. Within an area of a few acres there are several pinnacle rocks and aiguilles of all sizes and pro- portions — noble, rugged and picturesque masses projecting into the sea, and huge fallen fragments, forming caverns, with entrances like those to Egyptian temples. In one place there is a singularly-grotesque figure, accurately re- sembling a human head, of Titanic proportions, placed im- mediately over such a doorway, and looking down upon a sea of fragmentary rocks, fallen from above. There arc few things in Jersey better worth seeing than this, by those who can appreciate savage rocky grandeur, such as Salvator Rosa might have loved to paint. From all the projecting headlands in this neighbourhood views are obtained of St. Brelade’s most beautiful bay ; but before reaching that bay there is another delicious little cove, called Bouilly Port, sandy, like St. Brelade’s, but with fantastic rocks jutting out from the ground to some height. The cove is terminated towards St. Brelade’s by a waste of similar rocks, with deep gullies traversing them and cutting into the interior. The rocks are called the Creux Fantomes - — the fairy caves — and deserve this fanciful name. St. Brelade’s Bay extends from Les Jutures, about a mile from La Moye Point, as far as Le Fret Point. From near the church, which is situated on the westernmost extremity of the bay, to a rocky point, called La Cotte, which projects into the sea, is a space nearly a mile across, covered by a level expanse of sands, unbroken by a single stone larger than a small pebble. At high water a large part of these sands is covered ; but at all times, and under all circum- stances, there is enough sand to give a character to the bay, and contrast well with the hills that rise in sweeping and fine lines on all sides. St. Brelade’s is eminently pleasing; ST. aubin’s bay. 107 it has few features of grandeur, but is admirably adapted for residence ; and several pretty houses and villas are dis- tributed over it. It is not in any sense monotonous, though very regular ; and is well worthy of a prolonged visit. A view of the bay, and the rocks and headlands beyond, is given at the end of this chapter. A wide tract of open table-land, more or less cultivated in places, but chiefly covered with furze and heather, sepa- rates St. Brelade’s from St. Aubin’s bay. At the eastern extremity is a smaller tower — Noirmont Tower — which serves as a sea mark ; and between Fret Point and Noir- mont is a little picturesque bay, open to the south, having a single rock of good size, called Janvrin’s Tomb,* upon which is built a martello tower rising boldly out of the centre. It is called Portelet Bay, and is enclosed by bold hills and cliffs. The eastern side of the promontory we are now describ- ing forms the western boundary of St. Aubin’s Bay. Al- most two miles from Noirmont Point is the small town of St. Aubin’s, with its diminutive harbour and fort. This part of the coast is bold and fine ; and in clear weather commands noble views of the bay and St. Helier’s, Eliza- beth Castle and the Hermitage rocks forming a back- ground, to the exclusion of the straight lines of the harbour. St. Aubin’s is a small, neat town, with good roads from it in two or three directions. It lies in the entrance of a pic- turesque valley running up towards the dreary Quenvais and nearly reaching St. Peter’s church. On a small islet near the harbour is the little fort just alluded to, bearing about the same proportion to the town it defends that its sister castle of Elizabeth does to St. Helier’s. St. Aubin’s Bay is wide and recedes considerably ; but, although the hills rise well and are covered with houses and villas, the general effect is not particularly good. On fine days in summer, the rich clothing of vegetation gives great beauty, but the lines of the high land are too straight * A tradition exists that a sea-faring captain, having died of the plague as his vessel was entering the roadstead, was buried on this mound. io8 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. and too unimportant to justify the terms of admiration sometimes used in describing the bay.* Elizabeth Castle, and the adjoining Hermitage Rock, are among the prominent objects from St. Helier’s, and form an important feature in every view of St. Aubin’s Bay. The approach to the castle from the shore at low tide is along a natural causeway of loose pebbles, accumu- lated owing to the meeting of the tides. It is called the Bridge, is nearly a mile in length, and a cemented pathway has recently been constructed over the pebbles. The castle is large, and contains barrack accommodation for five hun- dred men, besides stores. A detachment of Royal Artillery is stationed there constantly. A fine view is obtained of St. Aubin’s Bay from the keep, which is merely a shell of masonry, built round a rocky pinnacle to prevent escalade. Upon the site of Elizabeth Castle once stood a monastery, confiscated with the rest of the abbey lands in the island during Henry VIII.’s reign. The fortress of Mont Orgueil having been condemned on account of its situation, being easily assailable by land, in 1551, in the reign of Edward VI., Elizabeth Castle was commenced. In 1586 the upper ward was built, and a few years later (1594) the fortifica- tions were considerably strengthened, Queen Elizabeth herself contributing 500 pounds towards the expenses. The lower ward was built 1626, whilst that portion nearest the land, called Fort Charles, was added during the Civil Wars. The style is that of the Tudor period, preserving many of the characteristics of a fortress of the middle ages. The principal episode in its history occurred during the Civil Wars, as will be related in another chapter, when * No doubt this opinion of St. Aubin’s Bay is very different from the one generally recorded. Like so many other bays, it has been compared by its admirers with all the standards of bay beauty ; and it is certainly calculated to please, by its wide, calm sweep, those who come to it for the first time after a disagreeable excursion across Channel. It really wants, ^however, many essential elements of the picturesque, and is not equal to many of the other Jersey bays. Thus : St. Ouen’s, s^en from a near point, is grander ; Grouville is more varied ; and almost all the bays on the north side of the islands are wilder and more effective. None of them, however, really resemble thosfe bays where the land behind is either richer cultivated or mountainous, because table- land of no great elevation is a characteristic feature of the island of Jersey, and is never lost sight of. ELIZABETH CASTLE. 109 Charles II. and his brother, the Duke of York, resided there. Many and interesting are the historical recollections con- necting this fortress with the troubles of those times. Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, who accompanied the young Prince Charles in exile, there wrote the greater por- tion of his celebrated History of the Rebellion, whilst the poet Cowley and many other courtiers also found safe refuge within its walls. On another of the three or four isolated rocks of this group is an ancient building called the Hermitage, an inter- esting piece of masonry of remote antiquity, said to have been the dwelling-place of St. Helier the Hermit, an ascetic, who was murdered by Norman pirates in the sixth century. The town of St. Helier hence derives its name. It would seem that this rock must formerly have been much larger, and it was perhaps connected with one adjoin- ing, but the sea has made great inroads. There are re- mains here of an old cliff, consisting of angular rocks mixed with sand, which distinctly point to the time when the sea had not yet separated this rock from the land of Jersey. Elizabeth Castle and the Hermitage are both figured in this volume. We have now described the whole coast of the beautiful island of Jersey, and have endeavoured to indicate the various points most interesting, as well as those most re- markable for picturesque beauty. It is the coast of a table- land, having few valleys in the ordinary sense of the word, but wonderfully indented, wherever the cliffs come close to the shore. To these indentations belong small coombs, ter- minating within a few hundred yards of the shore, some- times with small short ravines ; but very frequently these are mere fiords or canals, having lofty vertical walls, terminating abruptly. Occasionally, water falls over the edge in picturesque cascades, and at various points are caverns, not of large proportions, but abounding in wild beauty. Where the coast is less broken there are bays, some small and rocky, with pebble beaches ; others sandy, but all beautiful. The larger bays are sandy ; and between each of them and the table-land is an interval of flat land, subject to the drift of blown sands. I IO THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. The interior of Jersey is altogether on a larger scale than Guernsey, and has little resemblance to that island. Round most of the western side, the greater part of the southern, and the southern half of the eastern, the land near the sea is either low and flat, or rises only in sand hills from the shore, so that here, as we have just intimated, there is a belt of country nearly flat, and more or less fertile, accord- ing to the absence of sand, and the predominance of de- composed rock. As the rock on the western side is chiefly shale or imperfect slate, and on the eastern side some variety of quartz rock, there is a good natural expla- nation of the difference. The same peculiarities of physical condition greatly affect the drainage, so that while a good deal of water passes over the high land, and descends the hillsides, comparatively little reaches the sea. Jersey may be divided naturally into table-lands, gene- rally cultivated to the edge ; sand-covered hills, generally barren ; sandy plains, with a very light soil, well adapted to certain kinds of cultivation ; and valleys. There are also granite promontories at the south-eastern and south- western extremities, and one or two spurs of granite pro- jecting beyond the table-land into the bays. The table-lands are by no means flat, uninteresting plains, as is the case on a small scale in Guernsey, Sark, and Alderney. They are broken by small winding valleys, and these are traversed by small streams, of sufficient power to turn mills while descending, but generally losing themselves when they enter the plains. Of the whole number, St. Peter’s Valley is one of the prettiest ; and this, with the valleys leading to Greve de Lecq and Les Mouriers, both opening to the north and commencing at the head of St. Peter’s Valley, nearly divides the island into two unequal halves. The Mill-brook, running through the middle of the island, and a small brook behind St. Helier’s, are less important, but point out the position of many pretty dells and small dips, all of which, as well as the course of the larger streamlets, are covered with vegeta- tion, and offer innumerable picturesque morsels of scenery that the artist would love to sketch, and that form the delight of the tourist. So varied and so pretty, and also so CHURCHES. I I I easily accessible are all these beauties, that they are in many cases the only things seen in the island by the hasty traveller. They differ chiefly from English scenery in Devonshire and elsewhere, by occupying a much smaller space, and being, therefore, more quickly changed as we pass from point to point. At short intervals throughout the higher parts of the island, as well as in the valleys, there is a constant succession of houses, generally sur- rounded by cultivated ground. We miss, however, in travelling through Jersey, the pic- turesque old cottage, with its round arched doorway, and its patch of garden, covered with fuchsias, geraniums, ver- benas, and myrtles. In no respect is the difference of climate more marked that in this. Such plants grow freely and well ; but they apparently want more shelter and care than in Guernsey, and are certainly far less common and far less characteristic. The houses through Jersey are unpicturesque, and even if thatched, the style of thatch is formal and unpleasing. In this respect the larger island is greatly inferior to the smaller. There are several principal roads through Jersey, all of course diverging from St. Helier’s, and most of them at once rising, but all communicating with each other on the high ground by good cross-roads. The main roads which run nearly parallel to each other are due to the exertions of a former Lieutenant-governor, General Don, who held office from 1806 to 1814, and to whose memory a monument has recently (1885) been erected in the Royal Parade. Very numerous lanes wind about in every direction, apparently without other purpose than to deceive the traveller, as it is safest to conclude that they do not lead in the direction they would seem to do. What they want in utility is, however, fully made up in beauty. They are planted with trees on each side, and all objects that can be seen at a little distance are framed or buried in tree vegetation in the most singular manner. Most of the churches are ugly, and have been restored in the worst taste. Nevertheless, some are not unpic- turesquely situated, whilst there are remains of archi- tectural decoration showing that they were not always the I 12 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. whitened sepulchres they now appear. More will be said of them in another chapter. In the interior of St. Helier’s parish church is to be seen a fine monument, erected in 1784 by the States of the island to the memory of that brave young officer, Major Peirson, the hero of the Battle of Jersey. It is of superb white marble, and is due to the chisel of the sculptor Bacon. In the cemetery hard by are interred the remains of Baron de Rullecour, the com- mander of the French on that occasion. Although in various parts of the island there are houses of some pretence and considerable size, there are few that call for special description. One or two of the manor- houses are interesting, but even these are too much modernised to admit of more than casual mention. Per- haps the manor-house of St. Ouen is not the best, but it is certainly the one most talked of. It is a large rambling pile of building, approached through an arched gate- way, of the time of Henry the Seventh. The central part is more modern, being of the date of Charles the Second, and the wings are recent, and of no style whatever. The whole exterior has been restored by its present owner. The hall is a fair specimen of its date, and there is a good oak staircase. There is also a small, square massive tower in the building, probably the oldest portion. This manor has long been held by the De Carteret family, and is now in the possession of Colonel Malet de Carteret, Lieutenant-Bailiff of Jersey, to whom it has descended, and who assumed the name and titles of the family by Royal Letters Patent. A formal garden is laid out. in front of the house ; but this is more modern than the building. The manor-house of Longueville, near Grouville, and that of Samares, both remain. The former is the best, and has a pretty doorway. The Manor of Rozel is most picturesquely situated. It has been rebuilt of recent years in an exquisite Gothic style, and is the seat of the Lempriere family. Trinity Manor is also worthy of mention. In various parts of the island are low hills of artificial origin, locally called “ Hougues. ,, Most of these, perhaps all, are extremely ancient, and some of them cover crom- lechs. JERSEY. Statute Miles. Gr*Mc Wm imm . r L.j~e \ ' ’mik'*'*' JLel'oriX, Jl Cojnbrai i ■■ Ie Handing NoHKWrst^h .. ArsfirtAl^ ' s •VGle ej iNouaLLOc *§s L Telegraph. Towei Ho mFLIQUET iy/sjffT»f e 1 ^Mog t _delj^Mare, p^ll £ y/ 2&mii au Guet if Ej S'-fetcre / ^ .Barraeks' *’ gS^i WbSE$&Q: Tower SiVvS > uxrd. „ _ ^ppAnns/’ort. ..Mh» cuoMitcfn®?'! • cl Auvergne , ” / 1 // 2 g§&\_ CHE* 'Oeillert rosseR* • J *? 6 '^ ! d^ r « n ^ Grew d 'Azette s S $ *r ''frMt'f oq s Ne ic how sw IeMEBTFS' Samarez) /.aAIot LA 1I0UGUE BIE. 113 One of these, situated in Grouville parish, is called La Hougue Bie, and sometimes the Prince's Tower. In fine weather the whole of the eastern part of the island, and the seas adjacent, may be clearly distinguished from it. One is astonished at first to find that so very slight an eleva- tion as it possesses should give such a result, and the more so, as the view from the foot of the tower is very limited. The great extent to which Jersey is wooded ; the fact that the trees, though well grown, are nowhere lofty ; and the fact that this part of the island lies naturally rather high, together account for the effect. In the tower itself, and the tumulus or hillock on which it stands, there is little to remark. A tradition, or rather a legendary narrative, said to be found in the “ Livre Noir de Coutances,” relates how, in the island of Jersey, there was a moor or fen, which took its name from that holy man St. Lawrence, and in this fen lay a huge serpent, which did great mischief to flocks and herds, but which no man dared to attack. A brave Nor- man seigneur, hight De Hambye, undertook to rid the island of the pest, and ventured across the raging seas from Normandy, taking with him a single servant. The knight of Hambye slew the serpent and cut off its head. The wicked servant seeing this, thought that if he killed his master and vaunted himself as the slayer of the dragon, he might woo the widow. All which he did. He mur- dered his master in his sleep, and then told his lady that the terrible serpent had destroyed her lord, but that he, the faithful servant, had killed the dragon. The knight, he added, had, with his last words, praised the valour and fidelity of his servant, and sent by him a mes- sage to his lady, enjoining her, as she loved his memory, to become the wife of so true a follower. So the wife gave her hand to the knave, to whom speedy retribution was to come. As the varlet was sleeping he was disturbed by a dream, and he cried out in his sleep, “ Oh! wretch that I am ; I have killed my master ! ” This he did, night after night, till the lady suspected his crime and took him to trial, where he was condemned. Then, on the spot where her true husband was killed, she had him buried, and over his remains, in token of her affection, caused this mound to be I ST. brelade’s bay. ADMIRAL D’AUVERGNE. US raised — and herself retired to a convent. Often, so the story goes, she crossed the sea from the neighbouring coast to visit his tomb and kneel by his beloved remains. Several chapels were erected on the mound by Richard Mabon, the last but one of the Roman Catholic deans of Jersey, who was appointed in 1512, and died in 1543. The subsequent history of the Hougue will account for the upper structure, called Prince’s Tower. After changing hands many times, it became the property of Philip D’Auvergne, titular Duke of Bouillon, a Peer of France, and Admiral of the British Fleet, an interesting account of whose stormy life will be found in Burke’s “ Vicissitudes of Families” (1869). Admiral D’Auvergne held the com- mand of the Jersey Naval Station from 1794 to 1813, and it was during this period that he built the present tower, which served as a naval outlook and a casual residence. The view from the Prince’s Tower is rather pleasing than strikingly beautiful. On three sides the sea is seen, and the numerous rocks that bristle up round the island form a curious fringe to the green clothing of its surface. The breaking up of the surface into hills, and the numerous little resulting valleys and gorges which form the real beauty of the island, are hardly perceived, and the eye wanders from point to point, over an alternation of wooded and culti- vated patches, which towards the west form a fine horizon. Towards the north the rocks called the Dirouilles are clearly made out, and to the south-east and south, the line of the French coast is distinguished readily enough, the Chausey Islands and Minquiers, in those directions, mark- ing the peculiar dangers of the navigation of these waters. The adjacent bays stretching from St. Catherine’s, round the south-east point of the island, to St. Aubin’s and Noirmont Point, may be traced, and the old fortress of Mont Orgueil is recognised as a landmark. CHAPTER VI. THE CHAUSEY ARCHIPELAGO AND THE MINQUIERS. This southern group contains but little land permanently above the level of the water ; but it includes a vast extent of shoals, broken rocky islets, ledges of rocks, and reefs, producing an exceedingly dangerous sea, traversed by a few channels of small width. Together, these rocks form a broken line ranging about W.N.W., extending from near Granville to the outermost group, called the Roches Douvres. The part nearest Granville and the French land is the highest out of the water, but the middle portion, including the great bank of the Minquiers, is the largest and the most dangerous. For thirty miles out from the French coast, in the direction of these rocks, there is no water ten fathoms deep, and there are few safe passages even for small ships. Beyond this is an open space of about twenty miles, terminating with the outlying groups of rock, which rise abruptly from tolerably deep water. The “ Plateau des Minquiers ” is the name of a group of rude, irregular, dreary, dangerous rocks, rising like needles out of the sea, and connected by ledges of shingle and sand, and beds of mud, the whole occupying a space nearly nineteen miles from east to west, and nearly ten from north to south. This bank connects eastwards by shoals and shallow water with the Chausey Islands and the French coast, there being nowhere ten fathoms of water in the interval. The extreme distance from the east end of the Minquiers bank to the French coast, a little north of Granville, is eighteen miles. The north side of the bank lies about twelve miles south of St. Helier’s, and the south side eighteen miles north of St. Malo. MINQUIER ROCKS. II 7 The highest rock of the Minquiers, called the “ Mai- tresse lie,” lies in a direct line between St. Helier’s and St. Malo. It is the largest of the group, measuring about two hundred yards by fifty, and is seventy -two feet above high- water neap tides. There are several huts on it, and some traces of vegetation ; but it is only used as a resort for fishermen, and during the vraicking season. There is no spring of fresh water on it. A small cove near it affords partial shelter for small vessels. The rocks called “ Les Maisons,” at the western part of the group, are nearly as lofty as the Maitresse lie, but are smaller. A large extent of low rocks, called “ Les Faucheurs,” ranging nearly three miles from north-east to south-west, and a mile and a-half wide, occupies the central position among the Minquiers, but none of the rocks have any con- siderable elevation. Round the outer margin of the area of the plateau are a number of rocks and shoals, rising out of water nearly ten fathoms deep. They form long and very dangerous rocky ledges. There are also numerous sand and shingle banks, some of which are well known, and much resorted to by fishermen. It would be tedious and useless to describe the multitude of interruptions to navi- gation that occur in this complicated shoal. Another very dangerous range of banks and rocks occupies nearly the middle of the passage between the Minquiers and the Chausey Islands. The principal of these are called “ The Ardents ” in the English charts. They are visible only at low water. Two small groups of the Channel Islands and banks that we next refer to occupy nearly the same position with reference to the Minquiers that the island of Guernsey does to Jersey. One group is called “ Les Douvres.” It is a dangerous rocky ledge, with twelve rocky heads always uncovered, the whole within an area measuring about four miles by three. The highest rock is in the centre, and is nearly fifty feet above the water, upon which the French Government has erected a lighthouse with a flashing white light. About three miles south of the Douvres is another similar ledge, called the “Barnouic ” cf 1 1 8 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. about the same area, but lower, and even more dangerous, as the sea sometimes breaks over its whole extent. It lies rather more than twelve miles from the French coast. The Chausey Islands lie about eight miles west of the Rock of Granville, and nine miles north of Cancale. The distance of the principal island from Jersey is about twenty-eight miles ; but that, and others of the group, are seen from the cliffs near the Corbiere, where they form with the Minquiers a singular fringing reef on the horizon. The whole group of rocks and islands occupy an irregular area, measuring six and a-half miles from east to west, and five miles from north to south. The largest island, called La Grande lie, is the furthest to the south, and is the only one of any importance. Approaching the group from Granville the effect is very singular. At first one is inclined to imagine that a nearly continuous wall of rock forms a kind of natural break- water, parallel to the coast of the Cotentin. A nearer approach dissipates this impression. The rocks and islands are not lofty, and they are so regularly broken as to give them an appearance of battle- ments in a ruined state. Advancing near them, openings are seen in the apparent wall, which resolves itself soon into a chain of islets, so closely grouped as to admit of little more interval than would be sufficient for a boat to pass. They stretch along in a nearly straight line, and deep water is found immediately beyond this line ; so that one may sail almost close to them, paying due attention to tides and currents. All the islands are broken masses of granite rising a little above the highest sea level, and worn by water and weather, so as to have picturesque and even grotesque forms. On some of them are little towers, striped so as to be recognised ; on others are masts ; and on others, again, heaps of stones ; all these artificial objects being important sea marks. On two or three of the larger islands are huts — miserable habitations enough — serving as a temporary shelter for one or two herdsmen, who in summer resort here to pasture a few sheep or cows, on the tufty, wiry grass that grows on them. A large proportion of brain- CHAUSEY ISLANDS. I 19 bles, furze and broom seems to be mixed with the coarse herbage. Nearing the principal island (the Grande lie), several of the smaller ones are seen picturesquely grouped to the east ; and the appearance of these becomes very striking, when the channel is entered that separates this larger island from the others. They seem dotted about in a semicircle like some vast Druidical monument rising out of the sea and stopping further approach. Grande lie possesses a well-sheltered harbour, constructed in a small cove called the Sound of Chausey. The Grande lie de Chausey is rather less than two miles in length, but its form is exceedingly irregular ; and its greatest width much less than the length. The land con- sists of a number of low hummocks of rocky granite, decomposed in places, and covered with coarse grass, except where the rock juts out. These hummocks are connected by rocky causeways, some exposed and some covered at high water. The land descends by a somewhat easy slope to the small sound, where there is always good anchorage. To the north rises a hill called Gros Mont, and to the south the island terminates in a somewhat elevated cape known as the Pointe Marie. To the west is the succession of hills, one of which, called the Mont de Bretagne, is surmounted by the ruins of a fort erected during the seventeenth century, probably on the site of a monastery abandoned in 1 543. On the inner slope of these hills is the principal cultiva- tion of the island. There are here several houses and farm buildings, some enclosed fields and meadows, and an orchard. Near this point, also, are some quarries of remarkably fine, tough, hornblendic granite of excellent quality. The rest of the island is uncultivated and covered with fine close grass, mixed with many flowering plants and wild thyme, with occasional dog roses, crowned with flowers or berries. On the side of the rocks brambles are numerous, and the sheltered spots abound with pepper- mint, borage, and wild mustard. Part of the Mont de Bretagne formerly served as a burying-place, and has been planted with broom, which has thriven admirably. 120 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. Fresh water is obtained in the Grande lie from a remark- able spring which never dries, and which gives water of excellent quality, sufficient to supply ships as well as the in- habitants. The occurrence of a spring at this point, in so small an island, and with no adjacent high land, is a curious fact. Its water is probably supplied from the mainland through some vein. The granite appears to exist in bands or strata almost horizontal, but clayey and other mineral veins traverse these strata and other veins of mica and quartz have been noticed. The interstices of the rock are generally filled with a red friable stone, called rotten-stone. Spreading bays, with smooth sand beaches, covered with many shells and fragments of shells, separate the hills and hummocks on the west side; but all these beaches are partly covered with angular rocks and with boulders, more or less rounded, these latter marking the progress of weathering, and measuring in some degree the rate of destruction of the granite above. From the Gros Mont an excellent view of the Chausey Archipelago is obtained. At the highest tide, fifteen islands and about as many detached rocks may be counted, and these seem almost on a level with the waves. As the tide ebbs, the rocks become converted into islets, the islands become larger, higher, and more important, and are seen to be connected by rocks covered with various kinds of marine vegetation, among which is a large proportion of that singu- lar plant, the Zostera marina , serving in the place of grass to remove all appearance of the recent presence of the sea, and connecting the rocks into one large island, indented by a few channels. At the same time, numerous rocks, before quite invisible, appear above the surface, looking like the broken fragments of some mountain hurled into the sea. “ Blocks of every variety of form and size are grouped together in a thousand different ways, some rising into pyramids, others graduated and cut into irregular tiers of steps, others again heaped into confused masses, like the ruins of some giant structure ; at one place, appearing like colossal Druidical stones, at another, entangled together INHABITANTS. 1 2 I like the rude materials of some Cyclopean edifice, or else suspended, and so slightly poised that a breath of air seems sufficient to overthrow them.”* More than fifty distinct and detached rocks and islets can then be counted, although most of those seen at high water have become merged into a single island. A good deal of business is done on the Chausey Islands. Besides the farmers and farm labourers, there is a mixed population of stone-cutters, fishermen and barilla-collectors. Of these, the fishermen are the most important, and as many as seven or eight families of them are established on a small headland close to the Sound. Their habitations are primitive, consisting of huts, enclosed only by rough walls three or four feet high, the stones cemented by the mud or ooze of the Sound. The roofs of these huts are the remains of old boats turned upside down. In each of such miserable dwellings, ten or twelve feet long and not quite so wide, sleeps a whole family, consisting often of father, mother, sons, daughters, nephews and nieces, besides occasional friends from the mainland, attracted by the prospect of a day’s fishing. The principal fish caught is, however, no fish at all, but lobsters, of which each family is estimated to take annually from eight to nine thousand. They are sold at Coutances and thence conveyed to Paris. Besides the lobster fishing, shrimping is carried on by many of the women, who may be seen with their nets on their shoulders, following the indentations of the shore, and searching care- fully for their prey, under stones and rocks, and in little pools. This is, of course, only possible when the tide is out. The stone-cutters are the most numerous of the three classes of Chausey inhabitants, though this trade is fast de- clining. The material they work on is a pale blue granite, very hard, tough and durable. It is used not only in the neighbourhood, and at Granville and St. Malo, but is carried into the interior of France. Most of the quarry men are Bretons and live in wooden barracks. The sea- weed on the rocks round Chausey is largely used * “ Rambles of a Naturalist.” By A. de Quatrefages. Translated by E. C. Otte. Vol. I., p. 1 7. 122 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. in the manufacture of barilla, and supplies employment to an important section of the population. The fucus* is stripped from the rocks at low water, and collected into large masses, which, when the tide rises, are floated away as rafts to some convenient spot, whence at the next turn of the tide they are brought out of the reach of the waves, and scattered over the sands to dry. When dry, the whole is burnt, and the ashes melted in a small kiln. The produce in this state is the barilla of commerce. The population of the Grande lie is somewhat migratory, in the summer numbering over ioo. As the winter comes on, the barilla collectors are the first to depart — then the quarry-men gradually drop away, and lastly the fisher- men give up their occupation, leaving only a few farm labourers as tenants of these storm-beaten shreds of land, during the short days and the long dreary nights of winter. In former times these islands were more peopled, and were peopled by a different class than they are at present. Their name, like that of most of the other Channel Islands, denotes that they were known to, if not occupied by, the Northmen. An abbey, or religious house of some extent, was established on the Grande lie at an early period, and the island was then the resort of hermits. The abbey dates from the time of Richard, the first Duke of Normandy, and it was dependant on that of Mont St. Michel. After various changes, it was passed, in 1343, from the hands of the Bene- dictines to those of the Cordeliers, by Philip de Valois, then King of France. For two centuries it continued of some importance as an educational institution, the registry of the see of Coutances showing that three or four candi- dates were sent thence, on several occasions, for ordination. Subsequently, during the wars with England, the abbey was pillaged, and it was finally abandoned in 1543, after which, for a century, there would seem to have been no inhabitants except a few small proprietors who may have earned a scanty subsistence, but were too poor to tempt pirates. During the eighteenth century these islands were the rendezvous of * Fucus nodosus , F. vesiculosus , and F . serratus are the three kinds of vraic that yield the chief supply. HISTORY OF THE ISLANDS. 123 pirates and smugglers, so much so that in 1737 the French Government caused a guard-house to be built on Grand He, and in 1755 a fort was commenced. This guard-house was burnt in 1744 by Jersey privateers, who took possession of the land, and worked the quarries, shipping the stone to Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney, where it was employed for purposes of fortification. After the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle the islands were delivered up to France, but again, in July, 1756, the English landed and demolished the fort begun the previous year. During the years 1765 and 1766 the French Government constructed several forts, and France has since continued to hold the Chausey Archipelago. It was here that on December 30, 1780, Baron de Rullecour, with the French fleet, was driven through stress of weather, whilst contem- plating his attack on Jersey. Louis XV. granted the islands to a certain abbot named Nolin, but at the time of the French revolution the ownership was made over to the State. It has since passed into the possession of a private family named Hedoin ; the Government, however, retaining the forts. Chausey forms a parish of the diocese of Coutances. Several of the smaller of the Chausey islands are named, such as La Meule, lie Longue, &c., and some are very in- teresting to the naturalist. They are separated from neigh- bouring rocks and islets by narrow and deep valleys, with precipitous rocks on each side ; and at low spring tides they are so rich in marine zoology as to rival even the caverns of Sark. These have been admirably described in the work by M. de Quatrefages, already referred to, and the reader may turn with pleasure to “ The Rambles of a Naturalist ” for an account at once accurate and popular of those mar- vellous productions of the animal kingdom with which the rocky shores of all the Channel Islands especially abound. Chausey possesses a lighthouse, the light from which is visible over 25 miles at sea, being at an elevation of 120 feet. Of late years the fortifications have been considerably strengthened, which renders the harbour perfectly safe from attack. It is not easy to imagine that any evil can result to the larger islands of the Channel group, or to English interests from the conversion of Chausey into a stronghold. The position of this little archipelago in the deepest recess 124 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. of the great bay formed by the coasts of Brittany and Normandy no doubt enables a fortress placed there to command the approach to the adjacent land ; but the peculiar run of the tide, the vast extent of sand at low water, and the innumerable rocks further out at sea, are natural defences, superior to any that can be placed there by man. The English certainly ought not to complain because their neighbours endeavour to make the most of the very few and small advantages they possess in these islands, when we LA FOSSE VOURIN, JERSEY. consider the far greater importance and accessibility of the British possessions in the Channel. Alderney is not further from the French coast than the “ Grande lie” of Chausey ; but the one island is so placed as to command a great and wide channel through which a large proportion of the whole commerce of the world must pass, while the other is only approached by a few small and unimportant vessels, for it leads no\vhere, and can threaten nothing. CHAPTER VII. CLIMATE AND METEOROLOGY OF THE ISLANDS. CLIMATE depends entirely on physical geography. The geographical position of the Channel Islands indicates at once, to the physical geographer, the peculiarities that are likely to be presented in their climate and in the meteoro- logical phenomena to which they are subjected. Placed near the western extremity of the European continent, in a wide channel communicating without interruption with the Atlantic; situated nor far from the mainland, but within the influence of a group of much larger islands; enclosed with- in a bay, of which a part of the group forms one of the horns, and whose form greatly influences the tidal wave, — these conditions suggest causes of local climate, and, strange as it may seem, it is nevertheless an ascertained fact that, near as the islands are to each other and to the coast of France, their climates differ in many essential points. It cannot but be regarded as eminently fortunate that the two principal islands have had the advantages of syste- matic observations extending over several years. For the purposes of accurate comparison, the annexed tables are of the greatest value, containing the nearest approach to absolute results. The mean temperatures of Jersey and Guernsey are exactly the same. The spring, summer, and autumn tem- perature of Jersey is pretty uniformly higher than that of Guernsey. The general averages over the whole period of 126 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. observations point to the greater variability of temperature in Jersey. The rainfall in Guernsey is almost invariably heavier than in Jersey, as might indeed have been expected, since rain generally comes from westerly winds, and these deposit their moisture on the land they first approach. On the setting in of cold in Europe, after the close of autumn, it would seem inevitable that Guernsey should receive more rain than Jersey. It does so, as is evident by the tabulated results, showing in the year 38*64 inches, as against 34*21 for Jersey. On the whole, therefore, the climate of Jersey is drier and warmer than that of Guernsey, ELEMENTS OF THE CLIMATE OF JERSEY. ( Published with the sanction of the British Meteorological Society.) Means of Barometer and Temperature during the 20 years 1871-1890, AND RAINFALL DURING THE 25 YEARS 1866-1890, AT Jersey. MONTH. MEAN BAR. 8 A.M. TEMPERATURE. RAIN- FALL. INCHES. DAILY MAX. DAILY MIN. 1 ’ MEAN. 1 1 AT 8 A.M. DRY. WET. J anuary 30*022 45*8 38*3 42*1 41*8 40*4 3*21 February 30*007 46*9 39*3 j 43*i 42*3 41*0 2*55 March 29*961 49-5 39*9 44*7 44*o 42*0 2*33 April 29872 54*2 43*5 : 48*9 48*5 45-9 2*08 May 29*989 59*4 47*2 i 53*3 53*6 5o*5 I *87 June 30*010 64*6 52*5 I 58*6 58*6 55*8 1*91 July 30.001 68*3 56*2 62*3 62*0 58.9 2*40 August 29*984 68*8 57*i 63*0 62*8 59*6 2*24 September 29*988 65.4 54*8 6o*i 59*9 57*0 3*05 October 29*925 58*2 48*6 53*4 53*3 5o*7 4*45 November 29*928 51*9 44*i 48*0 47*7 45*8 4*30 December 29-985 47*3 39*3 43*3 43*i 41*4 3*82 The Year 29*973 567 467 1 517 [ 51-5 49*i 34*2i N.B. — Barometer reduced to 32 0 at mean sea-level. CLIMATE. 127 ELEMENTS OF THE CLIMATE OF GUERNSEY. (By A. Collenette, F.R. Met. Soc ., F.C.S.) Means of Barometer and Temperature during the 20 years 1871-1890, and Rainfall during the 25 Years 1866-1890, at Guernsey. MONTH. B\R. AT 8 A,M. DAILY MAX. TEfr DAILY MIN. iperature. AT 8 A.M. RAIN- FALL. INCHES. IV1 Alt l \ IN • DRY. WET. January ... 29*989 46*0 387 42-5 43*9 4 i *4 3*80 February 29-983 46-3 39 ’° 42*8 437 41*9 2*89 March 2 9'953 48*0 397 437 45*2 42*8 2*29 April 29*870 5 r 5 4 i *3 467 48*5 45*4 2*27 May 30*003 52*8 44‘5 5°‘3 51*8 46*2 2*15 June 30*072 64*2 44 * 1 55 '° 56*6 53*3 2*04 July 3°' 00 3 64-5 53*3 58-9 60 *3 57*5 2*40 August 29*987 65-1 54*4 597 6i*i 57*2 2*47 September ... .. 29*993 62*4 527 57'5 59*5 56*8 3 ‘ 3 i October 2 9‘934 57 *i 44*1 5 i *3 53*5 50*6 5*53 November 29-922 51*2 43*8 42-5 48*0 46*1 4*80 December 29-989 48-4 407 43 - 8 44*7 41*8 4*49 The Year 29*975 54'8 44-6 49*5 5 i *5 48*4 38-64 N.B. — BarOxMETER : — Fortin’s pattern. Standard. Corrected at Kew. The readings are corrected for all errors and reduced to sea-level. Thermometers : — These instruments are all standards with Kew corrections. They are placed in a Stevenson’s stand. All consist of the regular mercurial and spirit patterns. Rain Gauge : — A 5 -in. turned rim, certified by G. Symons, Esq. The station is 275 feet above sea-level. whilst the summer in Jersey is hotter and the winter colder than those of the sister isle. In comparing the climate of these islands with that of Greenwich or other stations in the United Kingdom, the difference in the elements will give but little idea of the nature or the extent of the whole difference that exists be- tween the two climates. It is quite possible for two stations to have the same mean annual temperature, the summer in 128 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. the one being very hot and the winter very severe, while in the other the summer and early autumn are cool and uniform and the winter and spring extremely mild. This latter is the case of the Channel Islands, and it is this undoubted mildness of climate, combined with the equable condition of the temperature, which renders them so favour- able as a health and winter resort. The advantageous position of these islands from this point of view may be realised from the golden recommen- dations of the Sunshine Records. The Channel Islands as represented by Jersey are indisputably the sunniest spots in the kingdom. A recent report published by the Meteorological Office says: “Jersey is the only station recording in any month, on the mean of the ten years, an average of even one-half of its possible duration of sunshine ; 52 per cent, was registered there in May and 55 per cent, in August. The highest figure for any other station was only 48 per cent. ” For Guernsey we have no record of its sunshine. The table on pages 130-1 gives the records of bright sun- shine for Jersey from April, 1880, to December of last year. The following table for purposes of comparison may prove useful : — Total Annual Sunshine. (Average of 5 years — 1886-90). Hours. London (Westminster)... ... ... ... ... 1,043 Greenwich ... ... ... ... ... ... 1,201 Isle of Man 1 ? 557 Southampton ... ... ... ... ... ... i, 59 ° Plymouth ... ... ... ... ... ... 1,597 Ventnor... 1,625 Falmouth ... ... ... ... ... ••• 1,668 St. Leonards ... ... ... •• ••• ••• L685 Jersey ... ... ... ... ... ... ••• 1,838 Snow rarely falls in the islands, and still more rarely re- mains on the ground for more than a few hours. It is generally brought by a south-easterly wind, late in the season. Hail is more frequent, and occurs at all seasons. Thunder is often heard ; but electric storms often pass near CLIMATE. 129 the islands without actually bursting over them. Dense sea- fogs occur, especially in the months of May and June, when otherwise the weather is fine. The total number of days of thick weather during the year is, however, not large ; but when they occur, these fogs are exceedingly disagreeable and dangerous to steamers nearing the islands, surrounded as they are by so many and such dangerous rocks and shoals. Land fogs are of rare occurrence. During the spring and autumn remarkably heavy dews fall. The equability and duration of autumn in the Channel Islands are, in ordinary seasons, extremely remarkable. Storms, and occasional heavy rains, usher in this season, but they are not succeeded by cold. In the intervals, up to the end of the year, the weather is remarkably fine and genial, with no night frosts. From the 10th October to the end of the month is what is called St. Martin’s summer ; and the weather then is singularly agreeable. The same kind of weather often recurs in the middle of December. During the spring months the east, north-east, and north winds, and sometimes north-west winds, are frequent and violent, and often extremely disagreeable. They feel cold, but do not bring down the thermometer. They are often very dry. The night temperature is still comparatively high ; hoar-frost being rarely seen, except in exposed, bleak, and high positions, and in the months of January and February. February is as a rule the coldest month of the year. The days in summer are rarely hot, — the nights are cool and pleasant, almost without exception. The latter part of summer is generally fine and pleasant, passing into early autumn without perceptible change. It is the opinion of nautical men, based on long experi- ence, that the prevailing winds in the seas around the Channel Islands generally blow during winter from S.S.E. round towards the south, or from the N.N.W., the latter being predominant. During summer, and in both equinoxes, the winds are variable. Easterly winds are believed to last longer here than elsewhere, when they once set in during early spring. Southerly and south-westerly winds, during that period, are almost always accompanied or followed by K 13 ° THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. DURATION OF BRIGHT SUNSHINE AT JERSE’ ( Published with the sanction of tt January . Februtiry . March . April . May . June , f Years. Hours. Per Cent. Hours. Per Cent. Hours. ( Per Cent. H ours. ( Per Cent. Hours. ( Per Cent. Hours. 1 Pe Cer. l88o — — — — — — l8l 43 283 59 l6l — l88l IOO 37 76 27 135 36 134 32 266 56 257 5 < 1882 41 15 113 41 163 44 213 5 i 2 73 57 203 4 . 1883 70 26 114 41 174 47 229 55 246 52 246 5 : 1884 50 19 86 29 168 45 176 42 266 56 OO 10 5 ' OC OO 43 16 75 27 l60 44 217 53 245 52 214 4 — — 5 Yrs. (1881-5) 304 23 464 33 800 44 969 47 1,296 55 OO 1 -* 1 4 1886 69 26 72 26 128 35 175 43 207 44 259 5 1.887 IOO 37 109 39 173 48 228 56 199 43 298 6 1888 79 29 37 13 IO3 28 164 40 286 61 189 3 1889 74 27 66 24 I46 40 l6l 39 196 42 220 4 1890 55 20 123 44 141 39 179 44 247 53 193 5 Years (1886-90) 377 28 407 29 69I 38 907 44 M 35 49 M 59 < . — — 0 Years 1881 - 90) 681 25 871 3 i 1491 4 i 1,876 46 2431 52 2-337 1891 104 39 167 60 137 38 l8l 44 234 5 ° 239 1892 67 25 S 2 18 197 54 232 57 274 58 257 CLIMATE. 131 * 0 M APRIL, 1880, TO DECEMBER, 1892. eteorological Council.) July. August. September. October. November. | December. urs. Per Cent Hours. Per Cent Hours. Per Cent Hours Per Cent Hours. Per Cent Hours. Per Cent Years. 48 52 l66 38 151 41 II 6 35 74 27 31 12 1880 84 60 233 54 l8l 49 l6l 48 76 28 76 30 1881 20 46 239 55 170 46 II 4 34 68 25 30 12 1882 30 48 241 55 137 37 102 3 i 66 2 + 32 13 1883 72 36 258 59 179 48 133 40 86 32 24 10 1884 1885 ^9 60 266 60 163 41 IIO 33 45 1 7 59 24 — — — — — — — >5 50 1.237 56 830 45 620 38 34 i 25 221 18 5 Yrs. (1881-5) — — — — — — >8 56 206 47 *75 47 106 32 70 26 74 30 1886 >0 60 300 68 160 43 123 37 80 30 66 27 1887 4 32 215 49 202 54 152 46 5 i 19 75 30 1 888 3 49 211 48 196 53 114 35 47 1 7 60? 24? 1889 4 34 260 59 191 5 i 134 41 65 24 75 30 1890 46 5 Y ears 9 1,192 54 924 50 629 38 3 i 3 23 35 o 28 (1886-90) 48 10 Years \ 2,429 55 i >754 47 1,249 38 654 24 57 i 23 (1881-90) — — . - . — 5 5 i 190 43 i8 5 5 ° 154 47 100 37 99 40 1891 — 56 244 55 179 48 1 1 2 34 61 23 8 1 33 J 1892 IC 2 132 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. stormy weather, which does not change till the wind changes to north-west, in a direct course, going round from south by south-west and west. If the change is in the opposite direction, going round by the east, storms are almost sure to follow. The sunrises and sunsets of the Channel Islands, but especially the latter, involve at all seasons some of the grand- est and most beautiful atmospheric effects obtainable on the west coast of Europe. These sunsets are equally remark- able for the form and colour of the clouds, and the rapidity with which they change in these respects, and also for the softened tints of the sky. Seen from the cliffs on the south coast of Guernsey, or from the town of St. Helier’s in Jersey, they are often especially interesting. Curious effects of irregular refraction (mirage) are often observed in the islands, both from island to island, and from each island to the French coast. The line of sight is thus sometimes raised and sometimes depressed by as much as sixty or eighty feet, revealing objects that would otherwise be concealed, and placing others apparently much below their true position. Irregular refraction is generally the precursor of stormy weather. The French coast is not unfrequently seen from Guernsey with singular clearness ; objects on the shore of the nearest land (which is thirty miles distant) being perfectly recog- nisable ; and the form of the hills, and even the sweep of sands between low and high water mark, being made out by the naked eye. The land of Sark, only seven miles off, is not much better seen in ordinary weather than the more distant French coast on these occasions. This unusual clearness of the air is also a sign of approaching change. The climate of Guernsey is locally regarded as more bracing and less relaxing than that of Jersey ; while Sark and Alderney are looked on as still more bracing than Guernsey. The exact value of the popular expressions, “ bracing and relaxing air,” it would not be easy to express, as they involve more of personal feeling than of facts that can be expressed by figures, diagrams, or words. There cannot, however, be a doubt that the change experienced in removing for a time from Guernsey to Sark is strongly CLIMATE. 133 marked, and almost always favourable. How far a con- tinuance in the same place for a longer time would be of advantage seems doubtful ; but still the simple habits of life that prevail, the inducements to constant exercise in the open air, and the absence of a large population crowded into a small space, cannot but be favourable elements, and must produce their effect. The winds, although not always pleasant, ensure a thorough ventilation and incessant re- placement of the air ; so that, except in the immediate vicinity of decaying animal and vegetable matter, there can be no dangerous miasma. As a general remark, it may be safely assumed that all the islands are admirably adapted to restore the health and strengthen both mentally and bodily the overtaxed energies of the inhabitants of great cities. They afford a pure, clear atmosphere, containing a large quantity of saline matter and iodine, and the frequent high winds ensure a constant freshness, preventing the depressing effect sometimes accompanying humidity. The extreme beauty and variety of the scenery, and the infinite variety of interest offered to intelligent persons of all classes and of all pursuits, cannot fail to prevent the ennui that sometimes destroys the effect of a change of air and scene. For those who love wild nature, Sark, Guernsey, Alderney, and Herm, and the north of Jersey, are inexhaustible. For those who prefer gentler and softer beauties, the interior of Jersey is equally rich. END OF PART THE FIRST. This Chapter, treating of the Botany of the islands, has been revised by Mr. J. Piquet, of St. Helier’s, Jersey, who originally furnished Dr. Ansted with a great part of his information on this section.] CHAPTER VIII. THE VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS NATURAL TO THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. In a work like the present, where an attempt is made to combine a readable account of natural objects with scientific accuracy and technical detail, it is not very easy to treat the subject of Natural History. There is danger, on the one hand, of alarming the general reader by long catalogues of names, few of which have to him any definite meaning whatever ; and, on the other hand, a vague account of the peculiarities that maybe deserving of notice communicates no information of the smallest value to the student of Natural History. In previous editions of this work, lengthy catalogues of the known species are given, and though placing on record a large mass of valuable information for the naturalist, they are in some cases incomplete and in others slightly incor- rect. The present revisor has therefore considered it wise to eliminate most of these lists. The botanist in search of more extensive observations is referred to the original edition.* With regard to botany, a foundation of accurate know- ledge was laid in the “ Primitiae Florae Sarnicae,” published by Professor Babington, in 1839. This work gives a list nearly complete of the flowering plants and ferns, but con- cerning several important classes such as mosses, lichens, fungi, and sea-weeds, there is little information. Since then the number of recognised species, even of the flowering plants and ferns, has been considerably increased. On the other hand, many interesting species, such, for instance, as '* I n the lists given the islands in which the various species have been found are indicated by vowel letters, of which the meaning is as follows : — a = Alderney ; e = Guernsey ; i — Jersey. 138 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. Ranunculus ophioglossifolius , Althcea officinalius , Frankenia Icevis , Isnardia palustris , Centaurea calcitrapa , and Pilularia globulifera , have disappeared since that time by the drainage of marshes, the clearing of woods, and the reclaiming of the land near the sand dunes in St. Ouen’s Bay. Of the trees, the most characteristic species are, perhaps, the evergreen oak ( Quercus ilex ), and the elm ( Ulmus sp). The former is seen, especially in Guernsey, widely spread over the country. It is generally very well grown, and greatly serves to do away with the dreary, bleak aspect of winter and early spring, by its bright green foliage. There are, however, no woods properly so called, and few planta- tions, although the latter are increasing. A strong prejudice exists in the minds of the farmers of both islands against all kinds of ornamental wood, partly from fear of birds and partly from a notion that the presence of trees is un- favourable to the work of the farmer. The trees are nowhere lofty, but they are not often disfigured by the steady sweep of currents of air, as is com- monly seen by the sea-side. They generally retain their leaves much later in the year than in England, but do not burst into leaf in the spring much earlier. Besides the ilex and elm, the beech grows well, and is very common. Various kinds of firs and pines are seen, but they are not indigenous. The lime succeeds well as an ornamental tree, and gives much shelter, but is rather late in leafing. The white poplar grows rapidly and makes fine trees in a short time. There are various species of poplars found in the islands, and of late years the black \Populus nigra) has been extensively planted on hedges, as well as the evergreen oak, to shelter the apple orchards from the westerly winds which blow very strongly at times. The aspen (. Populus tremula) is a pretty species found in the woods, but sparingly. The willow is indigenous, and is much used, its young shoots being employed to tie up the fruit trees to the espaliers. The dwarf willow ( Salix fusea) is also found in swampy places in Jersey; it is a very characteristic species. A peculiar dwarf variety covers the fields in some parts of Guernsey. None of the wood grown in any of the islands can be considered as furnishing SHRUBS; 139 useful timber ; nor is it probable that, within the historic period, there could have been any large stock. Everything, however, seems to show that in former times, at least in Guernsey and Jersey, there were large tracts of forest land that have since been submerged. The timber thus grown was larger than could now be found. Alderney and Sark are very badly provided with trees ; and in Herm and Jethou there are hardly any. The common furze ( U lex europceus ) is one of the most abundant and prominent shrubs on the hillsides in all parts of all the islands, where not destroyed by cultivation. It is generally accompanied by the bramble ( Rubus sp .). The intense yellow of the blossom of the furze and the long shoots of the bramble produce a marked effect on the landscape, especially as the former continues in flower all the year. There is heather in some abundance, both in Jersey and Guernsey, but it is choked and concealed by the larger growth of the gorse. Both in Herm and Sark the hedges are loaded during autumn with the blackberry ; and in all the islands this fruit attains a size and flavour which may be considered remarkable. Another conspicuous shrub is the common Broom ( Saro - thamnus scoparius). The hillsides look gorgeous in May with its lemon-yellow blossoms. The sloe and hawthorn are covered with their delicate white blossom in the early spring, and add much to the beauty of the hedges at that season. The small shrub called “ Butcher’s Broom ” ( Ruscus aculeatus) is found very abundantly in the hedges and on the hillsides in all the islands, except Sark. It is always beautiful, owing to the bright metallic green of its hard prickly leaves ; but in autumn and winter, when covered with large scarlet berries, it is yet more remarkable. Various kinds of wild roses are to be found ; and it is curious, that while only one species is common to all the islands, each island has one species or variety peculiar to itself. The sweet briar is found in Jersey. The tamarisk (Tamarix gal lied) has been introduced into Jersey and Guernsey, and grows freely by the sea-side, especially near sandy bays. 140 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. Flowering Plants. The following is a list of the most interesting plants found chiefly in Jersey. Many of them are not found in England : — Hutchinsia petroea, Matthiola sinuata, Sinapis incana, Brassica cheiranthus, Cistus guttatus, Erodium moschatum, maritimum, Ononis reclinata, Lotus angustissimus, hispidus, Trifoluim strictum, incarnatum, Arthrolobium ebracteatum, Herniaria glabra, Polycarpon tetraphyllum, Hypericum linarifolium, Centaurea aspera, Hypochoeris maculata, Cicendia filiformis, Orobranche cserulea, arenaria, Scrophularia scorodonia, Bartsia viscosa, Linaria Pelisseriana, Echium violaceum, Armeria plantaginea, Orchis morio, laxiflora, Neottia oestivalis, Allium sphoero-cephalum, Trichonema columnae, Scirpus longus, Bromus maximus, diandrus, Knappia agrostidea, Lagurus ovatus, Cynosurus echinatus, Asplenium lanceolatum, Gymnogramma leptophylla, Adriantum Capillus veneris, Ophioglossum lusitanicum, Isoetes Hystrix. Both Jersey and Guernsey, but especially the latter island, must be regarded as wonderfuly rich in wild flowers, both in spring and summer. Very early in January the hedges and sheltered places begin to show symptoms of change. The pretty, round, fresh leaf of the navel-wort ( Cotyledon umbilicus ) is seen on every wall, and in the crevices of the rocks, and contrasts with the rich orange of the ever-flowering gorse in the hedges. The arum rises with its handsome leaf, and a number of familiar but pleasing little flowers show themselves. Soon the primrose covers every spare corner, with its delicate shade of yellow. The dog-violet, the wild hyacinth, the milkwort, and the pretty germander-speedwell, vary the scene with innumer- able spots of rich blue ; and the daffodil and narcissus rise boldly into notice, with their more decided and massive tones of golden yellow, and rich cream white. The little species of ixia ( Trichonema columnoe) is particularly remark- able among the spring flowers. The snowdrop is rare in Jersey and Guernsey. Formerly it was very abundant in WILD FLOWERS. 141 Jersey. Varieties of the buttercup, the common daisy, the ragged robin, with its delicate pink, and the white Carda- mime pratensis , afford never-failing contrasts to the green fresh grass; and several less common species of wild flowering plants may be found by the botanist in the Grande Mare and by Cobo, in Guernsey, or in the sands and marshes of St. Ouen s, St. Clements, and Gorey, in Jersey. A little later, many parts of both islands, situated in low and somewhat damp localities, are converted into perfect gardens by the innumerable multitudes of orchids, among which the deep purple of Orchis laxiflora, rare in England, is especially striking. Orchis morio , very like Laxiflora , but of dwarfer habit, is not uncommon in damp places on the high table-land ’ in the west of Jersey. In drier places, the handsome fox- glove is beautifully contrasted with the golden yellow of the ragwoit {flenecio, jacobcci). Of all the June flowers, none is perhaps prettier than the Pyrola rotundifolia peculiar (among the islands) to Guernsey, and chiefly found in the marshes near Vazon. During the whole ot summer there is a succession of beautiful flowers. The honeysuckle begins to shoot out its sweet scented blossom into the little bye-paths, almost inter- rupting them in some places, and mixing strangely with the sharp spiny branches of the bramble, whose flowers are now giving way to the still green fruit. The dog-rose and the other roses are also getting their red berries, and the sweet briar scents the air. Convolvulus, of various species, winds and twists its way through the foliage, sometimes showing its group of heart-shaped leaves, sometimes its white flower, like an elegant shallow cup of Etruscan pattern. The Silene maritima , with its fragrant white blossoms, is very conspicuous on the cliffs during the sum- mer months. Autumn brings its flowers also. The picturesque little Uquill (S cilia autumnalis ) will be found on the high ground, >ome orchids (flV cottia osstivalis and IV. auturviyialiV), with heir delicate scent, and a number of more striking, if not nore beautiful, kinds meet us at every turn ; while, up to mristmas and into the new year, the various thrifts and 142 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. other marine plants retain their flowers, and give life and animation to that otherwise dreary season. The sea-side, generally barren enough of flowering plants, is not without its rich ornamentation in these islands. The horned poppy ( Glaucium luteum ), with its large blossoms of the colour of yellow ochre, contrasts well with the purple flowers of the great sea stock ( Matthiola sinuatd) and the glaucous green of the Eryngium mari- timum; while amongst them appears the Convolvulus solda- nella , not the least pleasing member of the group, on the sandy commons near the shore. In the same localities the sea-kale ( Crambe maritima) is occasionally found, and also Diotis maritima , a very interesting cottony-looking plant. Everywhere, and at all times, the common weeds grow and flourish. The bindweeds ( Convolvulus arvensis and C. sepium ), the groundsel, and many others, rise, independent of rain or drought, sun or cloud. No month is too dreary, no day too inclement, for them ; but, if troublesome to the gardener and agriculturist, they keep up an appearance of life which renders the country always cheerful. Among the most curious plants of this kind may be mentioned the parasitic species called Cuscuta epithymum ) or dodder, which covers the furze with its curious web. Of useful plants, the samphire ( Crithmum maritimum) is common on the cliffs in Sark and the south of Guernsey, and also in Jersey. It is not much used. The house-leek (, Sempervivum tectorum ) covers the roofs of the thatched cottages, and is always green and pleasing. The salt-wort or glass-wort ( Salsola kali) grows freely on most of the shores. The hemp-weed or hemp-agrimony (. Eupatorium cannabium ), a common plant enough, was curiously recog- nised some years ago by some bushmen from South Africa, who happened to be in Guernsey, as the material from which they obtain an intoxicating substance for smoking. The navel-wort has been used for medical purposes (in epilepsy) with some success. A remarkable specimen of deadly nightshade ( Atropa belladonna ), grown accidentally in a garden in the town of St. Peter’s Port (Guernsey) some years ago, attained the proportions and appearance of a tree, and yielded a very large quantity of SEA-SIDE PLANTS AND WEEDS. H3 the poisonous drug (belladonna) for which the plant is sometimes cultivated. The Arum maculatum has long been known as capable of yielding a starch of the nature of arrowroot from the rhizome, by a treatment resembling that by which the real arrowroot is obtained in the West Indies. A species of Arum , introduced from Brazil, has been cultivated in Guern- sey with success, for a similar product. The plant Zoster a marina is remarkable as the only flowering plant known that grows in the sea, and comports itself as one of the algae, its long, bright green leaves often WATER LANE, Going down to Moulin IIuet Bay, Guernsey. covering the shore, and being mixed indiscriminately with various, kinds of sea-weeds. It is found in all the bays. The dried plant is used to some extent in the islands for the stuffing of mattresses. The accompanying engraving represents one of those extremely characteristic and exquisite morsels of scenery not indeed peculiar to the Channel Islands, but perhaps more striking there than elsewhere. The “ water-lanes ” of Guernsey have been already alluded to in the general de- 1 44 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. scription of that island. They illustrate especially the botany of the island, and belong therefore to the present chapter. In them the artist is sure to find material for his pencil, and the naturalist will feel equal interest in the wild profusion of vegetation and the many tribes of small animals that make such places their accustomed haunt. The water found in them is always running, and the shelter afforded by the larger vegetation is very favourable for the growth of delicate and rare species. Sedges , and other Pond and Marsh Plants. Among the sedges, there is none of more interest, as there is none of greater value to the islanders, than the Cyperus longus , which, under the local name of Han , is largely manufactured in Guernsey into various mats, pack- saddles, horse-collars, ropes, panniers, and other articles of daily use. It is found in all the principal islands, generally in damp meadows. The roots of this plant are elsewhere used as bitter and tonic remedies ; but they are not known to be employed medicinally in the islands. The rope made from it is especially valuable for crab-pots, and similar purposes in fishing, as it does not become coated by slimy vegetable growth in salt water, like ordinary rope. A very curious sedge-like plant is now common on the east margin of St. Ouen’s Pond, the seeds of which were probably brought over by some water-bird, bittern or coot. It is the Cladium mariscus. Grasses . Owing to the moisture of the climate, and the equable temperature, the grasses grow very freely, and several species and varieties have been introduced by cultivation, in addition to those that are really indigenous. Guernsey seems especially rich in some ornamental species and varieties. It contains ten species not found elsewhere in the Channel Islands ; one species only found there and in Herm, and one common only to it and Sark. Jersey has fifteen species not met with elsewhere. Herm contains a named variety of Agrostis , not found in the other islands. GRASSES. 145 There are fifteen species of grasses common to all the islands. The Lagurus ovatus is one of the prettiest of the island grasses. It is abundant is some parts of Guernsey, espe- cially near Cobo and Vazon, and in St. Ouen’s Bay, LAGURUS OVATUS. Jersey, where its graceful egg-shaped seed vessels may be gathered in abundance. A photographed specimen is subjoined. Quaking-grass (Briza minor), one of the ornamental grasses, is common in certain localities, especially in corn- fields. L 146 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. The Knappia agrostidea and the Cynosurus echinatus are found in Jersey, but are very rare. Specimens of these two plants are figured. Ferns . ADIANTUM BLECHNUM capillus-veneris, a . i. boreale e. i. asplenium adiantumni- botrychium lunaria. e . grum, a. e. i. var. acutum, e. lanceolatum, e. i. var. microdon, e marinum. l'uta muraria, e. i. trichomanes, e. i. ATHYRIUM filix foemina, e. i. CETERACH officinarum, e. i. GYMNOGRAMMA leptophylla, i. lastrea dilatata, e. i. semula, e. filix mass, a . e. i. OPHIOGLOSSUM lusitanicum, e. OPHIOGLOSSUM vulgatum, e. osmunda regalis, e. i. POLYPODIUM vulgare, a. e . i. POLYSTICHUM aculeatum, a. e. i. angulare, a. i. pteris aquilina. SCOLOPENDRIUM vulgare. var. glomeratum, i. The ferns of the damp lanes, the caverns, the sheltered rocks, the church walls, and other favourable spots in all the islands, are varied and extremely beautiful. The common brake (_ Pteris aquilina ), universal as it is in our climate, is not the least remarkable. It covers large tracts, and is often cut for use in the bedding of cattle. The crested brake is a variety found in Guernsey. The hart’s- tongue (S colop endrium vulgare) is incredibly abundant, and extremely rich in varieties in Guernsey. It is also abun- dant, though not so varied in form, in Jersey. Some of the varieties are almost, if not quite, confined in their range to one island, and are permanent. Others seem to be accidental. As many as thirty varieties have been noticed belonging to Guernsey only. The Blechnum , or hard fern, is plentiful in both islands, and the scale-fern is met with, though rarely. The beauti- ful maidenhair (. Adianium capillus veneris ) has been found in Alderney and Jersey, but is rare. It grows, when trans- planted to favourable situations, in Guernsey. The noble Osmunda regalis , or flowering fern, is a native of both Jersey and Guernsey, but is not common in either. One of the characteristic ferns of Jersey is the Polypodiuvi vulgare , the common polypody. Species and varieties of polypodium, under various names, are common in Great Britain. Several marked varieties are found in the Channel Islands. FERNS. 147 The prickly fern ( Polystichum aculeatum ), and another like it (P. angulare ), are exceedingly abundant in England and Jersey, being found chiefly in hedgerows, and near cultivated land. The high hedges and narrow shaded roads of Jersey fully account for its prevalence. Several varieties are described. These species have not been found in Guernsey. Noble specimens of Lastrcea dilatata , a very beautiful and well-known fern, are found in Guernsey, wherever the plant is not choked by brambles and other coarser vegeta- tion. Several varieties are met with. The delicate hay-scented fern ( Lastrcea cemula) has been found in Guernsey. It is one of the most beautiful of the English ferns, and is perfectly evergreen. The lady fern (. Athyrium filix foemina ) is not less beau- tiful or varied in the Channel Islands than in England, and several of the varieties appear to be permanent and local. They rival the Lastrea cemula among the British species. The varieties of Asplenium , or spleen-wort, are very numerous and beautiful. A. lanceolatum , rare in England, is very abundant in Guernsey, growing under the shade of bushes and hedges, where it becomes very large and luxu- riant. The A. UdcJiomanes , or maidenhair spleen-wort, is the most delicate of the group, and is more abundant in Jersey than Guernsey. The rue-leaved spleen-wort (A. ruta muraria) grows abundantly in both islands on walls and churches, especially loving old mortar. It is difficult to cultivate. Asplenium marinum grows commonly in caverns and inaccessible places by the sea-side, all along the south coast of Guernsey, on the north coast of Jersey, and on the east side of Herm. Many very beautiful varieties of it have been described, two of them peculiar to the Channel Islands. Fronds, measuring three feet in length, have been found in Guernsey, but these are rare. Asplenium adiantum nigrum , or black spleen-wort, is as common in the islands as in England. It is constantly presenting varieties, but they are all slight, and cannot be propagated. The individuals of this species abound on rocks and old walls. L 2 148 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. Two species of adders’-tongue ( Ophioglossum ) are found in Guernsey. One of them (0. lusitanicum) is almost pe- culiar to the island. Its fructification appears in October and continues till March. The other is common in England, and fructifies in July. The first-named species, though often described as rare, is common enough on the cliffs near Petit Bot and elsewhere, but it is small, hidden by other vegeta- tion, and requires looking for. The other species is larger, and less difficult to find. There is a Gym- nogrammct , G.lepto- phylla , found in Jersey, but it is now almost extinct owing to the greed of collectors. Jer- sey is its most northern limit. In Italy and the southern slopes of the Alps it grows much larger than further northward. A fine illustration is subjoined. The picturesque beauty of the ferns in the damp, shady lanes of Guernsey, where they are allowed to grow freely, is quite marvellous, and far surpasses anything to be met with on other parts of the islands, or indeed anywhere in England. Several varieties combine to produce groups that are quite un- rivalled ; but the Lastrcea dilatata , the hart’s-tongue, and 1. — KNAPPIA AGROSTIDEA. 2. — CYNOSURUS ECHINATUS. FERNS. 149 the male and lady ferns, are perhaps the most striking. The rich profusion of the common brake in damp, shaded hollows, near the sea, is so great as to be quite character- istic, — the fronds entirely burying and concealing all other vegetation. In this we have an illustration of the natural and inevitable result of the peculiar climate of Guernsey. GYMNOGRAMMA LEPTOPHYLLA. To the ferns may be added the following short list of allied plants : — Equisetacece. Characece. Marsiliacet?. equisetum arvense, e. i. CHARA ISOETES fluviatile, e. i. ? gracilis, i. hystrix, e. limosum, e. i. hispida, e. i. palustre, vulgaris, e. i . var. polystachion, e. ISO THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. No true club moss has yet been found in any of the islands, but a little marsiliaceous plant (. Isoetes hystrix) was discovered by the late Mr. G. Wolsey, in Guernsey, some years since. It is a curious species, originally found in Algiers in 1844, but since met with in Corsica, and on the French shores of the Mediterranean. It has also been found on the coast of Brittany, but not hitherto in England. The islands are rich in mosses. Guernsey is possibly richer in this respect than Jersey. A great many species are well known, but there can be little doubt that a careful search would yield additional species in both islands. Sark would appear to be rich in species ; but in Alderney and Herm the conditions of the ground are not quite so favourable. The mosses add much to the picturesqueness of walls and old wood, attaching themselves readily, and growing freely in all parts of Guernsey and Jersey. They are less strikingly manifest in the other islands, for want of favourable soil in prominent places. The variety they offer is, however, remarkable, and they are often extremely beautiful, the fructification being very vigorous, and the size of the plants occasionally so large as to be almost gigantic, in comparison with the dwarfed forms common in our latitudes. The following is a short list of certain plants allied to mosses which have been found in Jersey ; hart’s-tongue ferns. ANTHOCEROS punctatus, i. JUNGERMANNIA albicans, i. asplenioides, i. bidentata, z. Jungermannice , Marchantice , df’c. jungermannia dilatata, i. emarginula, i. epiphylla, z. furcifera, i. platyphylla, i. polyanthus, z. JUNGERMANNIA pusilla, z. tamarisci, i. MARCHANTIA COnica, Z. hemispherica, i. T ARGION I A hypophylla, z. LICHENS. * 5 * Sea-weeds. The sea- weeds (. Algcz ) are very numerous, about two hundred and twenty species having been found, but there are probably many species yet to be recorded. In the Melanosperm division, or olive sea-weeds, the genus Lami- naria attains a very large size when grown in deep water, as also do the Fucus vesiculosns and the Fucus nodosus . Padina Pavonia is a very peculiar kind, growing in shallow pools round the coast. In the Rhodosperms, or red sea- weeds, there are some beautiful species, such as the Deles - seria sanguinea , Bonnemaisonia asperagoides , Dasya venusta and Coccinca , and the genera Nitophyllum , Rhodymenia , Griffithsia , Callithamnion , and many others. In the Chlo- rosperms, or green sea-weeds, there are many species of Conferva and other kinds covering the rocks, as the Ulva and Porphyra. A very interesting genus is C odium , one species of which, the Codium bursa is very rare. It is found attached to rocks, and resembles greatly a green sponge. Lichens . The lichenist wishing to enter deeply into the subject must be referred to the former editions of this work, where he will find a large and comprehensive list of the Jersey species compiled by C. Larbalestier, Esq., of Jersey and St. John’s College, Cambridge. All the islands are rich in this department of the Flora, and many species are very con- spicuous, such as the two forms of Roccella ( fusciformis and tinctoria ), which abound on the sea-face of the cliffs round the islands. These are the plants which produce the archel dye of commerce. Umbilicaria pustzdata is another very curious species. Other excellent and interesting genera are Parmeiia , Cladonia , Borrera , &c. The lichens play a part by no means unimportant in the general features of all the islands. The quantity of exposed rock is so large, not only near the sea, but often inland, and the climate is so favourable, that the coating of these sin- gular forms of vegetation communicates colour and tone to an extent sufficient to obscure very greatly the mineral 152 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. character of the rocks. The trees also are thickly coated, especially near the sea and on the western side, that being the direction of the prevalent damp winds. Some species are abundant, and- grow to a large size. Fungi (. Mushrooms , &c.) The fungi, though numerous, have not been much studied. The most interesting species are the following : — 1. Agaricus muse areas* 2. ,, campestris (edible mushroom). 3. ,, processus. This species attains a large size, and is found on the high open land near the coasts. The genera Boletus , Geaster (Puff-ball), Clathrus , Phallus (Stink-horn), Marasmius , Polyporus , Spernwidea (Ergot), are well represented, and so are the numerous smaller species. Some of the native grasses are frequently found ergotised, especially Glyceria fluitans. AN OLD FOUNTAIN IN SARK. Diatomacece. These very simple, though extremely interesting, forms of vegetable life belong to the division of the Algae, techni- cally called Chlorospermece. In these islands many and various forms are found, a very complete list of which, com- GENERAL SUMMARY. 153 piled by an eminent authority, is to be seen in the former edition of this work. The Channel Islands are indeed very fruitful in Diatomacese, especially in the marine forms. Summary of the Flora of the Channel Islands . i Alderney. Guernsey. Jersey. Sark. 1 Herm. Species common to all the islands. Total species. Trees and shrubs 25 50 5 1 21 15 10 64 Flowering plants 262 505 626 230 184 131 690 Sedges and marsh plants II 31 38 7 3 3 41 Grasses... 32 69 82 21 23 15 95 Ferns and club mosses, &c. ... 9 29 27 ? ? 4 35 Mosses, JungermannLe, &c. ... ? 1 1 1 67 ? ? ? 135 Lichens ? 184 183 p ? ? 257 Fungi ... ? 67 p ? p ? 70 Sea-weeds 102 223 i 95 46 ? ? 222 Diatomaceee ... ? 253 p ? ? ? 253 Totals ... ? 1522 ? ? ? p 1862 N.B. — In the numbers above given, named varieties are counted with the species. The peculiarities of climate characterising the Channel Islands may be more clearly appreciated by a study of the above table than by any statement. Of the first four groups, which include a large natural division of plants, there are in all eight hundred and ninety species, of which only one hundred and fifty-nine are common to all the islands. As many as two hundred and thirty-eight or per cent, of the species are, however, peculiar to Jersey, while only fifty- two species, or just 6 per cent., are absent in Jersey, but found in either Guernsey, Sark, or Herm. These latter islands, in fact, show no essential difference in their phane- rogamic flora, and may be looked upon as a group existing under very similar conditions. Alderney is distinct, and it possesses a much richer and more varied fauna than Sark, which equals it in area. 154 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. When, however, we pass to the consideration of special tribes characteristic of a moist, clouded climate, we see that Guernsey, though it has not more than half the area of Jersey, almost equals, or even exceeds that island in the number of species. Thus, of twenty-five known species of ferns found in the islands, twenty-one occur in Guernsey and only twenty in Jersey. Five species are found in Guernsey only, and two in Jersey only. The number and proportions of unnamed varieties would illustrate the same peculiarity in a manner yet more marked, and the richness of fern vegetation is certainly far greater in the smaller, damper, and cloudier, but more temperate island. Similar evidence will no doubt be derived from the other cryptogamic plants when they shall be more completely known. So far as. the lichens and fungi have been examined, they point in the same direction, and the mosses appear to do so too. At present, however, the lists of the species of these tribes are not sufficiently complete to justify any generalisation ; and it seems impossible that there should be the excessive difference in them that the lists would indicate, when we consider the near vicinity of the islands and their small dimensions. The botany of the Channel Islands is worthy of a closer comparative study than it has yet received, and would amply repay the philosophical naturalist able to view in their mutual relations all the natural groups and their bearing on physical geography and geology. For the pre- sent, these comparisons are merely suggested, but we shall return to them in another chapter. A consideration of some very important facts concerning various foreign species of plants that readily grow and become almost naturalised in some of the islands will tend yet further to illustrate the peculiarities of the island climates. These facts will be referred to when speaking of Horticulture, in the fourth part of this work. It should however, be observed here that several foreign species are already so common in Jersey and Guernsey as to affect the general appearance of the vegetation ; and the cultivation now going on in Sark will, perhaps, soon have the same effect in that island. [This Chapter has been completely re-written. Mr. J. Sinel is responsible for the sub-sections treating of Mammalia, Aves, Reptilia, Amphibia, and Insecta, whilst Mr. Hornell is the author of the Introduction and the remaining portion of the Chapter.] CHAPTER IX. ZOOLOGY OF THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. By J. Sinel and James Hornell [Of the Jersey Biological Station). INTRODUCTION. INSULAR regions, and archipelagos in particular, are very generally of more than usual interest to the naturalist, and the Channel Islands form no exception; for while the disproportionately extensive coast-line multiplies opportu- nities to study the marine forms of life, the insular position provides among land and fresh water animals more or less intricate and fascinating problems of geographical distribu- tions to be worked out. The latter have received very scanty attention in the past, and anyone who shall take them up in an intelligent spirit of research will not fail to perform useful and greatly needed service. Regarding Marine Fauna, our little archipelago, physi- cally carved out of France, has most of the distinctive cha- racters of the neighbouring Gallic coast that stretches from Granville on the east to Roscoff on the west. Many of these animals are of course also similar to those generally distributed round the British coasts, but, conversely, many truly British forms are wanting, their places being supplied by allied species coming from the south. These latter are chiefly species common in the Mediterranean, so it is easy to understand what a great interest clings to the Channel Islands for the British naturalist, or rather biologist, as we should call him now. Here in these isles he finds himself, within a few hours after leaving London, i 5 8 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. translated into a veritable border-land, in a zone where north comes down to blend with south, where the sunny Mediterranean has sent representatives to struggle for existence with related species produced in the bleak seas of Northern Europe. Certain islands and certain aspects even of the same islands show this better than others. Thus the south-east coast of Jersey, the east coast of Guernsey, and the entire islands of Herm and Sark, together with the Minquier Reefs and the neighbouring dredging- grounds, show southern affinity most emphatically. The northern shores generally have a more distinctive British aspect, as also the western shores of the unsheltered islands (Guernsey and Jersey), where the x^Vtlantic swell during win- ter beats fiercely, and nullifies the warm, life-giving influ- ence of the Gulf Stream. Guernsey, lying like a huge break- water to the west of Herm and Sark, gives such a needed protection from the Atlantic forces to these islands that, taken in connection with the free action of the warm cur- rent of the Gulf Stream, the effect is that here it is the western shores that are the chosen haunts of southern forms. A curious point of obscure explanation is that the southern types are not distributed evenly among the various classes of animals, but are most marked among Crustaceans, Annelids, Ascidians, and Fishes ; Sponges, Hydrozoa, Echinoderms, Polyzoa, and Molluscs show southern affini- ties much less. Under the heading of the various classes this point will be dealt with in more detail. On few coasts is there a richer fauna, both as regards number of species and number of individuals. Several factors contribute to this, such as the influence of the Gulf Stream, sunny skies, the constant scour of the great masses of food-laden water, passed continually up and down Channel, and finally, and most important, perhaps, of all, the great vertical rise and fall of the tide. At the great spring tides, this is forty feet and more, and one has but to reflect a moment upon the effect this must have upon a very gradually shallowing sea, to recognise the wonderful difference upon life in the littoral zone, compared with the comparatively insignificant rise and fall of twenty to twenty-five feet common in most British localities. Upon INTRODUCTION. 159 the south-east coast of Jersey, where this factor has most effect, a good spring tide exposes more than twelve square miles of rock-pools, tangle-covered reefs abounding in caves and gullies, cool, shady Zostera prairies, and long stretches of shell-sand beach. Life here veritably swarms in myriad form, for food there is in plenty, and the struggle for existence has, and is, evolving forms to occupy every available niche, however tiny or apparently unsuitable, in this little corner of Nature. In spots like this, when the tide comes in and covers all, the dredge is next to useless, shore-collecting is to be depended on alone ; and well it is so, for the dredge is after all a poor method of studying the life of the sea, and not to be compared with plea- sant peering into rock-pools, where we can watch, all unheeded, the deadly combats of crustaceans and fishes, or the stealthy glide of the prowling annelid in search of tiny crustaceans, or the bright colours and patient waiting of the gloriously-hued anemones. Where there is continual and intense struggle for life, there we invariably find mimetic devices of colour and form in abundance; and here, in this immense area of rock and pool, we have a more than usual number of animals eking out an otherwise precarious existence by the inge- nious adoption of the colours, markings, and shapes of the surroundings they live among, or else by adopting the simili- tude of more powerful or better-protected creatures. This field of investigation is as yet scarcely worked. A few of the most obvious devices we know, but much remains yet to be done, and we wish to emphasise the fact that in the vast littoral of these islands, especially of Jersey, there exist some of the best opportunities to be found anywhere. In many re- spects this littoral area bears much analogy to the coral lagoons and pools of the Southern Seas. In both there is unusual struggle for existence, in both rich animal colouring is conspicuous, in both is mimicry greatly resorted to. In the succeeding pages a number of instances of mimicry will be recorded, but it may be of interest here to particu- larize and group together from various animal classes the most direct and remarkable to be seen in this locality. In the first place, there has to be pointed out that i6o THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. colour mimicry is practically confined to the shallows of the coast; the forms of life living in the depths are exceptions due to the small amount of light that penetrates, while those of the surface-water away from the coast — pelagic forms — affect a transparency and simplicity of structure eminently protective when we consider the medium they live in. Of the last, examples are the curious phosphorescent infusorian Noctiluca ; the beautiful little jelly fishes that form one stage in the curious life history of many of the Hydroid Zoophites ; the Ctenophores Cydippe and Beroe; the majority of the young or larval stage of the Crustacea, particularly the most wonderful and beautiful leaf-like Phyllosoma larvae of Palinurus (crawfish) and of Scyllarus ; the voracious little Sagitta ; the strange little annelid Tomopteris , and lastly, and perhaps best fitted for this pelagic existence, are the surface-haunting ascidians, Salpa and Doliolum . In these last the opaque alimentary region is reduced to a minimum, and the animals have become mere transparent gelatinous bags, scarcely to be discerned in the water. Naturally the devices or colour- and form- mimicry are much more numerous, and it is hard, within our limited space, to even indicate a few of the most interesting. Most classes, but chiefly the Crustacea, Annelids, Molluscs, and Fishes constitute instances. Even the Protozoa furnish examples, — eg , , the case of that harshly-named F'oraminifer Halyphysema tumanowiczii. This species, about the size of a pin’s-head, is often found at low water parasitic on Polyzoa, and invests protectively the single speck of pro- toplasm that constitutes its body with gathered spicules of sponges — setting them at all angles — like a cheveux de prise — in its attempt to make itself an unacceptable morsel to its enemies by simulating every appearance of a spiculous sponge. From the presence of these spicules, Dr. Bower- bank, the original discoverer, placed it among the Sponges, and indeed so great is the resemblance that battle royal has been fought between such redoubtable champions as Professor Haeckel and Professor Ray Lankester as to its natural position, many lesser lights joining in the fray. Professor Haeckel stoutly defended it as a sponge, but now ANIMAL MIMICRY. 1 6 1 there can be no question that he was mistaken. The Sponges and the Ascidians are, without doubt, the most brightly-coloured of our littoral animals, but here the colour seems to have no mimetic value. If serviceable to the animal at all, its explanation is probably that of warn- ing — indicating to probable enemies that, if they attack, the chief danger will be to the attacker. This is the more probable, as most of our sponges have skeletons composed of siliceous or else calcareous spicules, and, in one case, Spongelia fragilis , where spicules are absent, their place is supplied by the incorporation of sand grains in the body fibres. Those, too, of the Ascidians which are most brightly coloured have much spicular matter in their tissues. The worms — the annelids chiefly — show a good amount of mimetic colouring. Phyllodoce maculata , a pretty yel- lowish annelid, plentifully spotted with brown, simulates extremely closely the gritty sand it lives amid ; others again, like Lepidonotus and Pholoe , by the roughness of their scales, have a mud-encrusted appearance, making them very inconspicuous in their favourite haunts. Going a step further, Psammolyce arenosa possesses all over its scales, as well as the exposed parts of the back, a multitude of little papillae, each holding firmly one or several sand grains — with obvious intent. The Crustacea are even more mimetic, and probably constitute the most mimetic of marine animals. The common shrimp is a good instance in point. On grey sandy shores the colour is grey, but in many rock-pools in Jersey, instead of the usual grey sandy bottom, there is a layer of distinctly black and white grit formed from the decomposition of the surrounding diorite, and in these pools shrimps are common enough, but their colour is now mottled black and white, identical with the colours of the gritty bottom. A near relative of the shrimp is Hippolyte varians , an extremely common species around these islands, and no more variable and remarkable mimic have we. In the bright green Zostera meadows, we catch it of a striking emphatic green ; in pools where reddish-brown seaweeds flourish, there we find a variety striped with the colour of M 162 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. the weed — so closely assimilating that as its body is stouter than the weed, a transparent colourless band runs medially along the side of the body, so that the animal appears as two filaments of weed lying parallel ; among bright red weeds such as Delesseria , the body takes on the same red hue ; and, finally, when we find Hippolyte among the brown-capsuled clumps of Halidrys , it mimics not only the brown colour of the plant, but even assumes the position of the capsules when clinging to the stem. A great number of the larger crabs adopt no mimetic device — preferring to seek safety in rapid retreat into crevices, or by burrowing in sand ; still the mimics are not inconsider- able. In Gorey Roads the dredge often brings up the strange Droinia vulgaris , so encased even to the tips of the claws in fine velvet-like bristle-pile that, catching up mud and sand, it has all the appearance of a lump of mud, an appearance heightened by the animal’s rounded shape and sluggish movement, and its habit of tucking its limbs close beneath the body. Another local mimic is Portmnnus variegatus , which is extremely like in colour the sandy haunts it affects. But perhaps Stenorhynchus cegyptius , which has learned to deck its stick-like limbs and shrivelled body with shreds of concealing seaweeds, is the most striking Crustacean instance. Among the Mollusca we have the pretty little cuttlefish, Sepiola atlantica , often common at the edge of the tide as it recedes, so controlling the colour of its body by the muscular contraction and dilatation of its chromatophores or pigment spots as to be extremely difficult to distinguish. Now it lies a moment on sandy bottom, the spots small, it cannot be discovered ; now it darts off, passing into a mass of brown fucus, the chromatophore muscles relax, and the body, now one complete blotch of brown colour, cannot be perceived till next it moves. Several nudibranchs have habits akin. Dendronotus , with its large reddish-brown plumes, is well concealed among the seaweeds it haunts, while the great yellow Doi'is — the “ Sea Lemon ” of the fishermen — wanders over and feeds on the common yellow sponge Halichondria with but slight chance of detection, so alike are the colours of the two animals. JERSEY BIOLOGICAL STATION. 163 The fishes of our district offer some very curious problems in coloration, and we wish to draw attention to the oppor- tunity afforded for work in this direction, so little as yet having been attempted. To a northern naturalist the great multitude of brightly- coloured sponges and ascidians crusting rock surfaces and clustering round Fnciis stems is probably the feature that first arrests the eye. And truly in these two groups of ani- mals these islands possess their most characteristic faunistic feature. Individually, as well as specifically, sponges and ascidians are wonderful in their diversity, and, undoubtedly, are the most variously represented of all the animal groups of these seas. Facilities for Zoological Study. — The islands afford more than the usual facilities to the naturalist on a working holiday. Guernsey possesses a noble Museum, open daily, where are stored splendidly-preserved speci- mens illustrative of the fauna of the district. All groups are well represented. Among the class of “ Local Museums ” the Guernsey institution stands high, so much painstaking and properly-directed attention having been devoted to the gathering together of representative specimens of the strictly local fauna. Jersey has two Museums. The older, belonging to the local Archaeological Society (the Societe Jersiciise ), is, in some departments, very well stocked ; but the bent of the Society, being antiquarian rather than zoological, militates against its faunal collections being as extensive as those of the Guernsey institution. It is also to be regretted that, after the provincial French custom, it opens its doors to the public but once a month for two hours only. This will, it is probable, soon be amended to more frequent opening, and it may be prophesied that if this be done Jersey will soon be abreast of the sister isle in the possession in its public museum of an equally fine and extensive Natural History collection. The second Jersey collection is housed in the well- appointed and recently-erected Biological Station, where are to be found those facilities which, to the biologist, are of much more value than ordinary Museum collections — viz., M 2 164 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. opportunities for practical work in every department of re- search. The building in question, which it is appropriate to briefly describe here, consists of roomy laboratories, fitted with all necessary conveniences ; a Scientific reference library, specially strong in works upon marine zoology ; a nearly complete collection of the marine animals of these seas ; hatching and rearing tanks for investigating the life- histories of aquatic animals, as well as a large series of fine- sized aquarium tanks for the larger denizens of the waters. Boats with dredging equipment appertain to the Station, and as the tariff for work and use of all these facilities is ex- ceedingly moderate, naturalists find here an invaluable adjunct to their studies when staying in the island for how- ever brief a period. Literature. — -Strangely enough, in spite of the great wealth of animal life in and around the islands, the pub- lished records are meagre indeed. In the first edition of the present work was made the first real attempt at a com- pilation of the fauna, and in several groups, notably the Fishes, Birds, Insects, and Hydrozoa, the lists given, though certainly not complete, are still the best we have, and well worthy of being consulted. More recently Dr. R. Koehler, in the Ann. des Sc. Nat. t. xx., No. 4, 1885, gives the results of three summers’ work in the islands, and furnishes lists of marine species, especially useful in the classes of the Vermes, Crustaceans, and Ascidians. The stu- dent must, however, be cautious of accepting implicitly Dr. Koehler’s identification, as experience has shown it to be in many cases faulty. Still the lists are of considerable usefulness. As regards literature of single groups, the Foraminifera have received well-merited attention, Mr. E. Halkyard having published probably almost complete and very reliable lists in the “ Proceedings of the Manchester Microscopical Society” for the years 1888 and 1891. Then in Dr. Bowerbank’s “ Monograph of the British Spongiadae,” published by the Ray Society, are many and useful important references to, and figures of, species of sponges found in 'the Channel Islands. Professor Ray Lankester has a list of Annelids and Turbellaria dredged off Guernsey in the “Annals and Maea- PHOSPHORESCENT ANIMALS. 165 zine of Natural History,” May, 1866. These, with the exception of some valuable papers chiefly upon land ani- mals, published in the “ Proceedings of the Guernsey Society of Natural Science/’ constitute practically all that has been done in recent years towards the elucidation of the local fauna. It is obvious how much still remains to be done, and with this aim a number of workers connected with the Jersey Biological Station are now busy preparing reports and lists in the classes worst represented ; and there is good hope that within a few months, revised and reliable lists of Sponges, Annelids, Echinoderms, and Tunicates will have seen the light. The Guernsey Society is doing similar service in connection with the land and fresh water fauna, so we may count upon the materials for a general faunal report being ready in the near future. Protozoa. With the exception of the Foraminifera, scarcely any- thing has been done locally, and the field is quite un- occupied by workers. This is the more strange among animals fitted par excellence , by reason of their minute size, their beauty of structure, and vivacity of movement, to be the study of microscopists. And these organisms are everywhere. If we take a boat after dusk, and row out with a tow-net trailing behind from St. Peter Port or St. Helier, the phosphorescent Noctiluca in countless myriads drifts into the net, making all a living fire as the splash- ing oars impel the boat onwards. Other and smaller infusorians, such as Ceratium tripos , often play their part in the production of these fairy lights. Again, many species of infusorians lead a semi-parasitic life, especially upon the lovely hydroid Zoophytes of the rock-pools. The diatom-incrusted stalk of Coryne is a favourite locality for lovely arborescent clumps of the fine Vorticellid, Car- chesium ; though this is by no means its only haunt, for it even selects at times the back of a scale-worm ( Polynoe setosissima ), that in turn lives a commensal or semi-para- sitic life in the tube of Chcetopterus , so common on the shores of Herm. Thecate infusorians may also frequently THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 1 66 be found on the bristles of Nephthys , Sigalion , and other sluggish burrowing worms. FORAMINIFERA.— In the paper alluded to in the intro- duction will be found a very exhaustive list of both littoral and deep-water forms. Many very interesting and rare species are obtainable, chief among which are Carterina spiculotesta and Halyphysema tumanowiczii. The latter was first noticed by Mr. Saville-Kent, in Jersey, in 1878, but since then a number of its haunts have been found. They are all at extreme low water mark, and in searching, the most likely spots are the caves and gullies among the outlying headlands along the south of Jersey, where, among pendant tufts of Polyzoa, it is occasionally to be found in abundance. Carterina , which is occasionally dredged off both Jersey and Guernsey, is a prize in these seas ; but it grows to nothing like the size and beauty of specimens from tropi- cal waters. The test, built up of fine sand grains cemented together, has incorporated with it fine spicules, which, unlike the sponge spicules used by Halyphysema as building material, are here manufactured by the animal itself. Characteristic forms of the littoral region are Rotalia beccari , Polystomella crispa , and Sigmoilina secans. The last-named grows in these islands to a remarkably large size ; but, strangely enough, the Jersey Foraminifera, as a whole, are much less strongly built than those found around Guernsey. This is most notably so in the case of Polystomella crispa , Guernsey specimens being nearly twice the diameter of specimens from Jersey. The three species above named can nearly always be found crawling upon weed and Hydroids in the coralline pools. Often when examining a little sprig of Coryne , the long, whip-like fila- ments or pseudopodia of a delicate Polystomella can be espied radiating from the multitude of tiny openings that pierce the shell, and slowly hauling from point to point in search of prey. All told, one hundred and forty-four species are recorded from the islands ; one hundred and thirty-two from Jersey, against one hundred and ten from Guernsey. SPONGE-LAND. 167 Sponges. The littoral of the Channel Islands is essentially “ Sponge-land.” True, the ascidians dispute the claim, but their friendly rivalry makes our rocks most richly-hued when once the half-tide limit is passed. From this line downwards to low water is the chief hunting-ground. Sheltered crevices and ledges, festooned and draped with heavy masses of brown Fucus, give lodging to yellow and green Halichonch'ia panicea in spreading masses, pink and yellow Reniera ( Isodictya ) ingalli , with its wandering, antler-like branches, the brick-red Ophlitaspongia seriata , stout rounded spicule-beset Tethya lyncurium of the colour and shape of fair-sized Tangerene oranges, scarlet patches of Hymeniacidon caruncula of brilliant hue, and snowy- white masses of intensely spinous Leuconia nivea , while the less intensely white flattened purses of Sycandra compressa hang pendant on every hand, and the lovely 5 . ciliata , with its crown of beautiful spicules, is common on coralline weed and 011 the sides of the pool boulders. Rarer than the preceding are the stout little bright orange tufts of Dictyocylindrus ramosus , not, however, unfrequent on ascidian-covered rock surfaces at extreme low water. Much rarer is the larger and more slender Dictyocylindrus ventilabrum , while occasionally procured is the curious Poly- mastia mammillar is, whose yellow strap-shaped papillae seem so curious when seen for the first time. Sometimes, too, large patches of the tetractinellid sponges Stelletta ( Tethya ) collingsi , Pachymatisina johnstonia , Dercitus niger , and Ecionemia ponder osa are to be found by careful examina- tion in the low-tide caves and gullies. Such species are among the most uninviting to the eye ; but only those who have had the pleasure of seeing good miscroscopical sections know the great beauty of the spicules that serve as means of defence, against enemies. In the pools Halp chondria itkcrustans is very common, swathing old stems of weeds, in several colours. Everywhere sponges find footing. Some even select the backs of slow-moving crabs., as. Inachus and Pisa. One such is the locally not uncommon dirty yellow Spongelia fragilis easily recognised by its peculiar honeycombed ap- l68 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. pearance. This is, perhaps, the most frequent species brought up in the dredge. That widely-distributed species of Myxospongiae, Halisarca dujardini , is also fairly common, especially on old worn stumps of Fucus . It assumes here a white yeasty colour and consistency. Few parts of the islands but repay examination. The praises of the Gouliot Caves have been sung by Dr. Bowerbank and others, and certainly, when entered under the most favourable conditions of wind and tide, the sight is glorious, and one worthy of a pilgrimage. Sponges, anemones, zoophytes, and ascidians are there in countless numbers, in profusion almost limitless ; but we miss in the sponges the rich and vivid colouring so much dwelt upon as characteristic of our littoral. The species represented belong chiefly to the duller-hued class, but as they in- clude some of the most rare forms, all those interested in these animals should explore well these fine caverns. The eastern shore of Guernsey, and the south and east coasts of Jersey, are, however, the localities where wealth of colour- ing is most pronounced. Scarce a boulder, however small, but possesses its treasure of rich colouring and elegant form ; and if we struggle out to low water through the devious tracks, through pools and rocks and “ gutters,” we will with careful search and keen eye most probably find all the rare species boasted of by the famed Gouliot Caves themselves. Round Bordeaux harbour, in Guernsey, and the Greve d’Azette, in Jersey, are some of the best collect- ing-grounds. Probably the number of sponges living in the seas around the islands totals one hundred and twenty at the least. It is worthy of note in connection with the generali- sation that the fauna of these islands partakes largely of a Mediterranean character, that Dr. Bowerbank thirty years ago drew attention to the fact that there are characters of the sponge fauna of the Channel Islands, pointing to these islands and the opposite or southern shore of England being included in overlapping bands of the British and Mediterranean faunas. He pointed out that Tenby and other neighbouring localities, especially in Devonshire, possess species of sponges not found further north, but ZOOPHYTES. 169 common in the Gouliot Caves and elsewhere in these islands. CCELENTERATA (ZOOPHYTES, ANEMONES, &C.). Less obviously characteristic of the local fauna than the sponges, this group is represented in the Channel Islands in more than ordinary number, variety, and beauty. Especially is this the case with the Hydroid Zoophytes. The tidal pools shelter many of the most beautiful ; elegant arborescent clumps of Coryne fruticosa ) encrusted so with diatoms and forams, infusorians, and tiny worm tubes as to be well-nigh indistinguishable ; delicate fern-like Plumularians, as P. halc- cioides or the rare Gonothyrcea loveni , and, most rare of all, the tiny Cladonema. The Zostera prairies, too, in summer give great evidence of the wonderful wealth of Zoophyte life. Clytia johnstoni disputes with Plumularia similis and the most lovely Canipamdaria angulata for the possession of the long green fronds. The lovely funnel-shaped bells of Lucernaria ( Haliclystus ) octoradiata occupy the same habitat, and it is curious to note how this species, extremely abundant in Jersey, is in Guernsey all but unknown. The dredge brings up many forms of Zoophytes — long stiff bristle-beset clusters of Antennularia, pinnate fronds of Seidularia and the more delicate Eudendrium rameum and Obelia gelaiinosa , and clustered horny tubes of Tubu- laria , each crowned with a little hydra head. Such are the more conspicuous. Smaller and less-easily recognised species abound, and would well repay close attention. The greater number of the Hydroids have in the cycle of their life a free medusa stage, that is the polyp colonies give off buds which, becoming detached, float away as tiny jelly fishes. In the spring these are often very abundant in tow-nettings. Their rhythmically pulsating streamer- decked bells are all marvels of beauty of form, and this, taken in conjunction with the limpid transparency that characterises them, and the strange story of their lives, render them most entrancing to the student of nature. Closely allied are the great jelly fishes, known so well to every dweller by the sea. Those most common are Aurelia aurita , the “ figure 8 ” of the fishermen ; Chrysaora , with its 170 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. long trailing furbelows and orange-striped disc, and the giant Rhizostoma , giving shelter to multitudes of the tiny Amphipodan crustaceans, Hyperia galba. The Ctenophore Cydippe ( Honniphora ) plumosa — the glassy sea-gooseberry — is common. Beroe is scarce. Sea-anemones — those pretty flowers of the sea— sea- roses as the Germans call them, are here lavishly distributed. The higher pools lodge hosts of the common red Beadlet {Actinia mesembryanthemuni), though at one or two points on the coast, notably at St. Catherine’s Bay, Jersey, its place is taken by the mottled Strawberry anemone (A. fragacea ). Tealia crassicornis (the Wartlet), the largest of our local species, is scarcely less abundant, its body when contracted nearly quite concealed by the pebbles and shells that stick to the closely set warts on the column. The “gem ” {Bunodes gemmacea) is not uncommon ; but unquestionably the most characteristic species of the islands is Ammonia sulcata {Anthea. cereus). Two varieties, one green, with purple- tipped tentacles, the other uniform and drab, are nearly equally common. This species, in common with all other anemones, has in its tentacles vast numbers — “ batteries” — of stinging cells, which, when luckless fish or shrimp comes into contact, are shot into the prey, numbing or paralysing it, and rendering it powerless to struggle. Anthea is specially well provided with these cruel weapons, and many people experience acute pain if this anemone touch a tender part of the body, such as the wrist ; but, on the other hand, just as many are perfectly immune to the sting. The Sagartias are well represented. A. rondeletii and A. palliata are found in company with the Hermit-Crab (. Pagurus ), though sometimes the former is to be found disconsolate, sticking to a rock or a blade of oar-weed. The pretty S'. nivea is very common at low water level, where, too, the green Corynactis , that gem of anemones, is often found. Two curious abnormal forms are present, Peachia hastata and Cerianthus mitchelli ; both quite free, and dwellers in sand and fine shingle. Adhesive foot is absent. Peachia is stout, and bears considerable outward resemblance to some of the Sea-cucumbers, Cucumaria , while the long and SEA-MICE. 171 vvorm-like body of Cerianthus , with its tiny starry row of tentacles, approximates closely to another branch of the Sea-cucumbers — viz., Synapta. Both have very similar habits. Their surroundings are the same ; so here we have very diverse animals, belonging indeed to two distantly- related classes, assuming a like shape through the environ- ment being similar. Of the Coral group we are not without representatives. Pretty cup-corals (' Caryophyllia :) are not uncommon in caves and gullies at low water ; Gorgonia verrucosa is often dredged in grand arborescent forms, rich orange in colour, while Alcyonium is met with frequently. Annelida, Turbellaria, &c. The marine forms found on the shores of the Channel Islands comprise many very interesting species, as well in the matter of rarity as in strangeness of habit. The Aphro- ditidae — that family bearing scales or elytra upon the back — are specially well represented. Frequently the dredge brings up great numbers of the lovely sea-mouse (. Aphro - dita aculeata) glancing and sparkling in its gorgeous gar- ment of iridescent-coloured hairs. In these islands this species reaches a high stage of development, if size and weight be criteria. One has been taken measuring eight inches in length, while it is not very uncommon to get specimens six inches long, and of a quarter of a pound in weight. The nearly-related, but dull species, Hermione liystrix , is also common, and is well-known to the fisher- men, who have wholesome dread of its barbed spines. It is of interest that, while the true sea-mouse selects a sandy or muddy bottom as a habitat, Hermione is found upon rougher and stonier ground. A somewhat similar rule of partition of territory can frequently be traced between many other species of annelida in these islands. For instance, Lepi- donotus squamatus is very common in dredgings, but scarcely ever seen between tide-marks, where its place is taken by the ubiquitous Polynoe propinqua , a rusty-red scale-clad worm, exceedingly common everywhere, even trenching on the deep water habitat of Lcpidonotus. Again, Polynoe castanea lives its whole life among the spines of the purple 172 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. Heart-urchin ( Spatangus purpureus ), while Nychia cirrosa is scarcely ever met except as a lodger in the tube of the curious Chaetopterus. Serpula conigera and A. vermicularis keep to deep water, their place on the littoral being occu- pied by Protula . Many other instances could be cited did the limits of space admit. The S.W. coast of Jersey, the neighbourhood of Bordeaux harbour, in Guernsey, and the E. coast of Herm, are the best hunting-grounds. Frequently in these localities, in the beaches of shell gravel — the same beaches where sand-eel- ing is prosecuted — we find numbers of the strange U-shaped tubes of Chcetopterus , containing both the owner and his guest, N. cirrosa , and occasionally a second Polynoe (P. glabra ). If we be fortunate, we may dig out Psammolyce arenosa , a long sand-covered worm of true Mediterranean origin, and perhaps the most perfect annelid mimic that we have, so closely does it glue sand-grains upon its back. Lying at rest, the worm is perfectly indistinguishable from the surrounding sand. Of this animal, as well as of many of the rare species here mentioned, the Guernsey Museum possesses well-preserved specimens. The list of annelids haunting the shell-beaches is difficult to exhaust. Gigantic Glycera dubia is often met with, while Maclovia gigantea , a fine Lumbrinereid, is not un- common. Aricia cuvieri and Arenia fragilis , together with exquisite examples of Sabella pavonia , are also here obtain- able, with quite a host of smaller species. The rare Clymene ebiensis is taken in Jersey, and the only perfect preserved specimen in existence is one in the Museum of the Biological Station there. The Zostera prairies afford shelter to several fine species of Sabella , notably S'. ( Branchiomma ) vesiculosa , remarkable for well-developed eye-spots located at the tips of the branchial filaments. Among the roots of the Zostera are occasionally found the fine Heteronereis-form of the com- mon Nereis cultrifera , most interesting in its anatomical details. Another fine Heteronereid stage is often taken — - viz., that of N. Vaillanti . This is, however, never procured except in the tow-net, wherein, during the summer months, considerable numbers can sometimes be taken. Strangely BAIT-WORMS. 173 enough, it is only the male form that is caught. The female we have never seen, and the Baron de St. Joseph, who for many years has worked the Annelida of the oppo- site French coast (Dinard), confirms this strange scarcity of the female in his remark that only one season did he ever take the female, and, stranger still, that same season he saw none of the male forms, usually so common. In the coralline pools are the haunts of a great variety of what may be called the micro-annelida, — i.e , the Syllidae, in which the islands’ fauna is particularly rich. Old weeds in these pools are often quite encrusted with the tubes of the widely-distributed Spirorbis borealis and the more local tube-builders, Othonia fabricia and O. gracilis. No annelids are more interesting than these. Although sedentary, living in tubes, they very frequently may be seen to leave these and'swim freely about, the tail-end — possessed of minute eye- spots — being directed in advance, while the beautiful bran- chial plumes garnishing the head float gracefully in rear. Many species of the annelida are used as bait. Far and away the most esteemed is the great “ Rock-worm ” ( Mar - pJiysa sanguined), a huge Eunicid, frequently the thickness of a .stout finger, and from 2 ft. to 4 ft. in length. This animal constructs long galleries among boulders and in shattered or “rotten” rock between tide-marks. Next to Marphysa, in the estimation of fishermen, is Nereis cultrifera , or “ Red Cat” as it is locally known. It is a really good bait, and was a few years ago extremely numerous, but, for some time past, complaints have been general of a growing scarcity. In order of merit follow the “ White Cat” ( Neph - thys) and the lug-worm ( Arenicola marina), both very com- mon in all the islands. Upwards of 180 species inhabit these coasts. About 90 of these are also found in the Mediterranean, against some 70 found in the seas of Northern Europe. Land species are not at all numerous. Allolobophora ap- pears to be the dominant earth-worm. Leeches were once very common, swarming in low marsh- land, but now, in Jersey at least, they seem well-nigh ex- tinct. High cultivation and the reclamation of every pos- sible acre of land seem to be the factors. 174 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. Ecliinoderms. This, the group comprising star-fishes, sea-urchins, and sea-cucumbers, in the Channel Islands is proportionately as well represented as any other. Antedon rosacea , the beau- tiful rosy feather-star, is abundant in deep water, often fes- tooning the lobster pots, and its curious stalked larval stage (. Pentacrinus ), with a history carrying us back to the days of the mountain limestone encrinites, is not infrequent at the proper season. As to the Ophiuridea, the sand-stars ( Ophiura ) and brittle-stars are all common; Ophiocoma neglecta especially is met with everywhere under stones, while the rare O. filiformis is sometimes seen. Two species of the typical star-fish, the “ cross-fish,’ 5 are often taken — viz., Asterias rubens and A. glacialis . The great size of these is noteworthy ; not an uncommon stretch being respectively 16 in. for the one and 20 in. for the other ; the former, a remarkable size to those who only know A. rubens of the size met with in such a northern habitat as the Irish Sea. Another species which attains unusual and extreme size is Luidia fragilissima. The sun-star (, Solaster papposa ) is not uncommon, numbers being taken on the breaming lines. All these large species, when abun- dant, are very troublesome to the fishermen, as, impelled by their voracious appetite, and guided by their keen smell, they rapidly find out and clear away the bait from the hooks of the trot lines. Cribrella oculata is sometimes taken on the Zostera prairies, but Astropecten is rare, and Goniaster equestris never taken. The curious duck’s-foot star ( Palmipes mem - branacea), a queer v/afer-like form, scarlet-rimmed, is often obtained from deep water. The Sea-urchins are fairly numerous ; indeed, one of the greatest charms of a naturalist’s sojourn here is to row, or rather drift, on a calm, clear day over the rocks they haunt, and to peer down upon them from the shadowed side of the boat; or, better still, to employ a water telescope, im- provised, it may be, by knocking the bottom out of a box and replacing with a sheet of glass. It is truly a fairy-land we see beneath us. There, amid great waving streamers of brown weed, in and out of which bright-coloured SKA-URCHINS. 175 fishes — dainty green and gaudy scarlet and orange — dart and frolic, are spiny sea-urchins moving so slowly that we can scarcely perceive their progress, and of colours vieing with those of the darting rock-fishes above them. Long- spined ones ( Echinus lividus) perhaps predominate, or it may be the short-spined spherical E. esculentus . The former typically are purple, but very often a dark bronze- green variety is present. E. esculentus shows much greater variation. Pinkish white is the chief colour ; but there are all grades, from pure and snowy whiteness, on the one hand, to pale green, with purple-tipped spines, on the other. Some are round as a ball, whilst some are greatly flattened. Three other sphere urchins are present, the small E. miliaris in number, the fine E. flemingii rarely, while the large and rare, as British, Sphcerechinus brevispinosus , re- markable for the great strength of its test, is sometimes met with in some quantity. The irregular Heart-urchins and their relatives are well represented. The purple Spatangus purpureus comes up in the dredge frequently, and at Herm is even to be taken on the littoral at low tides. Several semi-parasitic animals find homes with this sluggish sand-dweller ; among others, a tiny mollusc ( Montacuta ), and a beautiful purplish-brown scale- worm, Polynoe castanea , both of which seem never to be found elsewhere but in this habitat. Some mites and small crustaceans also claim hospitality from this urchin. Amphidotus cordatus ) so common on the British coast, is apparently absent, but Echinocardium {pinnati- ftduni ?) is met with fairly often, and the tiny pea-urchin ( Echinocyamus pusillus') is abundant in some localities. The Sea-cucumbers are represented by several species of Cucumaria that find homes in crevices and fissures of the rocks downwards from low water and in shell sand ; also by the still more curious Synaptce , of which there are two, if not three species found in these islands. These animals, bur- rowers in the sand, are in many ways curious. Worm-like in general aspect, and resembling long pink bags of sand about the size of a lead-pencil when entire, they betray out- wardly but the faintest relationship with the star-fishes or sea-urchins. Still the differences are not so great in reality ; 176 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. the organs of the body are on the same general plan, and even in their soft worm-like form the calcareous skeleton of urchins and stars can be traced, for when their skin is examined under the microscope thousands of tiny limy perforated plates and anchor-shaped spicules are revealed. At Herm occurs one of the most curious of invertebrate animals, Balanoglossus sarniensis. Its relationship is very vague ; but as the larval stage shows great similarity to that of true Echinoderms, at present we find it classed with these animals. Adult, it is very worm-like, stretching to two feet long, the various regions of the body coloured brightly. The anterior part ends in a peculiar cone-shaped proboscis, behind which is a broad frilled collar. For some little distance behind this again, the body is pierced by a double series of slits which, as they seem to represent the gill slits of vertebrate animals, have given ground for the be- lief in a very close relationship between Balanoglossus and the vertebrates. Crustaceans. All the divisions of this class are very numerously repre- sented, a result brought about by the combined factors of wonderful diversity of the littoral, great extent of shallow rocky ground, and large food supplies. Many of the larger species form important items in the local fishing industry. The most valuable is the lobster (H. vulgaris), caught round all the islands in large numbers, and of good size. The crawfish (_ Palinurus vulgaris ), the most beautiful and brilliantly coloured of British Crustacea, is also common, especially around Guernsey, and grows to even larger size than the largest lobster. It is held in high estimation for the table. The various prawns, chiefly the large Palcetnon serratus , afford a good deal of profit to the fishermen. The numbers caught in the prawn pots and by nets are often immense, and a ready sale is always assured. Shrimps are largely netted in Jersey. The common crab ( Cancer pagurus ), known in Guernsey as the “chancre,” in Jersey as the “ Guernsey crab,” attains CRABS AS FOOD. 1 77 great size, and many are exported annually. Jersey speci- mens are seldom of the large size so common in Guernsey, whence comes the local name. The reason for the disparity probably lies in the large number of poor French families living in Jersey, who scour the shore unceasingly, and to whom nearly every living thing, from the size of a winkle upwards, represents food. In this way the number of im- mature crabs destroyed is incredible. One of the swimming crabs, the beautiful but pugnacious “ Lady crab ” ( Portunus pubef) is nearly always present in the markets, commanding a high price in spite of its profusion. The shore-crab, or “ green crab,” as it is here known ( Carcinus mcenas ), generally so despised, is in Jersey SCYLLARUS ARCTUS. consumed eagerly by the poorer among the islanders. This list of marketable crustaceans would be sadly incomplete were mention omitted of the large spider-crab ( Maia squinado ), of which cartloads may sometimes be seen in summer in the markets. On a bright summer day at spring-tide even women and children are constantly to be seen eagerly tramping up and down in shallow water at low tide among the Zostera beds, feeling for their prey with their feet. Leaving the species recognised as food, we may chronicle as among the more interesting forms of the higher Crustacea or Decapoda, the presence of the essentially Mediterranean species Scyllarus arctus , of a rich chestnut brown, crossed by brilliant scarlet lines at the junction of the somites. It used to be not uncommon in Guernsey, where the fishermen N I7« THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. are familiar with it under the names of “ Bastard crawfish ” and “ Square-nosed lobster.” Alpheus , another southern type, is also present; but the numbers have decreased much of late years. In the days when it was less rare its pres- ence was often betrayed by the sound of a sharp crack, about the same as can be made by sharply striking the palm of one hand with the two first fingers of the other. Alpheus produces this sound by the snapping of the termi- nal parts of the great claws or chelae. Palinurus is also capable of making noise, in this case rather of the nature of a grunt, caused by the rubbing of the basal part of the antennae against the horny side of the rostrum. Burrowing forms abound. The great hole of Callianassa subterranea is frequent under stones in Jersey, while Axius and Gebia are continually turned up when rockworming. Nika edulis is, too, not uncommon. In the pools Hippolyte varians is common, simulating its surroundings admirably. Various species of Galathea are numerous under boulders, chiefly G. strigosa and G. squami- fera . Hermit crabs of many species abound, the two largest, P. bernhardus and P . prideauxiiyN\Xh their respective anemone companions Adamsia rondeletii and A. palliata , being especially common, the former towards low water, the latter in deep water. Among crabs, the pretty thumb-nail crab ( Thia polita ) is by no means scarce on the Jersey coast, but the common British Corystes cassivelaunus is notably rare. Jersey is a very good locality for many interesting species, Dromia vulgaris and Acheus cranchii being both obtainable, Some- times in number. Nearly all the British swimming and spider crabs frequent these waters. Inachus dorsettensis is very often taken, and much more rarely the quaint gaited Stenhorynchus cegyptius , that pleasures in decking his spiny body with scraps of gaudy seaweed. In the early months of the year a large proportion of these crustaceans spawn, and then, in the calm warm seas of these islands, those who are interested in the fascinating life-histories, or rather life-transformations of these animals, have unrivalled opportunities to pursue their studies by means of the tow-net. And what can be more enchanting PARASITIC CRUSTACEANS. 179 than the pursuit of Nature under the conditions present here ? A sea with scarce a ripple, the sky cloudless, a roomy boat, the water clear as crystal, and the tow-net fill- ing well nigh too rapidly with quaint larval forms, from the tiny Zoma of the Porcelain crab, armed with his three great spines, held as a knight of old would couch his lance, to the strange leaf-like young of Palinurus and Scyllarus , often thiee-quarters of an inch long, and formerly classed as a distinct family under the name of Phyllosoma — the glass crabs. At times — March and April — the young of the Acorn shell (Balanus balanozdes ), in the strange nauplius and cypris stages, abound in myriads in the surface water, while other cirripedes are represented by Scalpellum vulgare from deep water, and Lepas anatifera , &c., on floating logs. Amphipods and Isopods are extremely diversified in species and wonderfully numerous. Nowhere are they absent. In species legion, we cannot attempt even to mention the more rare, but we shall confine ourselves to pointing out the great richness in parasitic and wood- burrowing forms. Of the amphipods, few are truly parasitic, but many exact protection, if nothing more, from other animals. Thus one species (. Hyperia galba ) is often found in the jelly fish Rhizostoma ; another frequents the common cockle ; some the mantle of Ascidians, and others the tubes of Annelids. Of the borers into wood, we have here, fairly numerously, thelura terebrans. Two isopods, Tanais vitta- tus and Lnnnoria lignorum are usually present as well in bored vvood, though Tanais probably takes no part in the destroying process, simply taking advantage of the burrow made by his two companions. The parasitic isopods are very numerous; thus we have Gyge on Hippolyte and Galathea , Phryxus on Galathea , lone on Callianassa , Bopy- rus on the Prawns. Lastly, we must not omit the cruel A mlocra viediterranea , that settle very commonly and invariably in pairs upon Crenilabrus, just behind the eye, and there suck the life-blood of this pretty fish. The parasitic copepods are also numerous. Caligus rapax on the lump-sucker, basse and others, C. centrodonti N 2 i8o THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. chiefly on the wrasse. Sabella has, too, its Caligus para- site, while Lerncza and Lepeoptheirus are also, though more rarely, seen. Chondr acanthus is often to be had from the gills of the John Dory. Various species of My sis are abundant, and several swarm so greatly at certain seasons as to constitute a minor industry, for, taken by the pint in horse-hair nets, the fishers salt them to use as a lure when the mullet season begins. The cherve , as this pickled mass is called, is then scattered on the surface of the water, just prior to casting the line. This custom is very probably confined entirely to the Channel Islands. INSECTA. This branch of zoology, although the one with the greatest number of devotees, is still very far from having been adequately worked. Published lists give of Coleoptera (beetles) 550 species, of Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) about 600 species, numbers that look fairly high for the range of territory, but which will undoubtedly admit of extension. Of the number of species in each of the other orders it is as yet impossible to form even an approximate idea, but good work is being done by the Guernsey Natural History Society, which reckons in its ranks the well-known and able entomologist, Mr. Luff. Among a wealth of insect life it is strange that the butterflies are few, both in species (not more than 60) and in numbers, excepting, of course, so far as numbers are concerned, the all too common cabbage butterfly and occasional swarms of the “ Painted Lady.” Of the species prized by collectors we have a few — viz., the “ Glanville ” and “ Queen of Spain ” fritillaries, the “ Comma,” and one or two others. On the other hand, moths are abundant, and include some fine species, — e.g., that grand insect, the Death’s-head moth, which is, in some seasons at least, very common. The Convolvulus Hawk moth is constant and common, and that beautiful day-flier Callimorpha hera (the so- called “Jersey Tiger”) is very common in all the islands. NOTABLE LOCAL INSECTS. 1 8 1 Among the beetles one species is worthy of special men- tion ; this is the brilliant Calosoma sycophanta , which occurs frequently in Jersey and Guernsey. The Thysanoura (spring tails) abound on all sides, and several species new to science are recorded from Jersey. The Orthoptera (grasshoppers, earwigs, &c.), Neuroptera (dragon-flies, &c.), and Hemiptera (bugs) are well represented. In the last- named order a characteristic species is the pretty little scarlet and black Pyrrhocoris aptera , the markings on the back of which are in grotesque caricature of the human face, and which literally swarms on the sunny sandy banks along the coast-line. The rare marine species Aipophilus Bonnairei is found among the low tide rocks in all the islands. The Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, &c.) are also numerous, some sixty or seventy species being found in the islands, and bee-farming is an industry in Jersey and Guernsey. The hornet is absent. Arachnida. Of the representatives of this class, which includes the spiders, mites, and scorpions, only a conjecture can be made. Of true spiders only twenty are listed, a number very far short of the mark, whilst in the strongly repre- sented order of the Mites , which abound from the hill-tops to the deepest local sea-soundings, nothing has as yet been done. The brightly-coloured Trombidiidce swarm on the lichen-covered rocks of the coast, and some of the same genus are among our garden pests, the young (hexapodous stage) of one species producing a painful affection of the skin (parsnip itch) among farm labourers. Of the Pseudo-scorpions we have some seven species, two of which ( Obisium littorale and O. maritimd) live among rocks which are submerged at every tide. Myriapoda. This is a small class ( Centipedes and Millepedes ) repre- sented by Lithobius , four species of Geophilus (two of which are marine, living low down in the littoral), a small species of Scolopendra , two of Julus , and the remarkable long-legged Scutigera coleopti r ata. This last, which is com- THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 182 mon on the shores of the Mediterranean, is probably an importation, — some persons might think a rather undesir- able one ; for though quite harmless, its appearance is not in its favour. With the ordinary centipede body, about two inches long, but raised on sixteen pairs of legs of about the same length as the body, and travelling with rapidity, it is the best imaginable form for causing a “ creepy ” sensa- tion in nervous people. It is confined to the vicinity of the harbours, and is not common. Glomeris , a curious barrel-shaped millepede, also an inhabitant of Southern Europe, is recorded in the islands, but requires authentication. MOLLUSCA. The marine molluscs of the Channel Islands share to the full in the characteristic faunal richness of the region. Conversely the number of land and fresh-water species is meagre indeed, and no very rare forms are present. The large slug, Limax maximus , is notably common, and it is worthy of mention that the French snail, H.pomatia , is not met with. Regarding the marine forms, the list is so lengthy, and the variety so extensive, that we must confine ourselves to mentioning the more rare and curious, at the same time pointing out some of the remarkable characteristics pos- sessed by several. Of the Chitons there are a great number. The large C. discrepans , sometimes two inches long, is frequently taken. C. fascicularis is also often seen. Of the Gastropods, the importance of one, Haliotis tuber - culata , overshadows all others. Known locally as the Ormer, thousands are annually brought to market at times of spring-tides, and sell at a good price, being greatly and justly relished by the islanders. Formerly very common at low water all round the islands, the native supply, especially in Jersey, has greatly decreased, and the greater part are brought from the vast Minquier Reefs, lying due south of Jersey. Limpets are also much eaten in the islands by the poorer class of the population, as well as great numbers of Trochus lineatus and Littorina litlorea , SEA-SLUGS. 183 known respectively as the grey and the black winkle. As elsewhere, Buccinum undatum (the Whelk), is much used as bait. Fissurella is frequent in the dredge, as are also Scaphander and Bulla. On the shore Murex corallinus , M. erinaceus , Lachesis minima , Nassa reticulata , and numerous Littorina and Trochus — sometimes the rare T. tumidus — are the characteristic ; while cave and cranny show Cyprcea , spider- like hanging by its thread of mucus. In the pools, Rissoa, in variety, Jeffreysia, Skenea , Homalogyra , Aclis , and Odo/i- tostoma more rarely. Ianthina rotundata has several times been cast up in St. Ouen’s Bay, even with floats intact. Such occurrences always happen after long-continued westerly gales. Philine aperta , Pleurobranchus plumula , and P . membra- naceus , Aplysia punctata , and A. depilans are well known and frequently taken. At times Aplysia literally dyes the shore with its purple secretion, so vast are the numbers that crawl into the littoral at time of breeding. Frequently, for several seasons together, they unaccountably disappear almost entirely, returning again after a long lapse in their usual numbers. Nudibranchs are very common, especially the great yellow Doris tuberculata. Less common are Doris pilosa , Doto pinnatijida, Ancida cristata , Elysia viridis , and several species of Eolis and of Tritonia. The bright colouring and wonderfully beautiful and varied forms of the branching gills that decorate the backs of these sea-slugs have from early days excited much attention from lovers of the beauties of Glaucus ; and more especially should they be appreciated by those who have the pleasure of keeping a marine aquarium, however small. They possess elaborate devices against enemies. Some even have stinging cells like the sea-anemones. Most beautifully executed coloured drawings of a large number of British species will be found in Alder and Hancock’s “ Monograph of British Nudi- branchs,” a work every naturalist should have upon his shelves — so beautiful and life-like are the plates. Lamellibranchs. — Of economic value here are the Oyster, the scallop (. Pecten maxhnus ), queens (P. warms'), cockle THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 184 (C. edule .) Occasionally, too, are seen in the market small quantities of Cardium norvegicum and of Pectunculus gly rimer is. The former somewhat esteemed ; the latter thought tough. The oyster fishery off Gorey was formerly of great importance ; but from causes as yet but little understood it has dwindled to insignificance, and no serious effort has been made to restore it. Several interesting species were once common, — eg . , Galeomma turtoni , a curious form where gastropod habit of locomotion is adopted, the two valves being spread out, and the foot thus exposed is used to progress with ; also Lima Ilians , the most lovely bivalve probably in all the world. Vivacious to a degree, it darts hither and thither in the water, a little pink-bodied creature enclosed in a delicate transparent shell, carrying behind it streamers of scarlet and orange, and more like a bright little fish than a relative of the staid oyster. Alas, its numbers are now few, for some conchologists — we should scorn to call them naturalists — have done their best to exterminate them, and have, unfortunately, only too well succeeded. Such men deserve to be pilloried in type, and it is with reluctance we refrain. To mention some of the characteristic species ; we can count here, among many others, Anomia , Area lactea , A. tetragona , Modiolaria marmorata , living buried in the tough thick tunic of Asridia mentula , Donax politus , Kellia , Lutraria elliptica , and L. oblonga , together with splendid Mactra glauca. Mytilus barbatus is common ; Pandora , Pinna rudis , Solen , Tapes , &c. Boring species are frequent. Saxicava rugosa , failing the presence of limestone, bores into the thick crusts of the lime-secreting seaweed Melobesia , while Teredo , in numer- ous species, bore into timber and cork most destructively. T. navalis is very common in wood from the harbours and diving stages, together with T. megotara , which also bores into fishermen's floats. Cephalopods . — The common forms are Octopus vulgaris , Lepia officinalis (the squid or sieche ), Loligo vulgaris ( cone ), L. media , and Sepiola atlantica. All, except the last two, which are too small, are esteemed the finest bait procur- THE MOSS-POLYPS. 1 85 able by the fisherman, as the flesh tenaciously remains on the hooks. Eledone is very rare. Victor Hugo’s well-known monster octopus would be esteemed by our fishermen no great terror. In reality, the long arms are easily cut, and, indeed, can be torn in pieces. The French author’s story is certainly a gross exaggeration. Octopus is the favourite food of the conger, who hunts it constantly and eagerly, and seems to have no difficulty in destroying it. Brachiopoda. — An unimportant division here, being represented by A rgiope capsula, a tiny species, *04 inches in diameter, found under stones near low water in Jersey. POLYZOA. This curious group of colonial living animals is among the commonest forms of life met with on these prolific shores. Eighty to one hundred species have been recog- nised, and doubtless patient search will still further ex- tend the number. Growing in colonies, many thousands, even millions, often in each, some assume the outward appearance of the pretty Hydroid zoophytes — such, for instance, as Crisia eburnea , Scrupocellaria scruposa , Bugula flabellata , and the like. These are all, like the Hydroid zoophytes, composed of myriad cups, which living, contain each, one of the tiny highly- organised polypites which constitute the units of the community. Each cup is elaborately sculptured and of some elegant form. Some- times beautifully carved antler-like organs guard the en- trance to the tiny dwellings, or long lashing hairs or snap- ping beaks of obscure use are added. Another group is fleshy or even gelatinous, as Alcyo- nidium gelatinosum and A. papillosum ; the latter, very common, hanging pendant near low water. These, too, have their counterpart among the less highly-organised Zoophyte family proper, in the common Alcyonium digitatum . Another fleshy species is Membranipora pilosa , frequently encrusting stems and blades of fucus. No sight can be more beautiful than a colony of one of the last-named forms, when, after being placed in a small THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 1 86 aquarium, the little animals, finding themselves at home, gradually peep out of their tiny dwellings, start in again, peep out further, perhaps retract again, to finally protude in toto , and open, fan-like, their lovely circlet of colourless feathery tentacles. • When all are open, the whole colony is as it were enwrapped in a coating of the most regular thistle-down ; but tap the jar, and presto! the colony is a dull, dead-looking mass of no beauty, unattractive, feature- less. Some species are largely parasitic in habit ; thus Bower- bankia and Amathia are nearly always found on the abun- dant seaweed Hcilidrys , while AEtea , in its queer little snakes’ heads, often clothes the stems of red seaweeds. Of the microscopic forms, Loxosoma and Pedicellina are abundant — the former upon the Gephyrean worm Phas- colosoma , the latter upon the stems of diatom-encrusted weeds and zoophytes. The great part of the foregoing species are commonest upon the littoral. In deep water, on scallop-shell and the like, brought up by the dredge we find a different growth, characterised mainly by a limy or calcareous skeleton and encrusting rather than shrub-like in appearance. Such are the patches of Lichenopora — little cups with organ pipes close set in the hollow ; or the curious kindred Tubulipora ; the coral-like crumpled leaf-masses of Lep valid, and the stony masses of Eschar a. Tunicata. All divisions of this group are well represented here, as well the simple as the compound. The former, known familiarly as sea-squirts, are represented most characteris- tically in these islands by the large tough Ascidia mentula , the green solitary Ciona intestinalis , Styela of various species from deep water, the dull scarlet Cynthia rustica in closely-set myriad number, clothing in a living mantle the sides of little caverns from half-tide down, and the little colonies of glassy Clavellina lepadifonnis and Pero- phora listeri under boulders in the pools and “ gutters,” showing their anatomy so well through the clear encasing SEA-SQUIRTS. I8 7 tunic. Should anyone be tempted to take up the study of these degenerate animals, of interest, as well on account of the strangeness of their structure as of the curious family and life histories that link them closely to the higher or vertebrate animals, we advise, as first step, an examination of the two last mentioned — Clavellina and Perophora . Their small size admits of them being viewed alive in a watch- glass of water under the microscope with a low power, whilst their transparency is such that even the beating of the curious heart can be clearly seen. The waves of blood can indeed be counted, — some forty pulsations in one direction, followed by a pause, during which one begins to fancy the animal dead, and then suddenly an equal number of pulsations in the opposite direction ; thus completely reversing the course of blood circulation. But it is the compound ascidians that bulk larger to the eye ; so numerous, so often intensely brilliant in colour, so universally distributed on the littoral, and so varied in form. Species of Botryllus are everywhere — pendant in pear-shaped fleshy masses ; flat, parasitic, creeping along fucus blades ; crusting stones — yellow, black with white stars, red, sage-green, purple with pale stars — well nigh every hue and shade. Then abundant in the Zostera is the orange-red Botrylloides rub rum , casing the old stems with its pretty beadwork structure. Pretty colonies of Aplidium elegans , of the shape and of the white-specked pink colour of strawberries, are common, as are, too, the fig-shaped clusters of orange Morchellium argus. Colour is assuredly the great feature of these compound ascidians. Even from the uninitiated they compel attention. When Victor Hugo, in his “ Toilers of the Sea,” wrote with gruesome similes of the sea-worn caves, with walls stained as though giants had been slaugh- tered there, he was describing vividly, and without much exaggeration, the appearance of one of many a grot and gully in the Channel Islands ; and moreover we have no difficulty in recognising in the blood-red patches what he had in view — the thin encrusting spreading masses of the compound ascidian Leptoclinum lacazii. Many allied species are to be found — one is orange mottled with pale THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 188 yellow, another is a pleasant neutral tint, one is white with black spottings, and others again are violet. All these are littoral. The deep water gives us no bright colouring — no striking contrast of hue. The great interest attaching to the life-history of these animals has been referred to above. When the young emerge from the egg they are quite unlike the ancient water-bottle or sac-form of the adult, being like miniatures of the tadpole stage of the frog — a little ovoid body pro- pelled through the water by a strong, well-developed tail. These larvae can be easily obtained, and will repay any time devoted to their study. As it is an axiom of Science that the history of the individual usually recapitulates the general story of the race, we are led to suppose that the ancestral form of ascidian approximates somewhat to this tadpole form; and in Appendicularia , an adult free-swimming ascidian, very common at times in the tow-net in these islands, we have confirmation of this, for this species has a little elliptical body with a strongly-marked tail. Fishes. The fishes of the Channel Islands are of extraordinary variety. Few of the northern British species are absent, and from the Mediterranean there are a great number of representatives. Unfortunately, their variety and beauty are in inverse ratio to their economic value. The list that can be made out of species is extremely formidable, but no brown-sailed fleets of fishing-boats are ever seen streaming from the harbours ; only a few straggling open craft that may easily escape notice, and which, being ill- adapted save for in-shore fishing, are not fitted for making the best of the position. With capital available to build and equip larger craft, or with well-directed thrift among the fisher-folk themselves, there would soon be a different story to tell, for the off-shore fishing is found valuable by the capacious, well-manned, and properly-equipped French fishing-smacks. But it seems hopeless to expect that what these Breton folk have done in the south, and the hardy Manxmen in the north, will ever have any counterpart in SAND-EELING. 189 these isles. Practically there exists no export trade ; in- deed, imports of English and French fish are constant. From Plymouth comes the greatest supply ; plaice, mack- erel, and herring chiefly ; cod and salmon from London. Of home-caught food fishes, plaice, whiting, and conger are to be named first. These are abundant and of good size. More highly-esteemed are the red and grey mullet, basse, John Dory, and black bream, which are frequently obtained in fair quantity, and fetch the highest prices. Basse and bream are undoubtedly becoming more scarce every season, and in connection with this it is interesting to note that in the first edition of this work (1862) it is stated that “ The basse is common but not very good.” The sentence, to faithfully render the present state of matters, should be turned end about. The turbot, brill, and allied species are in the same place mentioned as “ incredibly abundant at certain seasons.” At the present time they are scarce, and principally come from England. Other fishes frequently seen in the markets include the sand-eel or lan^on (. Ammodytes ), mackerel {Scomber scomber')^ the smelt {Atherina presbyter) ^ rock-fishes ( Labrus ) of many gaudy hues, the gurnards ( Trigla ), the gar-fish or snipe- fish {Belone vulgaris ), sometimes called the “ green-bone,” from the peculiar colour of the bones ; the sea-loach ( Mo - tilla :), the fays (. Raia ), the blue shark {C archarias glaucus), the dog-fishes ( Acanthias vulgaris , Scyllium catulus , and vS\ canicula). All these find ready sale as food ; the sharks and dog-fishes chiefly among the poorer French element of the population. The methods employed in the capture of these fishes calls for no special comment, save in the case of sand-eel. The local plan of its pursuit possesses the charm of novelty to strangers, and merits special mention. Sand-eeling by moonlight is an immemorial custom in the islands, and fine nights in spring and autumn witness crowds of men and boys armed with forks, scrapers, and baskets wending their often devious ways among the rocks to some one of the famed sand-eeling “ gravels.” These “ gravels ” are really shell-sand beaches, and are numerous in Jersey, Guernsey, and Herm ; each, however small, is known by THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 190 a distinctive title, which, in itself, points to the great antiquity of the sport. At times the sands swarm with these lively little fishes, and the plan pursued is generally for one to turn over the ground with a rake or scraper while a companion watches to seize the fishes as they are dislodged. In Jersey, sand-eeling is more practised than in the other islands, and the pursuit is most dangerous on account of the long tract of shore that has to be traversed to reach the “gravels.” Fatalities have been numerous, and strangers who wish to partake in a true island sport should never omit the precaution of having a guide with them. Of rare fish-visitors may be enumerated the torpedo- ray, the angel-fish, the porbeagle shark, the sturgeon, and the sun-fish and the salmon, a few of which appear fairly regularly each season. Several of that most magnificent of fishes, Scicena aquila , have been taken off Jersey. It is a fish whose richly- gilded body, clad with scales the size of half-crowns, is coloured with hues that rival the splendour of the pea- cock’s plumage. The lancelet ( Amphioxus lanceolatus ), lowest of verte- brated animals, is by no means rare, being often turned up in sand-eeling, and occasionally being taken in the dredge. The size is at times remarkably large. Of fresh-water fishes little can be said. Carp, tench, sticklebacks, loach, and eels being common ; but most species have been introduced, and it is difficult now to say of what consists the true indigenous fauna, but it is no doubt ex- tremely scanty, consisting probably of eel, stickleback, and loach alone. Streams are too few and too fre- quently dried up to sustain any but the scantiest and hardiest life. Amphibia and Reptilia. Of these two classes, five genera comprising eight species are represented in the Channel Islands, — viz., the smooth newt, the palmated newt, the common frog, the toad, the so-called sand lizard ( Lacerta agilis\ the green lizard, the slow-worm, and the ring-snake. THE GREEN -LIZARD. 191 The most striking, as well as the most fully represented of these is the beautiful green lizard. In Jersey it is abun- dant, frequenting every slope and bank which fulfils the conditions of full exposure to the sun, with a sufficient amount of vegetation to conceal the mouth of its burrow, or into which it may dart, should danger threaten. It requires some little practice to readily detect this splendid reptile, so closely does it resemble its surroundings, when stretched motionless on some protecting clod of earth, or tree root, its body flattened down so as to catch every pos- sible ray of warmth from the sun, and surrounded by the foliage of the bramble, the starwort, and the wood-sage. It can be said to be well concealed while in open view, and the first experience of the would-be observer will be to hear the sharp rustle of foliage, as, when danger threatens, it darts with lightning speed into shelter. There is much variety of marking in this lizard, the most usual being a grass-green ground with minute specks of yellow and black, pale blue throat and yellow abdomen. A pretty variety is found at Portelet Bay, having a grass- green ground with large black irregular spots ; a third has an olive-green ground, with white lines along the sides and two rows of black dots just within these. A rather rare variety is of uniform grass-green on the upper side, and pale yellow beneath. In fact, with the exception of the first- named of these varieties, which might be called the type, no two specimens can be said to be even approximately alike. The smaller and less familiar, but scarcely less beautiful species, Lace7 r ta agilis , is found in Jersey, but is confined to the northern and north-eastern coast-line, nowhere appear- ing further inland than a hundred yards or so. Its popular name of sand lizard is not very happy, as its only haunts are the sandless districts of the island. It frequents dry and lichen-covered rocks, old sea walls, and even boulders which are washed by the high tide waves. It is, perhaps, even a better example of protective coloration than the species last described, its beautiful mottling and dotting of drab, olive-green, grey and brown, assimilating very closely to the weathered rock surfaces and lichen-covered stones among which it lives. 192 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. The Slow-worm (. Anguis fragilis ) is very common, fre- quenting heathy places in all the islands. The Ring-snake \Tropidonotus natrix) is confined to Jersey, where it is fairly common, especially in the northern and western parts. The smooth newt and the frog are found in all the islands. The palmated newt, which has escaped previous notice, is not uncommon in Jersey. It is found in ponds at Grou- ville, Trinity, and St. Ouen’s Bay, and no doubt extends over the island generally. The Toad (. Bufo vulgaris) is found in Jersey only, where it grows to a very large size, and assumes such deviation from the ordinary type in the way of coloration as to make it a well-marked variety. It was until recently extraordinarily abundant even on the outskirts of the town, but since the introduction, in large numbers, of farm labour- ers from Brittany, it is getting more and more scarce, the Breton labourers having a great horror of this most useful and inoffensive little animal, and never failing to destroy every one they come across. No venomous reptile of any species exists in the islands. Birds. Considering the limited area of the islands and their very dense population, the number of birds is very surprising. The list — well authenticated — comprises no less than one hundred and ninety species. About ninety of these are permanent residents, and about a hundred regularly take up their abode with us for some portion of the year. The limits of space preclude more than a cursory glance at this important section of the fauna, but those interested in the subject will find complete information in Mr. Cecil Smith’s “ Birds of Guernsey.” Taking first our permanent residents, these include eight raptorial species, — viz., of the falcon tribe, the kestrel, sparrow T -hawk, common buzzard, merlin, peregrine falcon (these names following according to their numerical repre- sentation), and of the owls, the barn owl, short-eared owl, and long-eared owl. The rough-legged buzzard and the tawney owl may also be among the residents, but in very small number. BIRDS. 193 Of birds which are rare in these latitudes and which cer- tainly reside in Jersey, although in very small numbers, are the hoopoe and the golden oriole. The former, which, it must be regretted, occasionally falls to the gun in the winter time, has been observed by the writer for several seasons nesting in the parish of St. Saviour. The golden oriole has also been observed on two occasions in nearly the same locality. Judging from the fact that stuffed specimens of the gol- den oriole, locally obtained, are in the possession of several persons in Jersey, it is very likely that it was formerly more plentiful than at present. The red-legged partridge, formerly common, seems now extinct. It was still breeding in Jersey in 1876, when the writer observed it near “ La Tour,” at Rouley Bay, and found its nest on the lawn of a house (La Garenne) at Trinity in the same year. The starling has quite recently (within the last two or three years) taken to breed in Jersey; until that time, although breeding in great numbers in the sister islands, it was only among the autumn visitors to Jersey. The rook is absent. It has on several occasions visited the islands apparently with a view to colonization, but after a sojourn of a week or two has decamped. The beautiful family of “ tits ” is well represented in the islands, as is also the fire-crested and gold-crested regulus. Passing to the sea birds, the quaint little “ stormy petrel,” of evil portent — and certainly of very evil odour — breeds in great numbers on the rocks of Sark. Of the gulls, which are abundant, and also of the terns, it is difficult to say which are residents, and which visitors. It is, however, doubtful if any other than the herring gull breeds here. The common cormorant ( Carbo cormoranus) is here uncom- mon. Its relative the crested cormorant, or shag, on the contrary, is exceedingly abundant, swarming on all the outlying rocks and breeding among the cliffs in all the islands. The heron and the gannet are around the islands throughout the whole year, but whether they breed here is questionable. Of visitors arriving in spring, we have the wryneck, the O 194 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. wheatear, the cuckoo, the martin, the swallow, a very large number of the warblers, the flycatchers, whimbrel, godwit, and the swift. The names are given in the general order of their arrival. Of these the wryneck, the cuckoo, the whim- brel, and the godwit depart before the end of summer, the others remaining until the autumn is well advanced ; about the last to leave are the wheatear and the swift. The nightingale has frequently been reported in the local press as having been “ heard,” but an authentic record of its visit is still wanting. It is very probable that some of the “ full-toned ” warblers, — e.g ., the whitethroat, — failing on some occasion to discriminate between the sun and moon, has been the cause of the confusion ! Birds arriving in the autumn are the starling (in large flocks), the redwing, the woodcock, the snipe, the spotted crake, the lapwing, a great many species of plovers and sandpipers, land- and water- rails, and sometimes the quail. Some of these, — e.g., the spotted crake and the purple sand- piper, — depart at the approach of winter. In winter many species of ducks and geese visit our shores for a few weeks, some eighteen species being regu- lar visitors ; chief amongst them in point of numbers is the brent-goose. Large flocks of this species arrive during December and January, frequenting the prairies of zostera — or sea grass — chiefly on the western shore of Herm and the south-eastern shore of Jersey. A good number fall annually to the formidable duck-guns of the fishermen of La Rocque and are brought to market. This bird, although haunting the sea shore, is a vegetarian — its food consisting principally of the leaves of the zostera, which it snips off in lengths of two or three inches, and swallows, with a fair amount of gravel by way of condiment. Its flesh is much esteemed. It is locally called “ be7 r mile ” but the bermile goose itself is a rather rare visitor. Of rare, or casual, visitors, there are among others on record — the golden eagle, white-tailed eagle, osprey, the har- riers, the spoonbill, one or two species of swan, the avocet, the little bittern, the great bustard, the bee-eater, the collared- pratincole, and the Bohemian wax-wing. The Pallases sand grouse also called here in its last westerly excursion. MAMMALIA. 195 Mammalia. The land mammalia of the islands is represented by nine genera and fourteen species. These are — the hare, rabbit, water vole, short-tailed field mouse, brown rat, black rat, long-tailed field mouse, long-eared bat, pepistrelle bat, hedgehog, mole, shrew, and stoat. It is probable that to this list may be added the weasel and one of the martens. The weasel is mentioned in some lists of the local fauna, but the writer knows of no authentic instance, and it is possible that the stoat, being locally called the “ weasel,” may have led to this error. If the latter exists it is certainly rare. In regard to the marten, the writer infers, from an accumulation of independent evidence extend- ing over some twelve or fourteen years, that it exists in Jersey. The description of an animal visiting a farm- yard at St. Lawrence, and frequently seen by the pro- prietor and the domestics, agrees in every way with that of the pine marten ; an animal frequently raiding the poultry yard of Dr. Voisin (also in St. Lawrence), and several times surprised by him, answers the same de- scription ; and within the last few months one observed on many occasions on an estate at St. Ouen’s by the pro- prietor, a gentleman well-versed in natural history, and not likely to make a mistake, supplies evidence in favour of the pine marten being included in our fauna. It must, however, be far from common, and its generally nocturnal and arboreal habits would account for no specimen being so far secured. In the previous editions of this work the fox is recorded as found in Jersey, but it is now extinct. Since about i860 there is no evidence of its having been seen. These animals were formerly rather numerous in the vicinity of Bouley Bay and at St. Brelade’s, and have even been known to take up there abode so near the town as Surville, at Mont a l’Abbe. The hare and the rabbit, especially the latter, are com- mon. The hedgehog is common in the eastern parishes of J ersey, and is also found in Guernsey, but it has certainly been introduced. There is no record of it prior to the O 2 196 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. “ fifties/’ and the number is certainly much greater at present than it was twenty years ago. The mole is very common, and the damage it does to crops by the disturbance of roots is considered to far out- weigh the good it may do by the destruction of grubs. In fact, so great is the balance on the wrong side of its account that the mole-catcher or “ taupier ” finds ready employ- ment ; and the system of gibbetting his little velvet-clad victims upon some tree near the farm entrance has often caused some perplexity to the visitor. A beautiful cream- white variety, an approach to albinism, is frequently met with, especially in the parishes of St. Peter’s and St. Lawrence. The black rat is still common in Sark, where it has not to compete in the struggle for existence with its more powerful rival the brown. This is to be accounted for by the fact that, owing to the character of the shore at Sark, vessels do not touch shore, all landing having to be effected by small boats, thus reducing the opportunity of access for the black rat’s deadly rival. It is still found in Jersey, but is fast disappearing. One or two farm buildings at St. Lawrence, and at Longueville, with a series of storehouses near the harbour of St. Helier, are its remaining strongholds. A third species of bat, for which opportunity of identi- fication has not yet occurred, has been taken in Jersey. It is larger than the long-eared species, with long lax fur of a russet colour. The specimen is now in the natural history collection of Dr. Charles Godfray, of St. Helier. It is perhaps a foreign species introduced with timber or some other suitable ship’s cargo. Of the remainder of the terrestrial mammalia there is nothing worthy of special mention. Of marine forms {Cetacea) the only constant species is the common porpoise; but the grampus is frequently seen off the coast. The common seal is occasionally captured, and one specimen of the great grey seal was taken in 1887, at Greve de Lecq in Jersey. CHAPTER X. GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY OF THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. Revised , with Maps and Notes. By C. Noury, S.J. Ancient Formations. In no part of Europe, and in no group of islands readily accessible, are the physical geography and geology more closely related than in the Channel Islands. The tongues and spurs of porphyritic rock, of which almost all the promontories of the Atlantic coast of Europe consist, are well illustrated in Western Brittany and in Cornwall, and not less so in the intervening rocky groups. Better able than most of the secondary rocks to resist the constant action of the sea, these rocks show themselves, partially denuded and generally rugged, in the neighbourhood of Cherbourg and Cape la Hague, but they appear in per- fection in a succession of spurs pointing westward, forming the groups which together compose the islands we are con- sidering. Exposed from their isolated position to the never ceasing beating of the waves during their elevation, these islands have been deprived of most of the covering of stratified rocks they may once have possessed, and except a patch here and there in more sheltered positions, scarcely any indication exists of those deposited rocks that abound on all sides of them and give variety to the geology of England and France. None of the old fossiliferous rocks appear, not a particle of stratified limestone of the secondary NATURE OF THE ENQUIRY. 199 period is to be seen, and not a single patch of the old tertiaries that are so nobly represented on the opposite shores of Hampshire, and in the Isle of Wight, has ever been discovered. All is rude and bare and the mere skeleton of that rich and varied structure to which we are elsewhere accustomed; so that at first sight it may seem — as it has indeed been generally stated — that the geologist has here little oppor- tunity for investigation, and need only record the fact of the existence of such and such varieties of rock in certain localities. But the comparative anatomy and natural history of the earth, like that of its inhabitants, must be learnt from the skeleton. It is where the old, hard, nether-formed rocks frowningly appear above the water, where they are exposed in broad tabular masses laid bare by the waves, unclothed with soil, uncovered by sand and pebbles, that this history can best be learnt. It is there that natural sections of them may be studied, showing all varieties of early structural change and the later action of water and of constant change of temperature. Under such circum- stances, when they form hills rather than mountains, and cliffs that may be approached rather than precipices that can be looked on only from a distance — where they have been exposed to all varieties of change and dis- turbance — where they have been undermined and torn into shreds, but are still struggling with apparent success against their inevitable fate, that we read most of the great lessons they were intended to teach. For such reasons, and used in such a manner, the Channel Islands afford an admirable school for the geologist. The field is one which has not too many cultivators, but it will amply repay any amount of labour. There is, probably, no area of equal extent even in England that presents more variety of detail, or from which more may be learnt. The points of interest, although numerous and important, are concentrated at the two extremities of the geological scale. They involve inquiries concerning the mode of production and subsequent change of most varieties of crystalline rock and mineral veins, and thence they pass 200 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. at once to the latest changes that have taken place upon the earth. On the one hand, we have numerous phenomena exem- plifying the laws of composition and the original structure of the rocks called igneous, such as the syenites and por- phyries, and other hypogene rocks. We learn the history of the stratified form of these rocks ; the nature, extent, and cause of the various systematic clefts or fissures by which they are generally intersected ; the minerals and rocks by which the fissures have since become filled. We may learn, also, the nature of those modifications by which the rocks and systematic fissures or veins have been affected since their original formation, and the external or mechanical changes, whether of squeezing, elevation, de- pression, or weathering, either by sea wave or atmospheric exposure, to which they have been subjected. The con- sideration of questions of this kind is in itself of the highest importance in geology, and it leads to results of great practical value connected with the presence of metaliferous wealth, the applicability of stones for various purposes, and the origin and nature of soils and subsoils. There is another department of geology, in regard to which the Channel Islands are full of instruction. This relates, as we have stated above, to the last changes that have taken place upon the earth ; it considers the dis- turbances and deposits whose date is historical rather than geological, and which result from causes still in operation at the same place. The deposit of peat, or of rolled pebbles and stratified sand ; the removal of other similar deposits already bedded ; the breaking through of barriers, more or less natural, and the introduction and operation of various forces, visible and calculable ; the mode in which rocks are undermined, weathered, broken up, and carried off in fragments by the sea ; and the small upheavals or depressions imperceptible to the eye, but of recent date, which have helped or hindered the sea and the weather in their destructive couise : these together form a class of phenomena which are, as it were, the very grammar of geology ; phenomena which cannot be studied too closely, or known too familiarly, and which afford subjects for CRYSTALLINE ROCKS. 201 investigation, not less interesting and useful than any others. Since, however, the two classes of geological phenomena in the islands are so distinct, they may with advantage be considered separately. Let us begin with the group first alluded to, the crystalline and metamorphic rocks, including syenites and porphyries, together with shales, schists, slates, sand-stones, and conglomerates, of whatever date. Metamorphic Geology of the Channel Islands. It may be well to state that, by the term metamorphic , is here meant not that the rocks so called have lost all evidence of originally mechanical origin, but that their early history, mechanical or otherwise, has been either masked, or is obliterated by subsequent chemical action on a large scale. No doubt most, if not all, were originally mere mixtures of various common minerals, quartz or flint, clay, limestone, magnesia, iron-oxides, potash and soda manganese and fluorine, in various proportions, compacted together under certain conditions of temperature and pressure. These materials have, since their original accu- mulation, been exposed for a long time to the action of uniform high temperature in the presence of water, and have been acted on by currents of magnetic electricity circulating near the surface of the earth. In this way they have in time been elaborated into rocks, and the whole compound mass has subsequently undergone important changes. Out of the materials just named, or some of them, have been derived the following simple minerals and rocks, found in more or less abundance throughout the Channel Islands — feldspar, mica, chlorite, hornblende, serpentine, steatite, quartzite and horn-stone, syenite, granite, and various porphyries ; besides argillaceous and chloritic schists, and many others. All these occur here, much as they are found elsewhere, and may be described in chemical language as compound silicates of alumina, magnesia, lime, and other bases. These, have, perhaps, originally formed sand-stones, lime-stones, and clays ; but with their previous history we 202 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. have nothing to do. We know them only as they are now presented to us, metamorphosed into crystalline rocks. When in these rocks the crystalline texture pervades the whole, a true porphyry is obtained ; in other words, a number of crystals are seen embedded in a crystalline mass. Such rocks occur in large abundance in all the islands. Beautiful angular crystals of pale flesh-coloured feldspar are embedded in quartz, — sometimes of a pure transparent kind, sometimes blackened with iron or carbon. Beautiful and perfect crystals of hornblende are embedded in milk- white or dark-coloured quartz. Delicate crystals of mica are found in quartz. Large and beautiful crystals of feldspar, of the richest pink, are accumulated in rock masses. All these may be seen in almost every one of these rocky bays indenting the coasts of all the islands, and on every pebble beach. In some places, beautiful pale green crystals of actinolite or epidote are either embedded in or plastered, as it were, upon quartz ; and not unfrequently the crystals of hornblende or feldspar are mixed in the quartz paste with sparkling flakes of mica. When, however, the crystalline texture exists, but is over- borne by a mechanical structure, causing the mass to appear as if in regular layers or strata, the rock that would otherwise be granite is called gneiss ; and in proportion as the mechanical or crystalline appearance is the more distinct, the terms gneissic or porphyritic are applied to distinguish rocks essentially alike. The stratified or tabular appearance of the crystalline rocks in the Channel Islands is one of their most remarkable characteristics. There is ample evidence that all rocks of the kind we are now speaking of have been formed at a high tempera- ture (though far below the melting point of any of the constituents), under the great pressure of a large superin- cumbent mass of rock, and in association with water. Any one, whether geologist or not, who will reflect a little on the probable mode of formation of crystalline rocks, and of what must happen before they are brought to the earth’s surface, will have little difficulty in understanding CRYSTALLINE ROCKS. 203 the cause of some of the appearances that are most char- acteristic of them. Assuming a granitic rock to have been formed at a high temperature under great pressure, it may well be supposed that if the pressure is removed to any ex- tent, but the heat diminished in a greater ratio, the rock, in cooling, must undergo contraction, the mass splitting as it becomes hard. Such fissures originate on the upper or cooled surface, but may be continued downwards to any depth. If, however, they are followed by an elevation of the whole mass, the widest part of the fissures will ulti- mately be below. Such changes taking place gradually, and while there is still communication with the less cooled matter below, the chasms and fissures formed during cooling and elevation will be filled up by minerals, which contain generally the same elements as before, though being crystallised in changed proportions, and at a slightly different rate of cooling, new combinations are introduced. There may be a complete filling up of the fissures in these cases ; and owing to the difference alluded to, the mineral in the vein may be either more or less completely crystal- line, more or less like in its mineral character, and harder or softer than in the original rock. Sometimes when the crust or enclosing rock contains particular minerals in small quantities, the vein will contain them in larger pro- portion. Sometimes, when the crevice is of the nature of a bleb or closed cavity, such as is seen frequently in glass or lava, the inside will be filled by crystals shooting inwards from the walls towards the centre. As, however, the up- lifting of a mass of granite to the surface from the place of its formation slowly progresses, the very veins themselves that have been filled up will also become split open, and new fissures will be formed, rending asunder the material that has already filled chasms of older date. More fre- quently, systems of cracks will cross other systems, pro- ducing a great apparent complication. Many of the crevices of later date will, in time, become filled up from below ; while others, not accessible directly from below, will be acted on indirectly by vapours, or by structural changes produced in the mass of the rock, tending to 204 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. separate out the various accidental substances that it con- tains from the rock itself, and collect them in the empty spaces. It will also occasionally happen that a wide crevice becomes filled with fragments of rock fallen in from above. Thus is produced the vast net-work of veins or intersecting chasms, some empty, but most of them filled up with foreign substances, so characteristic of all districts where granite abounds. These phenomena are admirably illustrated in the Channel Islands. But the mechanical force acting from below that has brought up the granite to the sea level must, in doing so, have squeezed its upper surface against a heavy overlying weight of rock and water before overcoming its inertia. Thus : if formed ten miles beneath the surface (a depth only double that of the highest point of land above the sea), the mere weight of the overlying material, supposing half that depth to be rock and the rest water, would amount to 2,500 tons on every square foot of surface ; and the pres- sure from below sufficient to overcome this, and lift up the mass, would inevitably produce the greatest mechanical change in those rocks having the smallest amount of elasticity. The effect of pressure on plastic matter is known by actual experience to produce that fissile structure of which slate is the best example, and it may, in this case, have originated the gneissic varieties of granite and por- phyry especially common in Guernsey. The systems of crevices and fissures traversing the grani- tic rocks ; the compass-bearing of the principal veins, the materials with which they are filled, and the relation these bear to the enclosing rocks ; the nature of the subordinate veins and their contents ; the threads of quartz that form the final delicate interlacing ; the passage of certain rocks into each other, and the transfer of materials originally contained in the larger fissures into those smaller crevices traversing them ; the presence, in certain cases, of so large a proportion of metaliferous mineral as to give to the veins the character of ores ; — such are the chief points that will require notice in this division of our subject. They must be alluded to systematically in reference to each of the islands. INTRUSIVE VEINS, 205 In a general sense, the rocks will be regarded as syenites (quartz, feldspar, and hornblende), or other varieties of 3 porphyry, according to their composition.* The hornblen- dic rocks, consisting of horn- blende and feldspar (the former known by its dark green colour, and the latter by its flesh tint), pass into green- stones, and then, by the re- ‘ 'v * INTRUSIVE VEINS. — THE CORBIIiRE, GUERNSEY. placement of actinolite (a pale green mineral) and prehnitc or epidote, assume new and very characteristic forms. It * With the orthite feldspar and hornblende which compose the syenite properly so called, most of these rocks contain also quartz and even mica, and consequently may well be called hornblendic granites. — C. N. 206 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. may be convenient for the reader to be reminded that mag- nesia is the elementary substance chiefly concerned in these modifications ; and that asbestos , talc , serpentine , and that curious soap-like mineral, called steatite , or potstone (abundant chiefly in the middle of Sark, but found else- where), are all minerals in which the magnesia element prevails. In all these minerals there is also more or less of a green colour and soft saponaceous touch observable. Chlorite is an abundant rock everywhere. It is a silicate and sub-aluminate of magnesia and iron. No one can walk much along the shore, or climb the cliffs of any of the Channel Islands, without being struck by the tendency in many of the rocks to assume either a tabular or terrace form. This is expressed sometimes by calling the rocks trap, from the Swedish word trappa , applied by the earlier geologists to basaltic and other volcanic rocks. It is, however, an expression that is not unlikely to mislead, as connecting the green-stones with rocks with which they have no other relation than that of form. There are, no doubt, in the islands many examples apparently indicating the presence of lava or recent vol- canic action, but these are deceptive, there being no re- lation between the blackened surfaces and cellular rocks alluded to and any true igneous rock. Striking examples of intrusive horizontal veins of green- stone may be observed in all the principal islands.* In Alderney fine specimens are to be seen, whilst in Jersey, equally picturesque but very different illustrations are found both on the north coast, near la Houle, and on the north- west coast, near Cape Grosnez. In Guernsey, the engrav- ing on the last page is an instance not less picturesque than instructive of an almost identical phenomenon. In all these cases the nearly horizontal veins simulate very closely the appearance of steps, and are therefore trap rocks in one sense, though certainly not by any means in the sense of vesicular lava connected with a volcanic eruption. The granites, syenites, and other porphyritic rocks of the * The author comprises under the name “ green-stone ” diorite and diabase, of which the first is hornblendic, and the second pyroxenic. — C. N. PROBABLE RESULT OF THEORETICAL CHANGES. 207 coast of Brittany recur, as we have already reminded the reader, in the Cotentin as well as in Cornwall. The bottom rocks of the Channel, if we judge only by the islands and rocks that rise above or approach near the surface, are of similar material ; but it by no means follows that this is the case uniformly across the whole sea. The great east and west elevations affecting the continent of Europe, and well illustrated in the lofty chains of the Alps and Pyrenees, have no doubt been the main causes of the hard and rugged promontories that jut into the Atlantic ocean at so many points. But the dying out of the east and west elevatory force is marked by the diminished height of the granite as we advance westwards. A glance at the map accompany- ing this volume, which shows the general position of the islands, and a study of the shape of the sea bot- tom within certain limits of depth, will form the best introduction to a detailed study of the geology of the Channel Islands. It will be seen that, if a uniform eleva- tion of any extent were now to take place in this part of the sea, the form of the French coast would be greatly modified ; for such elevation, even if to a very small extent, would include the largest island and the largest shoals as parts of the mainland of Europe. While, however, ten fathoms would do this, a much greater elevation would do very little more. On the north side of the northernmost of the promon- tories that would exist if the elevation were sufficient to include all the islands, there yet remains in numerous patches a considerable part of a deposit of sandstone that was once connected with the mainland of France ; but the rest of this northern promontory consists of a hard syenitic and porphyritic floor, on which the sand- stone has reposed — the banks of sand in the sea adjacent representing all that remains of the rock once covering the floor. The islands of Guernsey, Herm, and Sark, with the smaller islands and rocks adjacent, would, by the elevation assumed, form another promontory. No deposits more recent than the old syenites and gneiss, except a few modern sea beaches and some accumulations of sand and 208 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. fallen rock on the side of a cliff, can now be found on any part of this tract.* The island of Jersey, the Minquiers, and the Chausey islands would be far within the coast line. Jersey is much less denuded than Guernsey, and many varieties of crystal- line and metamorphic rock and some deposited sandstones and conglomerates still remain, and indeed cover a large proportion of its surface ; but the Minquiers and Chauseys are mere shreds of syenite.f Now, let the reader imagine, instead of a sudden elevation of the present sea-bottom, that at a certain period the whole district was 180 feet lower than at present, but was then partially covered with rocks concealing those now visible. Let him also suppose a gradual elevation to take place, exposing the surface as it emerged to the action of the waves. The result must be the production of the present state of things, namely, a number of islands, rocks and shoals, chiefly of syenite, instead of a continuous tract of land or sea-bottom, composed of a variety of deposited rocks. An enquiry into the conditions of the surface will reveal a mass of evidence, proving that something resembling this gradual elevation and denudation of softer material has actually taken place, but it must not be supposed that such elevation has been uniform or rapid. On the contrary, there is distinct proof that it has been partial, and that it has alternated, especially in recent times, with one or more partial depressions. The porphyritic back-bone, on which the material of the various promontories and the old island were once accumu- lated, is now laid bare in many places ; but the two naked and entirely denuded axes of Guernsey and the Chausey islands afford, perhaps, the most instructive examples. With Guernsey we associate the adjacent smaller islands, * A small patch of clay slate in Rocquaine Bay is hardly an exception to his remark. f The “ Maitre lie,” on the eastern part of the “ Minquiers,” consists of gneiss. Ilornblendic granite and granulite are found on the western part, at the “Pipette.” The “ Chauseys” consist of real granite, — ?\e., quartz, feldspar, and mica. — C. N. MINERAL VEINS. 209 and the Chausey Archipelago and the Minquiers are in a similar way related to each other. The outlying rocks of the Douvres belong, perhaps, rather to the coast of Brittany ; but they, also, are probably shreds of granite. All the islands and rocks of the two groups just alluded to are porphyritic ; but the crystalline rocks seen in Guernsey at its greatest elevation along the southern part assume the stratified appearance of gneiss. That this is a mere mechanical condition of the upper members of the rock, we have already hinted ; but it creates a marked differ- ence of appearance, and involves a geological difference, since the northern part of the island thus consists of rocks decidedly lower in geological position than the southern. Alderney and Jersey, besides the syenitic porphyries which, however, form everywhere the prominent rocks, and are at no great distance from the surface, are partially covered. They thus connect the various members of the group with each other, with France, and with England. One very important peculiarity pervades the porphyritic rocks of all the islands, namely, the presence of magnesian minerals. The granites are syenites ; and the varieties of hornblende and hypersthene, with chlorites, serpentines and mica, all abound, to the exclusion of the varieties tech- nically included under the term granite.* In all the islands, without exception, the porphyritic rocks of whatever kind are remarkably broken and fissured by mineral veins, often with great regularity and system, and of all dimensions, from a mere film to many yards in width. The prevailing direction of the principal and older sets of veins is east and west, parallel to the general axis of all the spurs of hard rock which have escaped destruction by the sea. Broad deep fissures filled with minerals of various kinds, but rarely metallic, exist also at right angles to these. The less important systems of veins inter- sect these at various angles, and often break up the rock into small prisms. * The varieties of hornblende contain from 12 to 30 per cent, of magnesia. Syenite contains hornblende instead of mica (a component part of true granite), and the ordinary varieties of mica (not biotite) contain potash and not magnesia. P 210 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. Most of the veins are filled up with hypersthenic rocks, coming under the general denomination of greenstone, and consisting of silicates of magnesia and iron, with lime and manganese. But, although such magnesian silicates are certainly predominant, it must not be supposed that they are alw r ays present. On the contrary, there are noble instances of veins filled with rock-crystal, feldspar, calc-spar, and even epidote ; while occasionally may be found large masses, as well as true veins, of serpentine and steatite, soft mica and various asbestiform minerals(magnesian). Chlorite, also, is exceedingly abundant. There are many veins of soft clay coloured with iron, others of oxide of iron, and others again of quartzy minerals containing iron, manganese, silver, lead, and copper. As must inevitably be the case, the enclosing rock and its veins are of different degrees of hardness, and the equal action of the sea on rocks of unequal hardness has produced those long lines of projecting rocky islets, the many narrow inlets, and the lanes intersecting the floors of rocks between low and high-water mark, characteristic of all the islands. An extreme complication of the vein-systems is beyond a doubt the original cause of this peculiarity. Almost every described variety of anhydrous quartz rock may be found in the islands. Quartzite, chert, hornstone, and jasper, are especially common. The varieties of opal have not been seen. Let us proceed now to a special consideration of the metamorphic geology of the various islands. In preparing this, few materials are available that have already been published, and no one has hitherto attempted to suggest a connected view of the bearings of the structure on the physical geography of the district, although in this cer- tainly consists the chief general interest of the subject.* * Since Dr. Ansted’s time the principal works on the geology of the Channel Islands are: 44 Notices,” by Mr. Liveing, 1881 ; “The Rocks of Guernsey, of Sark, and of Alderney,” by Rev. E. Hill, with “Notes on the Microscopic Structure,” by Professor C. Bonney, 1884-92 ; “ La Geologie de Jersey, Les Ecrehou, Dirouilles et Pierres de Lecq, Les Forets sous-marines,” par C. Noury, S.J., 1886-1892 ; “Les lies Anglo-Normandes,” par M. Bigot, 1888; “ Les Roches Eruptives de Jersey,” par le Prof. A. de Lapparent, 1892 : 44 On the Jersey Brick-Clay,” by A. Dunlop, 1889. — C. N. VEIN STRUCTURE IN GUERNSEY. 21 I The central and main elevation of the Channel Islands is probably that which passes through Guernsey, ranging about W.N.W. and E.S.E., and bringing the lowest rocks into view on the northern half of that island. These rocks are of dark bluish grey colour, remarkaby fine grained, excessively hard, heavy, and tough. They consist of horn- blendic porphyries, chiefly syenites, and occasionally pass into hornblende rock, and in some places on the western side of the island into flesh-coloured syenite. On the east, side, where it is hardest, this rock is very extensively quarried, to be exported to London and elsewhere as road metal, for which it is admirably adapted. On the west side it is better fitted for monuments and building purposes. It is there rather less tough ; feldspar being much more abundant in it, and hornblende rarer. North of the line containing the best and hardest syenites, there is comparatively little change in the nature of the rock ; but further south, and before reaching the higher table land, it passes into hornblende rock, often splitting with great regularity, and assuming the schistose character which belongs to the rocks further south. As in all por- phyries, and indeed in most kinds of stone, there are parti- cular veins or portions harder and more valuable than other parts, adapted for special purposes, but differing little in lithological character from the mass. The high table-land of Guernsey may be described as consisting of syenitic gneiss, intersected by numerous large veins, and by innumerable small veins of magnesian minerals. The gneiss is a mere mechanical variety of syenite. The veins — as indicated in the view of the Cor- biere given in this chapter — are sometimes very striking phenomena. They traverse the gneissic or porphyritic rocks in various directions, sometimes horizontally, but more frequently vertically. The example at Les Thielles, on the south coast, is very striking, and is easily accessible, but several of the adjacent small coves present equally remark- able illustrations. The great magnitude and extreme com- plication of the veins at Les Thielles, and the condition of the greenstone (the principal material with which they are filled) would seem to indicate this locality as near the cen- P 2 212 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. tral point of disturbance in the uplifting of the porphyritic floor of the Channel Islands. At various places the gneiss passes into a more compact and less schistose form, and, in fact, becomes syenite. The nature and hardness of the rock change frequently, its colour also varying ; but the chief element of variety and pictu- resque beauty is beyond all doubt derived from the large proportions, irregular direction, and variable hardness of the veins, the sea thus obtaining a degree of influence in modifying the coast quite unusual in granite districts. In many cases in Guernsey, the veins consist of a decom- posing greenstone, and as the sea and weather act rapidly on such material, small bays are produced, terminating in caverns, as at Petit Bot and Moulin Huet. In other places the veins are hard, quartzy, and resist action, whether of sea or air, more than the gneiss ; and such veins, particularly if in sets, form projecting capes, as at Moye Point. Not unfrequently the intersection of several veins is accompanied by a nucleus of hard material, and then, as at Icart, the softer material becoming worn away, peninsulas, islands, and detached rocks result, as successive phenomena. At Jerbourg there is something of the same kind. The cliffs are there chiefly composed of a very much intersected and mixed rock, extending from Jerbourg Point to Castle Cornet. Throughout this part of the island there is an irregular appearance of stratification, the inclination tending to the south. The veins are equally irregular, but show a tendency to cross the apparent dip at right angles. Herm and Jethou, and the intermediate and adjacent rocks and islands, differ no more from Guernsey than the rocks of Guernsey differ from each other in the course of a few hundred yards of coast. The same peculiar disintegra- tion on a large scale, the same systematic eating in of the sea, the same destruction of the coast, is everywhere mani- fest ; but, on the whole, the lines of destruction are more regular and parallel. The axis or main direction of the rocks in these detached islands and rocks, as well as of the sea passage or hollow that intervenes between them and Guernsey, on the one hand and Sark on the other, is, however, at right angles to the STRUCTURE OF SARK. 213 elevation axis of Guernsey. It ranges a little east of north and west of south, and is probably modern, corresponding rather with recent elevations and depressions than with the original upheaval. It is necessary that the reader should bear this in mind, as it greatly facilitates an understanding of the present condition of the islands. It explains the apparently contradictory fact that, while the general axis is north and south, many of the largest and oldest veins in these islands run east and west ; and the result is important, as the coast is thus exposed to a double action of the sea. The torn condition so peculiar to the islands, as well as the wonderful caverns and creux with which they are penetrated, are among the consequences of this condition. The veins in Herm are especially interesting. There is one at the back of the island of very large size, running across more than one projecting headland, nearly in a south- westerly direction, consisting entirely of black micaceous rock, very soft after exposure to the air. The sea has natu- rally made great inroads on this rock, but it is protected by hard walls. There are other veins of soft clay and some of decomposing greenstone. Traces of copper have been ob- served in some parts of the island. Sark, in its geology as in every department of its natural history, is rich and interesting. Surrounded entirely by cliffs which are everywhere almost vertical, and of which the composing rocks are varied to an extent greater than in Guernsey, the rocks are intersected by large and rich veins, which in one or two cases have been found to contain a considerable, though not remunerative yield of rich silver ore. All the phenomena that characterise the other islands are presented in this little rock on a larger and better scale than elsewhere, while its caverns are so much finer and more instructive than those of any other granitic rocks on the coasts of Europe, that they alone are well worthy of a pilgrimage from any one who desires to become acquainted with nature’s power in this respect. Standing on the cliffs at the Point du Chateau, near the middle of the eastern side of Sark, it is impossible to look at the rocks, either to the right towards Little Sark and the SARK. 215 Tas, or to the left at Point du Derrible, without being struck with the singularly hard, unyielding nature of the main rock, and the slowness of the effect obtainable even by the incessant beating of the tidal waves of a disturbed sea, except where veins of soft material have permitted an under- mining action. Such veins, however, in large numbers, cross the axis of Sark at right angles ; and the multi- tude of caverns, some now existing, some partially formed, some obliterated, or of which bare traces remain, mark this peculiar geological feature. They also illustrate the fact that the older fissures, due to early elevation, range east and west, corresponding with the direction of the promontories ; while the modern upheavals range rather in a north and south direction, separating and destroying the continuity of the elevated masses. The predominant rock in Sark is syenite,* and the prin- cipal veins are of greenstone, with feldspar walls. But besides these, there are numerous veins of asbestiform minerals, of serpentine, and of soft clayey matter, and some strings of quartz. The veins being at right angles to the apparent cleavage or bedding, the whole rock is broken up into cubes or rhombs, forming, as is well seen in those curious rocks, the Autelets or altars (see engraving in next chapter), a curious pyramidal appearance of detached rocks, not less picturesque than interesting, and exemplifying the structure perfectly. Large quantities of actinolite occur in many parts of Sark, especially on the east side ; and an important vein of serpentine and steatite, with asbestos and talc, has been traced crossing the central part, near Port du Moulin. The bedding of these rocks is nearly horizontal, and the veins are very highly inclined. The vein of steatite has been found to reach across the island to a little bay not far from the Creux harbour. An important quartz vein, distinctly metaliferous, crosses Little Sark. It is here that the silver ore already alluded to was found. The Creux harbour communicates with the interior of Sark by a short tunnel cut through a soft north and south * It would be more correct to say “ hornblende schists.” — C. N. 2l6 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. vein, the whole of which would ultimately have become undermined and removed, leaving an island of hard rock, had it not been preserved by the breakwater. It would in that case have added one more to the rocks called the Burons, still existing close at hand. This vein, like others in the island, contains a good deal of metallic oxide, chiefly iron. Its condition will be under- stood by a glance at the cut annexed. The northern and south- ern extremities of Sark, and a belt extending through the middle of the island, are composed of harder rock than the inter- mediate land. The island of Brechouand the Burons, on the east and west, are also hard. They are ex- amples of portions of the middle belt that have long resisted destruction, though separated from each other by soft north and south veins. As al- ready stated, the softer members of the syenitic series are more feldspathic, and the harder more horn- blendic. The principal direction, both of the Boutiques and of the Gou- liot caverns, is north and south, and the general range of the island of Sark is the same. The Coupee vein, and that which has separated the rocks at the northern and southern extremities, are, however, east and west. The geology of Alderney, like that of the other islands, has much reference to syenite and other porphyries, but it includes also some especially interesting phenomena of dis- SOFT VEIN. Tunnel Entrance to the Creux Harbour, Sark. 218 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. integration of granite, and it affords, in addition to the hypogene rocks, a stratified deposit overlying them. This deposited rock is a reddish or grey grit-stone, composed for the most part of small pebbles or fine grains of quartz cemented by feldspar. It covers the granite or granitic gneiss quite unconformably, and is limited to three patches, each of which requires notice. One of these occupies the whole of a small promontory at the north-eastern extremity of the island, from the middle of Corbelette Bay to Longy Bay. It is very extensively quarried for the harbour works. The junction with the granite may be seen in the railway cutting close to the bay ; and although both the sandstone and the granite are rotten at this contact, they do not give the impression of having mutually influenced each other. Other contacts are seen on the cliffs, and in them, also, we have little appearance of rottenness affecting either rock. The sand- stone dips about 25 0 to 30° to the south-east. The planes of bedding are very smooth and large, and the rock breaks by complicated systems of joints. An extensive deposit of this sandstone covers the hill on which is Fort Essex, on the south side of Longy Bay. There is here a bold cliff, nearly 200 feet above the sea, faced entirely with sandstone. The stone is quarried on the land side, and towards the sea presents one of the most magnificent and picturesque examples of broken rock it is possible to conceive. This is called the Roche Pendante, a magnificent and accurate view of which has been given in a previous chapter. The sandstone dips in the same direction, and nearly at the same angle, as at the railway quarries : and the detached rock, just referred to, does not appear to have broken away, but rather to have been sepa- rated, either by the removal of some soft vein, or more probably by a crack produced during elevation, and gra- dually widened. The sand-stone may be traced by the eye easily enough, capping the south-eastern cliffs for about a mile. It then dies away, but is repeated after an interval of a mile and a-half in another small patch. The dip is everywhere similar, and this third portion, which is quarried for build- ALDERNEY. 219 ing purposes, is somewhat whiter and closer grained than the others. Except where these sand-stones appear, the whole of Alderney consists of alternations of the following rocks, viz. : — Hard, durable syenite ; decomposing syenite, with nodules and occasional masses of hornblendic rock and veins of greenstone ; soft granite ; and ochrey clay. In the course of time, by exposure to weather, the decomposing syenite has, in many places, become totally disintegrated and converted into a fine clayey sand. This being washed away has left numerous blocks of hard syenite, of all sizes, of which the angles have peeled off in concentric layers. All over the surface of Alderney are rounded blocks of this kind, bedded in or standing partly out of the light clayey sand which forms the vegetable soil. Many such blocks have been made use of in ancient times to con- struct Druidical monuments. Sometimes they have been collected in rows to form boundary walls, sometimes the larger ones have been split by wedges or blasted ; but wherever there is a light deep soil, such stones are met with, either buried deep in the soil or lying on the sur- face ; but beyond all doubt they have been, originally, before its decomposition, parts of a compact porphyritic rock. In the south-west part of the island there are rotten veins of nearly the same granitic material, but in which there are numerous quartz or feldspar veins of great hardness. These, of course, when the rock has decayed, are thrown down on the beach below or left on the surface above, and are easily traced and recognised. Besides the granitic rock just described, there is, in the north-western part of Alderney, in the hill that forms the northern part of Braye harbour, an exceedingly hard boss, composed of a kind of hornblendic porphyry or compact greenstone porphyry, quite distinct from the other rocks. This extends for some distance to meet the sand-stone in Corbelette Bay. It has been taken advantage of by the corps of engineers to serve as the foundation for the very strong fort of the Touraille ; and the hardness of the scarped face it presents is such as to offer little chance of 220 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. success, should any attempt be made by an enemy to injure, destroy, or undermine it. A large amount of very rotten granite and many veins of soft material occur on the south-east side of the island. Grand walls of very hard and less destructible rock, crossed by broad veins of feldspar, apparently horizontal and al- together inaccessible, project some distance seawards, and are often continued by detached rocks beyond the sea-line. The geologist must be allowed to regret that, in adopting the necessary policy of rendering the coast as difficult of approach as possible, many small natural bays and pictur- esque inlets can no longer be examined from the land side, the cliff being cut down so as to present from the shore a wall uniformly and systematically vertical, and always at least thirty feet high. Were it not for this, some of the caverns and pierced rocks would certainly be laid bare, and illustrate the veined structure of the rock. There is nothing to indicate the geological age of the sand-stone in Alderney.* The geology of Jersey is even less known than that of the other Channel Islands, although it involves greater compli- cation and a far greater variety of rocks. This difference in the rocks arises chiefly, perhaps, from the comparative magnitude of the island and the fact that the various materials most easily injured and removed are there better protected by walls of syenite, and are thus sheltered from the injury that has destroyed so many of the other islands Jersey, at any rate, is, at present, the island where the meta- morphic rocks — so called in contradistinction to the crystal- line rocks — are seen in greatest variety and largest de- velopment. A good deal of Jersey may be understood in a short time by walking round the coast and making one or two tra- verses across the interior. In the first place, there is syenite ; veins of it forming many headlands and cliffs. On the north coast one or two of the veins are worked, for * Both M. Bigot and Rev. Hill are of opinion* and with every degree of probability, that the grits and sand-stones of Alderney have their equivalent in Normandy, and may be assigned to the Upper Cambrian. According to the latter authority the Casquets, Burhou, and Ortach consist also of these grits. — C. N. JERSEY. 221 building purposes, behind Bonne Nuit Bay and the Saline. The best quarry is that of Mont Mado. The veins here run north and south, and are characterised by magnificent natural backs or joints, partly in the direction of the vein and partly at right angles. Blocks of stone of very large dimensions may be obtained without flaw, and the quality improves in descending. The supply, however, is limited. On each side of the firm and valuable stone is a great thick- ness of rotten granite and gravel ; but further east the granite is replaced by a variety of hornstone and cherty quartzite— a bedded rock, extremely tough in this locality — and occasionally there occurs an exceedingly hard quartz- ite, passing into a conglomerate, apparently of old date, occasionally traversed by veins. With these cherty rocks are occasionally feldspathic rocks, and forming a facing to the cliff there is often a great thickness of rubbish, or angular weathered blocks, buried in sand and smaller stones, derived from the rocks above. Some of the por- phyritic rocks are highly calcareous, approaching lime-stone in composition, and effervescing with acids. On the west of the island, and covering much of the interior, there is a considerable quantity of shale, occasion- ally hardening into an exceedingly compact clay-stone, or clay-stone porphyry, but often rotten and loose in texture. In the middle of Jersey, this shale seems to cover tfc granite at intervals ; but towards St. Ouen's Bay, there is a large development of it seen in all the cliffs and road- cuttings dipping towards the sea, and tilted at a high angle. The angle of inclination is not uniform ; and occasionally there is much contortion of the strata. Close to St. Helier’s is a junction of this rock with the porphyries and syenites ; and here the shale passes into clay-stone, and clay-stone porphyry.* On the east, the syenites pass by a graduated succession of metamorphic rocks into a tough cherty quartzite and * This clay-stone porphyry, which in my work on the geology of Jersey was divided into two rocks, the spilite and the clay-stone porphyry, and in which I recognised certain traces of igneous rock, has been finally classed among volcanic rocks by M. de Lapparent, who names them porphyrites or spilites and orthophyres. — C. N. 222 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. hornstone, sometimes hard enough to be used as a substi- tute for emery. True corundum has been stated to exist in veins in Plemont and elsewhere, but no sufficient evidence has been obtained by the author to justify the assertion.* The cherts and hornstones are abundant in Bonne Nuit Harbour, a little to the north of the beautiful syenite of the Mont Mado quarries. They extend for some distance in this direction, and, at Giffard’s Bay, they pass into an exceedingly hard quartzy conglomerate, penetrated by greenstone veins. In a somewhat modified form, the same kind of rock reappears near the point called l’Etaquerel, in Bouley Bay. The conglomerate in Giffard’s Bay seems, however, quite distinct from that met with on the east side of Bouley Bay, and extending thence along the coast to St. Catherine’s Bay. Another kind of cherty rock projects in headlands and jagged points beyond the southern termination of the con- glomerate last mentioned. It is well exhibited at La Crete Point, where it has numerous east and west joints, and is almost columnar. In an adjacent quarry it assumes some- thing of the same tendency as in Giffard’s Bay, passing into an exceedingly compact conglomerate, which, a little beyond, is covered and concealed by a much coarser con- glomerate.! This older conglomerate has not been observed in many places, but its existence is well marked. It is traversed in Giffard’s Bay by a vein of basaltic greenstone two feet wide. At this point, it is impossible to draw a clear line between the rock in question and a very hard quartzite adjacent ; and, at no great distance, the whole is concealed by the other and newer conglomerate. The veins traversing the porphyritic rocks of Jersey are chiefly exhibited on the north-western, south-western, and south-eastern extremities of the island. The former are exceedingly remarkable, and many of them very large, and * These veins which the writer alludes to are spherolithic micaceous trap ; of which the best specimen is found in the “ Greve au Lan9on,” near Plemont.— C. N. f All these cherts, hornstones, and quartzites should be included under the name “hornstone porphyry.” They are igneous rocks in which are found rhyolithes or pyromerides (spherolithic rocks) the diameters of which some- times attain two leet. (See “ Geologie de Jersey,” p. 31). — C. N. JERSEY CONGLOMERATE. 223 filled with many varieties of minerals. Close to the town, also, in a road cut through the rock on which the fort stands, is a thick vein of mica. Most of the principal fissures range north and south, shifting occasionally a little to the east or west of that bearing. They succeed one another with such exceedingly short intervals that the coast line, for a distance of several miles, can only be com- pared to the edge of a saw. The indentations are not deep, but their number is countless ; and many of them terminate quite abruptly. This condition comes to a climax in the picturesque bay called the Greve au Lan^on, and the headland called Grosnez Point. The south-western extremity of the coast of Jersey is almost equally broken, but not so regularly indented ; and this is the case also with Plate Rocque, the south-eastern corner. The Corbiere rocks and the coast from the Corbiere to the east, as far as St. Brelade’s, present as great a variety of form and broken outline as can be found on any coast. We have not yet described the newer conglomerate of the north-eastern corner of Jersey. It is a very singular mass, not at all easy of explanation. P"or the most part, it is composed of rounded pebbles of all sizes, up to several cubic yards, of which the greatest number, though not the largest of the stones, are chlorite, schists, and other rocks of no great hardness. With these, or replacing them altogether, are large patches made up of pebbles of syenite, hornblende, hornstone, quartzite, and other minerals and rocks, with a vast multitude of jaspery rocks, all indiscrimi- nately mixed and firmly cemented together. Occasionally, angular masses of rock, chiefly chlorite, are cemented into a dark green breccia. On the beach where this conglo- merate prevails, there are not only a multitude of pebbles, evidently derived from it, but also a singular profusion of common chalk-flints, often of large size, and not always more worn than they are on the south coast of England. The condition of the pebbles and the singular result of their rapid accumulation on the coast will be considered in the next chapter, but the view of the boulders of Saie Harbour, given in the next page, may be referred to as 224 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. interesting in reference to the above remarks on the con- glomerate, admirably shown in the locality alluded to. The conglomerate behind and near St Catherine’s Har- bour dips about 30° E.N.E. ; and this dip is constant for a distance of more than half a mile. The extreme limit of the deposit seems to be from the middle of St. Catherine’s Harbour to the eastern side of Bouley Bay, a distance, in a direct line, of rather more than three miles. BOULDERS, SAIE HARBOUR, JERSEY. The precise geological age of this conglomerate being at present undetermined, and the beds dipping considerably and for the most part to an easterly quarter, it is possible that there may be some connection between them and the Alderney sandstoneA Many details have been omitted in this sketch of the crystalline and metamorphic and other older rocks of the Channel Islands, but the outline given may, perhaps, be useful and suggestive. Let us pass on now to the modern deposits, the recent changes of level, and the recent destruc- tion of the coast. 1 * This view has been confirmed by both M. Bigot and Rev. Hill, and J consequently the conglomerate of Jersey should also be assigned to the Upper ( Cambrian. — C. N. CHAPTER XI. GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY OF THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. Modern Destruction and Renovation. The magnificent scenery, so much admired on the coast of all the Channel Islands ; the wild desolation that reigns when the receding tide lays bare needle points, or exhibits alternate floors and walls of granite, in places where a few hours ago the water presented a smooth, but treacherous surface ; the broken cliffs, detached headlands, natural arches and recesses, and gloomy caverns ; the grotesque rocks, some prominently jutting out, some fallen from above and angular, some rounded and smooth ; — all these are the results of an action of wind and water that is going on every year, winter and summer, and that is always tending to reproduce, with little essential variety, the very forms and outlines it is constantly destroying. Scenery repre- senting these picturesque appearances is pictured with great accuracy in many of the illustrations in this volume. Such representations are not the less valuable because in a few years they must refer to things of the past, for there will still be in the same, or some near place, a similar speci- men of rock scenery, produced on similar material by identical causes. To understand the secret history of the picturesque in these islands it was necessary that the nature and origin of the rocks should be in some measure learnt, and in the last chapter it has been attempted to give a brief outline of these. It remains now to consider the modern changes, the forces now at work, and the result of their combined agency in our own, or very recent times. Q 226 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. In all this, however, we must speak in geological lan- guage. What is meant by modern and recent is very old in comparison with human records, and dates back to a time when, if men existed, they belonged to races long extinct ; races whose only remains hitherto found are frag- ments of broken flint or harp stones, wherewith savages might perform those few actions that proclaim their human intellect.* The modern influences we allude to in this chapter are several ; they include subterranean movements, producing slow upheaval or depression of large tracts ; the destroy- ing and reproducing action of the waves in breaking up hard rocks, and accumulating the debris at a distant point ; the action of rain and changing temperature ; and the action of organic life, modifying in various ways the in- organic forces. That there are forces of the kind just mentioned, the reader, not accustomed to geological investigations, must take for granted. Proofs of them exist in abundance ; but it would involve explanations not justified in a work of this kind to present them to the reader. They are readily found, and all the results mentioned are everyday events in nature. Assuming, then, that the syenites and porphyries of the Channel Islands, covered, perhaps, at one time, with numerous and thick deposits, have been slowly brought into their present position, and the sea all the time acting on the uprising mass, and clearing away the softer matter, so as to bare and denude the surface, we may imagine a time when the various operations were less advanced than at present, when the lands were larger, and when they were more nearly connected with the continent. The first class of changes we have mentioned includes those resulting from subterranean movements of elevation * The dwelling-cave near the “ Cotte a la Chevre ” has been already alluded to in Chapter V., where an illustration is given from a photograph by Mr. C. Le Sueur. This cave was visited and explored in 1881 by Mr. Sinel, Mr. Lancaster, and the late Mr. J. Saunders. Cf. 206 “Hardwick’s Science Gossip,” Feb. 1st, 1882. Flint implements, celts, spearheads, drills, &c., with numerous chips, were discovered. — C. N. SUBTERRANEAN FORCES. 227 or depression. One of the most familiar illustrations of the existence of such forces is seen in the earthquake, a phenomenon common enough in various parts of Europe, and not unknown in these islands. Many have been re- corded within the last thousand years, and many more of smaller magnitude have certainly taken place. In the History of Guernsey, by the late Mr. F. B. Tupper (first edition), it is stated that an earthquake of serious mag- nitude, producing great destruction, took place in the month of March, 709, and another, or rather a series of move- ments, between the 22nd and 29th October, 842. On the latter occasion there was throughout the north of Gaul an accompanying subterranean noise, lasting seven days, re- curring several times a day. Afterwards, in the year 1091, very serious and disastrous shocks were felt in the islands, and at Angers, on the Loire, stones were thrown from the arches of the windows of the large tower of the church. Two years before there had been serious concussions in England, and in 1161 the whole shore of the Cotentin was disturbed, the islands being also greatly affected. There are no records of disturbances in the islands from that time till 1843 5 but, for several centuries, shocks were so frequent, and the mischief done by them so notorious in England and in France, that there can be little doubt the inter- mediate sea-bottom must have been affected* At the close of the year last mentioned (22nd December, 1843) a vibration was felt at Guernsey, lasting four seconds, shaking buildings and ringing the bells of the churches. Ten years afterwards, in 1853, on the 1st of April, there was a dis- tinct shock, not injuring property, but causing great alarm. Since then several shocks have been felt, but of no great importance. It is evident, then, that there are causes capable of pro- ducing elevation or depression, producing their effects from time to time beneath these islands. Their effects must be sought for in distinct phenomena, involving movement of * There is a curious notice in a MS. in the British Museum, apparently re- ferring to a severe earthquake shock in the sea off Sark, that must have occurred at the close of the seventeenth century. The year 1691 was remarkable for severe earthquake action in the Atlantic. Q 2 228 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. this kind. The earthquake action that has continued at in- tervals for more than a thousand years is not likely to have commenced at the beginning of this period. On the other hand, it may have been much more active in former times than it is now. A beach, consisting of rolled pebbles, arranged as beaches are now arranged, placed at the foot of a cliff, but now at an elevation many yards above the highest point to which the tide ever now reaches — is called a raised beach, and is a standing proof of subterranean action of the nature of elevation. Indications of raised beaches in all the islands are numerous, but it will be sufficient to describe some about which there can be no question. One such was discovered while cutting a deep trench through the granite in con- structing the works at Fort Regent, in Jersey. It is, in all respects, clear and satisfactory. About thirty feet above the present mean level of the sea there are the remains of a beach, precisely identical with beaches now at the sea-side. These include a thickness of some yards of well-rounded granite boulders, some of large size and considerable weight, reposing on a smooth surface of rock. The beach gradually thins out towards the sea. Anyone may see the state of the case, as a good section made by a road cutting is within the town of St. Helier’s ; but it will probably be obliterated be- fore many years are past. In Guernsey there is a similar, but less perfect beach, in the island of Lihou. A remarkable instance of ancient beach, mixed up with modern detritus, occurs in Moulin Huet, where a crevice conducting to a cavern is partly filled, and the walls are plastered over by numerous frag- ments of raised beach, consisting of rolled pebbles and large angular rocks, mixed with smaller rocks and mud, fallen in from a height of at least thirty or forty feet above the present high water mark. Still nearer the town of St. Peter’s Port, near the cliffs of Havelet, there are rolled peb- bles with angular rocks under similar circumstances. In the island of Brechou, between Sark and Guernsey, on the side of the road leading up from the only landing-place to the farm, the roadside cutting has laid bare a particu- RAISED BEACHES. 229 larly clear example of true raised beach, with rounded peb- bles. Here, also, the elevation is about thirty feet ; but as the quantity of material is limited by the narrowness of the space, it will not be retained long, now that it is exposed to the action of the weather. On the north-western side of Alderney there is a con- siderable talus of angular fragments, some part of which, perhaps, is merely the decomposed surface of the granite itself, unmoved ; but the rest, no doubt, consists of similar fragments fallen down, and much water-worn. Such debris form an imperfect low cliff towards the sea, and are ap- parently elevated. A raised beach, of rounded pebbles of sandstone and granite or greenstone mixed irregularly together, occupies the top of a low hill about thirty feet above the sea, close to Corbelette Bay, and is cut through and laid bare by the railway cutting just before the quarries are reached. Evidences of elevation of about this amount exist, there- fore, in all the principal islands, and in some of the smaller ones. Other indications of partial and small elevation are traceable in some of the caverns and broken rocks on the coast of Sark, Alderney, and Herm. These consist in an appearance of tidal action at levels above those now reached by the waves. It is not, however, worth while to speculate on the precise nature of these phenomena, as the proofs of recent elevation are amply sufficient without them. The following diagram is intended to illustrate the na- ture and origin of these raised beaches. The former sea- level being indicated by a broken line in the section, the action of the sea would then eat away a ledge and deposit a beach, as marked at b. Over this, in the course of time, a quantity of broken rock, C, would Existing pebble beach, accumulate, falling down J; H^dof detritus covering ancient beach. from above by the ordi- nary action of weather. In the course of time, the whole 230 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. mass being raised, a new terrace is cut out and a new beach deposited at a. Gradually the new beach will be carried back to the old one, and the whole will ultimately be washed away unless there is a further elevation. The pebble beach, though apparently always present, is con- stantly shifting, so long as it is not permanently above the level of high water. While there are thus proofs of elevation having taken place, converting sea beaches into cliffs, there are also found in Jersey and Guernsey beds of alluvium, containing forest trees and peat, which must formerly have grown in dry ground and in some depth of soil on the spot where they are now seen, but which at present are many feet below the ordinary level even of low water. Some of these reach out into the sea, and are only known to exist by dredging, or by parts of them being thrown up after heavy south-westerly gales at low spring-tides. At these times, large compact masses of peat and parts of trees have often been drifted inshore. Beds of peat, which ex- tend for some distance inland and are some yards deep, are connected with some of these sub-aerial deposits. During the sinking of a hole in the winter of 1861, at a point about sixty feet west of the massif of the north pier at St. Peter’s Port, a deposit of sandy peat, somewhat altered but retaining its distinctive character, was found about four feet below the surface on a bed of sound yellow gravel. The peat was covered by shingle and sand. Similar peat-beds exist near St. Sampson’s harbour, where Roman coins have been found at a depth of twelve feet from the surface, in alluvial deposit. On the west of Guernsey is a somewhat large area near the sea covered with peat, containing numerous stools of trees. One portion of the deposit near the present high water mark connects, below some intervening ponds of fresh water, with a sub-aerial portion. These beds are the higher members of a deposit of submerged peat and forest ground extending beyond Vazon Bay. In the same dis- trict, but further inland, trunks of trees lie buried in the sub-aerial mass. In sinking a well through one of these deposits at St. Pierre, after traversing thirty feet, the work- SUBMERGED FORESTS. 23I men reached what they supposed to be the solid granite on which it rested. The work was, however, continued, when the obstruction was found to be a large block included in the superficial beds. Beneath the block was the stem of a large tree, which had to be cut through. St. Ouen’s Bay, in Jersey, presents the same features as Vazon Bay in Guernsey.* These phenomena are not very difficult of explanation, but will be better understood by reference to the annexed diagram, which may represent in a general way either Vazon Bay, in Guernsey, or the larger and more important deposit in St. Ouen’s Bay, in Jersey. There is no essential difference in principle between the two, and very little even in points of detail. SECTION. Illustrating the conditions of a submerged Peat Deposit. References. a. Peat deposit. b. Overlying- sea sand, blown or drifted. c. Marshy soil over peat. The dark shading represents the former position of the sea when the land was covered with vegetation, and the part marked a indicates the position and extent of land on which grew the ancient forests. The sea encroaching by the gradual submergence of the land, the forests would be killed and the trees accumulated by degrees, the soil being replaced by turf. The whole, in time, after the submergence is complete, is brought within the sea’s action ; so that, on the occasion of an unusually high tide, a breach is made and the tract is converted into a salt marsh, the trees and peat being buried and preserved. In this state things might still remain for a long time, the level of the sub- merged land gradually rising by natural alluvial accumula- tions and no subsequent extraordinary tide affecting the * See Austen, in “ Quarterly Geol. Journ,,” Vol. vii. (1851), p. 131. 232 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. marsh. Lastly, a further small subsidence taking place, the whole deposit would become partially buried and covered up with sand and shingle, although subject to be torn away and thrown upon the shore by the action of high tides during heavy gales of wind. The turf and peat thrown up in Guernsey is called, locally, Corban or Gorban,* a Hebrew expression derived from the New Testament, and intimating, in the somewhat puritanical language of the islanders, that they regard it as a providential supply of fuel. A remarkable supply of it was obtained in 1847, when, after a severe storm, the sub- stratum of alluvial sand was undermined and large com- pacted masses removed. The following account of this event is taken from a description published at the time by the late Mr. F. C. Lukis, a gentleman who was well known in Guernsey for his attainments, and for his collections, both geological and archaeological, in all matters bearing on the natural and civil history of the Channel Islands. Mr. Lukis remarks: — “Trunks of full-sized trees, which once grew on the spot from whence the waves were now for the first time dislodging them, accompanied by the meadow plants which once ornamented their grassy habita- tion, — roots of rushes and weeds, surrounded by those of grass and mosses, — gave evidence of the luxuriance of the locality. These roots exhibited a lengthened period of growth, and, like some other bog plants, they grew upwards as the vegetable covering increased, leaving their dead roots and fibres to add their quota to the further accumu- lation of vegetable matter. “ The very perfect state in which these trees were, shows that they had been for a long time buried under sand. The compression of their trunks and boughs exhibits the first indication of that flattened form which all fossil plants undergo by the decomposition of the vegetable fibre, with- out entirely destroying the texture of the wood.” The trees were overspread with corallines, fuci, and * Gorban seems to have been first recognised in 175 7, and first used about fifty years afterwards. The principal patch is estimated as occupying about thirty-two English acres, and it has been dug into in some places to a depth of twenty feet. SUBMERGED FORESTS. 233 sertulariae, and perforated by marine ship worms. So large was the quantity of wood that it was at first supposed a vessel must have foundered near the coast during the gale. Similar deposits, of smaller size, have been found else- where on the same coast. Celtic pottery and stone in- struments, as well as coins of Roman date, and the teeth of horses and hogs, have been found in the peat at con- siderable depths ; together with acorns, hazel nuts, and a singular stone of a large plum or damson, not agreeing with any known kind at present in any of the islands. Evidences of the same nature, in proof of the depression of large tracts of country, are known in various parts of Cornwall, and on the French side of the Channel, near Morlaix in Brittany. It has sometimes been stated that the subsidence to which the submerged peat beds is due is part only of a very much larger depression separating the islands from each other and from France within the historic period. Documents are quoted tending to show the existence of religious houses in parts of the Cotentin now completely under the sea ; and there is every probability that much land has been lost not only there, but in the islands. It must not, however, be concluded that all this has been caused by subsidence. The action of the sea is here so extreme as to account for enormous changes ; and this part of the subject comes next under consideration. Few even among those who have studied geology are aware of the extent of change going on around us in places where nature has free course. We are in the habit ol seeing and examining land which is cultivated, and coasts whichare artificially protected, either by actual sea-walls and breakwaters, or by taking care that the cliffs and shores are clothed with proper vegetation. In all these cases, the natural action of weather and waves is diverted into some unrecognised channel, and we fancy it does not go on. The inhabitant of, and even the casual visitor to the Channel Islands, but especially to Sark, may easily obtain notions on this subject which will greatly simplify his subsequent study of geology. 234 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. There is not one of the little bays and approachable points of coast around Sark — and their number is not a few — at which the falls of cliff every season are not dangerous enough to call for constant attention. They are, indeed, so familiar as not to attract special notice on the spot. But they are also so extensive as to render it impossible, in most places, to carry cultivation near the edge of the cliff ; and after a few years, the walls and fences require removal if an attempt to reclaim land has been carried too far. If we leave the cultivated fields and carefully trace the edge of the cliff, where it is overgrown with furze and brambles, we shall generally find evidence of change clearly marked. The sharp edge of the cliff is itself a proof — the loosening of the soil a few yards from its edge a still more marked illustration of what is going on. At the foot of each cliff we find but little earth, for all that falls is soon washed away ; but there are many stones — some angular, some with their corners and angles smoothed, some completely rounded. The only reason why all are not rounded is that the work of rolling and wearing is still going on upon recently fallen material. Were there no fresh supply, all would soon be reduced to fine sand. When, too, we see such masses of rock as Tintageux, the Autelets, and a hundred others in Sark without names — huge isolated rocks on the shore, with the wild waves breaking over or dashing through arched passages cut in them — what do these mean but that the work of destruc- tion is in progress ? They will not long remain where they are, but others will succeed them equally picturesque and equally instructive. Other places, such as the Moie de Mouton and the Point du Derrible, the Nez of Sark, and Little Sark itself, are examples of great portions of the island that have almost become separated, but between which and the land a water passage has not yet been made. Such also are some of the headlands on the coasts of Jersey and Guern- sey. The Coupe on the north-east coast, Plemont Point on the north-west, and a nearly detached promonotory near Moye Point, on the south-west of the former island, and the fine headlands of Icart and the Moye Point, of ACTION OF THE SEA. 235 Guernsey, as well as the Gull Cliff, near Pleinmont, also in Guernsey, are good examples. Similar places also occur in abundance along the coast of the other islands on a smaller scale. And then the caverns. One must visit Sark to know what water can do with granite. In walking through the remarkable cavern called the Boutiques, natural fissures are traversed more than a quarter of a mile long, not crossing the island, but parallel to its length, opening from one THE “AUTELET” ROCKS, SARK. intersected by two others, and terminated by a fourth grand chasm. The floor of this cleft is a wild chaos of rocks, some fallen in from above, some rolled in from the sea. The roof, some fifty feet overhead, is always falling and becoming converted into rocks and pebbles — the floor, composed as it is of Titanic angular fragments, is rapidly removed, and as frequently replaced. The extremity is choked at one time by stones that even the old Druids would hardly have attempted to move ; at other times it is open to the sea, all these being swept away. Such phenomena, however grand, are connected with the very simple opera- tion of a well-known cause. The existence of a fissure in 236 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. hard rock, filled at one time with soft mineral, is the elementary condition. The result is seen in the removal of the soft mineral by the undermining of the sea — the falling in of the unsupported roof, and the rolling about in sea water of the angular fragments that fall, become rounded, are broken into pebbles, and finally are ground into sand. The Gouliot caverns are not less remarkable than the Boutiques. In them, also, the sea, taking advantage of the softer veins, has penetrated the granite, and brought down thousands of tons weight of rock to be ground into sand, and the passages thus made by the water must ultimately end in isolating the Gouliot rock, which is now connected only by a natural bridge, and in narrowing the island still further at this point. In the beautiful bay called the Greve au Langon, in Jersey, the caverns and creeks have been already mentioned as illustrating the same natural law and the force of the tidal wave. The whole coast of Jersey, and, indeed, of all the islands, tells the same story, and helps to impress more strongly the conviction that where the daily and yearly result is so marked, the islands must have been very different even a few thousand years ago. “ Vires acquirit eundo ” might indeed be the motto of all sea action in these exposed places. Every weak point in a cliff once discovered by the waves reveals a score of others, and paves the way for advance in many directions. A force of this kind that is constantly shifting its point of attack, returning to the same place twice at least during each twenty-four hours, must soon, however small each apparent result, become effective. Every pebble that is moved, every fragment of rock that falls, helps to break away other rocks, and reduce other rocks to pebbles and sand. The phenomena of pierced rocks, or nearly-detached masses having open vaulted passages through them, formed by the sea, are especially abundant in Sark, but occur also occasionally on all the other shores. They afford admi- rable illustrations of the course of the sea’s action ; and although a fresh supply is incessantly produced, they rapidly pass away into smaller and fragmentary masses. WEATHERING. 237 Detached rocks, pinnacles or needles, are in all cases rocks in the later stages of destruction. There are many of these in Sark, where all the marks of the sea’s action are so abundant. They are also found in Alderney and Jersey not only close to the sea, but much above its level ; but these have a different origin. Of the detached rocks, there are two kinds. Some, such as the Casquets, the Chau- sey Islands, the Minquiers, the Burhou Islands, the Pater- THE PINNACLE ROCK, JERSEY. nosters, the Ferrieres, the Anfrocques, and the infinite multi- tude thrusting up their heads in all parts of the Channel Island seas, rise out of comparatively deep water, and are not seen to be connected with present land. Others, such as the Corbiere, of Jersey, and many others in and near the bays round that island, as well as all the other islands, are approachable from the land at low water. With few exceptions, they are composed of the hardest syenitic rock ; and their form is governed by the softer veins that have once traversed them. There is reason to know that 2 3 8 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. even the hardest still undergo change from the constant beating of the waves ; but those near shore where pebbles and fragments of rock can be brought to bear against them by the sea, vanish far more rapidly than the others. They are, however, as rapidly replaced. The singular natural shafts or chimneys, locally called “ creux,” afford remarkable instances of a mixed fresh-water and marine action, and occur in all the islands. The name, creux , is not strictly confined now to such shafts ; but it is not unlikely that some of the natural gorges and open clefts, now so called, were once similar holes. Their origin has already been explained as the result of rain water penetrating soft veins, and thus opening a way to the shore. The sea, taking advantage of the opening, breaks in from below, and completes a communication which, once made, is soon enlarged.* Weathering, and water action from above, are not at all limited to the formation of creux. Many of the large open fissures in the rocks near the coast are often filled up, more or less completely, with a debris of angular fragments of rock and particles of sand, fallen in from the sides, or from above. Through these, sometimes, as in the caverns at Moye Point, in Jersey, the rain has made its way, and opened for itself a wide path, or, as at Moulin Huet, in Guernsey, there is a broken fragmentary mass, more or less completely occupying them. In Jersey, indeed, on most of the cliffs on the northern part of the eastern and on the eastern part of the northern coast, there is often a large accumulation of angular frag- ments and sand entirely obscuring the real cliff, and form- * As on the south coast of Sark there exists the “ Creux du Derrible,” so on the north coast of Jersey there is the “ Creux terrible.” The original name was “ Creux de vis ” (screw hole). “ De vis ” anglicised has become “ Devil’s,” and “ Devil’s hole” as given in French “ Trou du diable.” This “ Creux de vis ” is due to a vein of micaceous trap, of which there are large black blocks at the entrance of the tunnel. At “la Moye” there is a curious phenomenon, worthy of inspection. A hole in the triple-headed rock at that promontory allows the air, compressed by the action of the waves in a deep cave below, to escape with considerable force and noise. This phenomenon, to which allusion has already been made in Chapter V., where an illustration is also given, was discovered by Mr. E. T. Nicolle, and has been appropriately named by him the “ Spouting Hole.”— C. N. DISINTEGRATION OF ROCKS. 239 ing a supplementary sloping cliff to the sea. A similar heap is seen on the western side of Alderney ; but it rarely occurs in Guernsey, and nowhere in Sark. This heap is due altogether to the disintegration of the cliff above by weathering, and must not be confounded with raised beach. The fragments in it are almost entirely angular ; and they do not present any appearance of regular accumulation. They are not stratified ; and they very rarely, if ever, can be traced far inland. They mark a certain stage of weathering, and, in this respect, are always worthy of notice ; but they generally mask the real cliff completely. The filtration of water containing carbonate of lime, derived either from calcareous veins or from the soil, or of water containing silica in a favourable state for deposit, has often cemented this mass of angular fragments into a coarse breccia very imperfectly aggregated. Most of the cliffs thus formed contain a large proportion of sand and pebbles, and they are easily undermined by the sea. In Guernsey, in the picturesque bay of Moulin Huet, there is an important fissure filled with angular fragments of adjoining rock ; and, some years ago, a remarkable instance occurred of another such fissure on the south-west coast, at La Corbiere. In this latter case, the fragments of rock had been cemented together by carbonate of lime, numerous shells of a common species of land snail, and bones of various small quadrupeds and birds, forming part of this recently-constructed breccia. At the time of its discovery, the sea had only just opened a way into the fissure ; but it has since removed almost all traces of its existence. Several interesting specimens of it are pre- served in the museum of the late Mr. Lukis. It would seem that, in this case, some calcareous deposit had existed on the surface near the fissure, or some fragments of a neighbouring limestone vein had been accumulated there, and had been first dissolved by the rain water, after which the water, trickling down into the fissure, had slowly redeposited lime, at a lower level, in stalagmitic form. The action of rain and changing temperature in disin- tegrating the various rocks at and near the surface is 240 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. admirably shown in many places in all the islands. The veins of greenstone and micaceous rock are especially subject to this action, and become reduced to a fine sand to a depth of many yards below the surface. Even com- pact syenite itself is frequently found to be weathered far below the surface. In Jersey, a large quantity of this rotten syenite is used as gravel ; and, in all the islands, there are many similar instances, though, perhaps, fewer in Sark than any. The depth of disintegration in Guernsey is quite as great as in Jersey, but chiefly in the southern part of the island. The best examples of disintegration of syenite in Jersey are those seen at the back of St. Aubin’s town. They are very remarkable and extensive. The syenite is reduced to a multitude of angular fragments of small size, above which is a considerable thickness of sand. The rock below is cracked to some depth. The same thing is seen behind St. Peter’s Port in Guernsey, in more than one spot, very thick beds of sand being there met with. There can be little doubt that, in both islands, the quality of the soil, its extremely rapid absorption of rain and the rapid sub- sequent drying, are all due to this condition of the under- lying rock. The conglomerate rock of Jersey (see last chapter) breaks up into a singularly picturesque heap of boulders of all dimensions, which strew the whole of the north-east coast of the island. The numerous small bays which run in between the headlands, also formed of the same rock, are all covered in this way ; and one of them, Sale Harbour , is especially remarkable for the magnitude of the blocks and the completeness of the rounding. The sketch of this bay in the previous chapter illustrates the difference between boulders formed out of a recomposed rock of this kind and those constructed of the hard granite of which most of the island shores are composed. Alderney is yet more remarkable in this respect. Much of the northern part of the island consists of a thick mass of very fine sand, containing, apparently, boulders of syenitic greenstone or syenite. On close examination, there is no difficulty in discovering that these blocks and BLOWN SAND. 241 the sand are both in situ , being results of the disintegration and weathering of a crystalline rock rather peculiar in the imperfect state of its crystallisation. In all these cases, when the thickness of the rotten syenite or greenstone is very great, all traces are lost of the underlying rock ; and one is inclined, at first, to attribute the presence of the sand and round blocks of sound rock to foreign causes and to the transporting action of waves. There are, however, no appearances that warrant the idea that there exists true gravel consisting of transported pebbles of foreign material in any part of any of the islands. The only apparent exception to this occurs in those remarkable beaches of the north-east and east of Jersey already alluded to. The larger blocks and boulders are still parts of the conglomerate ; but a little way out, and on the shifting beach, the extreme abundance of quartz flints, in all states of destruction, is a fact too remarkable to be passed by without remark.* The sands on the coasts of some of the islands are often drifted in sufficient quantity to be the subject of serious attention, being blown inland by the prevalent winds. It is not very easy to account for particular cases of this kind, and they seem to be in a certain sense capricious. On the east coast of Jersey, in Grouville Bay, the sands blown do not reach far, and can hardly be regarded as mischievous. But it is very different in the Bay of St. Ouen’s, and a large tract of land, some of it considerably elevated, extending far into the interior, has here become covered with shifting sands in a very remarkable manner. Tradition, and even history, speak of extensive change in the level of the coast of the western part of the island about the end of the fifteenth century ; and it appears that about this time the destruction of the once fertile tract called the Quenvais commenced. The Quenvais is a dis- trict considerably above the sea, extending north and west * They have not been seen in situ , and no doubt have been washed up from the bottom of the adjacent seas or carried from the shores of the mainland. These flints come from the chalk deposited at the end of the secondary period ; but according to M. de Lapparent, the whole of Jersey, with the exception of certain veins, was formed before the end of the silurian period. — C. N. R 242 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. of St. Brelade’s Bay, and reaching to the low sandy lands of the southern half of St. Ouen’s Bay. Owing to the prevalence of westerly winds, the sands covering the wide flat of St. Ouen’s Bay — the largest expanse of unbroken sand in the Channel Islands — are blown steadily onwards, and have at length not only covered the low hills near the shore, but have risen to, and partially overwhelmed the table land of the interior. It is extremely interesting to watch this almost African expanse of undulating sands from the coast in windy weather. The horizon is lost in the misty air, loaded with fine particles of sand, constantly in motion, whether the gale come from the west or from the east. Since, however, winds from the former quarter are both more frequent, and blow steadily up a continuous slope from the sea, while the latter are little felt near the lower ground, the ridge of the hill serving as a shelter, the result is an unmistakable advance inland, and farms, houses, and even villages, become gradually obliterated. Much grass of that peculiar kind that roots in loose sand has been allowed to grow, but it is quite insufficient to check the evil. Few of the small islands and rocks within the district of the Channel Islands are without a low cliff of mixed angular stones and sands, derived from some higher level than that at which they now appear. The Hermitage Rock, near Elizabeth Castle, Green Island, or La Motte, between the Greve d’Azette and St. Clement’s Bay in Jersey, some of the Hanois rocks off Guernsey, the island of Crevichon near Herm, the Moie de Mouton and the Gouliot rocks off Sark, are all examples. All these point to the time, certainly not distant, when the sea had not yet severed them from the larger tracts of land adjoining. All help to give weight to the great geological lesson taught every- where in these islands ; namely, the importance of existing causes as agents of change. In this respect, if in no other, the Channel Islands are among the most interesting por- tions of British land. The sands of Herm appear to be comparatively fixed, and do not advance over the island. They are the only exclusively calcareous sands in the Channel Islands, and CLAY-BEDS. "4v5 are derived from shells that have lived in the adjacent seas. The sands of Guernsey on the west coast are extensive, and occasionally drift a little, but they have not done injury to the adjacent cultivated lands. Off the south-eastern extremity of Guernsey there would seem to be a singular formation going on. Specimens of foraminifera have been dredged there, apparently in a fossil state, but the particulars have not been satisfactorily determined. The specimens found were probably drifted from the continent of France. In addition to the soil derived from the decomposition and disintegration of all the rocks in all the islands, there are occasionally deposits of some extent, consisting of brick clay and potters’ clay. There are also smaller deposits of kaolin or china clay. All these are derived from veins in the porphyritic rock. Many extensive and thick beds of clay are worked in Jersey, but they offer no characteristic peculiarities. In Guernsey the largest mass of available clay for building and pottery extends from near St. Martin’s church in the south of the island towards the north-east, terminating in the lower district near St. John’s. There is a vein of kaolin at the Coupee in Sark, and Alderney supplies almost inexhaustible stores of brick clay. Although certainly presenting little of that kind of inte- rest belonging to countries where many varied rocks succeed one another in well-marked order, the Channel Islands are, then, not destitute of geological charms. They may well instruct even the most advanced student, and they are not without sufficient material to amuse the beginner. END OF PART THE SECOND. R 2 PART III MONT ORGUEIL CASTLE. [The first two Chapters of this Part have been left intact as written bv Dr. Latham, a few foot-notes being added by the present Editor.] CHAPTER XII. HISTORY. — PAGAN AND LEGENDARY PERIOD. Notwithstanding their smallness, islands may be in- vested with notable and definite characteristics. They may exhibit much that is peculiar. They may be the exponents of as decided a nationality as is to be found in a great kingdom. Nevertheless, as far as their influence on the world at large is concerned, islands of the third or fourth magnitude are of an essentially subordinate character. Yet it does not follow from this that they are below notice. On the contrary, not to mention the interest with which they are invested in the eyes of the natives them- selves, they are often illustrative of important details which are better studied on a small scale than a large one. This is especially the case when they are connected with archaeo- logical enquiries, and it is the case when there is any notable contrast between the geographical or ethnological relations of a given district and its political ones. That both these conditions meet in the history of the Channel Islands is clear. In the full face of all the contrasts, real or supposed, which exist between England and France, the Channel Islands are attached to the latter country in language, to the former in their political history. That they are Norman rather than French, in the stricter and more definite meaning of the term, is true ; but in ordinary language, what is Normandy but France ? What was it but French eight hundred years ago? and what is it likely to be but French till the end of time? What consti- tutes a Norman ? To some extent, he is an ancient Gaul ; to some extent, an ancient Roman ; and to some extent, a 248 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. Scandinavian ; but the fact of his being this is a fact of a very general and indefinite kind. What is a Norman ? Those who care to enquire thus far, are, for the most part, ready to enquire further ; and for further enquiry, even on the soil of Normandy itself, there is ample room. If much has been done within the present generation by able national investigators, much to be done remains. Except in the direction of Scandinavia, little research has been expended. That traces of the old Northmen, which were once obscure, have now become clear and patent ; that institutions, long deemed Roman, may be Scandinavian ; that, in blood and language, there are many more foreign elements than were originally recog- nised, are the results of much well-applied learning and acumen. But no approximation to the proportion that these foreign elements bear to the remainder has been ob- tained ; neither has the analysis of them gone much beyond the discovery of those which are referred to Scandinavia. Of the tribes on the mainland, those which, in the time of Caesar and in the first four centuries of our era, have the best claim to be considered as the remote ancestors of the earliest occupants of the islanders, are the Curiosolites, the Rhedones, the Osismii, the Lemovices, the Veneti, and the Unelli ; all mentioned by Caesar himself as well as by other writers who came after him. A little later appear the names of the Abrincatui and the Bajucasses. All these are referable to some part of either Normandy or Brittany, and all seem to have been populations allied to each other in habits and politics. They all belonged to the tract which bore the name of Amorica , a word which, in the Keltic, means the same as Pomerania in Slavonic, — i.e . 9 the country along the seaside . Of these tribual denominations, more than half still exist ; though not so much in the names of tribes as in the names of towns. And this is what we expect. It was the rule in Roman Gaul for the name of the population to be converted into that of its metropolis. Hence, on the prin- ciple which gives us Evreux for Eburovices , Bourges for Bituriges , and Paris for Parisii, we have Vannes^Rennes , and Avranches for the Veneti , the Rhedones , and the Abrincatui. IMPORTANCE OF EARLY NAMES. 249 That the system on which these names have been trans- ferred is an important and valuable instrument of criticism has long been known ; and it has been worked with skill and acumen by more writers than one. In some instances it appears to have been little more than the return of a modified term to its original meaning; in other words, it seems that some of the old Gallic national names originated in the names of towns ; that with these they began and with these they ended. But this is a matter of general (or perhaps, more properly, of minute) ethnology. What is of more importance is the origin of several of the newer names of the French towns. Many of them are taken from the names of saints, such as St. Malo from St. Mag- loire, St. Helier’s from St. Helerius, St. Peter’s Port from St. Peter. In a different way, indeed, from the older names, these tell a story of their own. Still they tell one. They teach us that the towns which bore such names are comparatively new ; that they are subsequent in respect to their foundation to the introduction of Christianity ; that the monastic preceded the municipal institutions ; in a word, that they have their origin in the diffusion of the Christian religion. Important elsewhere, this fact is of pre-eminent impor- tance in the history of the Channel Islands ; inasmuch as the towns and villages therein are, one and all, of this kind ; a circumstance which makes us all the readier to believe that, before they became Christian, they were, if not very thiniy inhabited by fishermen or pagan anchorites, of small importance — roughly speaking, all but uninhabited. Had they been emporia for trade, had they been the nests of formidable pirates, the case would have been different. They would have had towns, either actual or decayed, with names given on the old principle. As for the local names on the opposite portion of the Continent, those that we find in Caesar are sufficiently intelli- gible to be dealt with off-hand as Keltic. In Cur- and Rhed -, we seem to have the British Caer and Rhed meaning fortress and ford ; just as we have them in Rhedecina , the old name for Oxford ; in Hert-ford , where the original British is explained by a German synonym, and a compound as 250 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. the result ; and in Caerleon , or Urbs Legionis , in South Wales ; not to mention Carl isle, and others. Upon the name Veneti there is room for speculation, inasmuch as it is found in different districts beyond the undoubted Keltic area. Upon the whole, however, the majority of the names in Caesar are what we expect them to be — Keltic. Except a naval diversion on the coast of Brittany, men- tioned in the Commentaries, there is nothing to notice until we come to the time of the Antonines, when we find, in the Itinerary, the important and mysterious name Ccesarea ; which, whatever else it may have meant, stood for the island of Jersey . Upon the names, however, of the islands themselves, more will be said in the sequel. In the third century, we see the chance of a new name being likely to dawn upon us. There was a Roman fleet kept on the coasts of Picardy and Normandy, if not on that of Northern Brittany as well. Whoever may have manned and built it, it was intrusted to the command of a Batavian — the famous and formidable Carausius, of whose history there are plenty of details ; but, as they belong chiefly to the history of Britain, they are, to a great extent, irrelevant. In the next century, however, the whole of the coast thus brought into the condition of something between a naval station and a cruising-ground, bears a definite name, suggestive of a special naval organization, and this name is neither Gallic nor Latin, but German; a fact which deserves attention, as being conclusive evidence to the partial Ger- manization of these parts having begun thus early. As early as the fourth century, the whole coast of Picardy, and a great part of that of Normandy, constituted what was called the Saxon shore =Litus Saxonicuin . The explana- tions of this term are numerous. Some have held that it denoted an ordinary Saxon conquest ; just like that of Britain, only earlier. Others, that it was no true Saxon settlement at all, but merely a coast infested by the Saxons. Others, that the Saxons were a subsidized body of men of maritime habits, who defended it in the capacity of naval colonists — this latter view being the most probable. Ex- plain the name, however, as we may, it gives us an early THE SAXON SHORE. 251 German element on the land which was afterwards called Normandy. Now, in the well-known work bearing the title of Notitia U triusque Imperii , which was drawn up about the middle of the fourth century, we find that a por- tion of this district was called a March , — zT., a boundary, or frontier land ; and one of the earliest of the so-called Norse, or Danish, invasions is attributed to the Marcomanni , or N ordmanni. As any German from the districts to the north of the Weser might be called a Northman, it is by no means certain that all the inroads effected by these perti- nacious pirates are to be credited to Denmark. Some may be given either to the conquerors of Britain, or the Saxons of the Litus Saxonicum . These Saxons of the Saxon shore, during the fifth cen- tury, had extended themselves so far to the south as to have not only ascended the Loire, but to have settled them- selves in the islands at its mouth. “ Wherever you see a Saxon there you see a pirate, and in every Saxon boat are so many Saxon corsairs.” Such is the remark of a con- temporary. With the habit here suggested, it is likely that they effected settlements in the Channel ; indeed, they have as good a claim to having helped to Germanize Guernsey, Jersey, and Alderney, as the Danes themselves. As a rule they hugged the coast ; yet in one of their expeditions, under a chief whose name in Latin takes the form Ado- vacrius (Odoacer or Ottocar), they attacked Orleans, and were with difficulty repulsed. The fifth century was the time when their bad business most flourished. With these preliminaries we may look into the details not only of the coast, but of the interior. The power of Rome is now seriously shaken both in Gaul and Britain ; and (pretender after pretender having aspired to the purple) the only question that remains is, whether the natives of the two provinces shall by their own effort effect an expulsion of the Roman legions, or bring the land to that state of anarchy in which it shall be an easy conquest to the first invaders from abroad. In Britain the latter was notoriously the alternative, and to a great extent it was the case in Gaul also. At any rate, the real or supposed his- tories of the two countries in this phase of their precarious 252 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. existence, are closely allied. According to the common accounts it was at this time that Armorica, or Letavia, became Brittany : the name until then being exclusively limited to the British islands. The first text that bears upon the point is one from the writings attributed to Gildas, who states that, during their wars against the Saxons, some of the Britons fled across the sea. If this testimony be authentic, it dates about ninety years after the event. Eginhard, about 200 years later, speaks to same event, and with greater precision. He tells us that, amongst Charlemagne’s numerous expeditions, there was one against Britain , on this side of the water ( Britannia Cismarina ) : so called, because, when the Angles and Saxons harassed England, a great number of the natives crossed the sea, and settled themselves on the extremities of Gaul, the countries of the Veneti and Curiosolites ; for thus late, at least, is this name found in its full form. Whether all this be genuine evidence to a historical fact, or merely so much in- ference from the circumstance of the same language being spoken in Armorica and Cornwall, I cannot say. I demur, however, to its being adduced in favour of the present Bas Breton being treated as an introduction from Cornwall. Had no Cornish immigration taken place, the language of Vannes would have been just as British as it is now. The origin of the name Brittany is another question. Up to the time under notice the current name has been Armorica , or the country along the sea , the word being Keltic. The name Llydaw , about this time, takes prominence — of course, in its Latinized form ; the most curious point connected with it being the fact, that, though it was a British word, a British writer did not understand its meaning. Nennius says that the Armoricans were called in his language (the Welsh } Letewicion — i.e., semitacentes ; because they spoke indistinctly. The Romans called them Liticiani ; under which names, in conjunction with that of Armoriciani , we may find fragments of their otherwise obscure history. The consul Altius — he to whom the Britons (when pressed by the Saxons they fled to the sea, and when THE ALANS. 253 rejected by the sea they fell back upon the Saxons), addressed the well-known letter of complaints and re- quests — had more than one affair with them. In the first place he recruited the army which he led against Attila in Brittany, treating them, not as Roman subjects, but as allies : their previous secession and declaration of indepen- dence being recognised. They knew him, however, as an enemy as well ; and his campaign against them is interest- ing, from the fact of its having introduced in the western- most regions of Gaul a Scythian population, whose original occupancy was the distant and impracticable range of Caucasus. So, however, it was. In the middle of the fifth century there was a Scythian army from the other side of the Black Sea in Western Gaul, and Orleans was besieged by it. Strange, if at the present moment the name of this population be an ordinary personal name, both in Brittany and in Scotland — strange, but not impossible ; scarcely unlikely. The migrations of the Alani are some of the most remarkable in history ; and, it should be added, that they are essentially historical, — i.e. y they are authenticated in every detail by cotemporary and trustworthy witnesses. No others are so distant, so elaborate, so complicated, and, at the same time, considering the facts, so well established. The ethnological relations are nearly as clear. The Alans were the near kinsmen of the Huns ; and their original occupancy touched the wall of China. They were of the same stock as the modern Ottomans ; in fact, they were Turks. Yet we find them in Brittany, far beyond the utmost limit ever given to the more formidable and famous Huns. We find them even beyond Brittany. They joined the Goths and Silingian Vandals in the conquest of the Spanish peninsula ; in which Galicia and Portugal were allotted to them. Afterwards, when Genseric invaded Africa, they joined his fleet, and helped to conquer what was once Carthage. They reached, in this way, the present Beylik of Tunis, a Beylik which the modern Ottomans have conquered from Constantinople, but which the Alans conquered from the Tagus, having previously bathed their horses in the Danube, the Rhone, and the Loire. How- 254 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. ever, at the time now under notice, they had joined the Vandals and the Suevi, and were in Brittany. The first introduction of Christianity into the Channel Islands may, possibly, be coincident in point of time, or nearly so, with the first introduction of Christianity in Brittany. If so, it may have taken place before A.D. 461 ; inasmuch as one of the bishops summoned to the Council of Tours (provided that the document which bears his name be authentic) was Mansuetus Episcopus Britannorum. Bearing in mind that Sidonius Apollinaris speaks of the Britanni super Ligerim sitos , or the Britons of the Loire , it is scarcely likely that this should mean the then recent settlement from Britain. Indeed, this last text is scarcely reconcilable with it, though not absolutely impossible. Upon the whole, however, it is saying little in the way of disparagement to the Gallic Church to style it a hierarchical and metropolitan, rather than a missionary, establishment, and to infer that such small matters as a few outlying islands were, in the first instance, neglected. The real apostle in Guernsey was either Sampson, whom we may honour by the prefix Saint, and call St. Sampson, or some one about his time. Of him we have details in abundance, though they are not of the most authentic kind. He preached under the reign of the famous Frank king Childibert, who was rapacious, revengeful, lascivious, un- scrupulous, and careless of both the blood of men and the honour of women to an extent which is incredible even for a Merovingian. For a woman, however, his queen, the famous Brunechild, or Brynhilda, was worse than he was as a man. Except, however, as the unwilling patrons of St. Sampson, they belong to Frank, rather than to Norman, or Breton, history. Of the miracles performed before them we may read at large on the three lives of St. Sampson, one of which (the one found in Dom Bouquet’s great repertorium of data for the History of France) is considered by its collator to be the work of a near contemporary ; the other two being decidedly later. Dom Bouquet’s authority, however, is not so early as the learned Abbe makes it. St. Sampson’s early history is connected with the history SAINT SAMPSON. 255 of a Breton of noble blood, and (to judge from the occur- rence of either his name, or a similar one) elsewhere a real historical character. The details, however, of his personal history are obscure ; and equally obscure is the evidence concerning his non-miraculous relations with the saint. It is Saint Sampson, however, with whom this semi-historical Breton is most specially connected. His name was Judael, and he was the son of Jonas, a man of some power and authority in Brittany, being dignified by the name of Praesul. For some unknown object, both Jonas, the father, and Judael, the son, had been kidnapped by Childibert. That Jonas had been put to death was the general, that Judael had shared his fate the partial, belief. The more current opinion was that the son was alive, a prisoner in the capital of Childibert, and that nothing but a saint or an army could free him. The report of his sad condition, accompanied with the regrets of his people, reached St. Sampson, who, strong in the spirit — comitante Christo — girt up his loins to visit King Childibert. He reached his court, where he was well received. He found there a count who was afflicted with the falling sickness, and whom none of the Frank leeches could cure or relieve. St. Sampson called for oil, which he hallowed, and then poured it over the head, face, and hands of the count, who, forthwith, became a strong and healthy man. And now the credit of Sampson rose, and he began to speak to the men of the court about the purport of his visit. He had come to see whether Judael were alive or dead, and, if he were alive, to get him set free. So he saw the terrible king ; alone, or away from the still more terrible queen : and he was met by a burst of anger and threats. But neither the threats nor the anger frightened Sampson. The king said he should die. The priest answered that unless Judael were set free, they should de- generate from their seeds , — “ degenerare eos a suis semini- bus ,” whatever this might mean. But the king’s heart was hardened, and the degeneration went on, till the people began to tremble for the words of the saint. Then the queen saw him, and said to him more than would bear re- 256 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. peating — quce nefas est did . At length he was ordered to communicate with the king — whether in an ordinary inter- view, or at the holy sacrament, I cannot say. But the meeting took place ; and a page was ordered to take a cup of wine to Sampson, which he did with fear and trembling. For the priest looked at him steadily, and the page’s hand shook, and the wine was spilled. Then Sampson made a sign over the cup, and put it into together {sic) in four parts — in quatuor adunavit partes . Then the hand of the cup- bearer* shrivelled up to the bone. But Sampson quietly took the glass (there is a special statement that this was the material), and said, “ This is not a cup for a man to drink out of.” Saying this, he made his usual sign, and the hand of the cupbearer was healed. This was the second of the miracles performed at the court of King Childibert. But Judael was not set free ; for the king had a scruple, arising out of the presence of a vast serpent, which, in some part of his dominions, was doing incredible mischief. Could Sampson prevail over the serpent ? Sampson did prevail over it, though the details are not given in the bio- graphy under notice. From what follows we infer that its den was in Angia, inasmuch as, after its subjugation or death, St. Sampson took a vessel, and, having touched at the islands Lesia and Angia (? Augia), went over to the country of the Damnonii, — i.e.> Cornwall and Devonshire. Before he did this he cowed a lion. The beast was kept hungry for some days, and had been chafed into anger by all sorts of savage irritations ; but, as he ran upon the priest, he noted the clear eye and the calm gait of the man of God, and lay down at his feet. Also, like another Alexander, Sampson tamed a desperate Bucephalus. No one could go near him, much less sit on his back. But the saintly horsebreaker made the sign of a cross, and saddled him off-hand. In the face of so many circumstances as this, and with the principle before us that where there is smoke there is fire * This is the best sense I can give to the passage, which is, et vino effuso , mantis tenentis , usque ad ossa , videntibus multis , crepuit. ST. HELERIUS. 257 (a principle which forbids us deny in even the most un- trustworthy narratives some scintilla of fact as a basis), it is unsafe to say that St. Sampson never had a real ex- istence. The legends of the islands themselves confirm the doctrine of his personality, though only to a slight extent. All that they show is that the fame of an apostle bearing that name had found its way to certain localities connected with his history before certain events took place. There may have been an error of fame for all this. That there was either a confusion of some kind or an unlikely coinci- dence is shown by the obscure but important fact that, just at the very time when the saint was supposed to be preach- ing, there is another Sampson, a son of King Childibert’s. I submit that both Sampsons can scarcely have been real. Such is the history of the chief saint of Guernsey ; the Sampson from whom the harbour takes its name. The concurrent miracles of his conscious or unconscious coad- jutor, St. Helerius, of Jersey, must now be given. There are two Sampsons. There is an approach to a second Helerius, inasmuch as, till the time of Camden, the eponymus of St. Helier’s was confounded with Hilarius, bishop of Poitou. The editors of the Acta Sanctorum have pointed out the error ; and it is curious to contrast the acute criticism they display in details of this kind with their easy acquiescence in the miracles and improbabilities of the biography. The confusion, perhaps, was early ; for though, as a living man, St. Helerius of Jersey was an early saint, it is only at a late period that he enters into the martyrology. Still he has, at least, three lives : one printed, two in manuscript. Nor is he unnoticed in the lives of other saints. Strange work, however, is made of his name. It is sometimes Helerius, sometimes Elimbertus ; and, probably, considering his German origin, the latter is the nearer approach to his real designation. When the life was written is uncertain. It was long subsequent to his death. Hence we must take what it gives us as facts, illus- trative, not of the history of the times of St. Helerius, but of the opinion which his biographer formed of those times. In the notices bearing upon them, two have some slight 258 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. value. One tells us that the islands were almost unin- habited ; another that he was killed by the Vandals. Like most of the lives in the Acta Sanctorum, the biography of St. Helerius begins with a posthumous preliminary, — i.e., the history of his body after its burial. The bodies of saints are always removed ; generally to several places in succession ; often to two or three places at once. Hence, from Jersey, St. Helerius finds his way to Belgium, as we shall see in the sequel. However, his father was an Austrasian Frank of the parts about Tongres, and a noble whose name was Sigebart. The mother, whose name was Lusigard, was a Swabian (, Sueva ) on the side of her mother, on her father’s side a Bavarian. They were both pagans ; and, as such, lived together many years without either son or daughter. At length, however, the district was hallowed by a priest and missionary, named Cunibert ; who, after having estab- lished a name for supernatural powers in the neighbour- hood, was consulted by the disappointed husband and the barren wife. “ Let the offspring, if there be any, be made over to God and me, and wait events.” They did so, and in due time a child was born. What his name was, at first, is unknown. However, he was born, and grew up with his father and mother until he was three years old. Cunibert never claimed him : indeed, he was on a pilgrimage in Jerusalem at the time. But he returned ; and reminded the parents of their promise. They hesitated. The child grew : was four years old — five years — six years — was in his seventh year, when he was struck with paralysis. No boy, up to this time, had been plumper, or better-looking. No poor cripple was now more thin and miserable. So Cunibert pressed his claim ; and, on condition that he cured the boy, got him to himself and God. Then he cured him. Then, too, he named him. He made him at once a catechumen, and called him Helerius , which means pity, because God in his mercy had restored him — quem ilico catechumenon fecit et vocavit Helerium , id est misericordiam ; quia Deus misericordia eum redintegraverat. Helerius grew to man’s estate, and became a recluse. He gardened : but the hares got amongst his vegetables, SAINT MARCULF. 259 and ate up his young plants. So, one morning, the saint walked out with the cross in his hand, and marked off a part of his ground for the hares exclusively. Here they might feed. All beyond was his. No hare ever over- stepped the boundary. But they were liable to be hunted : and one day a bold sportsman followed them over the hedge on horseback. As he leapt the fence, a bough caught his eye, and blinded him. He was now at the mercy of the saint ; Helerius made a sign with the cross, and the lacerated eye saw better than the other. Again, a man fell asleep in an orchard, with his mouth open, and a snake crept down his throat. He betook him- self to Helerius, and the sign of the cross brought the snake back again — the way it came ; neither mouth nor stomach being the worse. After this he went to the land of the Morini, or the parts about Calais : where we hear more of his asceticism than his miracles. He dug two holes, knee-deep ; filled them with cold water, laid sharp stones at the bottom, and stood on them till his frost-bitten feet bled. Then he guarded against falling either backwards or forwards by a spike. A big nail opposite each shoulder-blade, with two others, for the lumbar region, in a board at his back, provided against the former, a set of awls on a platform in front, against the latter, of these alternatives. Under pen- ance of this kind, in the parts about Calais, he remained five years. Then he visited St. Marculf at Nanteuil, tempted by the devil on the way ; on the way, too, he purified a well. Having remained for a while with St. Marculf, he re- solved upon visiting Jersey, St. Romard being his com- panion. And here again the names appear in sad con- fusion. In one life Jersey is Gersut, in another Anga. There is no doubt, however, about the island intended. It was small, and the population of both sexes amounted to only thirty. This is the number in St. Marculf’s life as well. Of these one was paralytic, and one lame. They lay on a rock, and the mark of their legs is there to this day, — i.e., the day of the biographer. On the same S 2 26 o THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. hard rock St. Helerius slept, and the mark of his head is there also.* They preached, and fasted — fasted so effectually, that a few years afterwards, when St. Marculf came to visit, he did not know them. And now there are three saints in Jersey ; St. Ro- mard, St. Marculf, and St. Helerius. But the times were wicked, and there were pirates abroad. In the life of St. Helerius they are called Vandals, in the life of St. Marculf, Saxons. If Vandal mean anything, in other words, if it be any- thing more than a term arising out of the associa- tion between the Goths and Vandals, it means either actual pirates from the Slavonian coast of the Baltic, which is not im- possible, or Andalusian Spaniards, which is prob- able. They come, how- ever, in one of the lives, from the Orkneys. They come as unexpected ene- mies ; expected, but feared. St. Marculf had had a dream, * The Hermitage, near Elizabeth Castle, represented in the engraving, is popularly attributed to St. Helerius or Hilarius, and is interesting geologically as well as historically. It is a mere fragment of a building of rough masonry, on one of a group of detached rocks, evidently torn and broken by the sea since the building was erected. The style of masonry and the nature of the building hardly seem to belong to so ancient a period as that of the real saint. Other small fragments of similar masonry formerly existed on another adjacent rock, which was blasted at the time of the construction of the break- water. — E. T. N , THE HERMITAGE OF ST. HELERIUS, NEAR ELIZABETH CASTLE, JERSEY. SAINT MAGLOIRE. 261 which told him what was coming, and he prepared his friends for the worst. The pirates came. The details of their attack are slightly different in the two lives, as are the names and numbers. But they landed. As they were landing, however, one of the saints stretched out his hand, and the ships were all blown off to sea. Then, like the men from the dragon’s teeth that were saved by Cadmus, they fought against each other. Still enough were left to decapitate St. Helerius. After which begins the history of his dead body ; which may, at the present moment, be either in Jersey, or in Belgium, at the con- fluence of the Rhine, the Maes, and the Vhal, or in Brittany. Igitur merito hetaris, Devota Britannia, Quod thesauro fruaris, Quod dedit Alemannia. So runs a later piece of verse. Another names the Vandals as the murderers. Hunc quem confecerant sitis et macies, Minuit capite Vandalis acies, Novum, quod mortuus propriis manibus, Cervicem detulit plus centum passubus. With the name of Magloire, the historical character improves. Magloire, however, belongs to Brittany and St. Malo, rather than to Jersey or Guernsey, to St. Helier’s or St. Sampson’s. Nor is it in the character of the biography that the improvement consists. Similar miracles, similar removals of the body, similar burials in two places at once, characterise St. Magloire’s life. Still, he is more historical than either of the other two. He was an Irish missionary; and, as the century was just the time when the Irish was, pre-eminently, the missionary church of the western world, it is more than probable that, like so many other districts, the Channel Islands owed their earliest Christianity to the monks of the school of St. Columbanus. The fact, however, which lies beyond either doubt or suspicion is that it is to Brittany rather than to Normandy that the early ecclesiastical history connects them. It was 262 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. the diocese of Dol # to which they belonged. Nor is this distinction unimportant. Norman as they have been for the last 1,000 years, they seem originally to have been less Norman than Breton ; less Norman than Breton so far, at least, as there was, in the sixth century, any notable dis- tinction between the two. At what period the present broad distinction between the two provinces began is uncertain. The distinction, however, is a valid and decided one. That there are some German and Norse, or Scandinavian, elements in Brittany is true ; and it is true that there is a good deal of what is Keltic in Normandy. Upon the whole, however, Normandy is the pre-eminently German, and Brittany the pre-emi- nently Keltic portion of France. The local names tell us this, if every other sign were absent ; but there is much on each side beyond the names. Up, however, to a certain point, the Channel Islands seem to have gone with Brittany. The exact details of the introduction of Christianity in the Channel Islands are absolutely unattainable. With readers who are not prepared to receive with implicit belief the whole mass of unproven and miraculous narrative which constitutes the so-called Lives of the Saints, and with critics who are as well aware as they ought to be of the general unauthenticity of all the earliest monastic grants and charters, it is superfluous to enlarge upon this. At the same time, the general character of the first conversions from paganism is by no means obscure. We can represent it to a great extent. It was, in the main, Irish ; in saying which, it may be well to add that the assertion is not made by an Irishman. When all that can be said or done in the way of deduction from the extravagant claims of the over-patriotic Irish antiquaries of both the last century and the present has * This statement is to some extent erroneous. Dol was not created into a diocese until the ninth century, long after the time when St. Magloire flourished. The fact that this saint was an abbot of Dol has probably caused the confusion, and led historians to infer that these islands belonged to that diocese. St. Marculf of Coutances had before St. Magloire converted the inhabitants of Jersey to Christianity. — E. T. N. IRISH INFLUENCES. 263 been said and done — when the claims for the green land of Erin having been an isle of saints and a sanctuary for simplicity, orthodoxy, and learning, have been set aside, there still remains the undoubted fact that, for the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries, the Irish Church was not only a Christian, but a missionary, one ; indeed, with the exception of the two great organized capitals — Rome and Constantinople — it was more so than any other. And it was a Missionary Church in the best sense, — simple, active, and single-minded ; with no political ends to subserve, and with nothing but a purely apostolic mission to fulfil. The evidence of this, not resting upon the lives of its saints (though these are, on the whole, more truthful than any others) lies in the earliest accounts of Anglo-Saxon Christianity, and in the numerous German and Italian monasteries which, as has been shown from the Irish MSS. they possess, were regulated after the Irish discipline, and inspected, if not superintended, from Ireland. These are simply historical facts. In a more special view of the matter, we find that it was with the populations of British and German origin that the Irish missionaries most interested themselves ; so that Brittany is, of all others, the country in which they are most to be expected. The name, then, of the chief Breton saint, Maglorius, is Irish* and from him comes the name of St. Malo. That the islands were just the spots which such missionaries would choose, we infer from their establishments in the western islands of Scotland ; especially Hi, Iona, or Icolmkill. Their discipline was, essentially, anchoritic and recluse ; and the lone island, with a rude and simple congregation, was what they best loved. Other propagandists founded churches ; and, in England, we find names like Dun -church and Orms -kirk ; but, with the Irish, the church was no assembly, but a hermitage, and all the churches in Ireland are cells — Kil- kenny, Kil- dare, \co\m-kill — Columban i-cella. Surely, all this points in the same direction as the name Magloire and as the few historical notices which we possess. * St. Brelade or St. Brolade also was probably an Irish missionary. The name thus spelt is a popular form of St. Brandon. — E. T. N. 264 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. More than this, it improves the evidence in favour of the islands having been, at the introduction of Christianity, lone spots such as anchorites would love, rather than marts of trade, or nests of pirates, for which, if we looked to their position alone, we might fairly take them. That they had always been this is by no means asserted. There was, probably, a Roman garrison on one of them. But it was, apparently, one of no historical importance. It is probable, however, that, with some such trifling exception as this, they were, till the time of Maglorius,* the perma- nent occupation of a few fishers, visited occasionally, or periodically, for purposes which will be noticed in the sequel, by the pagans of the mainland. Magloire is said to have died in Jersey in 575. — E. T. N. CHAPTER XIII. EARLY HISTORY CONTINUED. — GERMAN PERIOD. THERE is nothing written hitherto which touches the chief characteristic of the Channel Islands, — i.e., the fact of their being not only French rather than English, but Norman rather than purely and simply French. Again, we ask, what is a Norman, and how does he differ from an ordinary Frenchman— not from a Frenchman of Bearn, Languedoc, or Provence (for there the distinction is patent), but from a Picard, or Vermandois? Everything hitherto written makes the islands Breton rather than even ordinary French. It is impossible to do anything like justice to this question (it ought to be an interesting, and it is certainly not an easy one) without going into details and refinements which involve a preliminary request of patience on the part of the reader. It is submitted, however, that the minute analysis of the Norman elements in a Norman archipelago is a sufficient excuse for what may, at the first view, seem episodic and irrelevant. In Norway, William the Conqueror means William the Norman, and William the Norman means William the Norwegian. This pedigree is clear. He was a descendant of Rollo, who was the son of Ragnar, who was the Earl of More. He was a man of such gigantic build that no horse could carry him ; so that, from the constraint he was thus put under of always having to go on foot, he was named Rolf Ganger, — i.e., Rolf the Goer on foot, or Rolf Walker. As for his exploits, are they not written in the book of Dudo of St. Quentin on the Dukes of Normandy, which was written only two generations after the conquest of They suggest the likelihood of the real Rollo having been scarcely so Norwegian as his historian has made him , for they show the probability of the Norwegians, when the Danes had ceased to be called Northmen and when that term was restricted to themselves, having affiliated him upon a Norwegian chief. The process by which Normandy was Germanized is, by no means, simple, neither is it clear. In doing what is about to be done, — i.e., in putting inference in the place of testimony, and giving an approximate sketch ol the history st. saviour’s church, jersey. 266 the CHANNEL ISLANDS. Normandy, and on the authority of the conqueror’s grand- son? Be it so. It must be remembered, however, that this Norwegian extraction finds no place in the actual co- temporaries of the Conquest ; and that, in Dudo, Rollo is always called a Dane: the Danes being called Danes or Northmen indifferently. These are omissions which are so conspicuous for their absence that they cannot be ignored. DUKE ROLLO. 267 of districts for which no history exists, the necessities of the case are simply obeyed. The reader, however, who sees the associated names of a geologist and an historical en- quirer on the title page, may possibly be tempted into the antithesis of saying that the former seems to have written the history and the latter the geology. Such a piece of criticism should be anticipated ; and the best anticipation lies in the fact that even the later events of the islands are pre- historic. This is the case, partly because the events them- selves are old, and partly because the earliest dawn of true history is new. To show the extent to which the latter is the case, it may be well, briefly, to examine all the sources of evidence that can possibly, or with any show of plausi- bility, be adduced. They are few, and easily exhausted. The older records in the islands themselves help us to nothing. They are no earlier than 1060, if so early. The sources, aliunde , are scarcely older. If our district had lain in the east of Europe, instead of the extreme west, the Byzantine writers might have helped us, poor as they are. If it lay off Spain or Portugal, a little might be got from Arabic sources. If the fifth and sixth centuries had not been centuries of anarchy and darkness, Gaul and Britain might have supplied some few authorities ; but the time of the classical writers has gone by and the age of an ecclesiastic literature has yet to come. The corresponding period in English history is fully as dark ; and, notwithstanding the details that writers of the school of Hume and Turner supply us with concerning Hengist, and Ella, and Cerdic, and similar real or supposed heroes, most of the later critics have long decided against the historical truth of any account antecedent to the in- troduction of Christianity ; and even this has to be obtained from Beda, who wrote 150 years later. Upon this point, Lappenberg and Kemble have spoken with decision, with authority, and with truth. So far as there is a history at all, it is that of the Franks ; and, in the hands of a pic- turesque and imaginative writer like Palgrave, this has taken both colour and consistency. Still it is essentially a personal history ; dealing with a dynasty rather than with a great geographical area, and containing much, even in 268 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. the way of personal biography and character, which wants confirmation. The several annals of the Frank monasteries are our best authorities, and these, even when trustworthy, are brief, fragmentary, and late. Of the Breton legends few are pertinent, and none valu- able. The oldest go back to the thirteenth or the fourteenth century, at best. For Normandy as a duchy, the fountain head of our facts lies in the work of Dudo of St. Quentin, and he lived in the time of Duke Richard, the cotemporary of Canute. Upon the Icelandic sagas many have put great store : but late as is the chief historical work on Normandy, it is decidedly earlier than the oldest continuous saga of Scan- dinavia. That these compositions look older than they are is true, inasmuch as they give an account of early events. But the writer of the first of them was only the cotem- porary of Henry II. of England, and the oldest poems he quotes, fragmentary and obscure as they are, are no older than the time of Harold Harfager, the cotemporary of Athelstan. The Saxon Chronicle gives us little but occasional state- ments. It is not, then, without reason that the inferential method is adopted ; indeed, it is forced upon us. There are many antiquities to be elucidated, and much which is historical in character. But, as they want the evidence of history, the analogies of Normandy and Brittany are our only resource, and the record for these is imperfect. If, however, there be so little in the way of external evi- dence as embodied in trustworthy writings, and as taken down by cotemporary writers with sufficient opportunities for knowing the truth, as to give us nothing but insufficient and unsatisfactory results, there is another series of facts, which is so definite, explicit, and unimpeachable, as fully to make up for its deficiencies. Where external evidence falls short, internal evidence steps in. Where testimony is silent, inference begins. Now the materials for this are abundant — so much so, that just as numismatists can read the main points in a dynasty through its coins, or the geolo- gist the annals of the earth through its fossils, the early investigator of the maritime exploits of the Northmen can SIGNS OF NORSE OCCUPATION. 209 trace them by the marks they have left behind them, not only over widely-distant countries, but over the minuter divi- sions of the same district. Nor has this material been neg- lected. Acute critics, with a competent amount of neces- sary learning, both in England and Denmark, both in Normandy and Norway, have devoted their best energies to the inquiry ; so that, upon the whole, it may safely be said that there is no series of facts, within the whole ob- scure domain of primitive history, which has given rise to sounder inferences than those connected with the history of the Scandinavians in the South — of the Scandinavians taken collectively as opposed to the Germans, and of the Scandinavians of Norway as opposed to the Danes of the south of the Baltic. That their language should supply the majority of the most relevant facts is what we expect, a priori. It helps us in Orkney and the Hebrides, in Ireland and the Isle of Man, to results of remarkable precision and definitude ; and a short notice of what it does in these countries is the proper preliminary to what it does — or fails to do- — in Normandy. In every spot where their early presence is known as a matter of certainty, the Northmen have left traces which still remain, and which no one can mistake. In Orkney and Shetland (to begin with the north), Norwegian was spoken as late as the seventeenth century ; and we have not only numerous traces of it in the personal and geo- graphical names of those islands, and in numerous words belonging to common life, but there is also an actual Lord’s Prayer of the last century, which neither an Englishman nor a Lowland Scot can understand, but which differs from the literary Danish no more than certain extreme dialects of the remoter provinces are known to differ from each other. In the Hebrides we have nothing equally definite, though, on the other hand, there is hardly an island amongst them which has not Norse names for some of its headlands, farms, or towns ; especially Lewis — the Norwegian Ljod - hus— lading-place, x^dd to this that certain notable dif- ferences of physical form, industrial aptitude, and real 270 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. pedigree have been recognised by careful, and even scep- tical, observers. In the Lowland Scotch itself numerous words are purely Norse or Norwegian — purely and exclusively so. And their character in this respect is important ; since it is by no means sufficient to simply find a long list of words common to the two languages. This may be done with the very purest Anglo-Saxon. What is needed, however, is proof that the words claimed for Norway are not only Norse but that they are not German. And this can be done to a sufficient (perhaps, to a large) extent. What applies to Scotland applies to Northumberland, and Durham as well. Each county shows its appropriate and expected signs of occupancy. With few exceptions, however, none of the villages to the north of the Tees end in the syllable by — a very impor- tant affix. Few (or, at any rate, comparatively few) villages in Norway do so either. In Iceland, the most genuine, undoubted, and unmixed of all the Norwegian settlements, it is not to be found in any ordinary map, and if it be to be found at all, it is pre-eminently scarce. It is, perhaps, unnecessary to say that it means town , village , or settlement . Having noted its absence, or rarity, in Norway, Ireland, Scotland, Northumberland, and Durham, let us enquire about its presence in Denmark. In Denmark it is the commonest of the common. The smallest maps on the smallest scale give us instances of it. In the larger ones, which go into the topography of the small villages and farms, it absolutely abounds. Com- moner than the -villes of France, commoner than the -tons of England, it looks as if it were the word which ever came uppermost when the Dane Proper of Jutland, Sleswick, or the Isles, thought about naming a settlement. The largest towns were not too big, a single homestead not too small, for it. On the other hand, it is utterly strange to Germany. Found on the Eyder, found to the north of the Elbe, it is foreign to the Weser, the Rhine, and the Danube, on the banks of which it would be just as easy to find a word like T richinopoly, or Masulipatam , as one like Carlby or A slackby. SIGNS OF NORSE OCCUPATION. 271 No wonder, then, that its presence, or absence, has been allowed to separate not only the Dane from the English- man or German, but even from his near kinsman, the Nor- wegian, as well. No wonder that, whilst England is treated as the robbing-ground for the Danes in the limited sense of the term, Scotland has been assigned more especially to the pirates of Norway. On the Tees, the local names in by begin with Raby and Raby Castle. They increase in the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire, being rare in the West. The north- western feeders of the Ouse, however, seem to have been followed up to the head, until the watershed that divided them from the Cumberland rivers was crossed. This gives us Danes, with their towns in -by, on the drainage of the Eden and the parts between Kir by Lonsdale and the sea. The sea being reached, a new foothold seems to have been taken ; and the villages in -by, in Annandale, parts of Cheshire, Lancashire, and Caernarvonshire (all near the coast), show the settlements of what may be called the Danes of the Far West. In the Isle of Man they met the Norwegians, who had reached that island by a periplus , having circumnavi- gated the western coast of Scotland, taking the Hebrides in their way ; not without making important settlements in Ireland, as testified by history, and as shown in the names of Strang -ford and Carlin g-ford Bays — for it is only in the Norse that ford means an arm of the sea. Upon the whole, however, Man was Norwegian rather than Danish, as we learn from the present title of its bishop. In Sodor and Man, the former name is the Norse Sudreyar, or Southern Islands. In Lincolnshire, the names in -by such as Spils^j, Candles^/, and more than two hundred others attain their maximum ; continuing to be numerous in parts of Leices- tershire (especially the valley of the Wreak) and Notting- hamshire, but decreasing in Northamptonshire and in the direction of Warwick and Derby. Between the English of Huntingdonshire and the Danes on the other side of the river Nene, we may trace the line of demarcation to within two hundred yards ; indeed, in the parts about the Roman station of Durobrivis, there seem to have been an actual 272 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. bilingual town, — i.e., a town with a Danish quarter on the Northamptonshire, and an English quarter on the Hun- tingdonshire, side. The number of the Norse sagas is so great, and the literary merits of many of them so slender, that, to anyone who, without having made a special study of their contents, should commit himself, without reserve or qualification, to a negative statement concerning them, would convict him- self of over-haste and temerity. All, then, that the present writer ventures to state is that, after a fair amount of re- search, instituted with the special object of finding them, he has found, in no Norse work whatever, either the names of any one of the Channel Islands or any notice relating to them. Yet the name of a small island, Herio, off the coast of Aquitaine, has been found, and so has that of the even more unimportant Scilly Islands. These latter, indeed, have a kind of historical notoriety, inasmuch as they give the spot whereon the famous Olaf Trygvason was converted to Christianity. Scilly, then, is mentioned, and so is Herio; but neither Guernsey nor Jersey; neither Sark nor Alder- ney. And, in like manner, no mention is made of any port or river, rock or harbour, of either the Cotentin or Brittany. Of the Rhine and Scald, of the Marne and Oise, of the Somme and Seine, we have notice upon notice. We know in many cases what navies ascended them and who were the captains that commanded. We know what towns were sacked, and how far the spoilers advanced ; and we have the same knowledge for the Loire, the Garonne, and even the Rhone : but for the coast of Brittany, we have no notice whatever. The time of these attacks upon Gaul is exactly the time of the Danish invasions of England, except that, perhaps, they are little later. Within ten years of the middle of the ninth century, — i.e., between 840 and 860, lies the date of the first permanent settlement of the Northmen on the lower Loire, a settlement which seems to have preceded those on the Seine. The names, too, of the English are often the names of the Gallic marauders ; and those of Hastings, Ragnar Lodbrog, Biorn Ironside, Sidroc, and others, appear on both sides of the Channel, sometimes in Ireland as well. ORIGIN OF THE SAGAS. 273 For purposes, however, like the present, we must abso- lutely ignore all these famous sagas as authorities of a truely historical character. We must ignore them as his- torical authorities, in spite of the occasional beauties of their style ; in spite of its high average merit ; in spite of the vivid pictures they give us of the times in which they were written or to which they refer. We must remember that the earliest of them was written in the reign of Henry II., or later, and that this was more than 100 years after the Norman conquest, not only of Normandy, but of England ; remembering also that when England was con- quered, the conquerors were Frenchmen rather than Scan- dinavians ; that the Norse tongue was either not spoken at all, or spoken in a few localities : perhaps in a Norse quarter of Bayeux, though this is doubtful. We must re- member that the dukes of Normandy and the early kings of England, one and all, bore names like William, Richard, Robert, and Henry, rather than names like Harold, Canute, or Olaf ; and that the laws were essentially French and feudal rather than allodial or Norse. Nor is this a new doctrine. Though many historians have neglected it, one at least, Sir Francis Palgrave, in his trenchant and decisive manner, draws due attention to it. The old Latin chron- icles were subsequent to the events they delivered ; but they were earlier than the Anglo-Norman romances which pass for history : these, in their turn, being older than any- thing (with the exception of a few fragments of poetry) that has yet been found in Norse. The sagas were, for the most part, composed in Iceland, a remote and isolated country, in which there was but little geographical knowledge and less historical criticism. What the Icelanders did know was this : they knew the char- acter of the inhabitants of their own hardy and independent island ; they knew its superstitions and its legends ; they knew, in a general way, the recent history of the mother country, Norway ; and they knew the later forms which the few fragments of the real history of the northern piracies had taken. These ran to the glory of the North- men ; and, in the thirteenth century, a Northman generally meant a Norwegian, just as, in England, Northumberland 274 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. meant the county so called. Three centuries earlier, how- ever, Northumberland had meant everything to the north of the Humber, and included Yorkshire. In like manner, three centuries before the dawn of Norse literature, a Northman had meant a Dane, or even a Holsteiner ; any- one, in short, north of the Elbe. But what if this distinction were overlooked? What if it were the habit, perhaps the pleasure, of the Norwegian chroniclers to overlook it? What if, by ignoring it in toto , a great deal of honour, of glory (of a piratical kind to be sure, but still honour and glory) could be transferred from Denmark to Norway ? hi such a case, the temptation to ignore, or even distort it, would take its way. At any rate, by considering the Northmen to be Norwegians , the conquest of some im- portant countries could be claimed for Norway. Seeing the way to a confusion or distortion of this kind, we may lay little stress upon the Icelandic account of Rollo’s parentage and genealogy. That Snorro, who gives it, was a vigorous and picturesque writer, is true. It is also true that he was no mere bookworm ; but, on the contrary, a man of action, both in politics and social life. He was, in every way, a man of mark, though not a very scrupulous one. Nothing, too, is clearer than his statement that Rollo, the conqueror of Normandy, was a Norwegian. His father was an earl, — the Earl of More. Norway was his birthplace. We must set, however, against this, the fact of the later Norman writers always calling him a Dane, and (what may, perhaps, prove too much) that of the co- temporary writers not naming him at all. Should this tendency to tamper with the few historical notices that the later Norwegians fell in with seem exaggerated, let us take a story from the Fornaldar Saga. Ivar Beirlausi, probably Ivar the Legless, or the Short-legged, one of the most prominent of the Norwegian heroes, is a son of Ragnar Lodbrog and his wife Aslaug. He lands on the coast of Northumberland to avenge the death of his father — his father, by the way, who is made to live at three different times at once, and for whom, though we get plenty of minute details (one of which gives us the very words which he sung when put into a barrel of venomous serpents and THE GOTHS OF GAUL. 275 poisoned to death), we have no accurate date — and having obtained a concession from King Ella (who had no exist- ance at either the time or place ascribed to him) of as much land as he could enclose in a horse’s hide ; cuts up a skin into thongs, and encloses ground enough for a city, no less a city than the episcopal town of York. To say nothing about York being founded centuries before Ivar’s time, what is the story but a rehabilitation of the founda- tion of Carthage ? and a second-hand one too. The Saxons under Hengist are said to have done the same thing, and to have built Thong Castle, a name probably suggested by Ithanceaster , a real town. The Thuringians did the same. The Russians, who took Moscow, did the same ; and it is not impossible that if the history of British India were written by Indians, Clive would have done the same at Madras or Calcutta. However, this Northman does it for the third time in early German history only ; the notion being suggested by the old name Yorvik , and the fact of jor meaning, in the poetical language of Norway, a horse . If we look to the Norse sagas for history, we should remember the rule in mechanics, that “ nothing is stronger than its weakest part,” and pay attention to such triflings and tamperings as these. That the history of the Danes has to be separated from that of the Saxons of the Saxon shore, has already been shown. There is, however, a third population, from which both the Danes and the Saxons must be distinguished. The names of the dukes of Normandy, and (what is more interesting) the names of all the early kings of England, are neither German, in the way that those of the descendants of Charlemagne are German, nor yet Danish, in the way that Canute and Harold are Danish. It is submitted that they were Gothic ; and it is not difficult to see how the Goths could found a dynasty in Normandy. After the sack of Rome they re-crossed the Alps and overran southern Gaul. They made Toulouse and Arles their capitals, and after they had cut their way farther westwards, Bordeaux. Under Theodoric, they ex- hibited as high a civilisation as was exhibited by any of the early German conquerors, and the magnificence and T 2 276 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. elegance of the court of their king is praised by a compe- tent, though partial, witness. As the Frank powers rose, that of the Goths sank ; and after the Burgundians had been conquered by Clovis, the expulsion of the Goths followed. They crossed the Pyrenees, and retreated into Spain, where they founded a kingdom, which lasted until the Mahometan invasion. To this it only partially gave way. The remnants of the nation betook themselves to the fastnesses of the Pyrenees, from which, in due time, they reconquered the whole of their original domain ; the present King of Spain being of their dynasty. That a fraction of this retained its hold on the more extreme parts of Gaul, is likely. The characteristic names of Richard and Henry — names equally strange to the Northmen and Franks — appear chiefly in the Spanish and English dynas- ties ; the former as Recared, the latter as Hunneric. If this view be accurate, there is one of the early in- vasions of Britain in which the Channel Islanders may reasonably be supposed to have played a part ; a small, and an ephemeral one ; but still an early British invasion. I allude to the settlement of the Jutes in the Isle of Wight and Hampshire. The notices of these are but few. Still they are clear and precise ; more so, indeed, than those of the Jutes of Kent. All three are mentioned by Beda, but with this difference : of the occupants of Kent, he merely says that they were of Jute origin ; a statement that might be made by a writer of the present time, notwithstanding the fact, that throughout the whole of the country, there is no such thing as even the most distant approximation of a Jute to be found or heard of. Concerning the Jutes, how- ever, of the Isle of Wight, he makes the specific statement that they were the actual holders of the island when he wrote. More explicitly still does he mention those of the opposite coast of Hampshire ; of which he says, that “ up to this day it is called the nation of the Jutes ” — “ Quce usque hodie in provincia occidentalum Saxonum Jutarum natio nominatur , posita contra ipsain insidam vectamP In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, this Jutarum natio becomes Jutna- cyn, or Jute kind. THE GOTHS OF GAUL. 2 77 Elsewhere* the present writer has gone fully into the details of the origin of these Jutes, and has given at large his reasons against their being considered as Jutlanders from the present peninsula of Jutland, accompanied with the suggestion that their real and immediate origin was from the Goths of the opposite coast of Gaul, the Goths of the kingdom of Theodoric, the Goths who, either before the rise of the Frank dominion, or during the wars by which the Franks succeeded in reducing them, associated themselves with the Saxons of the sea-coast, became, to some extent, maritime in their habits, and, to some extent, also, the invaders and Germanizers of Britain. That we fail in fixing them exactly in the Channel Islands is not surprising. We find them, however, on each side of them ; in the parts about Bayeux, on the Loire, and in the Isle of Wight. We find special evidence to some island, at least, having been their occupancy ; for one of the notices tells us, that after a battle between the Romans and the Saxons, the latter, having been beaten, their islands were taken and destroyed by the Franks — insulce eorum cum multo populo interempto a Franus captce atque subversce sunt . After this, their great captain, Adovacrius, who had taken hostages from the town of Angers, and had otherwise rendered himself formidable to the Franks, made peace with king Chilperic, and joined in an attack upon the Alans. Soon after this, Christianity softened the manners of these rude pirates, and they became peaceful and quiet subjects. Aspera gens Saxo, vivens quasi more ferino, Te medicante, sacer, bellua reddit ovim. So writes a poetical panegyrist of the time, Venantius Fortunatus, to his bishop of Nantes. That these were Saxons of the Loire, rather than the Seine, Saxons of Anjou and Poitou, rather than of Nor- mandy, and Saxons of south, rather than of north, Brittany is certain ; but it is also certain that they were the Saxons of the Litus Saxonicum, who had extended their piracies southwards ; and it is highly probable that, if they were sufficiently insular in their habits to have established them- * “ The English Language,” by Dr. Latham. Fifth edition : 1861. 278 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. selves in the small islands of the Bay of Biscay, they were not likely to have neglected the more important ones of the Channel, which lay so directly in the passage from their northern settlements to their southern ones. But we may bring them nearer still. That the particu- lar population with which the Saxons may be said to have fraternised, was that of the Goths, is evident from almost all of the scanty notices that have reached us concerning them ; and it is equally clear that they were essentially hostile to the Franks. The Franks, however, conquered both ; though not without a struggle. And when the con- flict was over, the Frank king congratulated himself. Every word of his letter to the Emperor Justinian, in reference to this event, is important. In the first place, he mentions that he has reduced the Visigoths of the northern coast of France : this being the Litus Saxonicum ; whereas the original Gothic kingdom was on the south and east, in Guienne and Languedoc, with Thoulouse and Arles for its capitals. In the second, he mentions the Eutii Saxonici , who, he says, have given themselves up to him of their own accord. Who these Eutii were is a question, concerning which there are extreme views, and much speculation : however, that word for word, Eutii is Jute, no one has either denied or doubted. Thirdly, he adds, that his dominion is extended even to the shores of the ocean. If so, the islands were the probable retreat of some of these Goths of the northern coast, and their near kinsman the Eutii Saxonici, who seem to have been simply the Goths of the Saxon shore, the Goths in alliance with the Saxons of Bayeux, and, doubtless, other cities as well ; the Saxons, who made Sussex and Wessex, on the opposite coast of Britain, Saxon, while the Goths were making Kent and Hampshire Gothic, or, as the later writers call it, Jute.* The first notice of the Northmen is as early as A.D. 515, more than two centuries before any of their recorded in- vasions of England ; yet it is a very definite and authentic * The Saxons, also the mysterious Ot lingtia (?) Saxonica. This is a term of uncertain orthography in one of the capitularies of Charles the Bald. What- ever may have been the exact name, the locality to which it applies is well known. It was a district near BayeUx, the pre-eminent Saxon town. FIRST NOTICES OF THE NORTHMEN. 279 one. The pirates themselves are named Danes ; their king is named Chochilaichus, a word which has been identified with the legendary Hugleikr, and the still more mysterious Havelok. The place upon which they landed was a pagus Chattuariorum, or a district of the . Chattuarii, a district which again suggests a German element, and that an early one. More than this, it suggests a population which was neither Gothic nor Saxon, though more Saxon than aught else ; for, though the name of the Chattuarii is not a com- mon one, the notices of it, though somewhat scanty, are remarkably definite, and we know a good deal about the population which bore it. Its original locality was the frontier of Holland, in the country between the Maes and Niers, and Geizefurt was the chief town of the district. In the fourth century they were both powerful and formid- able, and the Romans, under a commander so active as the emperor Julian, found it difficult to reduce them. Their power, however, was broken, and a great system of coloni- sation was the result. Many thousands of the Chattuarii, along with their neighbours, the Chamavi and Frisians, were transplanted into Gaul, especially in the parts about Amiens, Beauvais, and Langres. Of the settlements thus effected, the best known are those of Franche Compte and Burgundy, and if these were the parts of which we were, now writing the history, the very names and localities of the Chattuarian villages could be given. Unfortunately, the details of the northern and western settlements are far more obscure. That the Chattuarii, however, who were thus attacked by Chochilaichus, were occupants of either Normandy or Picardy, is almost cer- tain ; though the doctrine that it was the Chattuarii of the original district in the Lower Rhine has many authorita- tive supporters. The notice, however, which gives us the name, specially states that Gaul was the country which was attacked, and that the conqueror of Chochilaichus was Theodoric, the king of the Franks. Add to this, that the name Dane occurs as early as the middle of the sixth cen- tury. The panegyrist of the Frank king, Chilperic, wrote of a king whom the Goth, the Gascon, the Dane , the Jute, the Saxon, and the Breton feared— 280 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. Quem Geta, Vasco tremunt, Danas , Euthio, Saxo, Britannus, Cum patre quos acie te domitasse patet. Venantius Fortunatus ad Chilpericum , Regem , 9, 1. The Euthio here is the Euthian of Saxony, of whom notice has already been taken. Of Danes, definitely and specially designated by that name, these are the two earliest notices. They are, doubt- less, short : but they are, at the same time, definite, co- temporary, trustworthy, and above all, at least three hun- dred years before the time of Rollo. When they next appear is in 787, 793, and 794 ; and it is on the coasts of England that they show themselves. They are mentioned in two places as Northmen , or Danes . Their fleet consisted of but three ships. They landed on the Isle of Portland, an important locality, inasmuch as it shows that they had ploughed their way across the Channel as well as the German Ocean, and that the southern as well as the northern and eastern coasts of Britain were known to them. After this there is another pause, — a short one compared with the last, but still a pause. Thirty-eight years later, they come both in greater numbers and more regularly. From A.D. 832 to A.D. 845, there is no year without a Danish invasion. In 851 they winter in the Isle of Thanet. London is attacked. One king, the holy St. Edmund, of East Anglia, is put to death by them ; another, Burgred, of Mercia, discomfited. York is sacked ; so are the great monasteries of Medamsted, or Peterborough, and Crowland. Indeed, the latter half of the ninth century is the great era of the Danish invasions of England. Checked, however, by Alfred, and Athelstan, they fail to reduce the island, until, a century later, the unready Ethelred is succeeded by Canute. Concurrently with the earlier invasions of Eng- land, attacks were made by them upon the coasts of Ger- many and Holland. These, however, were effectively de- fended by Charlemagne ; and all that the Danes are known to have done during the reign of that powerful emperor, was to have effected some settlements on Friesland and the islands between the Zuyder Zee and the Weser. In the reign, however, of his successor, they became as TIIE DANES. 28l formidable on the Continent as in Britain ; and here vve shall do well to attend to the few details which have come to us from trustworthy sources concerning them. They are called Northmen , and this, perhaps, is the commonest name. It is also a name which, if it stood alone, we should be justified in translating Norwegian. But they are also called Danes ; and, very often, they are called Danes or Northmen. That the Norwegian, and even the Icelandic language, was sometimes called the Danish tongue is not to be concealed ; so that the term under notice does not absolutely exclude Norway from a share in these conquests. There are, however, other names which tend to do so. One of these is Marchman ; a term which meant the men between the Elbe and Eyder, or the men of the march or boundary , between Germany and Denmark. Marchman or Norman , is a common expression of the cotemporary writers. Now, though a Marchman might be a German rather than a Dane, he could scarcely be a Norwegian The names or letters which the invaders used (for they were not wholly illiterate), are expressly called the Marco- mannic letters ; and it is the Marcomanni or Marchmen who are specially stated to have sacked Rouen. Thd last name of importance (for the meaning of the term Ascomann , though important elsewhere, need not delay us here) is Nordalbingian ; which meant an occupant of the parts be- yond the Elbe ; much the same as Marchman. It would be difficult to find a series of terms which, supposing the men to whom they applied were Norwegians, point so little towards Norway. Neither do they point, solely and wholly, to Denmark. They point to Holstein and Sleswick, rather than to Jutland and the Isles ; sug- gesting a Saxon as well as Danish element. Indeed, Northman is the older name ; or (at any rate), it is the commoner one in the older records. It is not until we get to the eleventh century that the term Dane preponderates. And for this there is a reason. The name Northman was a name applied by the Franks ; and they applied it to such Germans and Scandinavians, indifferently, as lay beyond their own empire. They applied it at first, to the more distant Saxons and Frisians — to all those northern nations 2&2 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS* who were at one and the same time, hostile, pagan, inde- pendent, and other than Frank. However, as the Frank empire extended, the name receded. It first meant all the tribes beyond the Weser ; then all beyond the Elbe ; then the Danes beyond the Eyder ; finally, the Norwegians. The details of these invasions show us (as far as a nega- tive can be shown) that it was not anywhere and every- where that the Northmen landed. There are four rivers which they are expressly stated to have favoured — the Rhine, the Scheldt, the Seine, and the Loire. On the first, their highest point seems to have been Bonn ; on the second, Dil ; on the third, Orleans ; on the fourth, Tours. Of their invasions elsewhere — in Spain (where they were well beaten by the Moors) ; in Italy ; in Sicily ; and in Greece nothing need here be said. All that lies before us at the present time are the facts that directly, or indirectly, bear on the history of the western half of Normandy and Brittany. Concerning these, we may safely commit ourselves to the statement, that along the whole coast, beyond Bayeux and the Loire, there is no trace of any settlement from Ger- many, from Denmark, or from Norway ; and that between the Seine and the Loire, there is no trace of any from Denmark. Bayeux was German, — i.e., Saxon, as has been already shown : but between the valleys of the Seine and the Loire the traces of the Danes are nil. That the com- paratively impracticable character of the coast, with its single harbour of St. Malo (a fact to which attention was drawn at the beginning of the present volume), has had much to do with this, is almost certain. The fact, however, is more important than the reason for it. Nor is this the only one. It seems as if the Danes had an instinctive aptitude for choosing level and fertile districts like their own, and as if the Norwegians had had enough of rock and hill at home. Another foreign element was introduced by the Leti. In the beginning of the fourth century, when the Emperor Julian was engaged in a war against the Franks and Chamavi of the Lower Rhine, he wrote that he intended to THE LET I. 283 send a number of youths of barbarous (probably German) origin, who had either been taken captive, or had given themselves up, and whom he called Leti. Of these he made colonists, and placed in several parts of Gaul ; not, however, regularly. The greater part was distributed over Belgium, and the Northern provinces. There is special mention, however, that some were placed in Brittany, in the parts about Coutances. And now let us ask what is the conclusion ? What and who were the Channel Islanders previous to the develop- ment of the duchy of Normandy ? The result is a negative one. Yet the chapter that has been devoted to its investi- gation has been a long one to the reader, and not an easy one to the writer. It is submitted, however, that in some cases an apparently undue amount of preliminaries is excusable, even when it leads to nothing positive. If one doctrine is more generally current than another, it is that the Channel Islands are Norman. Reasons have been given for making them, in everything except their political connection (the importance of which is not undervalued) Breton ; so far, at least, as there were anything exclusively. Another doctrine, equally current is, that Normandy was what it was because it was Norse — Norse meaning Northern or Scandinavian, rather than German. Combine this with the previous one, and the Channel Islands were the same. But,’ even as a portion of Normandy, they were not this. Yet in Normandy itself the notion is prevalent, general — perhaps universal. All Norman ethnology runs in this direction ; as any one may see who consults the writings of either high authorities like Depping, or of the second-hand and third-hand text-books. It may fairly be said, that in southern and middle Europe this is the ordinary opinion. That here and there, there is a passing allusion to the Saxons of Bayeux and to the hitherto unexplained Otlingua Saxonica , is true ; and it is also true that Ranke has noticed the non-Norman dynasty of the Robertinians, though with- out a line of explanation or detail ; the Gothic element being wholly overlooked, still more the liklihood of these same Goths being the Jutes of Kent, Hampshire, and the Isle of Wight. Of the minor German elements, and of 284 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. what we may call the early Danes — the Danes of the sixth century — the Danes of Choailaicus — the Danes of Theode- bert’s letter — little, if any notice has been taken. Yet the history of the Continent must be, to a great extent, the history of the Island also. If, after the critics of France, Central Europe, and Den- mark, we touch the country of the proper Scandinavians, where with full competence of learning there is, at least, an equal amount of laudible patriotism, there is more than ever that must run the gauntlet of criticism. Let any one visit Stockholm or Christiana, and deny that Rollo was a Norwegian — even though he may have admitted that he was a Dane. He will not pass an uncriticised opinion ; unless, indeed, it be contemptuously disposed of as un- worthy of refutation or contradiction. Every man to the north of the Baltic believes that William the Conqueror was from Rollo (as, indeed, he was), and that Rollo was the son of the Earl of More. Snorro Sturleson has said it ; and though Snorro Sturleson wrote three centuries after Rollo’s death, who shall contradict him ? Is not a Northman a Norwegian ? If all this be either exaggeration or error, surely it is worth while to analyse the grounds on which it is corrected. This is the excuse of the present writer. He holds that, there or thereabouts, the earliest history of the Channel Islands is as follows : — 1. At first, the occupants were Bretons ; few in 'number, pagans, and probably, poor fishermen. 2. Under the Romans, a slight infusion of either Roman or legionary blood may have taken place — more in Alder- ney than in Jersey, more in Jersey than in Sark. 3. When the Litus Saxonicum was established, there may have been on them lighthouses for the honest sailor, or small piratical holdings for the corsair, as the case might be. There were, however, no emporia or places, either rich, through the arts of peace, or formidable for the mechanism of war. 4. When the Irish Church, under the school of St. Colum- banus, was in its full missionary vigour, Irish missionaries preached the Gospel to the islanders, and among both the GENERAL SUMMARY. 285 missionaries and the islanders there may have been a few Saxons of the Litus. 5. In the sixth century, some portion of that mixture of Saxons, Danes, Chattuarii, Leti, Goths, Bretons, and Roman- ised Gauls, whom the Frank kings drove to the very coasts of the ocean, may have betaken themselves to the islands opposite. Solely and wholly on circumstantial evidence, it is pro- bable that such was the case. On circumstantial evidence, it is probable that at this time they received a notable and heterogeneous increase of their population ; especially is it probable that a portion of the Jutes who settled in the Isle of Wight and Hampshire, became islanders as well as Britons. Under the name Eutliio we find them on the French coast: under the name Jute in Britain. They are accounted for by the Frank king as far as the sea-side. They re-appear in Hampshire. The islands lie between. The time agrees. That this is circumstantial evidence is clear, and it is only as such that it is put forward. That the population was scanty before the time of St. Magloire and St. Helerius, is an inference from the names of those saints being the names of the two chief towns. Hence, the elements of the population of the parts near- est the islands were as follows: — (1) original Keltic; (2) Roman ; (3) Legionary ; (4) Saxon ; (5) Gothic ; (6) Letic; (7) Frank ; (8) ? Vandal : all earlier than the time of Rollo, and most of them German ; to which we may add, as a possible element, the Alans of Brittany. That the soldiers of the Roman garrison were not neces- sarily Roman, is suggested by the word Legionary. Some of them, indeed, are particularly stated to have been foreign. There is, for instance, a special mention of the troop of cavalry from Dalmatia — Equites Dalmatce. The Vandal element is the most doubtful of all ; indeed, the only notice which suggests it is in the Life of St. Hele- rius. Still it is not unlikely. Before that saint died, the well-known Vandal settlement in Spain, of which a memo- rial exists at the present time in the name Andalusia , had been made. On the other hand, the settlers had not been there long enough to lose their original characteristic and 286 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. to have become, like the modern Andalusians, amalgamated with the other inhabitants of the peninsula. It is probable, then, that the murderers of St. Helerius were really what the Life makes them, — Vandals, from the Vandalic, or Andalusian portion of Spain, their original country, as we learn from other quarters, having been Silesia. Whether the Gothic hypothesis be true, is a question recommended to the able lawyers of the islands, and of Normandy. With a clear perception of the points wherein the Norman Code differs from that of France in general, with a distinct perception of its peculiar characteristics, let them take up the Code of the Salian Franks, the Danish Codes, and the Norse Codes, and compare them with that of the Goths. The materials for all the collations exist : and to those who can use them better than a layman pretends to do, they are recommended. Nor are they without an important bearing upon the history of both Normandy and England ; indeed, it is upon these that they bear so decidedly as almost to necessitate the re-writing of some stereotyped chapter in both French and English history. If the Jutes of Kent be Goths of Gaul ; if the Jutes of Hampshire be the same ; if Hengist be a Goth ; if Neustria became Normandy on the strength of Gothic and Saxon rather than of Norse elements, there is surely much to be corrected in most of the ordinary histories. As to Rollo himself, the whole of his biography is uncertain. Whoever allows himself to criticize, not only the Norse accounts in general, but the minute details of the narrative of our earliest Norman authority, Dudo de St. Quentin, at the same time laying due stress upon the notices of these Northern Goths or Jutes, along with the Gothic character of all the names of the dukes of Nor- mandy, can scarcely fail in having doubts as to his having been a Dane at all. Even if he do, the question as to the origin of the names of the Norman dynasty remains untouched : inasmuch as Rollo never took the name of duke. His son did : but his son, though the successor to his influence and ability, was not the successor to his dukedom. Word for word, Rollo, or Rou, is Rudolf, a GENERAL SUMMARY. 287 Gothic, and not a Scandinavian name — not, at least, either an early or a common one. What, then, was the bold and successful chief who bore it? It is hard to say. Apparently, he was a representative of some power- ful Gothic family (perhaps the royal one), who, availing himself of the assistance of the Northern invaders, assimi- lated himself to their manners and identified himself with their nationality. THE SEIGNEURIE LANE, SARK. If the previous speculations are sound, there must have been a near affinity in blood between the Channel Islanders and the men of the Isle of Wight. With both the basis was Keltic ; with both there was a probable infusion of Saxon blood from the Litus Saxonicum ; and with both, which is more interesting, there was, in all pro- bability, a Gothic element as well. At any rate, if we connect the so-called Jutes of Hampshire with the Goths whom Theodebert drove to the sea, we may fairly do the same with the Channel Islanders themselves. CHAPTER XIV. LATER HISTORY, FROM THE NORMAN CONQUEST TO THE BEGINNING OF THE CIVIL WARS. For the reign of the Conqueror and the three which suc- ceeded it, we may say, in a rough way, that the allegiance of the islands alternated ; being English under William the First, Norman under Rufus, English under Henry the First, and Norman again under Stephen. This was because the conflicts between the duchy and the kingdom still went on. The Norman barons who had failed to find large estates in England, who were not prepared to Anglicize themselves, who possibly may have looked upon England as the Eng- lish of Henry the Second’s time looked upon Ireland (i.e., as a rude country and an uncertain possession), held that on the demise of the father the duchy and the kingdom were separate, and that the former went to the eldest son, the chivalrous but impolitic Robert. Upon this they acted, and, until Robert, after the death of Rufus, was defeated by his surviving brother, Henry I., at Tinchebray, it was with the duchy that the islands went. But the field of Tinchebray, followed by the abandonment on the part of Robert of his rights with his captivity and absolute de- pendence on the King of England made them English. Then came the reign of Stephen, with his equivocal title ; a title which held better in Normandy than in England, and made the islands during his reign Norman. They could have been no losers by this ; inasmuch as Stephen’s reign gave us, in England, the maximum of either mis-govern- ment or anarchy. With Henry II., the allegiance reverted to its original John’s reign. 289 course — original, at least, so far as the Battle of Hastings was its origin ; and the sovereign of the islands was, as the successor of William I. and Henry I., King of England and Duke of Normandy besides. He was also Duke of Guienne, or Aquitania ; and this domain, combined with that of Normandy, made him a greater power in France than the French king himself. It also kept up the impor- tance of the Channel Islands, even after the loss of Nor- mandy. Under a king like Richard I., who, out of his eleven years of rule, passed less than as many months in England, little is to be found in even the chronicles of London and York, much less in those of St. Helier’s and St. Peter’s Port. But, with John, an important era begins. The key to John’s prominence in island history lies in the chronic state of hostility which lay between him and Philip Augustus. It lies, too, in the fact of its being in his reign that, over and above the division between England and Normandy, Normandy was divided against itself. There was the Nor- mandy of the Seine and there was the Normandy of the open sea. There was the Normandy of Rouen and the Normandy of St. Peter’s and St. Helier’s. There was the agricultural Normandy and there was the maritime Nor- mandy. There was, to use a classical term of distinction, the Normandy of the Peraea and the Normandy of the islands. There were the relations of the continent to Venice and the relations of Venice to the continent. And the difference was real. In the reign of King John, the history of the two divisions separates itself from that of the oppo- site coast of Italy. Continental Normandy was reduced by Philip Augustus. Insular Normandy was retained by John. The former took the first step in the way towards becoming French ; the latter, the first towards becoming English. Whatever John did in the way of evil, he, at least (unless we choose to say that the islands held him), held the islands for England. No one can have attended to the tendencies of the modern school of what is called history — too often the narrative of events which never happened — without having U 290 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. a certain conviction that, before many years are over, some eloquent expositor of some hitherto unknown records will do for John what has been done for Henry VIII. and others, — i.e., will (to use a coarse expression) whitezvash him. There will be an error of fame ; and the barons who won Magna Charta will be the villains of the transaction. John will (after Henry) be the greatest king who has ruled over England ; and the facts of his having given a Lord Mayor to London and constitutions to Guernsey and Jersey will make him the founder of the municipal liberties of Great Britain. Such a history will, doubtless, be written ; and it ought to be written in the islands. To insular Nor- mandy the Constitutions of John are simply what the Magna Charta is in England ; save and except that, instead of being extorted from the sovereign, they were given by him. Of these insular Magna Chartas, however, there are no original deeds. To what there is, there is no seal. Like Melchisedec, it has neither father nor mother. There is a copy of the Jersey charter, which seems to have come of itself ; a copy which delivers a series of clauses of a mis- cellaneous character. It has many elements of suspicion against it as an original document, and it is by native writers that they have been pointed out. Though the Constitutions of King John may be embodied in only secondary records, they represent something ; just like the apocryphal laws of Edward the Confessor in England. His reign, too, is an epoch. It represents the division between the two Normandies. We may separate, then, the- history of the document from the history of the islands and the history of the con- stitution : remembering that, whatever else happened, there happened in the reign of John the division of Normandy against itself. One of the unequivocal facts connected with this period is the absolute cessation of the Judges-in-Eyre of Normandy visiting the island for the administration of the laws of the duchy. The old practice was for two knights, resident in the island, to administer ordinary justice, but, at stated periods, to be assisted, superseded, or overruled by two visitant judges from Normandy. The function of these latter was now superseded by that of resident jurats. ECCLESIASTICAL ARRANGEMENTS. 29I What else belongs to the constitution of John will be noticed in the sequel. Still, the link that bound the islands to Normandy was not wholly severed even during the reign of John. One strong bond of union still remained ; so strong, that it was the end of the sixteenth century before it wholly dis- appeared. This was the connection between the islands and the diocese of Coutances. The clergy seem to have been pre-eminently continental in respect to their politics and feelings, and the canon of Blancheland was one of the first who suffered for being so. He went over to the enemy, and his tithes and revenues were seized and applied to general purposes (especially the defence of the island) ; with the exception of a fraction, which was reserved as an endowment for the dean. Edward III. appropriated the temporal right of the priory of Mont St. Michel, and presented William de Caillard to the curacy of our Lady of St. Mary of the Castle, from which the Bishop of Coutances himself ejected him, and inducted John Viquet, a Norman. The king, upon this, ejected the Norman : nor was he the first of his name who had done the like. A similar act had been done in Jersey by his grandfather. If the king failed to fill up a vacancy within six months, the bishop appointed ; but this was, in practice, only under sufferance. When a Robert Lyset was nominated to the rectory of St. Peter’s, the bishop refused to induct him on the plea that the presentation on the part of the king was made after it had lapsed. Upon this the king sent a peremptory order commanding him to either induct his nominee or forfeit his temporalities within the islands. In one, and perhaps more than one, instance the pope himself appointed. The real authority of the bishop was exercised by a surrogate, who united the functions of dean, archdeacon, and chancellor. The priors formed another disaffected body of ecclesiastics. How much property belonging to the religious establishments of the island lay in Normandy is unknown. It is only certain that a great deal of the property in the island was appropriated to religious estab- lishments in Normandy. This carried with it the residence U 2 292 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. in the islands of a large body of aliens. Disaffected throughout, they were finally banished by Henry V., on the plea of their being little better than spies and traitors. It was by degrees, then, rather than by any sudden snap that the bond ecclesiastic was unloosed. Under Henry III., the islands are mentioned in con- junction with Gascony, a portion of the Aquitanian dominion, the dowry of Henry II., still held by England. Under Edward I., there is a notice of disturbances ; and, under his successor, of confusion and anarchy. During the reign of Edward III., the Channel Islands suffered greatly, being subjected to the continuous attacks and ravages of the French. In 1338 the French fleet, under Admiral Bahuchet, attacked both Jersey and Guern- sey. Castle Cornet was captured ; but the invaders were less successful as regards Mont Orgueil, which was bravely defended by the Jerseymen, who received great assistance from the sister island. The rest of the island fell into the hands of the French. In 1343 a naval battle was fought off Guernsey. England, at this time, had three formidable enemies, all powerful on the ocean, and two of them, even in naval skill and enterprise, her equals or her rivals. The chronic state of warfare between Edward and the King of France, Philip, gives us France ; but France was in close alliance with Spain, and commanded not only the use of the Spanish fleet, but the services of the best naval captain of the day, Don Luis de la Cerda, equally well-known as Don Luis de Espana. Bold, enterprising, and skilful, he was equally unscrupulous, sanguinary, and rapacious ; indeed, in naval wars of this period he is by far the most conspicuous personage. The third navy combined against us was that of the Genoese, who sometimes under the name of reprisals, sometimes as pure and simple pirates, and sometimes as allies of France, set at nought all that the prudence, the spirit, the courage, or the resources of Edward could move against them. In one of his expostulations, he fairly charges them with having, in a time of peace, invaded the soil of England. When the war, then, concerning the succession to the ATTACK BY THE SPANIARDS. 293 dukedom of Brittany broke out, they were ready to swell the naval forces of France and Spain in support of the claims of Charles of Blois, nephew to the King of France, who claimed, in right of his mother, against John, Earl of Montfort, who had offered to hold the dukedom of Edward as King of France, provided he would assist him in his claims. The treaty was kept secret for a time, but for a time only. Montfort was taken prisoner ; his countess, one of the virago heroines of the time, was besieged in Hcnnebon, but relieved by the English ; so that, after a time, the war was transferred from the land to the sea, and Robert of Artois, Earl of Richmond, was opposed to the formidable Don Luis. With a fleet of forty-six vessels of moderate burden, the earl left Southampton with succours for Brittany. His object was known, and Don Luis, with thirty-two ships, one thousand men-at-arms, and three thousand Genoese, was ordered to intercept him. He waited off Guernsey to do so. The English were delayed by contrary winds, but, on approaching the island, they recognised the enemy in their “ Spanish carricks, high-built, and greater than any one of the English.” The numbers, however, were in their favour. The trumpets were sounded, the banners raised, the ships set in order, the anchors planted on the deck. In three of the largest Spanish ships were the three admirals, Carlo Grimaldi, Odoardo Doria, and Don Luis himself. By the archers and by the gunners, on each side, the main part of the work had now to be done. Each com- pany had the national weapon — the English the long, the Genoese, the cross, bow. When the combat became closer, the ordinary fighting-men bore themselves bravely ; but, more notably than either man-at-arms or archer, the Countess of Montfort herself. She “ was,” writes Froissart, “ well worth a man, for she had the heart of a man, and she had in her hand a rusty, but sharp, sword, wherewith she fought fiercely. The enemy, from their high ships, threw down great bars of iron, and other weapons prepared for such service, and thus they greatly annoyed the English archers. This was a great engagement, which could not but have ended with great loss on both sides, if it had 294 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. been carried to a close. But the god of battles ordered it otherwise, for the fight having begun about evening, night came upon them so dark and dismal, that they were all forced, as it were, by concert, to give over, for they could discern nothing to any purpose.” So they prepared to lay by for the night. But a storm arose, “ as though all the world should have ended, the elements contending with as great animosity as lately the two fleets had joined. There was none so hardy but he would gladly have been on land, the ships dashing so together, that they deemed all would be riven to pieces.” The English then made for the coast of France, and landed near Vannes. The Spaniards stood out to sea. The next invasion of Guernsey is that of Ivan, Ivan de Galles, or Wales — Evans a Welshman, as he would be called in the English of the present time. All that is known about him is from the following extract from Froissart, which tells us — Evan of Wales was the son of a Prince of Wales, whom King Edward, for some reason I am ignorant of, had put to death, and seized his territories and principality, which he had given to his son, the Prince of Wales. Evan went to France, to lay his complaints before King Charles, of the injuries he had suffered from the King of England, by the death of his father and the seizure of his inheritance. The King of France had retained him in his service, and much advanced him, by giving him the command of a large body of men at arms. In this summer he sent him to sea with four thousand fighting men, with whom he acquitted himself much to his honour, as you shall now hear. When he took command of these men at arms, and vessels which the King of France had equipped and provided for him, he embarked in the port of Harfleur, and set full sail for England, making the island of Guernsey, which lies opposite to Normandy. Edmund Ross, squire of honour to the King ot England, was then governor of that island. On hearing of the arrival of the French under the command of Evan, he was much angered, and advanced out to meet him. He issued his summons throughout the island, which is not large and collected, as well of his own men as of the islanders, about eight hundred, with whom he gave battle. It was sharp and long; but the English at last were defeated, leaving upwards of four hundred dead on the field. Edmund was forced to fly, otherwise he must have been slain or taken. He escaped with great difficulty, and saved himself in an handsome castle, called Cornet, situated two leagues from where the battle had been fought, and which he had beforehand provided with every- thing necessary for such a fortress. After this defeat, Evan, having collected his army, and hearing that Edmund had retreated into Cornet Castle, advanced thither, and invested it closely, giving frequent assaults ; but the castle was strong and well provided with artillery, so that the French could not gain it. JERSEY HELD BY THE FRENCH. 295 It. was during the time of this siege the unfortunate defeat and capture of the Earl of Pembroke and Sir Guiscard cP Angle happened before la Rochelle, which has been just related. The King of France, when he heard of the success of the Spaniards, was ex- ceedingly rejoiced, and paid more attention than ever to the affairs of Poitou ; for he thought, perhaps rightly enough, that, if the English should have a few more such defeats, the cities and principal towns would soon surrender to him. He therefore determined, with the advice of his council, to send the constable and all his men at arms into Poitou, Saintonage, and the Rochellois, in order to carry on the war more briskly by sea and land, whilst the English party should be without a leader, for the whole country was wavering in its allegi- ance. He therefore sent messengers to Evan of Wales, who was lying before Cornet Castle, as he was perfectly acquainted with the state of it, and knew it to be impregnable, ordering him instantly to break up the siege, to put to sea in a vessel equipped for him, and to make sail for Spain, to prevail on King Henry to grant him boats and galleys, with his admirals at arms, to blockade Rochelle. Evan, on receiving the messengers with the king’s orders, promptly obeyed them, as was right, broke up the siege and disbanded the men, lending them vessels to carry them to Harfleur. He himself immediately embarked on board a large ship, and made sail for .Spain. Thus was the siege of Cornet Castle raised. Two years after (1374) the descent on Guernsey just related, the French attacked Mont Orgueil Castle, but the islanders made a gallant defence, and, on the arrival of an English fleet, the besiegers were forced to retire. It is commonly asserted that the famous Constable of France, Bertrand du Guesclin, commanded the French in person on this occasion ; but this rests on very slender evidence. Froissard does not mention a word about it. In 1404 Don Pedro Nino, Comte de Buelna, with the assistance of some Breton lords, made an expedition against Jersey, where he landed, if we are to believe the curious account written by his standard-bearer, with a body of a thousand men. A battle ensued, the scene of which would appear to be the sands of St. Aubin’s Bay. The fight was stubborn, though with no very decisive result, and the Jersey men had to pay 10,000 crowns to get rid of their unwelcome visitors. In Henry V.’s reign there was — as is well known — a great French war. Under his successor there was a greater and (to England) a more disastrous one. In both of these the islands were harassed. In the last, the French, under Pierre de Breze, Comte de Maulevrier stormed and easily captured Mont Orgueil, it is generally 296 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. believed through the treachery of the governor, Naufan. For six years, from 1460 to 1466, one half of the island remained under the rule of Maulevrier, the remaining part being held by Sir Philip de Carteret, the Seigneur of St. Ouen. Maulevrier, who held the office of Grand Senechal of Normandy, promulgated a valuable constitu- tion for the island, and, on the whole, it would appear that his rule was just and beneficial. In the early part of the year 1467, however, Sir Richard Harliston, Vice-Admiral of England, appeared before Mont Orgueil, which, after a siege of six months, was reduced. The French garrison was allowed to embark for Normandy with all the honours of war. Harliston was made “ Captain-General ” of the islands. The exact details of the minute history of the impor- tant privilege of neutrality, as granted to the Channel Islands, are obscure. But, in proportion as they are minute, they are unimportant. Besides this, they are so much earlier than even the earliest beginning of the com- mercial prosperity of either Jersey or Guernsey, that the careful investigation of them would be little more than a matter of literary curiosity. This singular privilege may be said to date from the reign of Edward IV., when that monarch applied to Pope Sixtus IV. for a Bull confirming this right. Accordingly on March 1st, 1482-83, a Bull was issued, in which his Holiness anathematizes and excommunicates anyone who shall molest, grieve, or disturb the islanders. In i486 it was published in France, receiving the royal signature at Senlis on August 2nd of that year. Francis, Duke of Brittany, also ordered it to be published in his own duchy, where it was acted upon fairly, though strictly. A Guernsey barque had been taken by a privateer. The islanders were released ; but the English were declared a lawful prize. In some instances, however, the privilege was violated. The very year of its promulgation the Vice- Admiral of France seized and detained a Guernsey barque, which was only released upon the interference of the French king. In the main from the reign of Edward IV. to that of William III., when this privilege was abolished, THE REFORMATION. 297 the Channel Islands were free from foreign aggressions, especially on the part of France, and most especially from the Breton portion of it. Beyond some internal disputes in Henry VI II.’s reign, between the Governor of Jersey and the bailiff, Sir Philip de Carteret, and an abortive attack on Jersey by the French under Du Bruel, in 1551, there is little to be re- corded, until the Reformation. The bishop was still the Bishop of Coutances. The religious establishments, though naturally weakened and impoverished by Henry V., still had something which could be confiscated ; and the procedure by which the monasteries were abolished in England was extended to the island. Under Edward VI., the English liturgy, translated into French, was intro- duced, and the mass abolished. Under Mary there was more than the usual amount of revolting and inhuman martyrdom ; and there were other persecutions in which the Roman Catholics were the victims, even less justifiable under Elizabeth. This, however, is merely the history of England in general. In 1566, the Bishop of Coutances acted for the last time as the Metropolitan of the islands. He pressed certain pecuniary claims, and the dean was ordered to answer them. The bishop ignored the dean ; and the dean said that if the bishop would renounce the pope and swear allegiance to the queen, he should be acknowledged. The bishop never got his money ; and, two years afterwards, the islands were finally separated from Coutances, and were attached to the see of Winchester. This was not an absolute innovation. For a short time, during John’s reign, they had been transferred to Exeter, and for a short time, under Henry VI., to Salisbury. This latter transfer had the sanction of Pope Alexander VI. Indeed, it was a political rather than an ecclesiastical alteration : Salisbury being as Papal as Coutances ; Coutances no more Roman- ist than Salisbury. The transfer, however, of 1 568 was not only from Normandy to Elngland, but from the region of Catholicism to the region of Protestantism. The times, however, required elders rather than bishops ; for, whatever may have been the subsequent character of 298 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. the insular churches, their initiation into Protestantism was largely Presbyterian. And this is what we expects priori . So far as France was Protestant it was Calvinist ; and, as long as Protestantism was persecuted, Guernsey and Jersey were the retreats of numerous successive refugees, who had no difficulty in propagating their tenets among a people of the same blood and language as themselves ; and this they did so effectually that, before the accession of James I., the bailiff, the governor,, and the dean, and most of the other notables, had either joined in constituting a consistory, or encouraged its establishment. Nor had the queen set herself against it. On the contrary, she had expressly allowed it for the towns of St. Helier’s and St. Peter’s Port. But it spread beyond these precincts ; and complaints were preferred by the regular clergy that the falling-off of their revenues was fast reducing them to poverty and starvation. Meanwhile, the elders and deacons appointed by the rest of the community were joined by the jurats, and not discouraged by the queen. Her successor was less inclined to let matters take their course; and with the accession of James I. begins a notable divergence between the history of the two chief islands, a divergence of which definite and decided traces are still to be found. The key to it lies in the patent difference between Anglicism, in church matters, and Pres- byterianism. Of Romanism, there was little left ; but, of a predilection for those portions of Romanism which were compatible with the doctrines of the Church of England, and of a repugnance to them simply because they were Romanist, there was, at the death of Queen Elizabeth, as there is at the present moment, more than enough. Nor is it easy to account for them a prioi'i. Heylin’s view of the matter, which leads us but a little way towards the solution, suggests that accident had a good deal to do with it. The king, with his strong Episcopal views, was enough of a North Briton to know that Anglicism was not easily forced upon a population which was unwilling to receive it ; and that, if it were to be forced at all, the process must be carried on covertly. He meant, then, to deal with one island at once, — Taking each in its turn. For some reason ECCLESIASTICAL CANONS. 2 99 or other that of Jersey came first. Hence it is chiefly in its ecclesiastical aspects that the reign of James I. is im- portant. On his accession, he was greeted by both islands with a loyal and congratulatory address, not unaccompanied with a memorial in favour of a confirmation of their privileges. These were duly set forth, examined, and ratified. The royal court was empowered to levy dues on both foreign merchandize and home products for the maintenance of the necessary public works ; and when complaints (in Guernsey at least) had arisen concerning the powers of the governor, Sir Thomas Leighton, and a limitation was demanded, it was ordered that he was not to overstep the boundaries of the constitution. Upon his either pressing, or appearing to press, his prerogative, Sir Robert Gardiner and Dr. James Hussey were appointed commissioners with power to settle disputes between the authorities and the inhabitants, both in Guernsey and in Jersey. The same names, however, will re-appear in the ecclesiastical contests, of which a short notice may now be given. The Dean of Jersey, Dr. Bandinel, along with other clergymen of the island, drew up a body of canons agreeable to the discipline of the Church of England, and submitted them to the king. They were approved in England, but objected to in the island, especially by the Carterets, who were then not only the leading men in Jersey, but Jersey- men of a Presbyterian turn of mind. These objections were referred by the king to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, who succeeded in modifying them in such a manner as to bring about a compromise. On the 30th of June, 1623, they were con- firmed and accepted, — accepted in Jersey, but not in Guernsey. Nor did the Guernsey men change their mind on the matter, notwithstanding both pressure on the part of the king, and persuasion on the part of some of their fellow islanders. The details of this change in Jersey are given by Heylin. The curate of St. John’s parish died, and the colloquy appointed to the vacant benefice. Their nominee was the learned and courageous Brevint. 300 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. However, under James I., the bias in Jersey was for the king, in Guernsey for their own opinions ; and this dualism between the chief islands, which existed in the matter of Episcopacy and Presbyterianism, existed in their political bearing during the wars between Charles and the Parlia- ment. Jersey was for the king ; Guernsey for the protec- tor. There was, of course, a loyal minority on the one, and a republican minority on the other hand. The preponderat- ing feeling, however, on each side was decided. The war declared by Charles I. against France, in which the descent of the Duke of Buckingham on the Isle of Rhe was followed by a discreditable repulse, was the harbinger to the Channel Islands of the most important events of their history. The civil war was only in prospect, and had yet to break out ; but the Earl of Danby was governor of Guernsey, and it was the Earl of Danby, as a royalist, whom the parliament, after the war had broken out, superseded by the Earl of Warwick, as a constitutional governor. In 1628, however, it is for protection against the French that the Earl of Danby applies ; and it is only partially and incompletely that his request is attended to. Troubles threaten, money is scarce, the sea is stormy, and it is in the month of December, A.D. 1628, that the squadron is due. It is not got together. The Assurance , of forty-two guns, two pinnaces, a ketch, and a merchantman, transport four companies, of which two are landed in Jersey, two in Guernsey. Peace, however, was made early in the follow- ing year, and the danger that threatened the islands from the side of France blew over. Nevertheless, the voyage of Danby was an important one. A vates sacer accompanied him, — Heylin. Heylin’s stay in the islands was but short, not exceeding a month. Hence it is not for any minute details, or for information otherwise unattainable, that his work* (with the exception, of course, of the narrative of the special business which brought him over) is referred to. It is little more than a book of travels, founded on an excursion in France ; the first, or nearly the first, of a long, but not It was published in 1656. PERSECUTION UNDER MARY. 301 honoured, line of successors. As this, it is curious ; curious for showing how things foreign to England struck an observant, learned, and acute Englishman. The density of the island population excited his wonder ; though, in putting the sum total of the inhabitants of Guernsey at 20,000, he has, doubtless, fallen into an ex- aggeration. But, though thick, the population was poor ; and both the poverty and the populousness he attributes to the law of inheritance (the gavelkind of the islands, as he calls it), with its minute division and sub-division of the land. He finds the belief in witches and the vulgar forms of sorcery prevalent ; and, as he could not but have seen something of the same kind in England, we must suppose that it was excessively so. He admires the patriotism and the English nationality of the people ; along with the utter absence of any French sympathies. Though French in language, they are Eng- lish in everything else ; under a libera custodia and “ not in any way acquainted with taxes.” In the privileges that cut them off from this acquaintance, and in the devoted Protestantism of their creed, he saw the chief elements of their English feeling. To all this he speaks as a personal observer. As a retailer of anecdotes he is less unexceptionable. The worst of the stories concerning the martyrs to Protestantism under the reign of Mary is due to Heylin ; and for this he went by hearsay. The account to which this remark more specially refers is so horrible and revolting that we are both bound and willing to take every legitimate exception to the evidence on which it rests in the hope of finding it inaccurate. One of the martyrs was a Perrotine Massey, whose husband was a minister. Whilst bound to the stake and burning, she gave birth to a child ; “ a goodly boy, which was presently snatched up by W. House, one of the bystanders. Upon the noise of this strange incident, the cruel bailiff returned command that the poor infant must be cast again into the flames, which was accordingly performed ; and so that pretty babe was born a martyr, and added to the number of the inno- cents.” Duncan, as everyone would be willing to invali- 302 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. date this shocking statement, appends to his extract from Heylin some remarks by William Le Marchant, and by F. B. Tupper, both independent critics. The former are chiefly in excuse of the bailiff, under the plea that he was only acting under the orders of the spiritual court. The latter denies the fact, stating that, on the evidence of Parsons, Perrotine Massey was a prostitute * who had con- cealed her pregnancy, but who was, nevertheless, delivered of the child before she went to the stake. It is clear that the likelihood or unlikelihood of this rests on the value of Parsons as a witness. Now, every known detail of his life is against his credi- bility. He was not only a Jesuit, but an apostate ; not only an apostate, but an apostate because he had been detected in dishonesty. He was, moreover, an acknow- ledged advocate, and a very unscrupulous one. The act which he wishes to get rid of was sufficiently odious to re- quire either defence or denial ; and to the defence of it, with such a man, the rule qui s' excuse s' accuse must apply. As he wrote before Heylin, we must cite his defence as evidence to the original charge having been made ; a cir- cumstance which Heylin most likely knew. Heylin, then, as to the fact, is scarcely an authority at all. Nor is Parsons a sufficient authority for the denial of it. Both were decided partizans : the one ready to either suppress or invent anything which would tell against his new creed ; the other, willing to hear and record of any- thing against Queen Mary ;*(■ so much so, that the part of his book which bears upon her persecutions is little more than a rhetorical exercise. It begins in prose ; but con- cludes in an outburst of very indifferent poetry : “ Si natura neget facit indignatio versum.” Hearsay evidence, too, must have entered largely in the opinions he forms as to the relative merits of the Guernsey- men and the Jerseymen ; to the former of which he gives * However this may be, there exists no doubt that this woman suffered for heresy, as appears by the original sentences still extant in the rolls of the Guernsey Royal Court. t This martyrdom is referred to in Tennyson’s Queen Mary , Act V. sc. iv. CONDITION OF THE ISLANDS. 303 the preference ; a preference, however, which rests more on their good fortune than their merits. They were more commercial, and, as such, wealthier and more conversant with foreign countries, more sociable and more generous. The Jerseymen, on the other hand, were poorer, and more exclusively addicted to the tillage of the soil ; whence came a melancholy surliness, a destitution of humanity, and swarms of beggars, of which there were none in Guernsey. Whatever may be the difference of disposition at the present time, the influences, whether good or bad, of commerce and contact with the world at large are all on the side of Jersey. CHAPTER XV. LATER HISTORY CONTINUED. — PERIOD OF THE CIVIL WAR. DURING the earlier years of the reign of Charles I., and at the beginning of the Civil War, there was no great dif- ference between the political feeling of the Jersey men and Guernseymen. As events, however, went on, a great change took place, ending in the development of an antagonism which, happily, ended at the Restoration in a common feel- ing of loyalty. The two islands took different sides, Jersey being loyalist, Guernsey republican — each remaining, how- ever, thoroughly and inflexibly Protestant. This must be understood in a general sense, for in Jersey there were two powerful factions, arising from local dis- sensions. In Guernsey the Presbyterian discipline had obtained a strong hold on the inhabitants, which led them to espouse the side of the English Parliamentary party. Early in the reign of Charles I. Sir Philip de Carteret, the friend of Prynne, succeeded the patriot, John Herault, to the office of bailiff of Jersey. Not long afterwards he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor to Sir Thomas Jermyn, and farmer of the royal revenues. De Carteret’s influence was inordinately great ; a pluralist himself, many of his kinsmen found places in the government of the island. From what is known of his character, although a man of ability and integrity, he was overbearing in manners and arbitrary in the execution of the laws, and soon became exceedingly unpopular. At this time David Bandinel was Dean of Jersey. An Italian by birth, he had been be- friended by de Carteret, but owing to a dispute with refer- THE CIVIL WARS. 305 ence to the dean’s tithes, a bitter animosity grew up between the two, which was fostered by subsequent events, and which resulted in Bandinel joining the malcontents, at the head of whom were the triumvirate, Michael Lempriere, Henry Dumaresq, and Abraham Herault. These drew up a series of serious charges against Sir Philip, which were laid before the Parliament ; and had it not been for the timely interposition of Prynne, he ran a great chance of losing his head. When the civil war broke out de Carteret openly de- clared for the King, and was in a decided majority. Taking up his residence in Elizabeth Castle, he strengthened its fortifications, took great trouble to train the militia, and in the commencement of the year 1643 called a meeting of the States, at which he presented the patent naming him lieutenant-governor of the island and its castles. The in- habitants were called upon to take the oath of allegiance, but the majority of the people were indifferent, and the proceedings only tended to widen the breach between the factions. The injudicious zeal of de Carteret plunged the islanders into a quarrel in which they had no interest what- ever, from which they had nothing to gain, and perhaps all to lose. Affairs had now assumed a serious aspect. The Parliament nominated the Earl of Stamford governor of the island, and issued a commission to Michael Lempriere and his friends for the apprehension of de Carteret, upon which the king sent the latter the following commission of array : — “Charles Rex, — “Well-beloved and trusty Counsellors, “The great distractions and calamities that this our kingdom of England at present suffereth by the falsity, disloyalty of certain factious and ambitious spirits, which by themselves, and some of the ministry whom they have gained to themselves, do disperse lies against our person, council, and government, which makes us most sensible to provide in like manner in all parts of our do- minions, hearing how those malicious spirits who have drawn those calamities upon this kingdom, begin to be hearkened unto in our Island of Jersey; and that upon a supposed false report the present governor, our dear and well-beloved coun- sellor, vSir Thomas Jermyn, is put out of his charge of governor, and the Earl of Stamford assigned unto it, many of our subjectsbegin to withdraw their subjection and obedience from him and from his deputy, the which be our lieutenant and re- presents us; which information has moved us to direct our letters jointly, as well unto you, our governor, your deputy, as also to the lieutenant-bailly and jurats of that our island ; that as we have always had in singular care, we shall have 306 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. to preserve the ancient government of the Church among them, with their liberties, persons, and estates, without any innovation or alteration whatsoever, according to the laws and customs of the said isle, by which they may enjoy the blessing of a long peace, the which they have enjoyed under us and our predecessors. But in case that any particular person, for we have of late had too much experience of the like spirits, do reject either in his own person or attempt to withdraw others to disobedience against our just command, and the authority of our Governor and of his deputy, we command you, our governor, your deputy, lieutenant-bailly, and jurats, to apprehend and put inclose prison such malefactors, and to proceed against them with all expedition and security according to the laws ; and upon any insurrection and disloyalty, we require you, our governor and your deputy, to subjugate such persons by martial power who shall raise against our authority by any disloyal attempt. And we expect that you our governor, and you our magistrates, shall have such care, and shall give one the other such assistance that the peace and loyalty of our island be maintained ; of which we have had, and shall always have, a very great care, knowing how much it imports unto you and to us that, by factions, advan- tage be not given to the designs of strangers.” “ Given at our Court, the 18th of our reign.” Upon receiving this document Sir Philip caused the States to be convened (March, 1643), and presented in person the royal mandate. Lempriere, amidst a scene of the greatest confusion, produced a copy of the warrant for the lieutenant-governor’s apprehension. Both Lempriere and the Earl of Stamford were denounced as traitors by de Carteret. Meanwhile news was brought that detach- ments of disaffected militia had assembled and were advancing towards the Court House. Thereupon Sir Philip raised the sitting of the States, and with the pro- tection of his body-guard fled to Elizabeth Castle. From thence he sent appeal upon appeal to his adver- saries to arrive at some compromise, but in vain. Recon- ciliation became impossible. Batteries were raised on the Town Hill, whilst the guns of the Castle played on the town. In August, Sir Philip, whose health was being gradually affected by the hardships of the siege, fell seriously ill, and died on the 23rd of that month. It was only a few hours before he expired that his aged mother and his wife were granted access to the castle by the Parlia- mentary Commissioners to bid him a final farewell, and the ministrations of a clergyman were even denied him. The body was embalmed, and interred some months afterwards in the parish church of St. Ouen. To come to Guernsey, Sir Peter Osborne was governor ; SIR PETER OSBORNE. 307 but in Guernsey the feeling beyond the walls of the Castle was republican. The chief details of the effective and successful opposition of the island are connected with the names of De Beauvoir, Carey, and De Havilland. On the 2nd February, 1643, the day of what may be called the Guernsey Rebellion, Captain (afterwards Sir George) Car- teret, a nephew of Sir Philip, was in Castle Cornet with the credit of having arrived from England with arms and am- munition to be employed against the islands, and of having the intention to proceed to France for the purpose of levy- ing more. The meeting before which this information was laid was held at the house of Sir John Fautrart, the lieutenant-bailiff, with Peter de Beauvoir and Thomas Carey, jurats, in attendance. To the presence of George Carteret in the island one of the constables gave evidence. The whole movement seems to have been eminently formal and legal. Upon the constable’s deposition the above- named jurats and P'autrart applied to the bailiff, John de Qu-etteville, for advice ; who merely replied that if he were ordered to arrest Captain Carteret he would do so. The two jurats then sent the sheriff to Sir P. Osborne to demand his guest, to which application no answer was vouchsafed. Further prevarication followed, until, by the 22nd of March, 1643, the Committee of Lords and Com- mons, appointed to watch over the safety of the kingdom, had invested the provisional government of the island in the hands of thirteen gentlemen, of whom De Beauvoir was president. Inter alia , they received instructions “ to seize, the person of Sir Peter Osborne, and to send him under a safe escort to the Parliament to answer such offences, contempts, and other misdemeanours as shall be objected against him.” Osborne, however, defied them, and threatened to turn his cannon on the town. Then the Commissioners wrote to the Parliament. Then Charles wrote to the Earl of Danby as if he had been actually governor. He was to promise the islanders that — “ In that island, that, as we ever have had most especial care to preserve the Protestant profession of the Christian religion with your ancient govern- ment among you, your liberties, persons, and properties, as settled by the laws and customs of your island, so shall we ever preserve them from all innovations X 2 3°8 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. or alterations whatsoever, whereby you may enjoy the blessings of tranquillity under us, as heretofore under our predecessors. But in case you find any particular person (for we have had of late too much experience of those spirits), who shall cast off this, our just command and authority, you, the bailiff and jurats, are to apprehend and closely imprison such offenders, and proceed against them with, expedition and severity, according to the laws ; and upon any insurrection or other act of disloyalty, we require you, our governor and deputy, by your martial power, to subdue such persons as shall rise against our authority by any traitorous attempt ; and we expect that both you, our governors, and you, our magistrates, will take such care, and give such mutual assistance to each other, as may preserve your peace and the loyalty of the island, which we have always and so much desired, knowing how much it imports that no advantage be given to the designs of foreigners by faction. Of this we expect you will give us a speedy account, and for so doing, these, our letters, shall be to you, or anyone of you, a sufficient warrant.”* The promise herein conveyed was put at what it was worth by the Guernseymen. Meanwhile, the parliamentary lieutenant-governor was Major Robert Russell, under the Earl of Warwick. The Parliament, however, did but little. When the spirit of the islanders waxed weak, it stimulated and upbraided them. Yet Osborne not only held out, but held as hostages three of the popular leaders. The follow- ing letter, on this point, tells part of its own story : — To the Earl of Warwick, “ My Lord, — Our calamitous state (we having no hope of defence but under the wings of your protection) compels us to advise you that Castle Cornet has, within these last days, received supplies from France and England, a large shallop having come from France, and two ships from England, one of them commanded by Captain Bowden, who has revolted against the Parliament. Captain Bowden arrived here from Dartmouth on Saturday last, the 22nd of this month, and anchored to the south of the castle, when he sent his beat on shore with letters addressed to the lieutenant-governor (Russell), and to the commissioners appointed by the Parliament, requesting them to come on board his vessel to consult with him on matters of great importance, he feigning to be ill. Upon this invitation Peter de Beauvoir, James de Havilland, and Peter Carey, three of the said commissioners, went on board, when they were immediately seized and treated as prisoners. The other vessel went to Jersey on the same errand ; but our lieutenant-general sent timely notice to that island. This circumstance induces us, with the consent of Robert Russell, Esq., your lieutenant, to write to your lordship and inform you that this poor and feeble state has, at present, more need than ever of your aid and support ; and we- most humbly pray you, with all possible diligence, to send us some vessels, and all necessary ammunition, in such quantities as your prudence may think proper, to protect us against the invasion of our enemies.- — Signed, James Guille, Peter de Beauvoir, Michael de Saumarez, John Bonamy, Thomas Carey, John Carey.” * Dated from Oxford, 9th of December, 1643. THE GUERNSEY COMMISSIONERS. 309 The remainder is given in the details of the seizure of the three commissioners which, in a letter like the one before us, receives merely a short and cursory notice, and which even in a history of the islands taken generally can only claim a few lines of narrative. In a personal biography, it would expand into an account of no small interest It is that of a foul capture, and a bold escape. The man who took them was an adventurer, to say the least. His name was Bowden. He left Guernsey with a Parliamentary commission ; was talked-over by Prince Maurice, whom, unless he meant to be talked-over, he had no occasion to meet. He appa- rently violated the spirit, if not the letter, of his instructions in doing so. However, he returned to Guernsey ; kept up his show of Parliamentary authority ; inveigled them aboard his ship ; took them to the governor. He was probably honestly surprised in finding that the governor, like a cautious man, instead of allowing him to take them across to Dartmouth, insisted on their being left with him. There was bad water in the castle, few vacant rooms, and no great amount of fresh meat. To this we must attribute some real suffering on the side of the prisoners. Yet they were not separated, and wine and beer are specially mentioned as part of their allowances. Still they suffered ; yet were emboldened rather than depressed. Any man who escapes from a prison must have energy, physical courage, and perseverance. To Peter Carey, Peter de Beauvoir, and James de Havilland, full credit must be given for these high qualities. That they would have been hanged had they remained one half hour longer adds to the romance ; but the evidence of this lies only in what some good authority, who had means of knowing, told someone else, who had no interest in deceiving. These hairbreadth risks are common in most escapes, though not always real. Beyond doubt, however, the prisoners under notice had a hard time and made a bold and successful attempt. They had been moved from a lower room, in which there was some cotton, to one above it. They cut through the floor down into the cotton vault, got the cotton, made ropes, let themselves down, were fired on, got off, and resumed their authority. 3io THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. Such were the three “ said commissioners/ 5 three men ot courage and endurance ; and with this notice of their personal adventures we leave Guernsey, with its royalist governor and parliamentarian population, for the sister island. Three days (August 26, 1643) after Sir Philip de Carteret’s death in Elizabeth Castle, Major Leonard Lydcott arrived in Jersey to assume the government of the island as lieutenant to the Earl of Warwick, now appointed parliamentary governor of the Channel Islands. Lydcott had allowed himself to be persuaded that the real feeling of the island was Parliamentarian, and that nothing was wanted but a leader. He soon, however, found out his mistake. Elizabeth Castle held out, and the dowager Lady de Carteret and her son gallantly maintained Mont Orgueil. Michael Lempriere had succeeded in obtaining from the Parliament the grant of the office of bailiff, and both he and Lydcott lost no time in calling a meeting of the States, at which they took the necessary oaths of office. Bandinel, the Dean, and Pierre d 5 Assigny, the Rector of St. Helier, made vigorous attempts to stir up the enthusiasm of the populace, and themselves superintended the work of throwing up ramparts and mounting the guns on the Town Hill for the bombardment of Elizabeth Castle. An incessant cannonade was maintained, resulting in much damage to the town. Mont Orgueil was invested by land, but the besieged received constant supplies from the neigh- bouring coast of France, and add to this that Lydcott’s officers one by one deserted him, it was soon deemed prudent to abandon the siege. At this critical juncture Captain George Carteret,* the Royalist lieutenant-governor of Jersey, who had been biding his time at St. Malo, set sail from that port and appeared before Mont Orgueil Castle (Nov. 19). Lydcott, Lempriere and most of the Parliamentarians at once fled, sailing for England, where the latter, in conjunction with * George Carteret was a nephew of Sir Philip de Carteret. He wrote his name without “ de.” At the Restoration he was appointed Vice-Chamberlain of the Royal Household and a Privy Councillor. His grandson was Lord Carteret of Hawnes. SIR GEORGE CARTERET. 31 1 Dumaresq and Herault, wrote the “ Pseudo Mastix, the Lyar’s Whipp,” in answer to Prynne’s “ Lyar Confounded.” Carteret, by adopting decisive measures, in a few days reduced the island to tranquillity. Calling a meeting of the States in the parish church of Trinity, he laid before that assembly the commission appointing him lieutenant- governor, as well as his patent as bailiff of Jersey. Amidst the firing of feux-de-joie and the booming of the artillery he took the usual oaths of office (Nov. 24). Master of the situation, Carteret proceeded with marked severity against the leading parliamentarians. In a great many cases heavy fines were inflicted, whilst in others their property was sequestrated. Bandinel and his son James were both imprisoned in Mont Orgueil, where they lingered for fourteen months, until, weary of confine- ment, they devised a plan of escape by means of a rope formed of their bed-linen from an aperture made in the wall of their cell. The story of their attempted escape is a pathetic one. The prisoners chose a dark and gloomy winter’s night for their daring attempt. The son first essayed, but the rope was too short, and he fell on the rocks below, seriously injured. The dean, ignorant of what had happened to his son, followed. The rope snapped, and he was hurled with tremendous force below. The son suc- ceeded in creeping to the spot where his father lay in- sensible, and, covering him with a cloak, left him on the greensward, where he was found the next morning by the castle sentinel. Though alive, he was still unconscious, and died the same day. James managed to conceal himself in the house of some friends, but was soon discovered by the governor, who had him taken back to prison. His injuries were, however, too severe to admit of his recovering, and his death was probably hastened by his being summoned, whilst still in an almost delirious condition, to undergo his trial on a charge of high treason. Carteret’s government of the island was despotic to a degree, though it is right to allow for circumstances. He was determined to brook no opposition, and found the States entirely subservient to his will, whilst the people obeyed from the fear of incurring his displeasure. No 312 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. sooner had order been restored than he caused forced loans to be raised for the relief of Castle Cornet, which was being gallantly defended by Sir Peter Osborne. The inhabitants were too well acquainted with the vindictiveness of the governor’s nature to dare to refuse what was demanded. They were never repaid. It has been customary to speak of Carteret as one whose loyalty and honesty were beyond question. That he was endowed with great abilities, which caused him to rise to the prominent position he held during these troublous times, is true ; but there is more than suffi- cient evidence to show that he did not scruple to use his high position as a means of self-aggrandisement and the enrichment of his family. Towards the end of the year 1644 he was appointed by the king “ Vice-Admiral, Com- missary and Deputy in the islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Sark and Alderney, and the maritime ports adjacent.” Under this commission he fitted out many privateers, and the Jersey men — or the “Jersey pyrates ” as they were called — beca.me the terror of the surrounding seas. Carteret, indeed, did not seek to conceal the fact that he had accu- mulated considerable wealth by the success of his privateer- ing, and even boasted at the Restoration that he was richer than the king. At the time he was boldly accused of robbing his sovereign of ,£300,000. Marvel calls him “ Carteret the rich,” at the same time sneering at his education, which, it would appear, was somewhat defective. His friend Pepys was indeed much shocked at his being ignorant of the meaning of the device S.P.Q.R. ; “ which ignorance is not to be borne of a privy counsellor, methinks, what a schoolboy would be whipped for not knowing.”* In 1645 the Prince of Wales, afterwards Charles II., joined the army in the West ; retiring till he feached the Scilly Isles, whither he might sail for Jersey in case of need. That necessity soon arrived. It was on Friday, the 17th of April, 1646, that the frigate which bore the Prince, the Black Eagle> commanded by Captain Baldwin Wake, cast anchor before Elizabeth Castle, quietly and silently, as became a vessel with an * Diary, under date July 4, 1663. Pepys makes many allusions to Sir George in his Diary. THE PRINCE OF WALES IN JERSEY. 313 inauspicious freight. The Prince was on board. No salute was fired ; no flag hung out. The royal ensign fluttered at the bowsprit of the royal vessel, and that was all. Yet the loyalty of the island, though silent, was steady and sincere. It was no sign of prosperity at headquarters that Charles came to Jersey; and it was as a refugee, or, at least, as a Prince under stress of threatening circumstances, that he was received. A few hours after came the Dogger- bank, of six, and a smaller vessel of four guns ; the former with the chief officers, the latter with the subordinate servants of the household. They had been favoured by the wind ; and, except three small vessels from Guernsey by which they were overlooked, they saw nothing on the voyage to disturb them. Guernsey, however, was the quarter from which danger was more especially appre- hended ; and it was against the news of the Prince’s where- abouts reaching Guernsey that the first steps, after his landing, were taken. On the very night it took place warrants were sent to the constables of every parish, en- joining an embargo on every harbour and creek, every spot on the coast from which a boat might escape with the tidings. They oozed out, nevertheless, and that in a form which commanded the attention of the parliamentary governor of Guernsey. He wrote to the Earl of Warwick that the Prince had arrived in Jersey with six hundred men, and that this might be considered as a design against Guernsey. The number here given is about double the true one. Three hundred individuals, there or thereabouts, constituted the cortege of the Prince. This (as we have seen) increased (nominally) to six hundred on its way to Guernsey, and by the time it had reached Paris, to three thousand. Among the chief names of the Prince’s court are those of the Earls of Berkshire and Brandford ; of the Lords Capel, Wentworth, and Hopton ; of his Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Edward Hyde; Sir John Greville, Mr. T. Chiffinch (brother of the famous procurer William), laymen ; and Drs. Creighton, Earles, Clay, and Byam, clergymen. The number, however, soon swoll ; amongst the later arrivals that of Sir John Macklin being the most important. He was the first man whom the Prince 314 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. knighted ; his service being that, as master of a merchant vessel of eight hundred tons, he had made a present of her to the royalists. She had twenty-eight pieces of ordnance and above ,£30,000 in goods. It was at Elizabeth Castle that the Prince landed, and he found no reason to leave it during the whole of the stay in the island ; though, on the day after the arrival, Mont Orgueil was inspected by Lord Hopton with the special object of determining whether it was a fit and secure resi- dence. The retinue was disposed of differently. The ex- tent to which the several members of it can be said to have been quartered or billeted on the islanders was as follows: — Lodging was required for them gratis; and the right of pre- emption was allowed to the Prince’s purveyor. This means that the butchers and farmers were ordered to be present in the market-place at nine o'clock in the morning of the market-day, but that they were not to sell to anyone, except the royal purveyor and the principal courtiers, until twelve. Add to this the fixation of a maximum tariff, — i.e. y for the best mutton, three sous per pound ; for lamb, three sous six deniers ; for veal, two sous three deniers ; for beef, two sous six deniers ; for pullets, eight sous the couple. Then came Sunday, of which the islanders made a holi- day, with meetings and bonfires. Monday gave the following proclamation : — “ De la Cour de son Altesse Roy ale le Prince de Galles. “ Ce dix-neuvieme jour d’Avril, 1646, son Altesse le prince de Galles, etant a present en cette Isle de Jersey, fait savoir aux habitants d’icelle que s’il y a aucunes per- sonnes a lui appartenantes, ou dependantes de sa Cour, qui par injure ou mepris, ou autre voie que ce soit, fassent aucuns exces a aucun des habitants, qu’ils aient a en rendre leurs plaintes et declarations au Chevalier George de Car- teret, Lieutenant-Governeur pour sa Majeste en cette dite Isle, desquels delinquants son Altesse veut et entend en faire justice exemplaire selon l’exigeance du fait. “ De part le Prince et son Conseil. ‘ Richard Lanshawe.” BEHAVIOUR OF CHARLES. 315 Nor was such an act uncalled for. During the late troubles, when many were seriously disaffected, and many more suspected, much moveable property of value, especially the jewels of the ladies, had been declared forfeit to the Crown. That everything thus confiscated should be re- stored to its lawful owners was now declared ; and, by declaring it, Charles won golden opinions throughout the island, more especially with the female portion of it. The week, in general, was given to levees and receptions, Friday, the 24th, being the great day. On this Sir George Carteret was made both knight and baronet. At this ceremony also the captain of the Prince’s frigate, Baldwin Wake, was knighted preparatory to his departure to re- lieve Sir Peter Osborne as governor of Castle Cornet. On the 26th, being Sunday, the Prince, for the first time, left Elizabeth Castle, and set foot on the main island, in order to attend divine service at St. Helier’s. Then, for the first time, he showed himself to the islanders at large, by whom he was enthusiastically welcomed. He was, at all times, as we may readily believe, sufficiently accessible ; dining in public, or rather allowing himself to be seen at dinner, of which he made stately and ceremonious meal, served by his set officers of the household like full-blown monarchs at a genuine court. Meanwhile graver matters claimed the attention of his council, in which there were intrigues and divisions of all sorts, Lord Digby being the chief machinator. He had landed from Ireland with a company of three hundred Irish, distrusted by the islanders as foreigners, and not loved as Roman Catholics. The mission of their captain seems to have been to play the game of the Queen mother, who strained every nerve to induce her son to quit Jersey for France. To this Hyde was resolutely opposed ; and a letter, dated May 20, gives us the reason of his opposition. In this he points out to Lord Jermyn the mischief which he expects will fall “ on the king, queen, and prince, and consequently the crown and the cause, if this repair into France should be so speedy as is pressed, or before he be really compelled by some attempts of the rebels (and then it is not his own act), or such pregnant advantages be pre- 316 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. sented to him, for his so doing, as may weigh down lesser considerations.” He further says: “Sure no honest man in his wits can think fit that the prince should bury himself in this obscure island from action. I wish action were as ready for him as he is for it ; but the question is only, whether it is more honourable to be without action in this island or in France. Let me speak a word now to you,” he continues, “ of the fruit and inconvenience of his resi- dence here. He is within the king’s own dominions, and in his own power, free from the least imputation or blemish that malice itself can suggest against him ; and so in a much more honourable condition than he can be in the court of any foreign prince ; and as he is assured of the affections, addresses, and assistance from England, so I con- ceive him more capable of the compassion and supplies of other princes and allies whilst he is here than in France ; and I am not able to tell myself why he might not more reasonably expect aid even from France, when he is here, than when he is at Paris . . .The island itself is not to be attempted without a very great force, and, being lost, the prince’s remove into France is most easy and most safe. And of this we have as great assurances as can be given, — the unanimous consent of all persons upon the place who understand things of that nature.” Again — “ Oh ! Mr. Secretary, I have not been well used since you and I parted, and truly I may, with modesty enough, say I have deserved to be more trusted than I have been ; by the grace of God, nothing shall discourage me from doing my duty! We have been with strange importunity pressed, from the hour we came hither to come into France, my Lord Culpeper being converted in that point, contrary to what was formerly his opinion. But all the rest are resolved not to consent to it, but in case of danger; and then all men will sooner go thither than suffer the prince to be taken by the rebels, which we apprehend so little that we conceive we can defend the island from any force the Parliament can bring against it ; and when that is lost, here are two castles impregnable, from whence we can go into France, though the whole navy be about us. My lords Capel and Cub CHARLES DETAINED AT JERSEY. 317 peper are gone with the queen, to persuade her majesty to rest satisfied till we may send to the king and receive his pleasure. After his majesty is sufficiently informed of all particulars, and the strength and constitution of this island, if anything be positively imposed upon us before that be done, you will hear that I have retired myself into a chamber in one of these castles, and study under Sir George Carteret, who truly is a very worthy person. For I will not be hurried by any command whatsoever into an action that I think will prove so pernicious to the king, queen, prince, and realm, as this unnecessary going of the prince into France in my judgment would do, except better reasons be given for it than I yet understand. We are all glad to hear of the king’s safe arrival with the Scots, and of his honourable reception there.” However, the Prince was decided upon going, and Hyde’s narrative continues : — “Tuesday morning, about six of the clock, we went again to the castle, and found the Prince ready and the wind fair ; but the little vessel in which he was to go was not come out of the road, by reason the seamen would not stir, declaring themselves that they would not carry the Prince into France. Whereupon the Prince desired Sir Geo. Cartwright to go himself thither, who quickly took order that the vessel came into the road. But by that time the wind was changed, so that the journey was respited till the next morning, being Wednesday; his highness com- manding all persons to be aboard by four of the clock the next morning. That night the wind was so high that no man durst put to sea, yet the impatience of the Prince was so great that towards evening he would have put to sea for St. Maloes, or for any other part of France, but was by the seamen dissuaded, there being a very slender wind, and that full against him, and the Channel reported to be full of Parliament ships and shallops, so that the journey was again put off till Thursday* morning, when some boats, in which the servants and attendants were, put to sea, his highness himself going aboard his frigate. But the wind was so full against him, that the boats having been a league * June 25, 1646. 3 1 8 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. at sea were driven back, and so the Prince came again on shore, where he stayed till the afternoon. About five of the clock, the wind continuing still contrary, he resolved to try his fortune, and suddenly put all his company aboard, and himself went into his shalley, resolving to row over ; but, within half an hour after he was at sea the wind came fair, and blew a pretty gale, so that he went into the bigger vessel, and by eleven of the clock at night reached the French shore, and lay at anchor till daybreak, and then he landed with all his retinue. “ From Tuesday morning that he first intended to go, he stayed with great impatience, and would never suffer any of his attendants or train to go out of the castle, lest they might be absent in that article of time when the wind should serve, which he resolved to lay hold of. So that nobody went to bed from that time till they came into France, and eat only such meat as my Lady Cartwright could suddenly provide. The lords Capell and Hopton and the Chan- cellor of the Exchequer went once a day from the town to kiss his hands, after they had first taken their leave of him, and stayed very little time, there growing every day a visible strangeness between them and the rest, insomuch that they had little speech together, and the last day none; the other lords sitting upon the bowling-green with the Prince, who quickly left them, and they returned.” Hyde and the dissentient lords, Capel and Hopton, there- fore remained in Jersey, which now became the rendezvous of the Royalist party. Pendennis surrendered in July, after a gallant defence, and many of its defenders found their way to Jersey, where they could enjoy the society of their companions in exile. Henry, Lord Jermyn had, in 1645, succeeded his father as Governor of Jersey. His relations with Carteret were somewhat strained, though the latter was not displaced in his lieutenant-governorship. Jermyn, to say the least, was careless of the island’s welfare, and was chiefly concerned in the collection of the revenues appertaining to his office. There is strong evidence to show that this unscrupulous man colluded with Cardinal Mazarin to deliver up the island to the French, for which he was to receive a con- CASTLE CORNET. 319 siderable sum of money, coupled with a French peerage. On October 19, 1646, Sir Peter Osborne received informa- tion of this scheme from his son at Rouen. By a curious coincidence, three days previously, Dr. Janson, a creature of Jermyn’s, arrived in Jersey from the Prince’s Court at Saint Germain’s. The exact purport of his visit is un- known, but certain it is that Hyde, the lords Capel and Hopton, and Carteret solemnly entered into articles of association for the defence of the island, and on the 26th of the same month Lord Capel left for Paris, whence he was to inform Carteret of any intelligence he might glean. Though Jermyn indignantly denied being a party to any such design, yet, from the contents of the articles, it is only too apparent that grave fears for the safety of the island were entertained. It is also noteworthy that Jer- myn’s dislike for Carteret in no way diminished, for we find Sir George, on June 9, 1651, under the pseudonym of “Milton,” writing to Sir Edward Nicholas in these terms* : — “ You have heard of Lord Jermins coming to this place (Jersey). Now I shall give you an account of his Lordshipps proceedinge in that journey. He came hether in hope to find a generale discontent of the people against me, and so by that means to take the opportunity to reward my service by turning me out of all ; and his cheif informer Josue Carteret, whome he had enter- tained at Paris for many weeks together, was sent hither a fortnight before to prepare all things against his Lordships coming. My good lord being arrived here, with Sir John Barkley and fower or five other gentlemen and all his servants with no lesse than twoe cookes, he begon to keepe house, having brought his plate and all things fittinge for that purpose. All my officers are often invited and exceedinge much courted, when I was out of sight, and money given to some of them in great prevacy.” Jermyn’s aversion to Carteret may well be accounted for . by the latter’s opposition to his scheme for the delivering, or bartering, of the island to the French. The garrison of Castle Cornet still held out heroically for the king, after almost every stronghold in the kingdom had surrendered. Baldwin Wake was, however, ill-suited to endure the fearful privations of a protracted siege ; his complaints were numerous, and he accused Carteret of deserting him. The parliamentary governor of Guernsey * The “ Nicholas Papers,” published by the Camden Society, 1886, Vol. i. , p. 258. 320 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. was Colonel Robert Russel. This officer so misbehaved himself that a commission was sent over to enquire into the charges brought against him, with the result that he was replaced by Colonel Alban Coxe. By November, 1647, the Royalist hopes were irretrievably lost ; the king was a prisoner, and Jersey was one of the few places whither the young Prince Charles might with safety retire. In Holland, he would have been under the watchful eye of the Prince of Orange; in France there is more than sufficient evidence to show that Mazarin was capable of intriguing with the Parliament. From that date until the execution of the king nothing worthy of remark happened in Jersey. As i soon as news of the death of the king arrived Carteret caused the young Prince Charles to be proclaimed king as : Charles II. (Feb. 17, 1649). The following is a translation from the French of the proclamation which was read by the Viscount or High Sheriff at the Market-cross : — “Whereas the rebels have, by an horrible crime, laid violent hands on the per- son of King Charles I. of glorious memory, by whose death the sovereign crowns of the kingdoms of England, wScotland, France and Ireland, fully and lawfully belong, by right of succession to His Highness the most high and puissant Prince Charles : We, the lieutenant-governor and badly, and jurats of the island of Jersey, attended by the Crown officers and the principal inhabitants of the said island, all with one heart and voice, do hereby declare and proclaim that his Highness the most high and puissant Prince Charles, is now, by the death of our aforesaid sovereign of glorious memory, become by right of legitimate succession and hereditary descent, our only true and lawful sovereign Lord, Charles II., by the grace of God, king of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith etc., to whom we acknowledge to owe all obedience, allegiance, honour, and service ; and we pray God, through whom kings reign, to establish and confirm King Charles II. in the enjoyment of all his just rights and spare him to reign long and happily over us. So be it. Long live King Charles the Second ! J ’ Charles is said to have smiled on reading this document. In July Carteret visited the Court at St. Germain, when it was decided that the young king should take up his resi- dence for the time being in Jersey. Sir George at once returned to the island to make the necessary preparations for his sovereign’s reception. In the early part of Sep- tember Charles, accompanied by his brother, the Duke of York, then only sixteen years of age, left St. Germain, and on the 17th embarked at Cotainville for Jersey, where he arrived the same evening. The royal squadron entered the CHARLES’ SECOND VISIT. 3 21 roadstead late in the afternoon, and, amidst a salute from the Castle guns and the enthusiastic acclamations of the islanders who flocked to the shore, Charles, escorted by the lieutenant-governor and his staff, landed at Elizabeth Castle. In the evening bonfires were lighted on all the heights of St. Aubin’s Bay, the church bells in all the parishes rang out a merry peal, whilst other joyous de- monstrations indicated the islanders’ satisfaction at being honoured by the presence of their Sovereign. The royal train was numerous, consisting of nearly three hundred persons, including the Lord Keeper of the King’s Seal (Lane), the Earls of Cleveland and Brentford, Lords Went- worth and Hopton, Sir John Berkeley, Lord Percy, Sir Edward Nicholas (Secretary of State), and many other royalists of note. Charles narrowly escaped falling into the hands of the Parliament, for news of his intended voyage had reached London, and the mofning after his arrival in Jersey several frigates appeared before Elizabeth Castle, flying the Parlia- mentary flag, but, after the exchange of a few shots and cruising for some days round the coast, they took their departure. The Sunday following his arrival, the king and his court crossed over from the Castle by water to attend divine service in St. Helier’s Church, on which occasion Dr. Byam, the chaplain of Elizabeth Castle, officiated. During his stay in the island Charles spent a very pleasant time. Carteret managed the affairs of State, whilst the young prince-king and his brother gave them- selves up to all kinds of amusement, such as yachting and hunting. In his rambles about the country Charles made himself very popular with the islanders by his great affability and easiness of approach. He was, however, in sore need of money, and Sir George therefore convened the States, who voted a special tax, to be immediately levied, and the amount presented “ in all humility to His Majesty.” The people, it appears, cheerfully subscribed, and the money was partly devoted to the relief of Castle Cornet, at that time in a deplorable condition. At a meeting of the Council, held at Elizabeth Castle, on October 23rd, Charles signed the well-known declaration Y 322 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. asserting his rights to the Crown of England, and pledging himself to avenge the death of his father. Lord Percy was at the same time appointed Governor of Castle Cornet in the stead of Sir Peter Osborne, and Baldwin Wake, who had allowed the defences of this fortress to fall into neglect, was dismissed, to be replaced by Colonel Roger Burgess, who was thereupon knighted. Towards the end of December Lord Liberton, Commissioner of the Scotch Parliament, arrived in Jersey, to submit to the king pro- posals whereby the Parliament consented to proclaim him King of Scotland, provided he would sign the Covenant and agree to certain other conditions. After a lengthy deliberation, it was resolved that Charles would treat with the Scots at Breda, and, in consequence, early in January (1650), it was decided the king would shortly return to Holland. On January 18th the illustrious Duke of Buckingham and suite arrived from Normandy in order to accompany his Majesty on his voyage, and on February 13th Charles embarked from Elizabeth Castle on board a frigate which was anchored in the roadstead. The Duke of York remained in Jersey until the following September. The last three months of the year 1651 are the im- portant times for the histories of both Guernsey and Jersey. Then it was that events moved rapidly, and that changes were not only sudden but great. The Battle of Worcester was fought in the beginning of September, and, by the end of December, the last remnants of the royal party were reduced. Out of these three months, six weeks and two days are, on the strength of the current report and belief, given to the siege of Elizabeth Castle, the only fortress, besides Castle Cornet, which held out with any notable obstinacy. On the same day that Charles II., having made good his escape from the field of Worcester, set foot on the soil of France, did the forces of the Parliament, under General Haynes, land in Jersey. Admiral Blake commanded the fleet. The first division of the fleet anchored in St. Ouen’s Bay, favoured by wind and weather, not always on other occasions propitious. Concurrently with the news of their anchorage a report diffused itself to the effect that the king ATTACK BY THE PARLIAMENTARY FLEET. 323 • had been made a prisoner ; so that the energy and influence of Sir G. Carteret were taxed to the utmost. He succeeded, however, in sustaining both the courage and the loyalty of his partizans. After four hours’ combat between the crews of the Parlia- mentary ships and the garrison and militiamen of the island, the whole fleet drew off to St. Brelade’s Bay, where it was watched by the main body of the land forces. Meanwhile, it sent back a squadron to St. Ouen’s and others towards St. Aubin’s Bay, St. Clement’s and Grouville, as if with the intention of landing in several places at once. If all this, as appears to have been the case, were done with the special object of harassing the enemy by repeated diversions, the object of the invaders was fully effected ; for the evidence to the distress and fatigue of the troops, more especially the local ones, is express. The commissariat, if so it may be called, was wholly insufficient. In respect to the train bands, “ though generally good firemen, never having been used to be from home, did an enemy attempt us, and hover round the island, as for some days they might in fair weather and summer time, the people would be at a great loss for necessaries to subsist, and experience how to dispose of themselves. Upon which account, notwith- standing all the care of Sir George Carteret at the invasion of the usurper’s forces in 1651, most of the train bands for- sook him on the night of St. Ouen’s Bay, before the enemy landed.” There can be little doubt but that a great portion of the islanders was not averse to the success of the Parlia- ment. Not only had they become weary of protracted hostilities, of the tyrannical rule of Sir George Carteret, and of the constant devastation of their property by the soldiery, but on religious grounds they favoured a change of govern- ment. They longed for the re-establishment of Presby- terianism, which form of worship had taken deep root in Jersey. This night of St. Ouen’s Bay was the one now under notice, “ the fatal night,” as Falle, in his extreme loyalty, calls it, “ which proved extraordinarily dark, and under favour of which the enemies landed a battalion, which, as Y 2 3 2 4 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. soon as discovered, was, with great bravery and resolution, charged by the governor and the horse he had with him. The charge was bloody and desperate, many of the enemies being killed and wounded ; but others poured on so fast that the infantry, dispersed along the coast for refreshment, had not time to come in and sustain the horse, which cer- tainly did wonders by the confession of the enemies them- selves, who have often said that they could not have stood such another charge.” Opposition, however, ceased ; and the forces were landed ; and, before many days were over, St. Aubin’s Fort yielded at almost the first summons. As little resistance was offered by Mont Orgueil. The Parlia- mentarians landed on the 23rd, and the capitulation was signed on the 27th. The real, and, indeed, the only resist- ance was in Elizabeth Castle. It was at first cannonaded from St. Helier’s Hill. The garrison consisted of three hundred and forty men, with provisions for eight months. The chief persons of the island had betaken themselves thither; and the news of the king’s escape and safe landing in France had reached the governor. The spirits of every one in the Castle were raised ; and the cannonade from St. Helier’s Hill was doing but little mischief. More, how- ever, was destined to be done by one of two huge mortars, which threw a shell upon the site of the old church of the Abbey of St. Helier (now a part of the Castle), and then the floor of a magazine. The bomb broke through into vaults, and a terrible explosion of twelve barrels of gun- powder was the result. Forty soldiers of the garrison were killed, along with several armourers and workmen. Communication with the king in France seems, for some reason or other, to have been practicable during the six weeks of the siege. When Carteret first heard of his escape, he sent a message of congratulation, and now after the blowing- up of the magazine, he sent another. Charles’s answer was fair, honest and considerate. His solicitations at the court of Fouis XIV. had “been in vain, and would still be so, though repeated never so often, such a conjunction there was of counsels and interests between Cromwell and the prime minister, Cardinal Mazarin. He could not deceive him with a promise of succour, which he was in no condi- CAPITULATION OF CASTLE CORNET. 325 tion himself to give, nor could obtain from others ; that he relied on his known ability and experience to do what to him should seem most proper ; yet advised him rather to accept of a reasonable composition whilst it might be had than, by too obstinate a defence, bring so many loyal gentle- men, with himself, into danger of being made prisoners of war.” Whatever may have been the feeling of Guernsey to- wards the cause of the king, and however much certain details in the conduct of Sir Peter Osborne may be open to grave exceptions, the evidence of even his enemies speaks favourably to his courage and capacity in the defence of Castle Cornet. Nor was it denied by Cromwell himself, who, either from inclination or policy, granted favourable terms to the royalist commanders in each island. The same day (December 15th) saw the capitulation of Castle Cornet and the evacuation of Elizabeth Castle ; and the terms of the surrender were, in either case, honourable to all parties. The eighth clause in the article of capitulation for Jersey runs thus : — “That Sir George Carteret, with all his military and naval officers, either in active service or invalids, together with the private soldiers and gentlemen leaving the above-named castle, shall march out, with their horses and arms of all sorts, to some convenient place within the island, colours flying, drums beating, and all the honours of war, and shall there surrender them to those whom General Haynes may appoint for that purpose, with the exception of swords for the privates, and of horses, swords, and cuirasses, and pistols for the officers, and that, in general, all the above-mentioned shall keep their accoutre- ments of all sorts, with their papers and account books, without being plun- dered or searched for what they may carry with them.” Mutatis mutandis , or with the name of Sir Roger Burgess instead of that of Sir Peter Osborne, the second clause in the Guernsey article runs to the same effect. Full indem- nity and pardon were granted to all concerned in the defence, from the commanding officer to the lowest private ; and in each article is a special clause to the effect — “ That if it should happen that any officer or private comprized in these articles should violate them in whole or in part, such violation shall not be imputed to his party, but only to the person guilty.” The sufferings, however, and privations in each island had been great ; and from Guernsey, where the decided 326 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. support of the Parliament had established a claim for some favour and indulgence, we have an elaborate address to the Protector, which gives us a good account of the condition of the island. The land was subject to both tithe and champart, — the latter being a payment of every twelfth sheaf of corn : a portion of which was paid to the State and a portion to individuals. The State’s claim amounted to ninety-one pounds ; the claims of individuals to one hundred and seventy livres, ten sous tournois. The inhabi- tants amounted to eight thousand, of which nineteen- twentieths are described as having no substance at all ; some two or three as having two hundred pounds per an- num ; and less than ten as being worth one hundred pounds per annum . Two-thirds of the land was out of cultivation ; partly on account of the poverty of the islanders, partly on account of the heavy dues, of which the above- mentioned tithe and champart, though the chief, were not the only ones. “ Since the year 1642, a mass of evils, like a flood, have overflowed the island, and all that was left good in the condition thereof. The inhabitants, for declaring themselves in favour of the parliament, and remaining faithful to it, have lost their ships, their traffic, and their trading ; their harbour and port have been closed and shut up by the rebellion and revolt of Sir Peter Osborne, in the castle called Cornet. The inhabitants, during the heat and danger of v/ar, were in continual fears, services, and watchings, commonly twice a week, sometimes thrice; they had frequent alarms from Jersey, from Castle Cornet, from Normandy, from Brittany, and from the king’s ships ; they were always in arms, as in a garrison, a frontier place remote from England ; they con- structed fortifications and several other works for their defence, and were at their own charges for reducing and keeping Sark* They have paid for the maintenance of frigates to prevent relief being given to the castle, for beds, candles, fire for the soldiers, and divers other disbursements amounting to above thirty thousand pounds. But what grieved the island most, being an evil undeserved, was the filling it with soldiers, though for seven years before, by the mercy of God, and the faithful endeavours of some active inhabitants, they had preserved themselves and the island in obedience to parliament ; and when the king was put to death, and his party and interests were brought low in England, there was no reason to fear for the inhabitants, who were then kept under like slaves, affronted, threatened, beaten ; their orchards were robbed, their trees cut down, and their sheep stolen. The parliament pro- mised that the soldiers should be no charge to the inhabitants, yet they took no notice that the island was almost undone and could not bear the burden. In England, soldiers pay for their bedding, fire, and candle, or else are quartered at inns and alehouses ; but the soldier^ extorted this entertainment from us In this particular the island has paid, in five years, above seven thousand two hundred pounds. “ The humble desire thereupon is, that there may be some charitable find CONDITION OF GUERNSEY. 327 just relief, since the inhabitants are members of the commonwealth, as well as others in the great parts thereof. That the unreasonable payment of the aforesaid thirteenth be no longer paid, but remitted. That camparts, like- wise (at least those belonging to the state, amounting to about ninety-one pounds sterling per annum) be remitted and abolished. It is a small thing for the state to grant, and is of great consequence to the welfare of the island, in reference to breaking up and ploughing the land. The state will be no losers thereby, for when the people are encouraged, they will be enabled to defend the island by their own means, having provisions within themselves. And, if this exaction, nowhere practised but in Guernsey, be remitted and abolished, tithes will increase, as more land will be brought into culture when this dis- couragement ceases. This is the burden of which they at all times complained to Queen Elizabeth, and to the last two kings and to parliament, and of which they have been promised redress by the council of their several majesties. And this promise was one of the strongest inducements to continue them firm in their duty under their incomparable evils during the civil war ; to wit, that the campart should be abolished.” Then follows a notice of the remedial measures enacted by Parliament in 1643, when the management of the insular affairs was committed to twelve men of the island itself ; and then a protestation of their long-tried and ever-recognised loyalty to the English Crown. A slight suspicion of self-laudation now suggests itself to the English reader ; and the old, old story, which may be read in the very latest local histories of what Guernsey did for Jersey, and how she relieved her sister in distress, protrudes itself: “The strong castle of Mont Orgueil, in Jersey, was taken by the French. Guernseymen recovered it. The island of Sark was twice lost. Guernsey- men recovered it.” Castle Cornet is then considered not only as expensive, but as useless. Against the French it is an insufficient protection ; and against the loyal islanders it will never be needed ; nor could it do much good if it were. Con- sidering what happened during its occupation by the loyalist governors, it was not likely to find much favour in the eyes of the republicans. Immediately after the capitulation of Elizabeth Castle Michael Lempriere returned from his exile and resumed his office of Bailiff of Jersey under the Parliament, whilst Colonel Robert Gibbons was appointed governor. There was a semblance of peace ; and we find the Jerseymen sub- scribing to a petition asserting “ their fidelity to the 328 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. Parliament of England, with praise to God for his justice, and for giving success to the Parliament’s forces, and beat- ing out the tyrant Carteret.” This was not destined to last long. Cromwell appointed a commission in 1655 “to com- pound with the delinquents,” whom, however, he wished to be leniently dealt with. In no case was more than two years’ income to be exacted, and the poor were to be en- tirely exempted. This spirit of moderation was completely disregarded by Gibbons and his lieutenant, Captain Richard Yeardley, who subjected the unhappy islanders to an arbitrary military rule, against which complaints were made to the Parliament, but with little success. In justice to Michael Lempriere it should be recorded that he acted during his tenure of office with wisdom and patriotism, and zealously endeavoured to secure for his native island the goodwill of the Parliament. The civil power was, however, ridden over roughshod by the Governor and his partisans. No wonder that the Jersey- men hailed with delight the restoration of Charles to the throne. The Guernseymen seemed to have fared somewhat better during the protectorate. To Richard Cromwell the following address was sent : — “ To his most serene highness, Richard, lord protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and of the dominions which belong to it ; the humble petition of the bailiff, justices, town council, and others, well-afifectioned inhabitants of the island of Guernsey. “ In all humility representing that, having deeply shared the general con- sternation all well-affectioned persons experienced on the death of his late most renowned highness, they have also participated in the great exultation which possesses the hearts of all those who profess piety, and see your highness act in your government for God and his people. And as your humble petitioners hold nothing more precious than their fidelity to your highness, so they con- sider nothing so certain as the grace and bounty of your highness, which has emboldened them to prostrate themselves in all humility before your highness, most humbly supplicating that you will be pleased to confirm their privileges, franchises and immunities which they enjoy by virtue of ancient charters ; and considering that the population of this island has so much increased that more than six thousand persons earn their living by making worsted stockings and other articles in wool, and that one thousand todds of wool are the least quantity necessary to keep them at work, which quantity being equally divided among the number of persons mentioned, only gives four pounds and a-half to each individual in a year ; we humbly pray your highness that you may be pleased, out of your favour, to grant to the poor inhabitants of your PETITION FROM GUERNSEY. 329 said isle the same indulgence and grace already bestowed on the inhabitants of Jersey by the very noble father of your highness, of happy memory, for the sake of the cordial affection they bear to your highness. And according to their duty, they will pray God to continue his benediction on the person, posterity, and government of your highness.” To Charles II., immediately on his succession, an address was voted, in which there is a conspicuous absence of the spirit which had been so lately displayed. But this was, to a great extent, the case with the whole English nation. CORNET CASTLE, GUERNSEY, As it stood in the time of Charles II. (From an old print.) The following passages, however, can scarcely be read with pleasure by anyone : — “At the court of Whitehall, the 18th of August, 1660; present, the king’s most excellent majesty in council. “ Upon reading the petition of Amias Andros, of Saumarez, bailiff of the island of Guernsey, and Nathaniel Darell, both of them his majesty’s servants, and deputies of the island of Guernsey, on behalf of the inhabitants of the said island, humbly acknowledging their great guilt and unfeigned grief of heart, for having, since the disorders these many years past, submitted to the usurp- ing powers (which at last tyrannized over his majesty’s subjects), and quitted their duties of obedience to their native sovereign, for which great crimes, im- ploring his majesty's gracious pardon ; it is ordered by this board (his majesty 330 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. being present) that Mr. Attorney-General do forthwith draw up, in due manner, a full and effectual pardon for all the inhabitants of the said island of Guernsey ; the said pardon to proceed in the accustomed manner to pass the great seal of England, so to remain as a monument of his majesty’s most royal clemency to all in the said pardon. That Sir Henry Devic, knight and baronet, Mr. Amias Andros, of Saumarez, bailiff of the said island, Edmond Andros, son of the said Amias, Charles Andros, brother of the said Amias, and Nathaniel Darell, have, to their great honour, during the late rebellion, continued inviolably faithful to his majesty, and consequently have no need to be included in this general pardon.” Again,— “Your majesty’s most gracious letters, brought unto us by Colonel Jonathan Atkyns, your majesty’s commissioner in this, your poor island of Guernsey, have so revived the drooping and dejected spirits of the magistrates and people in it, and have had such an influence upon the hearts and hands of all of them, that we could wish your majesty were informed of the fruits of your own labours, and with what joy, what alacrity we received them, — what bless- ings, what acclamations of joy and gratitude there were expressed in all places after the reading of them, for your majesty’s long life and prosperous reign, with blessings upon all your majesty’s undertakings, certainly great. As con- demned persons, unexpectedly hearing that joyful acclamation of pardon and liberty, cast off all remembrance of past miseries ; so this jurisdiction, your majesty’s most humble and faithful subjects and servants, with the rest of the inhabitants, hearing and seeing beyond expectation those gracious promises of encouragement under your majesty’s own hand, and seconded from your own mouth by that worthy gentleman whom your majesty has been pleased to entrust with the government of this island, as also the assurance we had before of it by that worthy gentleman, Captain Sheldon, your majesty’s deputy- governor, all this has wrought such a change in us all, when we reflect on our past conduct, that we can never sufficiently admire and acknowledge your majesty’s incomparable goodness and mercy towards us, for which we bless God and your majesty, devoting ourselves, our services, the remainder of our poor estates, and all that is near and dear to us for the advancement of your majesty’s service in general, or for the defence of this poor island, part of the remains of your ancient duchy of Normandy which (with God’s blessing, and under the conduct of those gallant gentlemen your majesty has been pleased lately to send to command over us) we will defend and secure against all attempts whatsoever ; so prostrating ourselves at your majesty’s feet with all humility, we subscribe ourselves, &c., &c.” In fact, it is clear that, during the whole decennium, internal faction ran high in Guernsey ; and that, when we turn our attention from the nobler transactions between the two primary parties to the details of individual biography, we find both intestine dissension and constitutional disturb- ance. In the Restoration we get a decided historical landmark : for the reign of Charles II. was marked by no events of THE RESTORATION. 331 importance. As in Great Britain in general, the material interests of the country flourished ; and, though Jersey had more especially favoured the royal cause, and, on two occasions, served as a refuge to the king, Guernsey, where his cause had been opposed, met with equal favour. To the people of Jersey, however, Charles granted a mace, “ as a proof of his royal affection towards the Isle of Jersey (in which he had been twice received in safety, when he was excluded from the remainder of his dominions.” This mace is still used in the Court and States.* The expla- nation of the decided difference of political feeling, as shown by the two islands, is impossible for an English, and difficult for a native, historian. Probably, if, at the beginning of the civil war, the votes of the two islands could have been polled, there was much greater equality than was shown by the events of the subsequent history. That there was a party in Jersey hostile to Sir George Carteret at least cannot be questioned. That there was a royalist party in Guernsey is shown in more than one narrative. The personal influence of individuals seems, to an un- biassed looker-on, to have had much to do with the turn matters took. Sir George Carteret was a Jersey man, and one of a powerful Jersey family. The Parliamentarian feel- ing of the Guernseymen seems to have been determined by the Careys, De Beauvoirs, and similar influential families. Deeper reasons than this may easily be ; but they are not very visible ones. During the short reign of James II., little that affected any of the islands took place. That the will on the part of the king to make proselytes to his own religion, under the plea of toleration, was by no means wanting, is clear. The * The following is the inscription on this mace: — “Tali haud omnes dignatur honore. Carolus secundus, Magnae Britannia, Franciae, et Hiberniae Rex serenissimus, affectum Regium erga Insulam de Jersey (in qua bis habuit receptum, dum caeteris ditionibus excluderetur) hocce monumento vere Regio posteris consecratum voluit. Jussitque ut cleinceps Ballivis praeferatur, in perpetuam memoriam fidei, turn Augustissimo parenti Carolo prirno, turn suae Majestati saevientibus Beilis Civilibus, servatae a viris clarissimis Philippo et Georgio de Carteret, equitibus auratis, hujus insulae Baliv. et Reg. Praefect,” UNDER JAMES II. 333 governors were Roman Catholics, and the majority of the soldiers the same. Mass was performed. The organization of the troops was improved. What might have happened had the reign been prolonged is a matter of speculation. As soon as it was heard that the Prince of Orange had landed at Torbay the authorities acted with laudable promptitude, and anticipated anything that might have been expected from the partizans of James. With the accession, however, of William III., a new division in the history of the islands begins. A rough measure of their industry is got from a grant made by James of wool for the manufacture of stockings. To Jersey, four thousand ; to Guernsey, two thousand ; to Alderney, four hundred ; and to Sark, two hundred tods of wool a year were allowed. They were to be shipped from Southampton. The difference between the two allowances suggests the difference, in respect to one manufacture at least, between Jersey and Guernsey. CHAPTER XVI. MODERN HISTORY — FROM THE ACCESSION OF WILLIAM III. TO THE PRESENT TIME. VIEW ON THE NORTH COAST OF JERSEY. The first four years of the reign of William III. were years of anxiety and watchfulness to the islanders rather than danger or distress. There was in every island a Jacobite minority, though a small one. There was the notion afloat that, for French support, the first price that would be asked would be cession of the islands. More than this, the French THE PRIVILEGE OF NEUTRALITY. 335 navy was never in a more effective state than at this time ; and one of the ablest of the French admirals, Tourville, was in command of it. On the side of England, there was only Torrington, eminent for his incompetence, to oppose him. The result was the French victory off Beachy Head, and the peril to the very soil of England that followed it. The great victory, however, of La Hogue, in the following year, brought security, and with it went out the last sparks of Jacobitism. The great event of William’s reign, so far as the islands are concerned, belongs to commercial rather that to political history, — the abolition of the privilege of neutrality. When it began has already been stated. The following charter shows what it was under Henry VIII. : — “ Henry, by the grace of God, king of England and France, and lord of Ire- land ; to all those to whom these presents shall come, greeting. We have seen the letters patent of the Lord Richard, late king of England, the third after the Conquest, made in these words : — Richard, by the grace of God, king of England and France, and lord of IrelaAd, to all those to whom these letters shall come, greeting ; know ye, that we, considering the good behaviour and fidelity which we have found from day to day in our liege and faithful nations and communities of our islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Sark, and Alderney, have, of our special grace, for ourselves and heirs, as far as in us lies, granted to the said nations and communities that they, and their successors, shall for ever be free and acquitted in all our cities, boroughs, markets*, and trading towns, fairs, mart towns, and other places and harbours, within our kingdom of England, from all sorts of tolls, exactions, and customs, in the same manner as our faith- ful and liege are in our kingdom aforesaid ; provided, however, that our said nations and communities, and their heirs aforesaid, shall well and faithfully behave themselves towards us, and our heirs aforesaid, for ever.” The following is what it was under Elizabeth : — “And whereas some other privileges, immunities, liberties, and franchises were graciously given, granted, and confirmed from time immemorial by our progenitors and predecessors, formerly kings of England and dukes of Normandy, and others, to the said islanders, and which have been used and observed constantly in the said islands and other maritime places ; one whereof is, that in time of war the merchants of all nations, whether aliens, friends, or enemies, could and might freely, lawfully, and without danger or punishment, frequent the said islands and maritime places with their ships, merchandise, and goods, as well to avoid storms as there to conclude or finish their lawful business, come to, resort unto, go to and fro, and frequent the same, and there exercise their free commerce, trade, and traffic, and afterwards securely, and without danger, remain there and depart away from thence, and return unto the same, when they think fit, without any harm, molestation or hostility what- soever to their goods, merchandizes, or persons ; and this not only within the 33<5 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. said islands and maritime places, and all around the same, but likewise at such places and distances from the island as the sight of man goes to , or the eye of man reaches ; we, by virtue of our royal authority, do for ourselves, our heirs, and successors, renew, reiterate, confirm, and graciously grant the same immunities, impunities, liberties, and privileges just now mentioned to the said bailiff, jurats, merchants and others, whether they are in war or amity with us; and to all other inhabitants, aliens, or sojourners aforesaid in the said island, in as ample form and manner as heretofore they have used and enjoyed the same. In order, therefore, to prevent any violation or infraction of this, our grant, concession, and confirmation, or any thing therein contained in any matter whatsoever, we declare and give this warning, by these presents, to all our officers and subjects, which warning we order to be published in all parts of our kingdom of England, and throughout our realms and dominions under our obedience, wheresoever they lie or are situated : that if any of our said officers or subjects shall be so rash as to presume to transgress these, our strict orders and commands, we order and decree (as far as in us lies) that he shall be severely punished for his audacious contempt of our royal power and disobedience to our laws, and be compelled to make full restitution and satis- faction of all costs, interests, and damages, and be prosecuted by all due process and forms of law for the same. ” William’s ordinance was as follows : — “At the court of Hampton, the 8th of August, 1689 ; the king, prince George of Denmark, &c. Whereas, on the 30th of May last, his majesty in council was pleased to order that their majesties’ proclamation, bearing date the 14th of the same month, for prohibiting the importation of any com- modities of the growth or manufacture of France, should be forthwith sent to the bailiff and jurats of the islands of Jersey and Guernsey/ who were thereby required to cause the said proclamation, then sent unto them, to be published, and strictly observed and put into execution. His majesty in council is this day pleased to declare that (being at this time strictly obliged in his treaties with his allies and confederates to prohibit in all his dominions all trade and commerce whatsoever with France) he does not think it fit or expedient to dispense with the execution of this said order in this present and extraordinary juncture of time ; yet, it is not the intention of his majesty in any manner whatsoever to revoke or infringe upon any privileges that may have been granted by his royal predecessors to the inhabitants of the said island of Guernsey.” It was borne patiently, as well, indeed, it might be ; for when the privilege of neutrality ended, the chance of privateering began. In the smooth and easy days of Queen Anne and the first two Georges, when, except for a short interval, there was nothing to fear from France, the main details of this important transition were brought about During that period the islands enjoyed profound peace and may be truly said to have no history. During the first American war, there were two abortive attempts made by the French on Jersey, or rather one THE BATTLE OF JERSEY. 337 under the command of an adventurer, who called himself the Prince of Nassau, in 1779, and another on January 6th, 1781, under the Baron de Rullecourt, and known as the Battle of Jersey ; the latter being the more important one. Steered through the difficult channel of La Rocque Platte by a traitorous pilot, the French troops landed by night, in Grouville Bay, and, by the dawn, had marched into the market-place of St. Helier’s, surprised the guard, taken prisoner the lieutenant-governor, Major Moses Corbet, and extorted from him his signature of a surrender — which the spirit and courage of the other officers justly condemned as invalid. However, the lieutenant-governor was a prisoner, and most unscrupulous use was made of his position. He was prevailed upon to address an order to the royal troops, confining them to their barracks ; and was placed in front of the French troops as they marched against Eliza- beth Castle, which was summoned, under the terms of the so-called capitulation, to surrender. Reckless and wicked as all this was, it was useless also. On the first alarm, Captains Aylwards and Mulcaster had escaped into the Castle — and they held it. Meanwhile the regiments of the line and the insular militia had come up. They made short work of the capitulation. To Rullecourt’s demand, that they should comply with its terms, the answer was, that unless within twenty minutes they laid down their arms and surrendered themselves as prisoners of war, they would be attacked. Major Peirson, of the 95th, who sent this soldier-like answer, kept his word and effected his purpose, though at the cost of his life. Driven up into the market-place, the French had no alternative but a surrender. The intrepid Peirson, who was only twenty-three years of age, was shot through the heart in the moment of victory. Rullecourt himself was killed in the action. "12s airoXoiTO Kcu aAAos 6 rts roiavra ye pe^ec. His conduct was as unscrupulous as that of Major Peirson, whose death forms the subject of one of Copley’s best paintings,* was gallant. Not satisfied with the cowardly * Acquired for the National Gallery. Z 33 « THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. exposure of the lieutenant-governor during the advance of his troops, he, when circumvented in the market-place, seized him by the arm, and did his best to make him share his own well-deserved fate. This was deferred just long enough to tell him that his scheme had miscarried. The antipodes to Wolfe and Epaminondas, Rullecourt died in the arms of defeat. Governor Corbet was tried by court martial and suspended in his commission. In the commercial history of the islands, 1767 is an im- portant year ; in Guernsey most especially. There had been smuggling to some extent both there and in Jersey, but in Guernsey it had gone furthest. The whole tenor of the subsequent legislation, or rather of the opposition it experienced, shows this ; for whilst the acts of the British Parliament were opposed with extreme energy in Guernsey, the Jerseymen simply co-operated with them, as in duty bound, and as a sister island. Indeed, the Guernseymen, in their appeal to them for a joint action, admitted as much, They admitted, in a letter addressed to the lieutenant- governor, that although “the losses, inconveniences, and distresses attendant on the plan proposed would be more severely felt in Guernsey than in Jersey, yet the permanent interests of the two islands in the agitation of the question are precisely the same,’' and so on. Still, as far as the recognition of the community of interest, and a moderate protest went, the Jerseymen acted as they were required. This, however, is an anticipation. In 1709," in 1717, in 1720, and in 1722, attemps had been made to introduce an English custom-house in Guernsey ; but the States withheld their consent obstructed ; sent deputies to oppose it. In 1767, a registrar’s office was established. The suppression of smuggling is one thing ; the sup- pression of it, in consonance with the constitutional privileges and immunities of the island, another ; and it was an easy matter for the imperial government to attempt a good thing in an exceptionable way. As far as the con- stitution was concerned, the question, as compared with the high-handed policy of William III., who, on the strength of the conditions between himself and his allies, abolished SUPPRESSION OF SMUGGLING. 339 their long-continued and jealously-guarded neutrality, was a slight one. The States, however, petitioned Parliament against the registration of the order, and petitioned in vain. They were ordered to register ; they were ordered to administer the oath which the commissioner, who gave effect to the order, had to take. A fourteen-gun schooner, a four-gun cutter, some boats, and forty men, constituted the authority by which the new custom-house or registry regulations were enforced. They had full, perhaps exces- sive powers of search ; and they were protected in the official capacity to an extent which reminds us of Berlin rather than of London. They failed, however, in their mission ; or rather, they succeeded in the wrong way. What the islands lost, France gained. It was in 1767 that Major (this was the name of the commissioner) was sent over with his coastguard ; and, in 1769, the beggarly little town of Roscofif, on the coast of Brittany, was raised to the dignity of a free port. It became a free port, and throve through its freedom. That it after- wards fell off, and that Guernsey revived, is true ; but it is also true that the ordinances of 1767 came to nothing. During the American war, Guernsey combined smuggling and privateering, and prospered. During the French war it combined them in a greater degree, and prospered still more. The law of 1767 had become a dead letter. Still, the year is a notable one ; the most notable one, in respect to the commercial history of the islands, of the century. In 1800 the imperial government was more in earnest. With a special reference to the order in council of 1767, it determined to act upon the principles contained in it, and to enforce them by the addition of more stringent regula- tions. There was the original order, and there was the supplement. The power of the officers to search and seize, which was before limited to the port and harbour, was ex- tended to all bays, creeks, and roads, &c. ; indeed, to any point within one hundred leagues of the coast of Great Britain. Besides this, the official immunities of the officers were increased. The single security and the unsupported evidence of the officer were to suffice ; and no action was to be brought against him for anything done in discharge Z 2 340 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. of his duty unless notified in writing, and after the lapse of a month. Meanwhile, he was free to seize and carry before a magistrate anyone who interfered with him. Upon this infringement on their personal liberty the islanders specially and fairly complained. These, along with other restrictions of the same over-strict and vexatious character, were (so to say) tendered to the islanders rather than in- flicted on them. A letter from Mr. Stiles, the British com- missioner, to Mr. Le Marchant, at that time bailiff, is extremely courteous (A.D. 1800) ; praising, as it does, the loyalty of the islanders, and suggesting “ that part of the measures under consideration being adopted, others could be proposed which might be beneficial to the trade of the island, and advantageous to the inhabitants, without being injurious, in any material degree, to the revenue of Great Britain,” though what these were is not stated. A copy of the new orders accompanied this very polite letter. The reply of the merchants was a counter-address to the bailiff and jurats, expressive of the strongest disapprobation and alarm, and asking, not unreasonably, for time to ac- commodate themselves fo the threatened change of circum- stances. “ Should the plan be finally resolved upon, they further pray that it may be carried into effect with all the indulgence that is due to so many unfortunate persons ; that sufficient time may be allowed them to prepare for this change in their situation, and find means to support their existence.” Joint action, too, on the part of Jersey was invited — the joint action already alluded to. But the Jersey people gave moral assurances that the illicit trade should be put down, and proposed a friendly conference with the commissioner to “ consider the best means of reconciling the views of the government with the conservation of the laws, franchises, and privileges of the islands.” That the conduct of Jersey was the more dignified is as clear as it is clear that her stake was less. On March 24th, 1783, Guernsey became the scene of a mutiny — an Irish one. The Irish, always good on the field of battle, but never model men in the barrack-yard, were quartered at Fort George, five hundred in number. MUTINY IN GUERNSEY. 341 During the winter they had behaved quietly ; but, in the early spring, they were joined by some braggarts of the 83rd Regiment from Portsmouth. On the eighteenth, they insisted that, as peace was restored, they should be free to do as they chose ; that the gates of the garrison should no longer be closed at regular hours ; and that they should rove over the island as it seemed good to them. In this act of insubordination the officers concurred. The lieu- tenant-governor, Irving, complied. On the twenty-first the officers were at dinner, when they were surprised by the whizz of bullets. Soon after, they found that the fore- most mutineers had got up into the rooms above, from which they fired down on them. The 18th Regiment was also in the town, and its discipline and conduct were unduly suspected. To a man, however, they turned out against the mutineers, and, supported by the militia, prepared to quell the outbreak. The island officers gave order for each regiment to defend its own district, and to be ready, when called, to join the main body. Under Major Mawbey, the regulars, and under Colonel Lefebvre, the militia, with four pieces of artillery and two howitzers, commanded the front of the rebels with four companies on the side, and four more in reserve. A summons ; a parley ; no surrender ; shots ; messages ; an address from the governor ; a volley opened upon him ; an advance of the artillery and of the companies at the side and in reserve. The mutineers then quitted the fort, piled arms, and returned to their duties. As a stimulus or excitant, the French revolution was, in the Channel Islands, a mere brutum fulmen, or rather it was something more than this. It was an influence in the other direction. Nowhither did the refugees betake themselves earlier, and nowhere was more kindness and hospitality shown to them. Equally honourable on the other side of the question was the self-denying ordinance to which the islands submitted themselves when Prussia and Austria declared war against the republic. It was suspected that the islands would fit out privateers. The answer to this was a circular to the merchants of the chief French ports, denying the intention. Honourably given, it was honourably received, and courte- 342 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. ously acknowledged. When England, however, became a party to the war, matters changed. There was no want of privateers then. The last thirty years of the eighteenth century gives us the dates of the introduction or development of several forms of dissent now prevalent in the islands, especially in Guernsey. At the present time the Wesleyan Methodists are the predominant denomination; then the Independents; then the Primitive Methodists. In smaller numbers, the Quakers, the Bible Christians, the Baptists, the Congre- gationalists, the Roman Catholics, and the Unitarians follow ; amounting in all to more than a third of the population. The relative numbers suggest the history of these denominations ; and the predominance of the Wes- leyans points to the time of Wesley himself : indeed, to his personal exertions, for he visited the islands in 1787. The oldest sect, however, is that of the Quakers, whose first settlement connects itself with the name of Claude Gray. A native of Essex, and a Roman Catholic, he changed his creed in Jersey, and was banished for doing so. He returned, and was imprisoned, but the sentence was reversed by the king in council, and he returned to Jersey. After travelling for some time as a preacher, he established himself, in 1782, in Guernsey. About the same time Methodism took root. Some soldiers at Jersey had heard preachers at Southampton and Winchester. They were themselves Baptists, but will- ing to receive a Wesleyan minister. Mr. Brackenbury, at whose house Wesley was staying when the application was made, undertook the service, and Mr. Kilham accom- panied him. At first, they were fairly received ; but, in Jersey, the mob attacked them, and Wesley was nearly drowned. A Guernsey mob, too, a few years afterwards (1786) attacked Dr. Adam Clarke. But such, all over Great Britain, was the common conduct of many who afterwards became the most energetic promulgators of the doctrine they had formerly opposed. As early as 1796 the English Independents had a chapel in Guernsey. That of the French Independents was opened in 1817. RELIGIOUS SECTS. 343 The Roman Catholics, as a general rule, are of French origin — Frenchmen of the emigration. When the decree was passed by the National Convention, in 1793, against the French clergy, the Abbe Coulon opened a chapel in the Bordage. At the end of the last century luxury was unknown in these islands. The people lived simply, but well ; the houses were uncarpeted, but comfortable and hospitable. A great change was however working itself. France was undergoing the revolution, and Jersey received with open arms many an illustrious exile. The sons of the rich were educated in France, and the islanders were greatly in- fluenced by the progressive movement of the time. During the French emigration the population of both Jersey and Guernsey increased enormously, and the island commerce flourished. In 1784 printing was introduced, and in the course of the few years that followed several newspapers were founded. Communication wflth the mother country became more frequent and certain, and new harbours were built to accommodate the large number of vessels which traded with the islands. Since the peace of 1814 the history of the Channel Islanders has been that of a thriving and progressive population, sufficiently isolated to be free from the politi- cal storms which visited England, and sufficiently in contact with both England and France to partake of the movement by which the civilization of the present century is dis- tinguished. Its details, however, connect themselves with the history of particular institutions, and the biography of particular individuals, rather than with that of the islands in general. The extent to which improvement has ad- vanced, and the rate at which it has gone on in England, are fair measures of its extent and rate in Jersey and Guernsey ; and contrasts between the present generation and the generation of our grandfathers, which are so easily drawn amongst ourselves, are just as easily drawn in the islands. Wealth has increased — agriculture has improved — knowledge has been diffused, with the same results, and from the same causes, as in England. The peaceful character of the times has precluded the events of war, 344 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. whilst the peculiar nature of their political relations has forbidden any parallelism to the political movements of other countries. The general view, however, of the islands in their present state is the best commentary on this. SARK. Of Sark, the history is a short one ; though it would probably be longer if we knew the earlier details of it. These would consist in small, but not uninstructive, events in the personal history of a few anchorites ; for the first authentic notice which we have of the island is that it contained a chapel and a small religious establishment, occupying a house still called the Moinerie. In the time of King John there is reason to believe that it was in the possession of a brother of Eustace de Moigne, who commanded the French fleet in the first year of Henry III., when a naval victory was gained by Philip d’Aubigne. Afterwards, in the reign of Edward II., the island be- longed to the Norman family of Vernon , and they made certain grants to a Norman monastery. In was taken by the French in the reign of Edward IV., and recovered in that of Queen Mary ; a small gain to be set against the loss of Calais. The account of its recapture is from Sir Walter Raleigh, who, as Heylin (who retails the story) remarks, had, as Governor of Jersey, fair means of learning the truth. He had fair means, also, of picking up the current legends or traditions about it, whether true or untrue. However, it runs thus : The island was in the hands of the French, and was strong enough to defy the Grand Turk himself. But the following stratagem won it back. The captain of a Flemish vessel told the French commander that he had a dead man on board, who had expressed, during his lifetime, a desire to be buried ashore. Would the commander let them land and bury him ? “ If you bring no arms with you — not so much as a penknife — Yes.” So a coffin was landed, taken into the church, and opened. Instead of a dead body, it was filled with arms. The mourners and attendants provided themselves ac- cordingly, sallied out, fought and won. Meanwhile, a SARK AND ALDERNEY. 345 boatful of Frenchmen had been carried aboard the ship to receive some presents as a burial fee. They remained there as prisoners. “ Instead of jewels and rings, I wot, The hammer’s bruises were their lot. Thus Odin’s son the hammer got.” So runs the old Norse legend on a like deception and a like disappointment. After this, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth (1565), Sark was granted in fee to Helier de Carteret, who falsely repre- sented that the island was left uninhabited. He settled on it forty families from Jersey : so that most of the modern Serkais are really the descendants of a Jersey colony. At a later period (1731) the manorial rights of the island were transferred to the Le Pelley family, who held it for many years. It is now in the possession of the family of Codings. ALDERNEY. A few words as to Alderney will not be out of place. During the civil wars the inhabitants espoused the cause of the Parliament, and soon after the Restoration Charles granted it to Edward de Carteret and others, who trans- ferred their title to Sir George Carteret. Alderney thence- forth was governed independently of Guernsey, though still within the jurisdiction of the Royal Court of the latter island. In 1683 Sir Edmund Andros acquired the island, to whom Charles regranted it for a term of ninety-nine years. The government of Alderney remained in the hands of this family until 1721, when it devolved by marriage upon John Le Mesurier. In 1825 the last here- ditary governor, Major-General Le Mesurier, surrendered his patent to the Crown, and the island again became part of the government of Guernsey. CHAPTER XVII. ANTIQUITIES AND ARCHAEOLOGY. Any doctrine which, either on the strength of their insula- tion (the word being taken in its strict etymological meaning) or with the view of explaining some particular detail invested with more than usual obscurity, separates the archaeology and ethnology of the Channel Islands from that of the nearest portion of the continent of Gaul, carries with it so much undue refinement that, though it may possibly be sound, it should not be hazarded either gratuitously or on light grounds. With the exception of Japan and the Kurile islands, every smaller island on the face of the deep is defi- nitely connected with some portion of the greater islands or continents. With the exception, too, of Iceland and Madagascar, every island is connected with the nearest portion of the continent. Add to this that, without any exception whatever, every island of the size of Jersey or Guernsey, and equally near the mainland, is, for all practi- cal purposes, inhabited at as early a period as the corre- sponding part of the continent. The time, then, when the islands under notice were either uninhabited or inhabited by a population different from that of the mainland, trans- cends history. Now, at the beginning of the historical period, the nearest part of Gaul was Keltic. At the same time, it does not follow that the conditions of the continent, when a given island derived from it its first inhabitants, were the same as they were when they were first known to the historian. The island may have been EARLY RACES. 347 peopled ; after which the original population of the conti- nent may have changed. This is a fact of no rare occur- rence. Still the presumptions are in favour of the nearest congeners of a given island being found on the opposite continent. On the other hand, however, it is certain that the whole of Gaul was not originally Keltic. The evidence that in the time of Caesar the southern part was Iberic is conclusive. It is so, to some extent, at the present moment ; inasmuch as the language of a part of Gascony is the same as that of Biscay ; indeed, word for word, the two names are the same. In the first century, all Aquitaine was in the same condition as Gascony is now,—//., it was Basque, Biscayan, or (to use the scientific name) Iberic. The Garonne was the boundary. To the south of it, everything, with the exception of Burdi- gala, or Bordeaux, was Iberic ; to the north, everything Keltic or Gallic. Since, then, the Iberic frontier has, from the beginning of history, receded, whilst that of the Kelts has advanced ; is it not impossible that, at some very early period, like the former, it may have extended so much farther northwards as for Brittany and Normandy to have been, more or less, Iberic at the time when they sent forth the first settlers upon Jersey and Guernsey? All that can be said in answer to this is that the possibility of such a state of things should be recognised as an alternative in case certain phenomena require it. However, at the beginning of the historical period, the northern boundary of Iberia was the Garonne. Of two other populations which the sea may have brought to these parts, and which either commerce or piracy may have taken thus far from their own homes, little need be said except a single word in favour of the high probability of the one and the possibility of the other having been brought thus far west and thus far south. The first are the Phenicians, of whom few antiquaries fail to say much when they treat of Britain, Spain, and Gaul. The second are the Slavonians of the Baltic and Lower Danube, of whom, as bold sailors and early voyagers, the present writer, on a fitter occasion, would have more to say than 348 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. many would agree to. To neither were the Channel Islands unknown. Of anything, however, earlier than either the Kelts or the Iberians in Northern Gaul, there are no definite traces ; though it should be added that there are not wanting able men who, deducing the majority of the dominant population of modern Europe from Asia, are willing to believe in a primeval race of aborigines, who, spread over the whole continent from the North Cape to the Straits of Gibraltar, from Lapland to Andalusia, are still to be found as actual populations, or else traced in their subterranean remains by means of crania, tumuli, and stone instruments. At a later period, there was no lack of intrusive settlers from Germany and Scandinavia (and that on both sides of the Channel and all along the coast) from the Orkneys to the Isle of Wight, and from the Scheldt to the Tagus ; but, though there is good reason for believing such settlements to have begun at an earlier date than is usually assigned to them, there is nothing which brings them to the south of the Seine during the first or second centuries. Concerning the Greeks and Romans, our ordinary histories supply sufficient evidence. Such are the real, probable, and possible factors in the ethnological and historical archaeology of the Channel Islands. Anything that is earlier than the Kelts must have its explanation sought for amongst the Iberians. Everything later than the Kelts is Phenician, Slavonic(P), Greek, Roman, German, or Scandinavian. Beyond this field no antiquary need wander. The objects of the greatest antiquarian importance in the island are, at the same time, the oldest ; but they are also those of which the origin is the most obscure ; and in this obscurity lies much of the interest. They affect the imagination ; they stimulate the curiosity. In many countries they urge it on into undue and crude speculations. They belong to one and the same class. When we name them from the religion, superstition, or mythology to which they are mostly referred, we call them Druidic. When the name is determined by the family or stock with MOST ANCIENT MONUMENTS. 349 which they are chiefly connected the denomination is Keltic. But as in each of these terms a slight (though scarcely an illegitimate) amount of hypothesis is involved, it is best to call them what they really are — cromlechs, kistvaens, or menhirs : all words of Keltic origin, and all with a meaning in the Keltic dialects. A cromlech is a heavy stone ; a kist vaen is a chest of stone ; a menhir is a long stone. None of them, however, are names belonging to the islands; indeed they can scarcely be called names of popular and general use anywhere. They are scientific terms, and their sense is definite and technical. But, unlike many other scientific terms, they are, though strange in A CROMLECH, Formerly on the Town Hill, St. Helier’s. sound to the English ear, not only convenient but intel- ligible in Wales and Brittany, the chief districts where the objects which they denote are to be found. It is to Jersey that the grandest cromlech of the islands, undoubtedly, belongs ; if, indeed, an object can be said to belong to a country from which it has been taken away. Until 1788 it stood on the Town Hill, where Fort Regent is now built. It was sixty-six feet in circumference, composed of forty- five stones, between seven feet in height, six in breadth, and four in thickness. It contained four perfect cells, and one destroyed. The entrance, running east and west, was fifteen feet long, four feet broad, and four feet four inches high. A medal of Claudius was found in one of the 3So THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. cells. About fifty yards south from the temple were five tumuli, masoned on every side, but not paved, lying east and west. However, in 1788 it was presented by the States of the island to Marshal Conway, the governor, and by him re- constructed in his park in Berkshire. It would, indeed, be difficult to say who were the greater vandals, the donors or the receiver. An engraving of this cromlech is given on the previous page. It was the fate of Marshal Conway’s cromlech to be re- moved. It has been the fate of others to be destroyed on the spot. Mr. Poingdestre, who wrote some tracts- on the affairs of Jersey, and died in 1691, says that there were not fewer than fifty of these temples and altars in the island, of which the greater part were demolished when Falle wrote his history of it. Many have also disappeared since that period. The cromlechs here are called Pouquelayes , and there are some tumuli or keeps. The best of the modern cromlechs of Jersey is behind Anne Port, close to Mont Orgueil. It is called “ La Pou- quelaye,” and is in a remarkably perfect condition. Other megalithic structures exist at Le Couperon, Mont Ube, Beauport, St. Brelade’s, La Moye, and Mont Cochon Most of these remains have been excavated, and cinerary urns (more or less perfect), fragments of pottery, stone im- plements, &c., have been discovered, with traces of osseous interments. In almost every case a layer of limpet-shells has been found. Alderney was formerly extremely rich in cromlechs and other antiquities of the kind. Most of them are now en- tirely obliterated, and all are obscure. Sark has but few, and in poor condition. Herm offers nothing of especial interest. Of the cromlechs of Guernsey, those of L’Ancresse Bay are the chief. They are those that have longest com- manded attention, and are most fully described. In 18 n a partial, a very partial, exploration was begun ; or rather, we should say that, in i8u,they were first brought to light. Some soldiers, in clearing away the sand, came upon them ; this had long been accumulating ; for, though what CROMLECHS. 351 is called the cotemporary evidence of the outline of the Guernsey coast having been in any important points different from what it is at the present time, is inconclu- sive, the physical evidence of the sand having encroached is complete. Besides those at L’Ancresse, there are cromlechs of im- portance and in good condition, chiefly at the back of the island, between Rocquaine Bay and the Grand Rocque, notably L’Autel de De-hus and Le tombeau du Grand l’ancresse cromlech. Sarazin. The first-named was excavated by the late Dr. Lukis. In one of the side chambers were found two skeletons in a kneeling posture. A huge capstone, weigh- ing over 20 tons, covers one of the compartments. In both these cromlechs, as at L’Ancresse, layers of limpet-shells were deposited for a depth of two feet. The great cromlech of L’Ancresse Bay, which overlooks the sea, the granite walls of which may easily be confounded with the ordinary rocks of the parts around, is remarkable, both in respect to its size and the complexity of details. With five vast capstones, it stands within a broken, frag- 352 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. mentary, and somewhat indistinct circle of smaller stones ; and, at its eastern entrance there is a secondary or smaller chamber. The present names, Temple des Druides and Autel des Vardes, are, according to the late Dr. Lukis, new, the older name being Le Mont de St. Michel. When ex- plored by the archaeologist just named, who devoted much valuable time, and bestowed careful personal superinten- dence in his investigations, the whole of the interior was choked up with sand and rubbish. The soldiers of i8u,who GROUP OF ANCIENT POTTERY, From the Museum of the late Dr. Lukis, Guernsey. The vases here figured were obtained from the cromlechs of Guernsey— the four central ones from those at L’Ancresse and “ De-hus”; the smaller one in the foreground, with knobs, from the “Tombeau du Grand Sarazin”; and that on the right from the “ Creux es Fees.” All of them stood on the floors in the interior, amidst human remains. No bones or ashes were within them, but they appeared to have been carefully placed. They are constructed of extremely coarse clay, and have been made by the hand alone, showing no mark of the potter’s wheel. The clay appears to have been worked into shape and partially sun-dried before receiving the final im- pressions by which a rough kind of ornament is given. They have afterwards been imperfectly baked. had first hit upon it, were deterred from anything like an excavation by the fear that the walls might give way and the capstones crush them. No such fears deterred the later explorer. A layer of sand at the top, with a darker and CONTENTS OF CROMLECHS. 353 firmer layer as a second stratum, led to the third bed, in which were embedded horses’, oxen’s, and hogs’ bones. Beneath this the lowest layer contained the bones of men and women, some burnt, some unburnt, the burnt ones cal- cined rather than charred. Under these a floor of stones, and on one part of it a miniature cromlech, — z>., a small cap- stone on stone props, and under it arms and bones. But the great mass of remains lay on the floor at large, with kelts, arrow-heads, mullers, grinding troughs, quoits, and hammers, all of stone ; all of stone, without any instrument of any kind of metal. Of these, some were of obsidian, some of jade. Of frailer material, but still in good preserva- tion, were numerous jars, of different forms and sizes, some coarse and round-bottomed, others ornamented with zigzag lines. The nearest approach, both in ornamentation and shape, to these are from Friesland and Lower Germany, the old Saxon countries ; though, from the rudeness and simplicity of the work in general, they have near congeners almost everywhere. They were unburnt; and, in no respect, like any of the well-known samples of Roman workmanship. Between the extreme forms there was a sufficient difference to suggest the very reasonable doctrine that they were of dif- ferent dates, and the same inference was drawn concerning the human bones. There was a higher layer and a lower layer, and the. older remains belonged to the lower. It was not, then, by a single burial, or even by a single generation, that the floor of the cromlech was covered. In this, too, as in all others, innumerable limpet-shells were found ; just as in the Danish kjokkemiddings whole heaps of shells of the edible mollusca have been preserved. The cromlechs are called Druidic, though it is difficult to form any connection between these megalithic remains with the Druidism of the period of Julius Csesar. There is in- deed hardly any evidence to show that the erection of menhirs, cromlechs, and the like, formed any part of the Druidic system. A recent writer has pointed out the pro- bability of these remarkable structures having been built by a race of men who peopled this part of the world before the Kelts, and there is much to be said in favour of the same writer’s theory that these ancient dolmens were A A 354 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. erected as altars, and afterwards used for sepulchral pur- poses by the Druids. Some of the names connected with the cromlechs are de- cidedly Keltic ; such as Pouqu z-laye. Whatever may be our doubts as to the meaning of its first element, the second is simply a Gallicized form of the word lech — stone , as in cromlech ; a word of remarkable longevity ; a word almost MEGALITHIC REMAINS AT FALDOUET, ST. MARTIN’S, JERSEY. as indestructible as the very rocks to which it applies. In this manner, the Pouque-/., three Lives of the French Saints, in verse, and fifty-six in prose. But the authorship of all these is impugned, whilst a Life of St. Vandrille, allowed him, is lost. Philip de Than was, at most, but a cotemporary of Wace’s ; and his writings were merely so much book-work from the Latin. He wrote on Natural History, — Le Livre des Creatures. From the use of the Latin in Doomsday Book, and many later documents, we infer that it was not till the time of Henry III. that that language was, for prose compositions, in any degree superseded by either English or Anglo-Norman. Such are the claims of Wace to be considered as one of the founders of the literature of the modern tongues of 368 the channel islands. southern Europe, the tongues derived from the Latin. More massive than the Provencal poems, the Roman de Rou is earlier than either the Inferno, or the Cid, and though not more national than the latter, more epic ; what- ever that term may convey or whatever may be its value. A romance on St. Brandan and his real or imaginary travels, and another on a journey of Charlemagne’s to Jerusalem, refer to events of an early date. But what was the date of the poems ? Charlemagne was probably older than Wace ; but it is a short and unimportant, though curious, poem. Gaimar and Benoit de St. Maure were, like Philip de Than, cotemporaries of Wace, — later rather than earlier ones. Still, they belong to the same reign and, perhaps, to the same decade. If we compare Wace with these, we must examine carefully, and, above all things, arrive at the import of the date of 1 120, noticed above. If the poet be the Richard Wace of the charter he could scarcely have been younger than the century. He began, from his own account, to write early. If he finished the Roman de Rou before he was fifty it would belong to the first half of the century. Be it, however, old or new, it is the first national epic of modern Europe, for Benoit and Gaimar were mere chroni- clers. Be it old or new, it is at least one of the. works that helped to form the literary language of northern France. In giving Wace his full due, we must guard against claiming too much for him. Though one of the earliest, and, in the choice of his subject, by far the most original of the writers in the Anglo-Norman, he can scarcely be said to have written it as a native of Jersey. If he had done so the island which gave him birth might claim the honour of having been the fons et origo of the literary Norman ; indeed, of the literary French. But this was not the case. He wrote in the French of France. As this, it was used by Wace, not as he took it from his nurse, his parents, and his neighbours, but as he found it, either in Coutances or in England, among his teachers, or among his patrons. It was the language of his cotem- poraries and of his few predecessors. It could scarcely NATIVE DIALECTS. 369 have been the insular dialect, except so far as the insular dialect may have coincided with the other two forms of speech, — one or both. In all probability it differed from them a little. Little or much, however, the language of Wace is the language of Normandy in general. Nor does the national character of his work mean that it was founded on the legends or traditions which had either grov/n up spontaneously among the Normans or been handed down as narratives. He took the accounts as he found them, and these were the accounts of bookmen who wrote in Latin ; followers, in most cases, of the one primary authority, Dudo de St. Quentin. Being this, it recognises nothing but Danes, and is very far from the hypothesis suggested in a previous chapter of a mixture of Danes, Saxons, and Goths. Still, the basis is the common belief of the Normans themselves. It was not one which will bear minute and analytic criticism. Still, it was sufficiently general, and sufficiently strong to form the basis of a poem which came much closer to the feelings of its reader than anything which had preceded it ; this feeling being intensely Norman and national. Such is the notice of that portion of the old Anglo- Norman literature which was most closely connected with the Channel Islands, and which most nearly approaches the character of a true insular composition. The proper com- plement to this is a sketch of the language in its present form. Of this Guernsey gives us the best representative, being less affected by the French than Jersey, and less by the English than Alderney. The extent to which they differ from the ordinary French may be seen in the trans- lations. That even, within each island, taken singly, there are minute differences of dialect is a fact ; nor is it one which should surprise us. It has, however, been exaggerated. Some years back a writer on these islands stated that every parish had its own form of speech. This statement seems to rest on some comparisons made between the islands as they were in the youth and as they were in the old age of the observer. The original notice, however, was merely that, in a mixed party, it was not difficult to guess BB 3fO THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. by his speech from what parish each member of the company came. Likely enough. In Italy, the land of dialects, the difference between the language of the town and that of the nearest village is sufficiently broad to have established the terms urbana and rustica to denote it. More than this, nearly two centuries ago one of the earliest writers in the proper Bolognese, Lotto Lotti, states that, even in the town of Bologna itself, there were differences ; that in the Strada Maggiore, on the Via Romana, there was an approach to the Romagnole ; that between the Strada di San Stefano and the Strada di Saragozza, there was an approach to the Florentine ; that about Porta di San Felice, Lombard elements showed themselves ; and that at Porta di Sanvitale there was a dash of the Fer- rarese ; finally, that there were differences in the forms of speech belonging to the different trades. Upon this, Biondelli remarks that the same is the case now. Neither in Bologna, however, nor in the Channel Islands, does all this make a difference of dialect. Yet in Guernsey at the present time there is good authority for the statement that, between a townsman and a native of the Forest, there is still a perceptible difference. There is not now extant poems in the language of these islands of a much earlier date than this century ; yet the fact that the language has undergone comparatively so little change since the days of Wace invests them with a venerable interest. The following two specimens from the “ Roman de Rou ” will serve for comparison. THE DEATH OF ROLLO. Li homz de sa terre ki l’aveient servi, A1 service Diex fere torna e converti. Einsi vint a sa fin, com hom ki envieli Des labors e des paines, ki l’ont afiebli ; Mez unkes sa memoire ne son sens n ? en parti. A Roem ju malade, e a Roem feni ; Com bon Crestien, de cest mortal siecle issi, Mult parfu bien confez, e sis pechiez jehi. En mostier Notre Dame, el coste verz midi, Ont li cler e li lai li cors ensepulcri ; La sepulture i est e l’epitaph alsi, Ki racunte sis fez e coment il vesqui. ROMAN DE ROU. 371 For the dialects of Sark we want specimens, Theoreti- cally it should be simply a sub-dialect of the Jersey, nasmuch as the settlement from Jersey, in Queen Eliza- beth’s time, of forty families, must, at least, have doubled the population. Yet the little known about it hardly justifies this view. One of the Sark peculiarities is to sound v as and sa y beux for veux. This, common enough in the south-western parts of France, — zY., Bearn and Gas- cony, has yet to be noted as a prominent character in Jersey. For the Alderney dialect, also, we want specimens ; Alder- ney being the island wherein the influence of the English is at its maximum. THE DEATH OF ROLLO. {Literal translation into Modern French .) Les hommes de sa terre qui l’avaient servi Au service de Dieu faire tourna et converti. Ainsi vint a sa fin, comme homme qui envieillit, Des travaux et des peines, qui l’ont affaibli ; Mais jamais sa memoire ni son sens n’en sont parti. A Rouen tomba malade et a Rouen finit ; Comme bon Chretien de cet mortel siecle sortit, Plusieurs fois bien confesse et ses peches avoua. En monastere Notre Dame, du cote vers midi Ont le clerc et le lai'que le corps enseveli ; La sepulture y est et l’epitaphe aussi Qui raconte ses faits et comment il vecut. BB2 372 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS DESCRIPTION OF A BATTLE. Tute rien se turne en declin, Tut chiet, tut muert, tut vait a fin ; Horn muert, fer use, fut purrist, Tur funt, mur chiet, rose flaistrist ; Cheval trebuche, drap viellist : Tut ovre faite ad mains perist.” Both Jersey and Guernsey are richer in this respect, though, whilst the former island can offer but short and fugitive pieces, some of them meritorious, Guernsey boasts a classical work — “ Les Rimes Guernesiaises ” — by the late George Metivier, a ripe scholar, learned in the language of his native island as well as in that of other countries. His poems not only illustrate the language but the habits and society of the true Norman portion of the island, whilst a Franco-Norman dictionary or glossary compiled by him is valuable from a philological point of view. In the follow- ing specimens it will be noted that the orthography is not only unfixed but that it is varied. The translations into modern French have been made literal rather than idio- matic. In some cases, however, even this is impracticable; inasmuch as many of the insular glosses are wholly foreign to the cultivated language. LE GROUNNEUX. By Sir Robert Pipon Marett, late Bailiff of Jersey. Le brav’ bouon homm’ Perrin ! Eh mondoux ! Connaiss ’ous Chu vieillard si chagrin ? Qui grounn* sus tout, et grounn’ trejous ! Ch’est un p’tit corps acti, et maigre Coumm’ si vivait sus du vinaigre ; Les levr’s pinchies, de petites joues, Et coumm’ nou dit, Dans not’ Jerry, Un sorte d’min’ de cat roti ; Enfin un drol’ de p’tit oti’ ! JERSEY POEMS. 373 DESCRIPTION OF A BATTLE — ( Translation). Toute chose se tourne en deroute, Tout decline, tout meurt, tout va a fin ; L’homme meurt, le fer use, le bois pourrit, La tour s’ecroule, le mur tombe, la rose fletrit ; Cheval bronche, drap vieillit ; Tout ce qui est fait de la main d’homme perit. LE GROGNARD. {Literal translation into French . ) Le brave bon homme Perrin ! Eh, mon Dieu ! Connaissez vous Ce vieillard si chagrin ? Qui grogne sur tout, et grogne toujours ! C’est un petit corps actif et maigre Comme s’il vivait (sur) du vinaigre ; Les levres pincees, de petites joues Et comme nous disons Dans notre Jersiais, Une sorte de mine de chat roti Enfm un drole de petit outil ! 374 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. LE GROUNNEUX — (continued). Que nou ly pal’ d’efants ! “ Ah oui, oui ! ” Ditha-t-i’, “ Les aviers sont charmants ! Quand i’ sont p’tiots, che n’est que piaille ! Quand i’ sont grands, ch’est piethe ocquo, I’ sont trejous a faith’ quiqu’ droc : Pour ben en dith’ ch’est ren-qui-vaille ! Je n’en ai pon, — Coumm’ de raison, Mais qui ! — les chains de man vaisin Venn’nt pilvaqui’ dans mon gardin ! ” Est-ch’ des femm’s dans d’aut’s temps? “ Ah la la!” Coumme i’ f’tha, “ J’aime ocquo mues l’s efants ! Ah ! laissiz-les faithe a lus tete, Et bailliz-leu robes et ribans, Dites trejous oui a touous lus pllans, Sans dout’ qu’i’ vos f thont ben la fete ; Mais dis nennin , Pour un p’tit brin ! Et pis opres vens m’dith, valet, Qui’ sorte d’grimach’ non t’a fait ! ” Palez-li d’amitchie ! I’ritha Et ditha : “ Ah oui-ja ch’est d’qui be ! Eh ! qu’un homin’ baill’ de bouons fricots ; A qui veurt emprunter qu’i’ dounne ; Qu’i’ n’demand’ jamais a personne, II aitha d’s amins par monochiaux ! Mais que san sort, Revith’ de bord, Et j’ai l’idee, si les comptait, Qu’i’ s’arret’tait au premier daigt ! ” Que non ly pale enfin Sait n’importe Sus qui’ sorte S’lon li tout est niolin ! Ren n’est si be, — ren n’est si bon, Qu’i’ n’trouve a r’dith' dessus ! — De vrai, Qui li offrithait un’ dram', — je crai, Qui grounn’nait. — Mais n’la refus’rait pon Enfin, fouai d’houmme, II est, en soumme, Un te’ grounneux, qui m’est avis Qu’i’ grounn’nait meme dans 1’ Paradis ! JERSEY POEMS. EE GROGNARD. {Literal translation into French — continued.) Qu’on lui parle d'enfants ! “ Ah, oui, oui ! 55 Dira-t-il, “ Les marmots sont charmants ! Quand ils sont petits, ce n’est que piailler ! Quand ils sont grands, c’est pire encore, Ils sont toujours a faire quelque mal; Pour bien en dire, ce sont des vauriens ! Je n’en ai pas Comme de raison Mais ! — les siens de mon voisin Viennent pietiner dans mon jardin ! ” Est-ce des femmes dans d’autres temps ? “Ah, la la ! ” Comme il fera, “ J’aime encore mieux les enfants ! Ah ! laissez-les faire a leur tete, Et baillez leur robes et rubans, Dites toujours oui a tous leurs plans, Sans doute elles vous feront bien la fete ; Mais dis non, Pour un petit moment ! Et puis apres viens me dire, mon cher, Quelle sorte de grimaces on t’a fait ! ” Parlez-lui d'amitie ! II rira Et dira : “ Ah oui-ja, c’est quelque-chose de beau ! Eh ! qu’un homme bailie de bons fricots. A qui veut emprunter qu’il donne ; Qu’il ne demande jamais a personne, II aura des amis par monceaux ! Mais que son sort Eprouve de revers, Et j’ai l’idee, s’il les comptait, Qu’il s’arreterait au premier doigt ! Qu'on lui parle enfin, Soit n’importe Sur quelle sorte, Selon lui tout est absurdite ! Rien n’est si beau, — rien n’est si bon, Qu’il ne trouve a redire dessus ! En verite, Si on lui offrait un verre, — je crois, Qu’il grognerait. — Mais ne le refuserait pas ! Enfin, foi d’ homme, II est, en somme, Un tel grognard, que c’est mon avis, Qu’il grognerait meme dans le Paradis ! 375 376 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. LA FILLE AMOUREUSE. By Dr. Langlois (Jersey.) Est-che pon la le cannon qui tire ? I faut qu’i sait solei couochant ; E, pour de me v’la qui veurt dire, “ Tu verras betot tan galant ” : Qu’est done qui fait qu’je n’serais faire Aucune chose sans penser en li ? Vraiment v’la qui m’fait quasi crere Qu’i’ faut qu’i’ sait un espeee de chorchi ! II est vrai ch’est l’pus biau gar9on Qu’non piesse trouver dans la paraisse ; Et quand il est la, je n’sais pon, Mais de me je n’sis pus maitresse : Quand i me r’garde, ah ! ch’est qui semblle Que ses iers passent a travers me ; Et quand i m’touche, oh ! oh ! je tremblle ; Je n’sais pon entou qu’est qu’j’ai dans la pe.* Et pis il a d’si belles magneres, Sa vouaix etou, oulle est si douoche ; Nanguia, vraiment, je n’y serais qu’faire, Je l’aime, je l’aime de toute ma forche. Mais il est pus tard que d’eoustume ; Ah ! s’il allait ne r’venin pus : Bon, — ch’est li, — vere, le v’la qui p’tune ; Vite, vite, i faut que j’men aille ll’ouvri l’us !f * Peau. f Us. — French /zw is (a door) JERSEY POEMS. 377 LA FILLE AMOUREUSE. ( Translation into French.) N’est-ce pas 1& le canon qui tire ? II faut qu’il soit soleil couchant ; Et pour moi voilk (ce) qui veut dire, “ Tu verras bientot ton galant ” : Qu’est-ce done qui fait que je ne saurais faire Aucune chose sans penser a lui ? Vraiment voila (ce) qui me fait presque croire, Qu’il faut qu’il soit une espece de sorcier ! II est vrai que e’est le plus beau gar 5 on Qu’on puisse trouver dans la paroisse ; Et quand il est la, je ne sais pas, Mais de moi je ne suis plus maitresse : Quand il me regarde, ah ! e’est qu’il semble, Que ses yeux passent a travers de moi ; Et quand il me touche, oh ! oh ! je tremble ; Je ne sais pas du tout ce qui me prend. Et puis il a de si belles manieres, Sa voix aussi, elle est si douce ; Non-ja, vraiment, je ne saurais qu’y faire, Je l’aime, je l’aime de toute ma force. Mais il est plus tard que de coutume ; Ah ! s’il n’allait plus revenir : Bon, — e’est lui, — vrai, le voila qui fume ; Vite, vite, il faut que je m’en aille lui ouvrir la porte. 378 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS, A DESCRIPTION OF GOREY HARBOUR. Au pi des murailles d’chu noble et vier chate, Que d’pis tant d’annees la me vint bagne, Et d’iou qu’ nou peut vaie, sus les cotes de France, Des maisons, des moulins, et l’cliochi de Coutance ; Des sablions, des roquiers, de p’tits et d’grands batiaux, Qui vont et qui vennent, qui remuent chu ches iaux ; Est un havre qui nagueres, pouore, calme et tranquille, Contenait trais batiaux touones sus lus quilles, Des mouonchiaux d’gallots et d’ecalles de bainin, Pus d’unne sale mare oue nageait du fretin, Du vraic, unne vieille ancre, deux dranets et une sene, Unne corde a siqui, des c’minsoles sans guennes, Siex cliavets a houmards, et quiques avirons, Deux s’trais bijueuques qu’ nou zappelait maisons, Et d’zefans cracheurs qui, manque de braies, Se vautraient dans la vase, comme des betes a saie. Mais d’pis qu’ acheteurre nos Messieurs d’Zetats, Baillent tant de leur goule, et font tant d’embarras, E qu’ nos savans Ministres, ov tout lus zesprit, Ne disent quasi ren sur les lois de Geri, Et qui laissent tout couore, comme ava le russe, Comme si zavaient peue settlement d’ouvri le be, Faut y s’etonner qu’ les affaires vont de travers, Et qu’ nou s’en se print es pouores hitriers, Que ne pensaient gueres au mitan d’lus travas, D’ave ren a demeler ov Messieurs des Etats. Autefais du mains, sus les vieilles hitrieres, J’ pequions tranquillement, comme faisaient nos grand’-peres, &c. — La Bataiile de G our ay , i8j8. (Jersey.) JERSEY POEMS. 379 In French. Au pied des murailles de ce noble et vieux chateau, Que depuis tant d’annees la mer vient baigner, Et d’ou on peut voir sur les cotes de France, Des maisons, des moulins, et le clocher de Coutances ; Des sables, des rochers, de petits et de grands bateaux, Qui vont et qui viennent, qui remuent sur ces eaux ; Est un havre qui nagueres pur, calme et tranquille Contenait trois bateaux tournes sus leurs quilles, Des monceaux de caillous et d’ ecailles de patelle Plus d’une sale mare ou nageait du fretin, Du varech, une vieille ancre, deux filets et une seine, Une corde a secher, des camisoles sans cols, Six casiers a homards, et quelques rames, Deux ou trois bicoques qu’ on appellait maisons, Et des enfans crasseux qui, faute de culottes, Se vautraient dans la vase, cdmme des betes a soie (cochons). Mais depuis qu’ a cette heure nos Messieurs des Etats, Donnent tant de leur gueule, et font tant d’embarras, Et que nos savans Ministres, avec tout leur esprit, Ne disent quasi rien sur les lois de Jersey, Et qui laissent tout courir comme descendant le ruisseau, Comme s’ils avaient peur seulement d’ouvrir le bee Faut-il s’etonner que les affaires vont a travers Et que nous nous en prenons aux pauvres huitriers Qui ne pensaient guere au milieu de leurtravaux D’avoir rien a demeler avec Messieurs des Etats Autrefois du moins sus les vieilles huitrieres Je pechais tranquillement comme faisaient nos grandperes, &c. 380 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. JEAN GRAIN D’ORGE.— JOHN BARLEYCORN. J’ai oui qu’il y’avait dans l’orient Treis rouais, du temps d’ St. George, Et q’ chacun d’aeux fit un serment D’ mettre a mort Jean Grain-d’orge. D’ leux grand’ querue i’ font un rion Pour l’enterrair sons 1’ frie, — Jean Grain-d’orge, men vier gar$on, V’ la ta course finie ! Pour tout chun’na l’printemps ram’nit, La pllie et la rousaie, — Jean Grain-d’orge ressuscitit, L’etoun’ment d’ la contraie. Jour apres jour, i’ pousse, i’ creit, S’enfle, et n’est pus si tendre ; Sa tete s’couvre d’longs piquets, Rangis pour le defendre. L’ soleil brulant, qu’emplle nos sacs, Fait jaunir sen visage. Les genouaix gourds la tete en bas, Tout dit q’ Jean est sus Page. I pallit, tremblle, et nou l’vet bien, Sa forche se consume ; Mais des enn’mis du cher chrequien, L’iniquita'i s’allume. Auveun grand faux,-— j’terfis d’effre ! — Sa tchiesse i’ l’ont copaie ; I’ l’ont houlai dans leux tumbre, Coum si ch’ n’etait qu’un plaie ! Gav’lai dans l’aire insolemment, Nou 1’ capuche une achie, Et pisau caoup du vent nou l’pend, — Ah ! qu’ est’ done qui s’en s’cie ? I font sa fosse, — ont-i’ du sens ? — Jusqu ’au bord l’iaue y broue, Et Jean Grain-d’orge est flianqui d’dans, Que l’bouan vieil fonce ou noue ! Etendu sus 1’ pava'i, 1’ maufait, Martyr de leux furie, I 5 1’ remouquaient des q’i’ mourtrait, L’ moindre signal de vie. A la chaleur d’un faeu cruel I’ font fondre la mouelle, Et suair les os du cher p’tit vieil, Dont la barbe est si belle ; Et enfin, — j’en sis tout emu, — Ossi vrai qu’j’ ai nom George, Ten sang, Jean Grain-d’orge, i l’ont bu, Ten pur sang, Jean Grain-d’orge ! George Metivier (Guernsey), GUERNSEY POEMS. 381 JEAN GRAIN D’ORGE. The same in Modern French. J’ai oui qu’il y avait dans l’orient Trois rois, du temps de St. George Et que chacun d’eux fit un serment De mettre a mort Jean Grain-d’orge. De leur grande charrue ils font un sillon Pour Penterrer sous le gazon, — Jean Grain-d’orge, mon vieux gar5on, Voila ta course finie ! Cependant le printemps ramenak, La pluie et la rosee, — Jean Grain-d’orge ressusgitait, L’etonnement de la contree. Jour apres jour, il pousse, il croit, S’enfle, et n’est plus si tendre, Sa tete se couvre de longs piquets, Ranges pour le defendre. Le soleil briilant, qui remplit nos sacs, Fait jaunir son visage, Les genoux engourdis, la tete en bas, Tout dit que Jean est sur Page (Fst devenu age). Il palit, tremble, et on le voit bien, Sa force se consume ; Mais des ennemis du cher chretien, L’iniquite s’allume. Avec une grande faux, — je tressaillis d’effroi ! — Sa cuisse ils ont coupee ; Ils Pont jettee dans leur tombereau, Comme si ce n’etait qu’un cochon ! ( literally une pht). Jette dans l’aire insolemment, On le rosse un pendant quelque temps, Et depuis au coup du vent on le pend, — Ah ! qui est-ce done qui s’en soucie ? Ils font sa fosse — ont-ils du sens ? Jusqu’ au bord l’eau y flotte. Et Jean Grain-d’orge est jette dedans Que le bon vieux enfonce ou nage ! Etendu sous le pave, le malheureux, Martyr de leur furie, Ils le remorquaient des qu’il montrait Le moindre signe de vie. A la chaleur d’un feu cruel, Ils font fondre la moelle, Et suer les os du cher petit vieux, Dont la barbe est si belle. Et enfin ; — j’en suis tout emu — Aussi vrai que j’ai nom George, Ton sang, Jean Grain-d orge, ils Pont bu, Ton pur sang, Jean Grain-d’orge. 382 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. V PRISONGNIER LOYAL. From Lovelace “ to Althcea front prison A. D. 1648. When Love with uncontroll’d wings Hovers within my gates ; And my divine Althaea brings To whisper at the gates. When I lie tangled in her hair And fettered by her eye, The birds that wander in the air Know no such liberty. Quand I’tendre amour dans ma prison, Malgre les tarouets, vole, Qu’a travers les barres, en d’muchon, Ten cher devis m’ console, Que j’sis emplioqui dans tes cvaeux, Et q’ten r’gard m’enhalode, Les mouissons n’sont pas si heuraeux, Bien que j’seis sous custode ! Quand l’purvin d’Bourdiaux, cliaire et fraix D’main en main fait la ronde, Nos hauts fronts parfumais d’ieillets, Nos coeurs au-d’ssus du monde, J’ cliiingeon l’ner chagrin et la set Dans l’jus qui les soulage — L’paisscn qui terjous noue et bet N’est pas si libre, j’gage ! Sitot que j’chante, a grand goulias, Faisant la figue es r’belles, Charles, men rouai, des potentats L’ noble et gloriaeux modele, Sitot que j’ revele es echos Tout 1’ bien que j’lli souhaite, L’nord-est que fait dansair les fliots Est’-i’ pus libre ? — ah, miette ! Ch’ n’est pas les murs qui font l’donjon, Ni les barriaux la cage ; U coeur vrai, loyal, et sans soup 9 on, En fait un hermitage : Dans m’n ame, a l’envi, daeux biaux yux Dardent leux etinchelles — L J seraphin, 1’ rossignol desciux, N’est pas si libre qu elle ! — George Metivjer. GUERNSEY POEMS. 383 LE P.RISONNIER LOYAL. A.D. 1648. In French. Quand le tendre amour dans ma prison Malgre les verrous, vole, Qu’a travers les barres, en cachette, Ton cher visage me console, Que je suis entortille dans tes cheveux, Et que ton regard m’empetre, Les oiseaux ne sont pas si heureux Bien je sois sous custode. Quand le pur vin de Bordeaux, clair et frais, De main en main fait la ronde, Nos hauts fronts parfumes d’oeillets, Nos coeurs au dessus du monde, Je plonge le noir chagrin et la soif Dans le jus qui les soulage — Le poisson qui toujours nage et boit N’est pas si libre, je gage. Sitot que je chante, comme un grand bavard, Faisant la figue aux re belles, Charles, mon roi, des potentats Le noble et glorieux modele, Sitot que je revele aux echos Tout le bien que je lui souhaite, Le nord-est qui fait danser les flots Est-il plus libre ? — ah, non ! Ce ne sont pas les murs qui font le donjon, Ni les barreaux la cage ; Le coeur vrai, loyal, et sans soup9on, En fait un hermitage : Dans mon ame a l’envie deux beaux yeux Dardent leur etincelles — Leseraphin, le rossignol des cieux, N’est pas si libre qu’ elle. 384 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. The following literary curiosity in Guernsey French is an approximation to phonetic spelling on English principles A translation into modern French follows: — - Qui ^hante qui vourdra de belles verte prairie, De montawgnes et d’vallons, ornoy de flieurs des quans, Et remplie de berbis, de vawk, et de ptie viaux ; Qui tout ensemble fait un payzawge manifique. Ma Muze q’est ambisieuze de pliere a un ami, N’se sent pouit inspiroy a racontigh en vers, Toute 9hez belles affaires la. A l’aspire plus-a-kow A 9hantigh d’un endre, qui p’tetre nay paw si bel, A l’eil d’un pour pighzant, ni pour sujet de vers, Si biaux, et musical a toute sorte d’oreilles. Salut done, terres sterile ! la oil il nie kray rien, Paw seulement une p’tite arbre, oil poor p’tite margeritte, Pour rejouir les pawsant ! Terres sterile ! Salut ! * * * * * II semble osin k^hin nou ve des ptie moutons, Et grande betes a kat-pee a majar la vardure, Tandi q’les koc-e-dawk, les kanar et dindons, Suivis par leux fiimelles, et leux biaux p’tie pouawchins, Mange osin leux vitailles qui trouve par les courtis. * * * * * Mais je kre karpresent, il est temps d’etre sarieux, Et de conclure mes vers d’une fa9on diffarante. Chez pourki 9har ami, ne se point affrontigh A 9hu q’je dit en riant, mais accepte les souhaits Que j’fais bien sarieuzment et du fin-fons d’man coeur. J’espere que l’bouan suc9ay rira su tes desirs, Et quand tu sraw lawsigh des fatigues du coumer9e, Je souhaite bien k^hin que tu trouve tes tout plaisirs Auve ta 9here petite fawm, et q’9hez plaisirs la dure. Que d’autre suive osin l’example que tu leux mourtre, Et koiim te quil emplie une partie d’leux richesse A cultivigh la terre, la oil jamais devant, La karrtie a etigh, ni la beke du pighzant. Epie il maritrons koiim tu l’fais bien dayja, Paw seulment boiian suc9ay, — mais les l’wanges de tout l’monde. — La Kahute cPOrni , Southampton. GUERNSEY-FRENCH. 385 In French. Que chantequi voudra de belles vertes prairies, De montagnes et de vallons, ornes de fleursdes champs, Et remplis de brebis, de vaches, et de petits veaux ; Qui tout ensemble font un paysage majgnifique. Ma Muse qui est ambitieuse de plaire a un ami, Ne se sent point inspiree a raconter en vers Toutes ces belles affaires — la. Elle aspire plus encore A chanter d’un endroit, qui peut-etre n’est pas si beau A l’oeil d’un pauvre paysan, ni pour sujet de vers, Si beau, et musical a toute sorte d’oreilles. Salut done, terres steriles, la ou il n’y croit rien, Pas seulement un petit arbre, ou pauvre petite marguerite Pour rejouir les passants ! Terres steriles ! Salut. * * * *■ II semble aussi qu’ici on voit des petits moutons, Et grandes betes a quatre pieds manger la verdure, Tandis que la volaille, les canards et dindons, Suivis par leur femelles et leurs beaux petits poussins, Mangent aussi leur nourriture qu’ils trouvent parmi les champs. * * * * * Maisje crois qu’a present, ilest temps d’etre serieux, Etde conclure mes vers d’unefa9on differente. C’est pourquoi cher ami, ne sois point fache De ce que je dis en riant, mais accepte les souhaits, Que ie fais bien serieusement et du vrai fond de mon coeur. J’espere que le bon succes rira sur tes desirs, Et quand tu seras las des fatigues du commerce, Je souliaitebien qu’ici tu trouves tout plasir Avec ta chere petite femme, et que ces plaisirs — la durent. Que d’autres suivent aussi l’example que tu leur montre, Et comme toi qu’ils emploient une partie de leurs richesses A cultiver la terre, la ou jamais auparavant, La charrue a ete, ni la beche du paysan. Et puis ils meriteront comme tu le fais bien deja, Non seulement bon succes; — mais les louanges de tout le monde. C C 386 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. These represent the dialects as they are now spoken. The following is the oldest Anglo-Norman of the Guern- sey laws ; the words in which they differ from the Anglo- Norman in England being in italics : — Les Pies Capitaulx de la St. Michiel , temis le ve jour du moyes de Octobre , fan 1 SZ4> par Nicollas de Rosel, Lieutenant de James Guille , Baillif ; presens h ceu James Le Feyvre, Henry Beauvoer , Nicollas Careye , James de Havil- launt , Thomas Devic , Pieres Martin , Thomas Henry, Johan Le Mesurier, et Johan Effart, Jnrez. Item, que nulluy n’engrossira nulle marchandisse qui viendra dedens le pays et vitailles dedens aulcun navire, jusques a ceu que il este iij jours au galley, et que cheulx qui ayront achate la marchandisse en delivreront a chacun qui viendra pour en avoir au prix que il est afere durant la descharge, sur peynne de x livres toutes foyes et quante, comme vitailles ou aultre chose qui seront profit ibles pour le bien commun. Item, que nulluy ffientretiandra ne gardera que ung chien a sa messon sur peynne de v souls, synon a cheulx a qui il apartiendra. Item, il a este regarde par Justice que nulluy ne logera nul estrangier pour demeurer en l’isle sur peynne de lx souls, se che n’est pour son serviteur ou sa servante. Item, chacun copera leurs fosses en droict, eulx qui sunt sur les chemyns par ou nous ne peult passer de ung bort et de aultre. Il est ordonne par Justice que les Connestables, chacun a leur paroesse, feront ajorner tous les paroessiens pour ramender les chemyns par ou l’on passe dedens le jour de la St. Johan, et que ils seront ajornes par leurs Vintonniers, et en cas que il y ait aulcuns defaillans, il est regarde que les dits Vintonniers prendront de leurs biens a la somme de chinq soulz pour estre exposses a la reparacion des dits chemyns, et verront les Officiers du Roy voer executes les regards de Justice sur la peynne de chent soulz, tant du Procureur que du Controlle. Il est regarde par Justice que nully n’aira plus de bestes que il aira terre a les nourir et garder honnestement, et les Officiers du Roy et les Connestables en ayront la surveue a chacune paroesse pour en faire inquisicion, et les Con- nestables viendront relater cheulx que ils ayront trouve fautibles, chacun en leur parroesse, par devant Justice. Les Plez Capitaulx d’apres Noel , tenus le xvj in which the bailiff presides and the presence of three and in some cases two jurats is required. The Cour du Quartier sits once a week for police purposes and once a week for civil business. The Court of Heritage entertains suits regarding real estate and debtor’s estates in bankruptcy either voluntary or enforced. The Royal Court of Jersey is also subdivided into the Cour du Samedi , the Cour d Heritage and the Cour du Billet . The Cour du Samedi corresponds with the Guernsey Cour du Quartier , where general business is transacted. The Cour du Billet deals particularly with actions for arrears of rentes or mortgages. In Jersey all Courts of First Instance (called Nombre Inferieur) consists of the bailiff and two jurats. Appeals lie from the decisions of these courts to the Full Court or Nombre Superieur con- sisting of the bailiff and at least seven jurats. It is worth while mentioning that the jurats who sit in the Court of First Instance are not debarred from sitting in the Full Court when an appeal from their own judgment is being heard. The opening of the Heritage Courts in each term is called the “ Assize d’Heritage,” and is attended with much ceremony. The lieutenant-governor and the Full Court assemble, and the Seigneurs or lords of manors and fiefs who owe suit of court attend to do homage. This cere- mony is followed in the evening by a dinner provided at the expense of the Crown and of which the governor, the bailiff, the jurats, and all the members of the court have a right to partake ; — “Edere cum Rege” as the custom is titled in old records. The proceedings are carried on in the courts in all the islands in the French language, which often occasions great inconvenience, owing to the large number of English resi- dents in the islands. The bailiff comments on the evidence or arguments of the pleaders, collects the opinion of the FF 2 436 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. jurats, and declares the sentence. Except in the (Guernsey) “ Court of Judgments” the opinions are expressed by the bailiff and jurats publicly. Pleadings in these courts are very simple. The plaintiff must serve on the defendant a summons, or declaration, setting forth the nature of his claim, and in some cases the reasons on which it is grounded are added. If not suffi- ciently definite, the declaration is sent back by the court for amendment. If the defendant means to plead any objections by way of demurrer or special plea, these are at once heard, and disposed of. If the parties join issue on the merits of the case, the court hear the parties, or their counsel, and decide. If the case be intricate, the parties are sometimes sent before the Grefifier,* who reports, con- densing the matter in dispute, and presenting the points to the court for decision. The Guernsey Court of Police may be held at any time, Thursday morning being the regular day. The bailiff and two jurats must be present. No punishment more severe than one month’s solitary confinement is inflicted, but bail may be required for the good conduct of the accused. In default of bail, if the accused is a stranger, instead of being committed to prison, he may be ordered to quit the island. The Guernsey Criminal Court requires the presence of seven jurats, with the bailiff, and before it are tried not only cases strictly criminal, but cases of libel and slander, assault, and infractions of local ordinances. Trial by jury does not exist in Guernsey. The forms of proceeding in criminal cases, which, till very recently, were exceedingly anomalous and objection- able, are now nearly assimilated to those of the English courts. The same laws of evidence and the same systems of examination and cross-examination are adopted on the trial, but there is a difference in the style of the preliminary examination of the prisoner. It must be admitted that the people of both islands, long accustomed to their own peculiar institutions, are not only In Guernsey, before one of the jurats. COURT OF ALDERNEY. 437 unfavourable to any radical change, but unfitted for it by their habits and education. The communities are small ; and, in such cases, there is a certain practical limit to the mischief arising from old and imperfect institutions that is not found to exist in larger countries. At the same time the practice of the law courts in both islands has long been felt to be in many cases cumbrous, not to say objectionable. Indeed, where so much that is personal interferes in the administration of justice, and where personal and family in- fluence cannot but be felt, it is not astonishing that reason- able complaints are sometimes heard. Fundamental changes are doubtless needed in many departments of both the Courts and the States, but it is not likely that altera- tions will be readily accepted by the islanders, who adhere with extraordinary pertinacity to their ancient customs and privileges.* The court at Alderney is altogether subordinate to that of Guernsey. It consists of a president, called the judge, six jurats, an attorney-general, the grefifier, the prevot , or sheriff, and the sergent. There is a Court of Chief Pleas as in Guernsey. The jurisdiction in matters of correctional police is final where the offence can be punished by a month’s imprisonment, or a fine not exceeding £$. In more serious cases, it is limited to preliminary investigation as to the facts of the crime, the case being referred to Guernsey if there is sufficient evidence to justify a trial. In civil cases, the court, which must consist of the judge and at least two jurats, has jurisdiction without appeal where the sum in dispute does not exceed £10. Above * During the present century three royal commissions have been appointed to enquire into the laws of Jersey. The first, in 1811, consisted solely of an enquiry as to the mode of electing jurats. The commissioners issued a report, but their recommendations were ignored. In 1846 another commission was issued for enquiring into the criminal laws of both Jersey and Guernsey. Two reports were drawn up, one for Jersey and one for Guernsey. The last commission was in i860, when Sir John Awdry, the Earl of Devon, and Mr. Richard Jebb (barrister) conducted a most exhaustive enquiry into the civil, municipal, and ecclesiastical laws of Jersey. The report is valuable as a very reliable statement of the laws of the island, and is often cited in the courts as an authority on some matters. Many practical and important remedies were suggested for amending various abuses and defects, but very few have been carried out. 438 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. that sum there lies an appeal to Guernsey. The ordinances of the court in Alderney are limited to police regulations and the repair and maintenance of roads, the penalty inflicted being a fine. An appeal lies to Guernsey. The court at Sark consists of the seneschal, or judge, the prevot , and the greffier. They are appointed by the feudal lord, or seigneur. The seneschal has complete juris- diction in petty offences, but his right of punishment is limited to a fine of three livres tournois (about four shil- lings) and three days’ imprisonment. Where more severe punishment is called for, the case is sent to Guernsey. There is a Court of Chief Pleas in Sark, the members being the holders of forty indivisible tenements, into which the land is divided. The lord must be present, either person- ally or by deputy. The judge presides. The consent of the lord is necessary for the enactment of an ordinance. In civil cases the power of the seneschal is unrestricted. The vicissitudes of the Court of Sark are well worthy of record. It has already been related how Sark was colonised from Jersey in the reign of Queen Elizabeth by Helier de Carteret. In 1579 the inhabitants assembled with their seigneur and founded a constitution for Sark on the principles of that of Jersey, establishing a court con- sisting of a bailiff and twelve jurats. Two years afterwards we find the Court of Guernsey, of which Sark was a dependency, demanding by what right and authority this court was established. A special commission was appointed and the court was abolished. In 1583 the Privy Council appears to have interested itself in the fate of this little island, and a court of five jurats, on the pattern of that of Alderney, was appointed, the senior jurat to preside. An appeal lay from the decision of this court to Guernsey. This court existed until 167^, when, during the religious troubles of the times, all the jurats were recalled owing to their refusal to adhere to the Anglican form of worship, and it was found impossible to replace them by capable men. Upon this, in 1675, by an order of the king, the seigneur of Sark was ordered to constitute a feudal court, and to appoint a seneschal for the administration of justice. This is the origin of the present Sark Court. LAWS RELATING TO PROPERTY. 439 The small islands of Herm and Jethou are considered as part of Guernsey, and offences committed there are tried either in the police or superior court of that island accord- ing to circumstances. Widows enjoy one-third as usufruct. A widower enjoys his deceased wife’s estate, if there has been issue of the marriage, unless he remarries, in which case it reverts. Children born out of wedlock may be legitimised by subsequent intermarriage of the parents. A father cannot, during the term of his own life, give absolutely to any child a larger proportion of his real estate than would come to him. Any gift of this kind can be annulled after the death of the father unless the action is delayed more than a year. In Jersey a person may devise property that he has acquired by purchase ( acquets ) provided he leave neither children nor other descendants. All mortgages and other charges on real property are registered, and may be known. In the event of an estate being over-mortgaged, the last mortgagee can only recover by taking to the estate on payment of the debts. Should the last mortgagee refuse, the estate is offered on the same terms to the last but one, and so on till it finds a proprietor. In Guernsey, lands sold for money can be claimed by the lord of the manor, or even by the nearest relations of the seller, on payment of the purchase money. Personal property beyond one-third of the estate can only be willed by those who have neither wife nor children. Where there is neither wife nor child, a testator may devise his whole estate as he pleases. Natives not possessed of landed property and strangers are alike liable to arrest in the islands for debt, the pursuer having the right to prevent the debtor’s departure from the island. The creditor may seize either body or chattels, but not both, nor can money about the person be seized. For debts contracted out of the islands, arrest is permitted on evidence properly authenticated either by the creditor actually following the debtor in person or by giving a power of attorney to an islander. In Jersey, a creditor cannot now arrest a debtor on a demand of any kind not signed by the debtor, without having made a declaration 440 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. on oath that his demand is well founded, to the best of his knowledge. A detailed account must be annexed to this declaration, a copy of which may be claimed by the credi- tor. Unless bail be accepted, imprisonment will follow arrest. Encroachments on property are sometimes met by a very peculiar exclamatory appeal, called Clameur de Haro , considered to be the remains of an old appeal to Rollo, Duke of Normandy. The party aggrieved must, on his knees, and in the presence of witnesses, utter the following invocation : — Haro ! Haro ! Haro ! a l' aide mon Prince , on me fait tort ! This appeal must be respected, and the alleged wrong must at once cease, until the Royal Court has adjudicated thereon. If the encroachment is proved a fine is imposed, and no islander would venture to resist this curious form of injunction, which is frequently resorted to. The peculiar nature of the island customs with regard to the rights of real property is such that no one should purchase land in the islands, or even lease a house for more than nine years, without sound professional advice. All parts of the property of a vendor are jointly and severally liable for all debts charged upon the whole, or any part, so that it may happen that, after a piece of land is purchased, and a house erected on it, the purchaser may be deprived of his property because the vendor subsequently becomes bankrupt, and the other parts of the vendors estate will not discharge the debts secured on it. So also in the event of a lease being granted, if the lessee should afterwards become insolvent, the creditors can dispossess the tenant, notwithstanding the covenant of the lease. All this has arisen from the feudal manner of regarding real property as being held by the owner in trust for society and the lord, rather than as absolutely as his own, to be dealt with as he pleases. Laws have recently been passed in Jersey to obviate some of the difficulties in the transfer of land. In Jersey land is held in various ways, either as farms on lease paying annual rent, or as freehold ; but the lease is limited to nine years, and the freeholds are subject, in many cases, to an annual payment, representing the interest of part of the purchase money left unpaid, and therefore a DESCENT OF LANDED PROPERTY. 441 kind of mortgage debt. This is generally a number ol quarters of wheat, and in Guernsey varies with the price of that article. In Jersey the interest is fixed. The quarter of wheat is estimated at ^18, and the annual pay- ment on the quarter is 14s. 9d. Obligations of this kind are commonly bought and sold under the denomination of “ rentes ; ” and the mode of tenure, though complicated and apparently inconvenient, is not without certain local ad- vantages. In Guernsey, the land is rarely leased, owing to the difficulty of binding the legal heirs of an estate to agree to the lease in the event of the death of the actual lessor. The descent of landed property is governed by different laws in Jersey and Guernsey. In the former island, on the death of a proprietor, the eldest son takes the principal house and about two acres of land adjoining, with one- tenth of the real property, including rents. The remainder is shared equally among all the children. In Guernsey the eldest son inherits only about one-sixth of an acre of land with the house. He is, indeed, at liberty to keep possession of all land to which he can have access without crossing the public road ; but for this he must pay to his co-heirs a price assessed generally at more than he can afford to pay. In Guernsey the person and goods of a stranger are exempt from arrest until he has resided a year and a day in the island. But this exemption only applies to simple contract debts incurred out of the island. The Royal Courts sit regularly once a fortnight for the passing of deeds of sale of real property. These deeds — locally called contrats or contracts — are signed by the bailiff and two jurats, the parties having sworn not to go against their contents. They are afterwards registered and sealed with the seal of the bailiwick. In ecclesiastical matters both islands are now placed under the Bishop of Winchester. Each has a Dean, whose powers are vague and very limited ; and for a long time after the Reformation there was little episcopal or other ecclesiastical superintendence over the rectors. The ad- vowsons, although now all in the gift of the Crown, belonged originally to certain religious houses in France, and were 442 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. only taken occasionally into the king’s hands in time of war. They were annexed to the Crown on the suppression of the alien priories in the time of Henry V. Originally, of course subject to the head of the Roman Catholic Church, the Reformed Church in the Channel Islands assumed the more severe and extreme phases of Puritanism ; and both in Jersey and Guernsey, but especially the latter, the Presbyterian form and dis- cipline introduced during the reign of Queen Elizabeth has influenced the feelings and habits of the people even to the present day. In each of the larger islands the Dean is one of the rectors ; but as the emoluments and duties of the decanal office are not very large, this can hardly be regarded as a plurality. # No other plurality is admitted. Most of the livings are small, but they are objects of anxious inquiry when a vacancy occurs. Of late years several district churches, in which the English service alone is performed, have been added in the town parishes both of St. Helier’s and St. Peter’s Port. In the country parishes the French language is generally retained ; but at least one English service on each Sunday has lately become a common custom. The rectors in both islands have seats in the legislature. t There is an Ecclesiastical Court in Guernsey, consisting of the Dean as president, the rectors of the island, the Queen’s Procureur, the Queen’s Controle, and four other Advocates, who are Proctors, a Registrar, and an Appari- tor or Beadle. The Ecclesiastical Court in Jersey consists of the Dean as judge, and the rectors as assessors, a proctor, a greffier, an advocate, and an apparitor. When we consider what the constitution of these baili- wicks is, it is almost needless to remark that it stands alone. In Jersey it is much more democratic than in Guernsey. In its working form, it is, doubtless, an oligarchy checked * The Dean of Jersey has the probate of wills of personal property, which are registered in the rolls of the Ecclesiastical Court. Wills of real property are registered in the Royal Court. In Guernsey the probate of wills belongs to the Commissary, who is appointed by the Bishop. He is generally the Dean, but not necessarily so. The Dean is appointed by the Crown. f So far as Guernsey is concerned see page 462 and note thereto. PECULIARITY OF THE CONSTITUTION. 443 by public opinion from below and by the Crown and Par- liament from above. Yet it is essentially an insular one. The bailiff’s is an insular appointment ; and the jurats rest on the ratepayers. It is, at one and the same time, a vestry, a convocation (as shown in its clerical element), a municipality, a parlia- ment. Besides this, it is a constitution, under a suzerain. Thirdly, it is a constitution of bilingual islands, a fact which is of a primary importance when we consider that the political doctrines, in general, are those of Englishmen, whilst the language of the law is French. Fourthly, it is a constitution where the municipal element, from the accumu- lation of wealth and intelligence in a single capital, has an inordinate preponderance. It began in the feudalism which made over the soil of England to a batch of Nor- man nobles, and which was essentially military, and grew up under a commercial system like that of the Hanse Towns. It began with a Romanist, it has continued with a Protestant Church. It began with fiefs, and it has developed a system of practical freeholdership. It is complex, no doubt ; but its complexities are familiar to those who have most to do with them, and who alone can measure their extent. Whether its warmest advocate could say that it has made the prosperity of the islands is doubt- ful. It is only certain that its greatest opponent could never say that it has interfered with their progress. If it has done but little in the way of positive good, it has done less in the way of mischief. Be it ever so bad, it has not been so powerful an instrument of evil as to prevent an extraordinary amount of physical well-doing being developed in spite of it. If not a model constitution, it is not one that should be tampered with. It has the one great element of stability — the confidence of those who know it best, and are most interested in it. Like all consti- tutions, it cannot be judged by what is on paper. Like all constitutions, it works better than its worst, and worse than its best parts, incline us to expect, a priori . Like all constitutions, it has a tendency to mend itself in its weak, and to deteriorate in its good, points. Like all constitu- tions — real constitutions that have stood the wear and tear 444 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. of time and events — it has its tendencies to be affected by circumstances, and to adjust themselves to them. Like all constitutions, it is open to objections on two sides. The islander thinks it too oligarchic, the Englishman too pro- vincial. Yet it is one which has grown up in its own way as much as any constitution in the world. CHAPTER XXIII. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE INHABITANTS, AND THE PRINCIPAL PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. VIEW IN BELCROUTE BAY, NOIRMONT, JERSEY. Manners and Customs. It may be supposed that, in islands which, till recent years, held no regular communication either with England or France, which have been governed by their own laws, and which preserve their ancient institutions, there should be customs and habits interesting in themselves, and re- 446 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. markable as bringing down to modern times remnants of a former condition. Very little, however, of this kind is now to be traced, and it would seem that the last quarter of a century has nearly swept away what few peculiarities formerly existed. Still, no one can go into the cottages and mix much with the country people without observing some characteristic points. Each cottage and old farm- house has, in the kitchen or principal sitting-room, a wooden frame spread with dried fern, called the “ lit de fouaille,” or fern bed, on which the inhabitants repose in the evening. This custom is, no doubt, French, and very old. It is con- nected with all the habits and traditions of the people, and comes into use on such occasions as the vraic harvest, and on all festivals. The older people more especially resort to it ; and though rough, it is by no means an unsightly piece of furniture. It corresponds with the chimney corner in an old English farmhouse where wood is still burnt, and where pit-coal is an unheard-of novelty. Costume is now but little preserved in the Channel Islands. A peculiar and not very ornamental bonnet is occasionally seen in the market-place of Guernsey, covering the head of an ancient woman clothed in a short bedgown of coloured print, over a stuff petticoat. A figure with a slightly-different physiognomy, clothed in nearly the same style, is perhaps somewhat more common in Sark. Beyond this little can be described. The country-people and the native shopkeepers in the towns, both in Jersey and Guernsey, are somewhat indepen- dent in their manner towards strangers, but very rarely uncivil or disobliging. Their want of polish is, however, remarkable if contrasted with that of the same classes of French. The inhabitants of the small country farms and their labourers live, for the most part, simply, and on food yielding but little nourishment, cabbage and conger soup being standard dishes, and meat, except near towns, rarely seen. One consequence of this is a somewhat stunted development, readily observed by a stranger. The people of both sexes and of all classes dress comfortably and warmly, and, as may be imagined from the returns of the savings bank, are in the habit of hoarding, and are exceed- MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 447 ingly careful in regard to money matters. Even those who have secured incomes sufficient to render them inde- pendent are generally parsimonious. The extreme division of the land and the nature of the tenure of landed pro- perty induces almost all the resident heads of families, who are able to save more than a few pounds, to invest either in land or “ rentes.” There are always more buyers than sellers of such property, and the price is generally very high. The Guernsey “ quarter of rent ” is estimated as worth, on an average, twenty pounds currency ; and those who cannot invest in land purchase these small rent charges on land, which are broken up into the smallest fractions of a quarter. Within the last few years a law has been passed in Guernsey permitting the holders of land, saddled with these small and fractional charges, to redeem them at a fixed price. The passing of this law was not, however, effected without serious opposition, extending even to an expensive appeal to the Queen in Council. The higher ranks in both islands assimilate in their general habits to the educated classes in country and cathedral towns in England and elsewhere. There is, how- ever, a perceptible difference. Cliques naturally, and perhaps necessarily, exist in a society where the whole private history of everybody is known and remembered. Owing, also, to the small number of families and the constant intermarriages of their members, nearly all those mixing in daily intercourse are cousins, more or less nearly related. In both Jersey and Guernsey the divisions of society among the natives are marked. In Guernsey at no very distant period the divisions were very distinct, — one, in- cluding those families who prided themselves on ancient descent and landed estates, and who regarded themselves as the pur sang , — and the other, those whose fortunes had been made in trade. The former were called sixties , and the latter forties. These names are still heard and the feelings that prompted them still exist, though they are not so plainly expressed. The educational advantages open to the forties by their ample means, and fully made use of by them, have, 448 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. however, done away with any difference in manners that may formerly have been noticeable. In Jersey, the English residents form so large a propor- tion of the inhabitants as to make up several distinct societies, and thus there is much less dependence on the islanders than in Guernsey, where the English element is small in comparison, and not sufficient to act independently. In Guernsey, the hospitality of the principal island families is freely extended to strangers ' who bring good introductions, and visits are readily interchanged with them. Court-Houses, Public Libraries, Etc. The Court-Houses in all the islands are plain buildings, destitute of any architectural effect. That of Jersey, is a modern building erected some thirty years ago. The previous edifice, which stood on the same site, bore the date 1760. In the hall, where the court holds its sittings, are some portraits of considerable interest and value. The “ Battle of Jersey/' 1781, is a fine copy of Copley's famous picture in the National Gallery. There are protraits of General Conway, a former Governor of the Island, by Gainsborough, and of George III., besides many of local eminent men. The interior of the new chamber in which the Jersey States sit is very pretty. The Guernsey Court- House is an unassuming edifice built of granite in 1799. It contains protraits of the Queen, Admiral Lord de Saumarez, Sir John Doyle, Bailiff Brock, and other distinguished Guernseymen. Jersey possesses a public library, founded in 1736 by the Rev. Philip Falle, author of the well-known History of Jer- sey, published in 1694. The present building adjoining the Court-House was erected in 1886. The institution is, how- ever, little used, inasmuch as it contains few modern works. Guernsey is much better off in this respect. In the Guille- Alles Library, founded and endowed in 1856 by Thomas Guille, a Jurat of the Royal Court, and Frederick Mansell Alles, the Guernseymen possess an institution of which they may well be proud. A valuable museum and lecture MILITIA. 449 hall have been recently added. The museum is remark- ably good in all respects as a local collection, being particularly rich in natural history. Jersey has at present no museum worthy of the name. The Societe Jersiaise, a local archaeological society, has however formed a nucleus, which, through the munificence of a native of Jersey, is likely to be developed and become an important addition to the attractions of the island. Militia. The feudal character of the island customs is nowhere more clearly shown than in the establishment of the militia Every male between the ages of sixteen and thirty-three in Guernsey is bound to render man-service to the Crown, and' this extends not only to the islanders by descent, and those born in the islands during the residence of their parents, but to all persons (British subjects) who derive income from any employment or trade carried on in them. In Alderney the ages are from sixteen to forty-five. In Jersey after ten years’ active service militiamen are trans- ferred to the reserve ; whilst no man is admitted in the active list if he has attained the age of forty-five. — The Sark Militia is disbanded. Both in Jersey and in Guernsey there are three regiments of the line, and in Alderney an artillery corps. There is also a regiment of Artillery in each island, consisting in Jersey of four, and in Guernsey of two garrison batteries, beside field artillery. The lieutenant-governors of the islands are the commanders-in-chief of these forces. The number of men under arms in Jersey is about 1,800 whilst the strength of the Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark militia is about 1,500. In Jersey, Guernsey, and Alderney, garrisons of regular troops are always maintained. In ordinary times of peace the dress, arms, and accoutre- ments, as well as ammunition for the militia, are all supplied by the Sovereign ; and the days of drill and practice, whether rifle or artillery, are limited to a very small number. There are, however, always a certain number of G G 450 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. field days, and all the regulations are capable of modifica- tion by the lieutenant-governor for the time being. The lieutenant-governor has it thus in his power to harass the population if he should think fit to do so. Strangers resident in the islands, and not deriving an income from any employment carried on there, are, in time of peace, altogether exempt. During war, they are, how- ever, personally liable. The horses, carts, and other means of conveyance of all persons, are liable to be taken in time of war for the service of the Crown in the defence of the islands. Educational Institutions. In the islands of Jersey and Guernsey there are several public institutions for educational, charitable, sanitary and other purposes, that require brief notice. Of these, some are of considerable antiquity ; but most of them are due to the liberality of modern times. Some are exceedingly creditable — others, rather the contrary. Victoria College, in Jersey (erected to commemorate the visit of Her Majesty and Prince Albert to the island, in September, 1846) was first opened for instruction in 1852. It is a handsome building, well placed, overlooking the town on the eastern side, and from one direction is ex- tremely picturesque. It is surrounded with trees and public walks in terraces. There is an excellent staff of teachers, and the number of youth in course of education is considerable. It also possesses some special advantages at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Elizabeth College, Guernsey, has arisen out of a school founded in 1 563 by Queen Elizabeth. Although endowed with lands, which have since become valuable, and with wheat rents, it was so badly organised and so much neglected as to be almost nominal until the year 1824, when means were adopted for placing it on an efficient footing. The present structure, unfortunately harmonising in its utter tastelessness with other modern buildings in the island, was erected at great cost, and presents a bald, plastered unmeaning face, too prominent to be overlooked. In COLLEGES. 451 addition to its endowment, which secures excellent in- struction at a cheap rate (the College dues amounting only to £12) there are annual prizes to the value of more than £100. The management of the College is entrusted to nine Directors, of whom the Dean of Guernsey is ex-officio chairman, subject to the permanent visitation of the Bishop of Winchester and two special visitors appointed by the Crown. There is a Principal and Vice-Principal, and several other masters. The number of scholars is very large, and the success of the students who have proceeded to the English universities has been remarkable. Natives of the Channel Islands, or members of Victoria College, Jersey, or Elizabeth College, Guernsey, who have been students during two of the three years preceding the examination, have the advantages of scholarships at Pem- broke, Exeter, and Jesus Colleges, Oxford. These scholar- ships, now of the value of £%o per annum, were founded by Charles I. and Bishop Morley of Winchester, and are tenable for two years, with renewal at the discretion of the College where the scholarship is held. About one vacancy occurs each year. There are also Channel Islands’ Ex- hibitions of the value of £^o a year to be obtained under similar conditions. Jersey also possesses a Ladies’ College of considerable extent, with an unsurpassed staff of teachers. In all the parishes in the various islands there are schools for the education of the children of the farmers and small proprietors. In these instruction is given in French and English. They are tolerably well conducted, and there is no reasonable excuse left to parents for the neglect of the education of their children. Societies and Associations. The Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society of Jersey was established in 1833, and has been very success- ful in creating a spirit of industry and emulation among the small farmers, premiums being given with a view to encourage the improvement of agriculture, the breed of cattle, domestic economy, cleanliness and comfort in cot- 452 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. tages, and industry and good behaviour among servants and labourers in husbandry. Exhibitions are held annually of cattle and other stock, and three times a year for horti- cultural produce. The establishment of a herd-book has also proved a great boon to the breeders of cattle. A somewhat similar institution was established in Guernsey in 1842 on a smaller scale. There is no doubt that improvements, both in breeding and in agriculture, have followed the establishment of these societies. They are well kept up and seem popular. There are Chambers of Commerce in both islands, and in each these associations have been productive of useful results. The “ Societe Jersiaise,” founded in 1873 f° r the study of the history and the preservation of the antiquities of the island, has already been alluded to. Guernsey possesses a similar institution founded in 1890. The “ Societe Jer- siaise ” has published many valuable historical documents relating to Jersey. Savings Banks. The Savings Bank in Jersey was established in 1834, and is protected by Act of Parliament. It has been emi- nently successful and exceedingly useful. In Guernsey, the Savings Bank is of much earlier date. At the present time the accounts are as numerous and the investments quite as large as in Jersey, in proportion to the population of the island. A Penny Bank, for savings of amounts too small to be received at the ordinary savings banks, was opened in Jersey in 1862, under very favourable auspices. A large number of depositors, of all ages, avail themselves of this institution. Guernsey had previously led the way in this good work also, and the Penny Savings Bank established there in i860 is now very flourishing. Charitable Institutions. There is an excellent charitable fund in Guernsey, ori- ginally founded by Monsieur Jean De la Court (then a HOSPITALS. 453 Jurat of the Royal Court), in the year 1588, and since increased by various donations, for the purpose of relieving occasional distress. It is administered by the Royal Court, and the object is for the benefit “ des pauvres et necessiteux tant de la dite isle (de Guernsey) qu’au relief de tels pauvres habitants auxquels adviendroyt que leurs maisons seront brules, pour les aider a les faire redifier. Et aussi estre employez au relief de tels pauvres prisonniers, ayant este pillez a la mer ou autres pauvres mariniers qui au- royent perdu par naufrage ou autrement leurs navires ou vaisseaux ou pour subvenir a l’entretient, et avancement de quelques pauvres enfans qui seroyent avancez aux bonnes lettres, ou a appendre quelque art ou mestier.” With the exception of fires, which are seldom now considered, owing to the facility of insurance, the De la Court fund is still applied to the above purposes. The value of the De la Court fund amounts to about ^5,000 sterling, and consists of 505 quarters of rent. On an average about fifty cases per annum are relieved, at a cost varying according to the nature of the claims. Another fund, for the benefit of the necessitous poor, was founded in 1849 by Sir William Codings. It consists of 109 quarters of rent, of the value of about ;£ 1,000. The hospital in Guernsey is an important public institu- tion, including not only an establishment for the sick and insane, workhouse, but a refuge for the houseless and deso- late. It has been in operation since the year 1742. Guernsey has also a Convalescent Home, founded in 1888, and known as the “ Victoria Cottage Hospital.” It is sup- ported by voluntary contributions. The hospital in Jersey is very spacious, and also dates back to the middle of the last century. It has been improved from time to time, and its arrangements are at present on a par with modern requirements. The prison in Jersey is well provided. In Guernsey the prison accom- modation and arrangements are still extremely deficient in many respects. Jersey also possesses an Orphans’ Home and a Dispen- sary, both institutions being in admirable working order. 454 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. There are some other public institutions of the islands, but they are less important, and need not detain us. The reader may have remarked, from the account already given, how closely the island customs and institutions are gradu- ally assuming a British character, and indeed many of the latter are now altogether moulded on English principles, and the work connected with them is carried on in the English language. In all the parochial schools that language is taught ; in the shops, and even in the markets it is almost universal ; and though still not familiar in the VALE CHURCH PORCH, GUERNSEY. cottages, and not yet adopted in the country churches, the tendency is that it gradually should become more common, and that the local peculiarities of dialect should die away. Still, it must not be supposed that the Channel Islands are likely soon to lose their essential characteristics. These are retained with tenacity, and with an evident intention ; and they add to the interest with which the group is sur- rounded. It will be very long indeed before the islanders cease to exhibit to the traveller those curious peculiarities for which they are remarkable. No mere association with strangers and foreigners has ever yet entirely destroyed any cherished national characteristic ; and, generally, the smaller the CONCLUSION. 455 society the more carefully are characteristics preserved. It is for this reason that the study of the Channel Islands is so full of interest. Each island has its own soil, its own climate, its own vegetation, its own local zoology. Each has its own families, long established, often with much to be proud of, but almost always well enough marked to induce the present possessor of the family name to preserve and glorify it. Each has its local history and its laws, and each has its dialect. It is not here as in a large country. No one is unknown, and no event is forgotten. Change takes place here as everywhere ; but the change is the slower, and the more superficial the harder the character it acts on. The islanders are like their own granite, — sound, tough, and hardy, but not easily sculptured or worked into soft artistic forms. Einis. APPENDIX.— A. MONEY, WEIGHTS, AND MEASURES. MONEY. The circulating medium in the Channel Islands partakes of a curious admixture of English and French systems, and seems puzzling enough at first to a casual visitor. Practically, the current coins of all kinds, of both France and England, pass freely in all the islands. The current coins in circulation in Jersey are the English gold and silver pieces. There is, however, a special copper coinage of pence and halfpence. Parish one-pound bank-notes are also in circulation. The French twenty-franc piece is received at the value of fifteen shillings and tenpence. In Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Herm, the coins in common use are the French pieces of twenty francs, five francs, two francs, one franc, and half-franc. These are regarded as so many pence, at the uniform rate of tenpence currency for the franc, and the denomina- tions larger than a penny are shillings and pounds (twelve pence = one shilling, twenty shillings = one pound). The Guernsey pound, therefore, consists of two hundred and forty Guernsey pence ; and as by the course of exchange the sovereign is generally worth twenty-five francs, and the Guernsey pound is always twenty-four, it may be con- sidered that the pound sterling contains two hundred and fifty pence (one pound and tenpence) Guernsey currency. In Guernsey there are one-pound notes as in Jersey. They are issued by the State. There is a copper coinage in Guernsey as in Jersey, the currency consisting of pence, halfpence, farthings (called two doubles), and eighths of a penny (called one double). The livre tournois is still retained as a nominal coin in legal matters, and for various purposes. Fourteen livres tonriiois are equi- valent to the pound sterling. The sol is the twentieth part of the livre, and is worth about six-sevenths of a penny sterling. We should remark that the bank-notes of the two islands only cir- culate in the island in which they are issued, but the Guernsey notes also circulate in Alderney and Sark. Bank of England notes and sovereigns are now common enough in the islands. 458 APPENDIX.^-A. WEIGHTS. The theoretical legal standard of weight in all the islands is the “ ftoids de marc de Rouen? the old Normandy pound. The following statement will show the relative and actual values of the various standards : i lb. Jersey =7, 561 grs. = i lb. ij oz. 15 grs. = ro8 lbs. Avoirdps. 1 „ Guernsey =7, 627 =1 if 80 = 1*09 „ The Jersey local hundredweight consists of 104 Jersey pounds, and the Guernsey hundredweight of 100 Guernsey pounds. 104 lbs. Jersey weight =112 lbs. 5J oz. Avoirdupois. 100 „ Guernsey,, =108 15J „ nearly. The English hundredweight of 112 lbs. has the following values : — 1 12 lbs. Avoirdupois = 103 lbs. ni oz. Jersey weight, nearly. „ „ = 102 I2| Guernsey „ LINEAR AND SQUARE MEASURE. The ordinary measure of length in all the islands is the standard English foot, of twelve inches. In square measure, however, the Jersey method of calculation is very peculiar. The Jersey square foot is a space twelve Jersey inches in breadth, each such inch being twenty-four Jersey feet long by one inch broad. The square foot thus becomes an area measuring twenty- four Jersey feet by one Jersey foot. In this measurement, however, the linear Jersey foot is equivalent to only eleven English inches, so that the square foot of Jersey equals twenty and one-sixth square feet English measurement. In the case of glazier’s work, the square foot measures only eight inches long by eight broad, or sixty-four square inches English. In measuring land, the perch contains twenty-four Jersey square feet of the kind above stated, and is therefore equivalent to four hundred and eighty-four English square feet, or an area twenty-two English feet square. Forty perches make a vergee , of about 2,150 square yards English Thus two and a-quarter Jersey vergees are nearly equivalent to the English acre. For other matters, the English measures are adopted. In Guernsey, the English measurements of the foot are used. The perch there measures seven yards, or twenty-one feet, each side, and thus contains forty-nine square yards instead of about fifty-four, as in Jersey. The vergee of Guernsey contains 1,960 square yards, and two and a-hajf Guernsey vergees are equal tP an English acre, APPENDIX. — A. 459 The Alderney measures of land are the same as those used in Guernsey. The Sark vergee corresponds with that of Jersey. MEASURES OF CAPACITY. In Jersey, the only true ancient standard for measuring liquids and corn is the “Etalon du Chasteau,” which contains 2J gallons, or 5 pots (20 quarts) Jersey measure. The standard contains 43 lbs. 7 ozs. avoirdupois of distilled water at 6o° F., the barometer standing at 29 in. The Jersey quart thus contains 60*483 cubic inches, and the Jersey gallon 241*932 cubic inches. The Jersey wine gallon, as commonly estimated, contains rather more than two hundred and forty-seven cubic inches English, being thus thirty cubic inches, or more than eleven per cent, smaller than the English imperial gallon of two hundred and seventy-seven and a- quarter cubic inches. The Jersey quart, of which there are four to the gallon, nearly corresponds with the French litre. The Guernsey standard wine gallon contains two hundred and sixty-four cubic inches, and is thus seventeen cubic inches, or about seven per cent, larger than that of Jersey, and thirteen and a-quarter cubic inches, or five per cent, smaller than the imperial gallon. For certain purposes of taxation, the Guernsey gallon is estimated at two hundred and sixty-one cubic inches. The smaller divisions are into pots (half-gallon), quarts, pints, gills (quarter of a pint), and noggins (an eighth of a pint.) The hogshead of cider in Jersey contains sixty gallons. In all the islands, dry measure is estimated by weight, though named by measure. The weight allowed varies for different articles. In Jersey, the measure of dry goods is the cabot , or half-bushel, already described, containing 43 lbs. 7 ozs. of distilled water. The imperial quart, under precisely similar conditions, contains forty ounces, and the imperial gallon ten pounds. The Jersey cabot is thus equivalent to 4*34375 imperial gallons (1,204*3 cubic inches). The cabot is divided into five gallons, or six sixtonniers . Eight cabots make one quarter, and ten quarters one ton. The Jersey gallon contains a little less than seven pints imperial measure, and the Jersey quarter (thirty-four gallons and three quarts) a little more than half an imperial quarter. The wheat or standard cabot (le petit cabot ), containing 1,204*3 cubic inches, is smaller than that used for barley oats, potatoes, &c., which contains 1,605*7 cubic inches. Nine wheat cabots are equivalent to five English bushels. The cabot of wheat, when sold by weight, is thirty-two pounds ; of oats, twenty-eight pounds ; of barley, thirty- six ; of apples, thirty-eight ; and of rye and potatoes, forty pounds, all Jersey weight. Forty-two cabots of apples make a quarter, of 1,596 lbs. The wheat cabot contains ten pots, and that for barley, rye, peas, beans, and potatoes, is one-third larger. In Guernsey, the denerel , or dundrel, is the common small unit of 460 APPENDIX. — A. dry measure ; and goods are sold either by the denerel or bushel of admitted weight. Three denereis, in Guernsey, make one cabot ; two cabots or six denereis one bushel ; and four bushels, one quarter. The English imperial quarter is equivalent to about two Guernsey quarters. It may be worth stating that the Guernsey heaped bushel is nearly equivalent to the imperial strike bushel. The Sark cabot is one-sixth of the Guernsey quarter. The liquid and dry measures used in Alderney are those of Guernsey. N.B. Great care has been taken to obtain accurate information on the subject of the island weights and measures. The accounts here given are believed to be correct, although they do not exactly agree with any of those published in the local almanacs, or in the various histories of the islands, which, indeed, do not agree with each other. APPENDIX.— B. STATISTICS AND REVENUE. The following abstract of returns published of the census of 1891 and of some former censuses of the present century may be useful for reference : — I. POPULATION OF THE ISLANDS. 1821. 1831. I84I. 1851. 1861. 1871. 1881. 1891. Jersey ... Guernsey, 28,600 36,582 47,544 57,020 56,078 56,627 52,445 54,5 lS Herm, & Jethou ... 20,339 24,540 26,698 29,806 29,846 30,685 32,638 35,339 Alderney, ? 1,04s 1,038 3,333 4,933 2,738 2,048 1,843 Sark ... 488 543 785 580 583 546 571 572 49,427 62,710 76,065 90,739 91,440 90,596 87,702 92,272 The number of males in Jersey on the occasion of the last census was 24,966 ; and of females, 29,552. There is thus a very large excess of females. In Guernsey and the smaller islands, there were 18,304 males and 19,450 females. St. Helier’s in Jersey, and St. Peter’s Port in Guernsey, contain nearly half the population in each island. Thus the population of St. Helier’s at the last census was 28,953 ; that of Guernsey 17,041. 2. HOUSES IN THE ISLANDS IN 1 89 1 . Inhabited. Empty. Building. Jersey .... 9,107 598 33 Guernsey and the other islands 6,533 529 76 462 APPENDIX. — B. 3. REVENUE AND DEBT. The annual revenue of the island of Guernsey, obtained from the taxes on wine and spirits, and licences to publicans, amounted, in 1891, to about ,£18,000. The income from the harbour, consisting of tonnage and wharfage dues, was also, in that year, about ,£18,000. On the other hand, the public debt of the island, independently of the harbour works, amounted to ,£83, 693 ; and the harbour debt (inclu- ding that for St. Sampson’s) ,£139,394; making a total debt of ,£223,087. With the exception of ,£40,000 raised on one-pound bank- notes, payable on demand, the whole amount of this debt is in the form of bonds, bearing interest at three per cent., and payable at very short notice. Great confidence is shown by the holders of these bonds, who are chiefly natives of the island ; and no difficulty what- ever has been experienced in raising loans for public purposes on terms which must be regarded as exceedingly favourable. It is intended that the harbour debt shall be gradually reduced before any further expenses of importance are incurred. The revenue of Jersey is also chiefly derived from the “ Impot,” or tax on wines and spirits, originally (in the reign of Charles II.) appro- priated for the building and maintaining of a college, or workhouse and house of relief, and for certain purposes of defence. This revenue approaches ,£38,000 per annum. The harbour dues yield a large and increasing revenue, — at present about £ 12,000 annually. The public debt of Jersey, incurred in the construction of the har- bour and other works, is about ,£327,000. Of this, about one-third is called the harbour debt. The expenditure for the past few years has been somewhat reckless and always in excess of the revenue. This, coupled with the fact that a special sinking fund (apparently too large in proportion to the revenue) has to be put aside from the impot revenue, has produced a strained financial situation, which sooner or later will have to be boldly met. It is very probable that a conversion and consolidation of the loans, which now bear interest at the rate of three per cent, per annum, would effect an economy whereby any increase of taxation would be avoided ; but it is very evident from the present situation of the budget that a radical financial reform is required. INDEX OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Note. — Of these illustrations those marked thus (*) are reproduced by authorisation from photographs by Mr. P. Godfray, photographer, of Jersey Those marked (f) are from photographs kindly furnished by G. A. Piquet, Esq., of Jersey; (§) from photographs by C. Le Sueur, Esq.; and (+) from phjtographs by F. F. Laurens, Esq. The remaining illustrations are the same as appeared in the original work, and are from the drawings of Paul G. Naftel and Peter Le Lievre. I. PICTURESQUE ILLUSTRATIONS. JERSEY. Page * Battle of Jersey (Frontis- piece) f Natural Arch near Crabbe i § Old Jersey Farmhouse ... 82 * The Needle Rock, Ple- mont 98 t The Cotte a la Chevre ... 99 * The Corbiere Lighthouse 104 t Promontory at La Moye... 105 * St. Brelade’s Bay 114 t La Fosse Vourin 124 Boulders, Saie Harbour ... 224 t The Pinnacle Rock ... . 237 * Mont Orgueil Castle ... 245 St. Helier’s Hermitage ... 260 t St. Saviour’s Church ... 266 Page * Portelet Bay 332 f View on the North Coast 334 View of a remarkable Crom- lech, formerly on the Town Hill 349 f Megalithic Remains at St. Martin’s 354 § Rozel Chapel 356 t Old Farmhouse at St. Ouen’s 388 t Natural Bridge on the Coast of St. Ouen’s ... 391 * Vinchelez Lane 399 Ruined Arch, part of Gros- nez Castle 414 X Belcroute Bay, Normont... 445 GUERNSEY. * The Hanois Lighthouse ... 33 * Castle Cornet and Guernsey Harbour 38 * Saint’s Bay 44 Porch of St. Martin’s Church 52 An old Cottage Doorway ... 53 Water Lane (Moulin Huet) 143 Intrusive Veins at the Cor- biere 205 Castle Cornet, (from an old print) 32 * L’Ancresse Cromlech ... 359 § Chapel of St. Apolline ... 35 1 * Moulin Huet 369 464 INDEX. SARK. Page Page * D’lxcart Bay 62 An Old Fountain 152 Creux Harbour 68 Tunnel Entrance to Sark The Gouliot Rocks and from the Creux Harbour 216 Caverns 72 The Autelet Rocks 235 * The Coupee 76 * The Seigneurie Lane 287 ALDERNEY. La Roche Pendante... 22 | The Ortach Rock 30 MISCELLANEA. Chasse-marees, or French f A rare fern (gymnogr am- merchant craft ... 15 nia leptophylla )... 149 f A rare grass ( Lag urns Hart’s Tongue Ferns 150 ovatus) 145 A Cray Fish (Scyllanis f Specimens of scarce arctus ) 1 77 ferns 148 i Group of ancient pottery ... 352 II. Plan of Alderney Break- water Map of Guernsey Plan of St. Helier’s Harbour Map of Jersey 112 General Geological Map of the Islands 198 Geological Map of Guernsey 210 do. do. Sark ... 214 Geological Map of Alder- ney 217 Geological Map of Jersey 220 Diagram, illustrating nature and origin of Raised Beaches 229 Diagram, illustrating the conditions of submerged Peat Deposits 231 MAPS, PLANS AND DIAGRAMS. 20 54 86 GENERAL INDEX. A. Abbey, ancient, in Chausey Islands Actinolite, abundance of in Sark Acts of Parliament, how they affect the Channel Islands Administration of Justice in the Channel Islands at an early period Advocates, number of, prac- tising in the islands Advowsons in the islands be- longingto the Crown /Etius (Roman consul), his treatment of the Britons ... Agricultural Society of Jer- sey, and of Guernsey Agriculture of the Channel Islands Alani, the migrations of this tribe Alderney, high water at, 8 ; general account of, 16 ; breakwater, 18, 19 ; notice of the cliffs of, 17, 18, 24 ; parish church, 26; geology of, 216; its sandstone com- pared with the Jersey con- glomerates, 224 ; raised beach in, 229; antiquities of, 350 ; derivation of its name, 389 ; soil of, 395 ; cows of, 404; independent legal exis- tence of, 420 ; its govei n- ing body, 423 ; account of its law court, 437 ; its militia, 449 ; money, 457 ; measures, 459 ; its history, Page Altars, identity of cromlechs with 353 American War, attempt on Jersey by the French dur- ing the, 337 ; privateering carried on then from the Channel Islands 339 Anemones 169 Angular fragments, accumu- lation of, in a fissure in Guernsey ... 239 Animals of the Channel Islands 157 Anne, Queen, privateering commenced during her reign 336 Anne Port, cromlech at 350 Anne, St., Alderney 25 Antiquities and Archaeology of the islands 346 Appeal of Ha ! Ro ! 440 Apples, cultivation of in the islands, 409; trade in ... 417 “ Approbation des Lois,” the book so called 433 Apricot, cultivation of in Guernsey .. ... ... 408 Archaeology and Antiquities 346 Archaeological Society (the Societejersiaise) ... 163, 452 Arched rocks in Alderney ... 23 Archiron delle Tower, Jersey 90 Architecture, church, 26, 52, 355-361 Ardents the, rocks so called, 117 Area, of sea including the Channel Islands, 5 ; occu- pied by the principal groups of the Channel Islands, 14 ; of Guernsey, 32; of Jersey, 82 H H Page 122 215 434 290 432 441 252 45i 393 253 345 466 INDEX. Page Armorica, the country so named inancient times. 248, 252 Arrest, law of, in the islands 441 Assize cT Heritage 435 Associations, literary ... 452 Autel de Dehus, Guernsey... 351 Autelets, Sark ... 67, 71, 215, 235 Autumn, the best season to visit the Channel Islands, 11 ; temperature during, 128 “Avocat de la Reine,” the officer so called in Jersey 426 B. Bahuchet, French admiral 292 Bailiff, the, his office in the islands, 425 Bailiwickof Guernsey, extent of 420 Baker’s Valley, Sark ... 69 Bandinel, Dr., Dean of Jer- „ sey, his attempt to anglicise the church in Jersey, 299 ; his tragical death 31 1 Bank notes current in the is- lands 457 Banks, savings and penny ... 452 Barilla, collectors of, on the Chausey Islands 122 Barnouic, plateau de ... 117 Basnage’s Commentary ... 449 Battle of Jersey, the 337 Battle, naval, fought off Guernsey in the reign of Edward III. 292 Beau Port, Jersey ... .r. 106 Bee du Nez, Guernsey ... 41 Biological station at Jersey, 163 Birds of the Channel Is- lands 192 Bishop of Coutances, termi- nation of his power as Metropolitan in 1566 ... 297 Bishops, various, to whom the islands have been sub- ject * ... 297 Bissets rocks, Guernsey ... 47 Blake, Commander of the Parliamentary forces, at- tack on J ersey by 322 Page Blown sands 102, 241 Bonne Nuit, Jersey 94 Bordeaux Harbour, Guernsey 49 Botany of the Channel Is- lands 137 Bouilly Port, Jersey 106 Boulders, at Saie Harbour, Jersey 224 Bouley Bay, Jersey 93 Boutiques caverns, Sark ... 70 Bowden, inveigles the commissioners on board his ship 309 Braye Harbour, Alderney ... 20 Braye, Alderney 18 Braye-du-Val, Guernsey ... 48 Brechou, Isle of 63, 74, 216 ; raised beach at 228 Breton origin of the Channel Islands, population sug- gested 262 Breton legends, value of ... 268 Brevint, Dr., appointed to St. John’s parish, Jersey... 299 Brick clay in Guernsey ... 243 Brittany, when first so called, 252 ; various races in- habiting 262 Bruel, du, a French Com- mander, attack on J ersey by 297 Brunechild and Childebert, their attempt to poison St. Sampson 255 Buildings in Alderney ... 26 Burhou Islands, near Alder- ney, described 28 Burons, Sark, rocks and islands 62, 216 C. Cabbage walking sticks ... 40 Cabot, value of the measure so called 459 Caesar, his mention of the tribes who inhabited the mainland in his time ... 248 Caesar, Fort, jersey 88 Ccesarea , a name for Jersey, 250 its derivation 389 Calvinistic origin of the island Protestantism ... 298 INDEX. Page Canons of church govern- ment of Dr. Bandinel accepted in Jersey ... 299 Cantons, division of the town parish of Guernsey into 4 22 Carteret, Sir George, 307, 310; his government of Jersey, 31 1 ; appointed vice-Ad- miral, 312; made a baronet 315 ; his relations with Lord Jermyn, 318 ; visits the Court at St. Germain, 320 ; receives the king in Elizabeth Castle, 321 ; his defence of Elizabeth Castle 323 Carteret, Sir Philip de, 892 Bailiff of Jersey, 304; his influence, 304 ; declares for the King, 305 ; stormy meeting in the States, 306 ; retires to Elizabeth Castle, and his death, 306 Casquets rocks 29 Castle Cornet, Guernsey, 37; attacked by the French under Evan of Wales in the reign of Edward III., 292 ; escape of the three commissioners from, 309 ; defence of, 319; considered useless, 327 ; view of, in the time of Charles II. ... 329 Castle Carey (Guernsey Gov- ernment House) 53 Catel Church 361 ‘ Centeniers 55 of Jersey, their office ... ... ... ... 422 Chambers of Commerce ... 452 Channel Islands, their geo- graphical position, 5 ; names of principal groups, 14 ; summary of climate, 133; summary of flora 1 53 ; a good school for geology, 199 ; summary of their earliest history, 284 ; their names absent in the Norse sagas, 272; antiqui- ties, 346; language ... 363 Chapelle Mauve, Sark ... 69 467 Page Chapels, ancient, of Guern- sey, list of 358 Charitable institutions ... 452 Charles, Prince of Wales (1646) arrives at Jersey ... 312 Charles II., proclaimed King in Jersey, 320 ; second visit to Jersey, 321 ; grants a mace to Jersey 331 Charters, oldest, relating to neutrality, 296 ; royal, have the force of laws 433 Ckasse rnaree , account and view of this kind of vessel 15 Chateau l’Etoc, Fort ... 20 Chateau des Marais (Ivy Castle) Guernsey 40 Chaumontel pear, cultivated in the islands 410 Chausey Archipelago, 1 16 ; occupations of the inhabi- tants, 121 ; published ac- count of, 123 ; granite of, 1 19 ; history of 122 ‘‘ Chef Plaids,’ 5 or Chief Pleasof the Guernsey Court 431 “ Chefs de famille,” rate- payers so called in Guern sey 422 Chou-cavalier, or great cow cabbage of Jersey 402 Cherry, cultivation of, in the Channel Islands .. ... 408 Christianity, its first intro- duction into the Channel Islands ... ... 254, 262 Churches of Alderney, 26 ; of Guernsey, 358; of Sark, 77; of Jersey 355 Church arrangements ... 291 Church government in the islands 299 Clanque battery, Alderney... 17 Clarke, Dr. Adam, attacked by a Guernsey mob ... 342 Clergy of the islands, conti- nental in their feelings in the reign of John, 291 ; falling off of their revenues under Protestantism ... 298 Climate of the Channel Islands 9, 11, 125 L L 2 468 INDEX. Page Cobo Bay, Guernsey ... 48 Coins in common circula- tion 457 College, Elizabeth, at Guern- sey, 36, 450 ; Victoria, at Jersey 84, 450 Commerce, Chambers of ... 452 Commissioners seized by the Governor at Castle Cornet ... 309 Committees, Public, of Jer- sey and Guernsey ... 429,430 Confiscation of the church property in the islands before the Reforma- tion ... ... 297 Conglomerate, quartzy, in Giffard’s Bay, Jersey, 222, 223 Consistory, established in St. Helier’s, and St. Peter’s Port, in the reign of Eliza- beth 298 Consort, Prince, statue of ... 36 Constable, the, his position in the islands ... 422,423 Con stitution of the Channel Is lands, 420 ; pecularity of 443 Constitution of John, its value and nature 290 Controle de la reine, the officer so called in Guern- s ey, 426. Conway, Marshal, his crom- lech formerly in Jersey, 349, et seq. Corban, the submerged turf or peat of Guernsey ... 232 Corbet, Major Moses, Lieutenant - Governor of Jersey at the time of the attack by the French (1781) 337, 338 Corbiere, Guernsey, de- scribed 45 ; intrusive vein at 205 Corbiere, the, Jersey, de- scribed ... ... 103 Cornet Castle, see Castle Cornet. Cornyshe, Henry, Governor of jersey 89 Page Costume of the Channel Islanders 446 Cotte a la Chevre, Jersey 99, 100, 226 Cottette Point, near the Casquets 29 Coupe or Coupee, various promontories so called 43, 76, 91 Couperon, the, Jersey ... 92 Cour du Quartier 435 Cour en Corps , or full court 432 Court houses 448 Coutances, connection be- tween the islands and the diocese of 291 Couttimier, le, of Normandy, the foundation of the island laws 432 Cow, Alderney, its charac- teristics 404 Crabbe, Jersey 95 Crabbie, Alderney 18 Crabs, common in the islands, 177 ; trade in ... 417 Crete Point, Jersey 90 *• Creux” or holes, origin of, 213 ; the term explained, 238 ; in Guernsey, 41 ; in Herm, 56; in Sark 65 ; in Jersey ... 105 Creux de Vis, or Devil’s Hole, 95, 238 Creux du Derrible, or Terri- ble, Sark 65 Creux Fantomes, Jersey ... 106 Creux Harbour, Sark, 68, 77 Creux Mahie, Guernsey ... 41 Crevichon, account of ... 60 Criminal Courts, 434, 437, 438 Cromlechs— specimen near St. Helier’s, 349; of Guern- sey, 3 cro : near Anne Port, Jersey 350 Cromwell, Richard, address to, from Guernsey 328 Crops grown in the islands, 401 Crustaceans of the Channel Islands 176 Currency, island 457 Customary law of Normandy adapted to the use of the islands 43 2 INDEX. 469 Page Pa ge Custom House, English, when first introduced in Guernsey 338 Customs of the Channel Islands, peculiar ... 12, 445 D. Danby, Earl of, governor of Guernesy, superseded by Warwick 300 Danes, often called North- men or Normans, 266 ; their history 281 Danish origin of Rollo ... 266 D’Assigny, Pierre 310 Date of the earliest records 267 D ’Auvergne, Admiral Philip, titular Duke of Bouillon ... 1 1 5 Debt, island laws affecting 441 De Carteret family, their manorial residence in Jer- sey, 1 12 ; Sark leased to the 345 Decay of Caen stone in Alderney Church 26 Dean, the, his office in the islands 441 De Beauvoir, President of the Guernsey Parliament- ary Committee 307 De Hambye, legend con- cerning 1 13 Dehus or Deuce, the devil 354 De la Court Fund, Guernsey 452 Deliberative States of Guern- sey 428 Denerel or dundrel 459 Deputies, appointment of in the islands, 423 et seg. Deroute, the channel so named 81 Derrible, see CREUX DU Derrible. Descent of property in the islands 441 Dialects, numerous in the islands, 369 ; specimens of ••• 373—386 Digby, Lord, his intrigues in Ireland 315 Dirouilles rocks, near Jersey 82 Dispensary, public, in Jersey 453 Dissent in Guernsey ex- tremely prevalent 342 D’lxcart Bay, Sark 65 Dol, Channel Islands and the diocese of 262 Dom Bouquet, his Reper- torium referred to 254 Don, General, Lieutenant Governor of Jersey, monu- ment to Ill Douet de la Mer, Jersey ... 92 Douvres rocks 117 “ Douzaine,” its nature and composition in Guernsey 422 Doyle, Sir John 42 Doyle Column, Guernsey ... 42 Drayton’s Polyolbion quoted 3 Druidical remains in Guern- sey, 350 ; Jersey, 349 Druidic origin of cromlechs considered 353 Druidism only a part of the old Keltic religion 353 Dry measures of the islands, 459 Dukes of Normandy, their names probably gothic, 275. 387, 388 Dumaresq, Henry, a Parlia- mentary Commissioner, 305, 31 1 Dundrel or denerel 459 E. Early History of the Channel Islands, 247 et seq. Echinoderms 174 Ecclesiastical arrangements in the islands at the present time ... 441, 442 Ecclesiastical courts in the islands 442 Ecrehou Rocks, near Jersey, 82 ; old buildings upon them, 14 ; “ King of the Ecrehous”... 14 Ecrivains or solicitors in Jersey 432 Educational establishments, 450 Edward I., harbour of Guernsey ordered to be built in his reign 36 470 INDEX. Page Edward III., his appropria- tion of the temporal rights of the Church in the islands, 291 ; naval battle fought off Guernsey in his reign 292 Edward VI., English liturgy introduced in the islands during his reign 297 Elective States of Guernsey 428 Elements of the climate of Guernsey, 126 ; of Jersey 127 Elizabeth Castle, Jersey, 108 ; attacked in time of the civil wars, 306, 310; the Prince of Wales (in 1645) takes up his resi- dence in, 312 ; as Charles II., lands (in 1649) at ••• 3 21 Elizabeth College, Guernsey 450 Elizabeth, Queen, religious persecutions in the islands during her reign, 298 ; charter confirming privi- leges given by 335 English Liturgy introduced in the islands under Edward VI 297 Eperqerie, landing-place so named, Sark 69 Episcopal Sees to which the islands have been succes- sively subject 297 Essex Fort, Alderney ... 23 Etac P, or le Tas , Jersey ... 101 Etat P, or le Tas , Sark ... 64 Evan of Wales, his attack on Guernsey 394 Exeter, the islands for a short time attached to the See of 297 Exhibitions at Oxford, from Elizabeth College, Guern- sey 450 Expense of the public works at Alderney 19 F. Family ties, the islanders adhere strongly to them 12 Page Fanshawe, R., his proclama- tion on the landing of the Prince of Wales in Jersey 314 Farming processes, old fashion of those adopted in the islands ... ... 402 Farms, magnitude of in the islands 400 Faucheurs, les, rocks so called, on the Minquiers plateau 117 Ferns 146 Ferrieres rocks, near Herm 61 Feudal relics 449 Fish, trade in 417 Fishes of the Channel Islands 188 Flowering plants 140 Food, supply of, in Sark ... 79 Fort George, Guernsey ... 53 Fort Regent, Jersey ... 84, 86 Fosse Vourin, La, Jersey ... 124 French attack on Jersey in 1781 337 French language, used in the courts of law, 435 ; and in the churches 442 French Revolution, its effect on the islands 341 Frescoes in the churches ... 357 G. Gallic church, not mission- ary 254 Geological map, of Sark, 214; of Guernsey, 210; of Alderney, 217; of Jersey 220 Geology and mineralogy of the Channel Islands, 197, et seq. ; works on ... 210 George, Fort, Guernsey ... 53 Germanisation of the coasts of Normandy and Brittany 250 Giffard’s Bay, Jersey ... 94 Gouffre, the, Guernsey ... 45 Gouliot Caverns, Sark, des- cribed, 72, 236 Grand Havre, Guernsey ... 48 Grande Rocque 48 “ Grande lie” of the Chausey group 1 19 INDEX. 471 Page Grape, cultivation of, in Jersey and Guernsey ... 417 Grasses, of the Channel Islands 144 Greffier, the officer so named 427 Greve au Lancon, Jersey ... 96 Greve d’Azette, Jersey ... 87 Greve de la Ville, Sark ... 69 Gr&ve de Lecq, Jersey ... 96 Grosnez Castle 100 Grunes, rocks so named ... 35 Guernsey, high water at, 8 ; general account of, 32 ; its climate, 125 ; effect of the constitution of John upon, 290; more parliamentary than loyal at commence; ment of Civil Wars, 304 does not accept the canons of church government of Dr. Bandinel, 299 ; its inhabitants pardoned by Charles II., 329; crom- lechs of, 350 ; specimen of its dialect, 380 ; derivation of its name, 389 ; soil of, 395 ; stone trade and quar- ries of, 415 ; militia force, 449; value of the pound currency, 457 ; value of the pound weight, 458 ; local measures of, 459 ; revenue and debt of, 462 Guernsey lily 412 Guesclin, Bertrand du ... 295 H. Ha ! Ro ! appeal so called 440 Habits and customs of the islanders 445 Hambye, Tale of 113 Hanging Rock, Alderney ... 22 Hanois Rocks (Han ways), 33 ; lighthouse on 35 Harbour of Alderney, 20 ; of Guernsey, 37 ; of St. Helier's, Jersey, 85 ; of St. Catherine’s, Jersey ... 91 Harliston, Sir Richard, governor of Jersey 89, 296 Hart’s-tongue fern, group of 150 Havre Gosselin Sark ... 73 Page Haynes, General, takes Jer- sey for the parliament 322 — 325 Helier’s, St., Jersey 85 Helerius, history of 257 Henry I. and II., allegiance of the islands during their reigns 288 Henry III., the islands men- tioned as held by England during his reign 292 Henry V. banishes the dis- affected clergy, 292; ad- vowsons of the islands an- nexed to the crown during his reign ... 442 Henry VI., transfer of the islands to the diocese of Salisbury in his reign ... 297 Herault, Abraham 305, 31 1 Herault, John, bailiff of Jer- sey 304 Heritage, Court of ... ... 435 Herm, account of, 55 ; shell beach, 57 ; belongs to Prince Bliicher, 59 ; gran- ite of 57 Hermitage Rock, Jersey 109, 260 Ileylin, his stay in Guernsey and book on the is- lands, 300 et seq. Highest ground in the is- lands ... 83 Hilarius, or Helerius, a saint in the early martyrology of Jersey 257 Hog’s Back, Sark ' 65 Holdings of land in the is- lands 400 Hornstone in Jersey ... 222 Horses, breeds of, in the islands 405 Horticulture of the islands 406 Hospitality of the islanders 448 Hospitals in Jersey and Guernsey 453 Hougue Bie, or Prince’s Tower, Jersey 113 Huissiers, the officers so called 427 Hyde, his influence exer- cised to induce Charles not to go to France ... 317 472 INDEX. Page I cart Point and Bay, Guern- sey 43 Igneous rocks, their history taught in the Channel Is- lands ... ... ... 200 Insects of the Channel Is- lands 180 Intermarriages common in the islands 447 Irish church, the missionary church in the middle ages 263 Irish mutiny in Guernsey ... 340 Irish origin of the Christi- anity of Brittany and the Channel Islands 263 Ivy Castle, Guernsey ... 40 J- Jacobite minority in the is- lands after the Revolution 334 James I., his covert attempt to force the Anglican church on the islands, 298 ; the states of Guern- sey remodelled during his reign... ... _ 421 James II., his reign unim- portant in the islands ... 331 Tardin d’Olivet, Jersey ... 93 Jermyn, Lord, Governor of Jersey, 318, 319 Jersey, high water at, 8 ; general account of, 81 ; geology of, 220 ; held by the French in the time of Edward III., 292; French attack on, 337 ; cromlechs of, 349 ; militia of, 449 ; revenue and debt of ... 462 | ethou, account of 60 John, King, importance of his reign in the Channel Islands, 289 : the so-called constitution of 290 Judael, his history connected with that of St. Sampson 255 Jurats, their office and ap- pointment 426 J urisdiction, summary, of the Royal Court of Guernsey 434 Page Jury, trial by, in Jersey ... 434 Jutes, settlement of, in Eng- land 276 K. “ King of the Ecrehous ” ... 14 Kistvean, meaning of the term 349 Kitchen garden produce in the islands 402 L. Land, nature of tenure in the islands, 400 ; danger of purchasing it in the islands 440 Language of the islands, 362 et seq. ; specimens of, 372 et seq:; present condition of patois 386 Laws of the islands, whence derived ... ... ... 432 Law terms 435 Legend of La Hougue Bie, Jersey 1 13 Le Mesurier family in Alder- ney 27 Lempriere, Michael, 305 ; parliamentary bailiff, 310; writes “ Pseudo Mastix,” 311; returns from exile ... 327 Le Pelley family, once lords of Sark .. 345 Leti, colonists so called ... 282 Library, public, in Jersey ... 448 Lichens ... 151 Lieutenant - Governor, his position in the islands ... 425 Light-houses on or near the Channel Islands, 15 ; on the Casquets Rocks, 29 and 30 ; on the Hanois Rocks, 33; on the Chausey Islands ... 123 Lihou Island, Guernsey, ac- count of 47 Lily, Guernsey 412 Limpet shells found in crom- lechs 350 “ Lit de fouaille ” described 446 INDEX. 473 Page. Little Sark 74 Lobster, fishery of, in the Chausey Islands, 121 ; ex- port trade in Guernsey ... 417 Loyalty, a characteristic of the islanders, 12 ; not want- ing at the Restoration ... 329 Lydcott, Major, Parliamen- tary Lieutenant-Governor of Jersey 310 M Mabon, Richard, Dean of Jersey 115 Magliore, his history ... 261 “ Maitresse lie” of the Min- quiers 117 Mammalia of the islands ... 195 Manners and customs of the islanders 445 Manure, importance of, for island farming, 396 : quan- tity of vraic used as ... 397 Martyrs, Protestant, during Mary’s reign ... ... 301 Mary, religious persecutions in the islands in her reign 297, 301 Massey Perrotine, a martyr during Queen Mary s reign 301 and 302 Maulevrier, Count de ... 295 Menhirs, meaning of term 349 Metamorphic geology of the Channel Islands ... 201 Methodism in the islands ... 342 Metivier, Mr. G., his Rimes Guernesiaises quoted, 372, 380, 382 Military importance of the Channel Islands 12 Militia force, how consti- tuted 449 Mimicry, Animal ... 160, 161 Minquiers Rocks 117 Miracles by St. Sampson, 255 ; by St. Helerius ... 258 Modern geological changes in the Channel Islands ... 225 Mollusca of the Channel Islands 182 Page Moneys in use in the islands 457 Mont Mado, Jersey, granite of 221 Mont Orgueil Castle, Jersey, account of 88—90 Moulin Huet, Guernsey ... 43 Moye Point, Guernsey, notice of ... 45 Moye Point, Jersey 105 Mulberry, cultivation of, in the islands 408 Museums, excellent, in Guernsey 449 Mutiny in Guernsey among the Irish 340 N. Naufan, Governor of Mont Orgueil Castle 296 Naval battle fought off Guernsey in the reign of Edward III. 292 Neutrality, account of the privilege of, in the is- lands 296, 335 “ News from the Channel,” an old brochure referring to Sark 68, 79 Nino, Pedro 295 Noirmont Tower, Jersey ... 107 Norman, meaning of the name 265 Norman character of the islanders 13 Norman origin of the Chan- nel Islands population dis- puted, 261 et seq. O. Orders in Council have the force of law in the islands 433 Ordonnances of Jersey made by the States, 430 ; of Guernsey made by the Royal Court 431 Ormers, eaten in Sark ... 79 Ortach Rock described, 29 ; figured ... 30 Osborne, Sir Peter, Royalist Governor of Guernsey 306, 307, 312, 322, 325 474 INDEX. Page Overay, Sir Thomas, Gover- nor of Jersey 89 Oyster trade in Jersey ... 418 P. Pardon granted to the in- habitants of Guernsey after the Restoration ... 329 Parochial officers of the is- lands 422, 423 Paternoster rocks, near Jer- sey 82 Pawlet, Sir Hugh, governor of Jersey 89 Pears, cultivation of, in Jer- sey and Guernsey, 410; trade in ... 417 Peirson, Major Francis, his defence of Jersey, 337 ; monument to 112 Penny banks 452 Personal property, law of division of 441 Petit Bot Bay, Guernsey ... 51 Pier, Guernsey, 36 ; Jersey 85 Pinnacle Rock, Jersey ... 101 Plaids d' Heritage , the court so called 435 Plan of Braye Harbour, Alderney, 20 ; of Jersey harbour 86 Plate Saline, Alderney ... 18 Pleadings in the courts, how conducted 436 Pleinmont Point, Guernsey 46 Plough, great, used in the islands 402 Plum, cultivation of. 408 Poids de marc , its value . . . 458 Poingdestre, Mr., his work on Jersey 350 Police Court in the is- lands 434, 436 Polyolbion, Drayton’s poem of that name quoted ... 3 Pontac, Jersey 87 Population of the islands at the time of the Civil Wars, 301 ; at the present day ... 461 Port St. Peter, or St. Peter Port Guernsey 35 Page Portelet Bay, Jersey ... 107 Potatoes, quantity exported and imported 416 Poultry, breeds of, in the islands 405 Pouquelays or cromlechs des- cribed 350 “Prevot,” the sheriff of Guernsey so called ... 426 Prince’s Tower, Jersey ... 1 13 Privateering in the islands during the war of the French revolution 339 Privilege of neutrality in the islands, history of... 296, 335 “ Procureur de la Reine,’’ the officer so called in Jer- sey and Guernsey, 426 ; in Alderney 437 Produce of land in Jersey ... 401 Projets de loi , framed by the Royal Court of Guernsey, for the approval of the states ... 431 Property, laws affecting the succession of 439 Protozoa ... 165 Prynne, his description of Mont Orgueil, 89 ; the friend of Sir Phillip de Carteret 89, 305 Public debt of the islands ... 462 q. Quatrefages, Mr. A. de, his account of the Chausey archipelago.. 121 Queen’s Advocate, or Con- trole, nature of the office. . . 426 Queen’s Procureur, nature of the office 426 Quenvais, the, Jersey, des- cribed, 102; explained ... 241 Quorum of the various courts of law *35 R. Rabbits common in Herm... 59 Race, or Ras, of Alderney... 16 Raised beaches 229 INDEX. 475 Page “ Rambles of a Naturalist,” by M. de Quatrefages, quoted 121 Rat island ( 4i lie du ras ” or race island), Alderney ... 21 Rectors of the islands, their political position 426 Refugees, French, their pro- pagation of Calvinistic doctrines 298 Registration of Acts of Par- liament in the islands necessary, 434 ; of mort- gages 439 “ Rentes,” peculiar island meaning of the term ... 441 Reptiles of the Channel Islands 190 Reuses, Les, Jersey 95 Revenue and debt of the islands 462 “Rimes Guernesiaises ” quoted, 380 et seq . Rocquaine Bay, Guernsey ... 47 Rollo, his origin, 265 ; Ice- landic account of his history, 274 ; doubts about his biography, 286 ; pro- bably Gothic, 287 ; appeal to 440 Roman, antiquities in the islands 355 Ronez Point, Jersey 94 Royal charters have the force of law in the islands 433 Royal Court, composition of in Jersey and Guernsey, 427; power of, in Guernsey, 431 ; in Alderney, 437 : of Sark 438 Rozel Bay, Jersey 92 Rozel Manor 112 Ruined arch at Cape Gros- nez, Jersey 100, 414 Rufus, allegiance of the islands during his reign ... 288 Rullecourt, his attack on Jersey 112, 337 Russell, Major Robert, Lt.- Governor of Guernsey ... 308 Page S. Sagas of no value as histori- cal documents 273 Saie Harbour, Jersey, 92 notice of boulders 224 Saignie Bay, Sark 70 Saints Bay, Guernsey ... 43 Salisbury, the islands for a short time attached to the See of ... ... ... 297 Sambule, rocks so called ... 35 Sand-eeling at Guernsey and 0 Jersey 189, 190 Sark, account of, 61 ; the harbour, 68 ; the caverns, 70—73 ; the coupee, 75 ; history of, 344 : the dialect, 371; has an independent legal existence, 420 ; its governing body, 423 ; court of .:. ... 438 Sark, Little 61 Saumarez, Lord de (admiral), monument to 40 Savings banks 452 Seaweed, its value for eco- nomic purposes 397 Sedges, and other pond and marsh plants of the Chan- nel Islands 144 Sheep, breed of, in the islands 405 Shell beach of Herm ... 57 Shrubs and trees of the Channel Islands 138 Sixties and Forties, divisions of society so named in Guernsey 447 Society, state of in Jersey and Guernsey 447 Soil of the islands, account of, 393 et seq. Solicitors in Jersey, number of 432 Sorel Point, Jersey 94 Sponges of the Channel Islands 167 Spouting Hole at La Moye, Jersey 238 476 INDEX. Page St. Apolline’s chapel, Guernsey 359 St. Aubin’s, Jersey 107 St. Brelade’s, Jersey, the bay, 106; the church ... 357 St. Catherine’s, Jersey, the harbour 90 St. Clements Bay, Jersey ... 87 St. Helerius, his history ... 257 St. Helier’s Jersey, town and harbour 84 St. Magloire 261 St. Marculf 259 St. Martin’s Porch, Guernsey 52 St. Ouen’s Bay, Jersey ... 102 St. Ouen’s manor house, Jersey 112 St. Peter’s Port, Guernsey... 35 St. Romard 259 St. Sampson, the first apostle of Guernsey 225 St. Sampson’s (town), Guernsey 40 “ States,” origin of, 421 ; composition of Jersey, 427; Elective states of Guern- sey, 428 ; Deliberative states of Guernsey ... 428 Stone cutters of Chausey ... 121 Submerged forests in Guernsey ... 231 Submerged peat explained... 231 Subsidiary courts of the islands ••• 435 Suffrage, its nature in the islands 422, 423 Sunshine annual ... 128, i3 r T. Tenure of land ... 440 Terrien’s commentary ••• 433 Touraille Fort, Alderney ... 18 Town church, Guernsey ... 36 Trade, commerce, and manu- factures 414 Trees and shrubs of the Channel Islands 138 Trial by jury in Jersey ... 434 Tupper, Martin, poem on Cornet Castle ... ... 39 Tupper, Mr. F., his history of Guernsey referred to ... 227 Page V. Vale Castle ... 49 Vandal, meaning of the name 260 Vazon Bay, Guernsey ... 48 Vegetables and fruit ... 416 Verclut Point, Jersey ... 91 Vergee, the island measure of land — its value 458 “ Vicomte,” the sheriff of Jersey so named 426 Victoria College, Jersey ... 450 Victoria Tower, Guernsey ... 36 Vingtaines and Vingteniers of Jersey 422 Vraic, its use and value to the farmer 396 Vraicking, custom of ... 397 W. Wace, the earliest Channel Island poet, 365, et seg. Walking-sticks made of the cabbage stalks in Jersey... 402 Warwick, Earl of, Governor of Guernsey under the Parliament 308 Water, source and amount of supply in the islands generally ... 398 Weights used in the islands 458 Wesley, Charles, and the Wesleyans in Guernsey ... 342 Wild flowers, abundance of in Jersey and Guernsey ... 141 William the Conqueror, his pedigree, 265 ; allegiance of the islands during his reign 288 William III., events on the accession of, 334 ; privi- leges confirmed by ... 336 Winchester, the islands transferred to the See of... 297 Y. York, Duke of, in Jersey ... 320 Z. Zoology of the Channel Islands 157 Zoophytes 169 GREAT REDUCTIONS IN THE PRICES OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF MESSRS W. H. ALLEN & CO., LONDON, JUST PURCHASED BY JOHN GRANT, ■yy M OlESALE XSOOKSSJ^X.L.E re, EDINBURGH. PAGE Miscellaneous Works ------ 2 Scientific Works - - 29 Natural History. Botany. Mosses, Fungi, &c. Veterinary Works and Agriculture - - 34 India, China, Japan, and the East - 36 The Reduced Prices of these Books can be had on application to any Bookseller at Home and Abroad. The Published Prices are affixed to each book. The Trade supplied direct, or through Messrs Simpkin, Marshall & Co., London. Great Reductions in this Catalogue CATALOGUE. ARTHUR PENRHYN STANLEY . , D. D. ( Dean of Westminster ). Scripture Portraits and other Miscellanies collected from his Published Writings. By Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, D.D. Crown 8vo, gilt top, 5s. Uniform with the above. VERY REV. FREDERICK W. FARRAR , D.D., F.R.S. (. Archdeacon of Westminster). Words of Truth and Wisdom. By Very Rev. Frederick W. Farrar, D.D., F.R.S. Crown 8vo, gilt top, 5s. Uniform with the above. SAMUEL WILBERFORCE , D. D. (. Bishop of Winchester). Heroes of Hebrew History. Crown 8vo, gilt top, 5s. Uniform with the above. CARDINAL NEWMAN Miscellanies from the Oxford Sermons of John Henry Newman, D.D. Crown 8vo, gilt top, 5s. For the Reduced Prices apply to of Messrs W. H. Allen 6 ° Cols Publications . 3 CAPTAIN JAMES ABBOTT. Narrative of a Journey from Herat to Khiva, Moscow, and St Petersburg!! during the late Russian invasion at Khiva, with Map and Portrait. 2 vols., demy 8vo, 24s. Throughout the whole of his journey, his readers are led to take the keenest interest in himself, and each individual of his little suite. The most remarkable anecdote of this part of his journey is concerning the prosecution of the Jews, for an alleged insult to Mohammedanism, not unlike the pretext of Christian persecutors in the days of the Crusaders. From St Petersburgh, Captain Abbott returned to England, where he gives an amusing account of the difficulties, and mental and physical distresses of his Afghan follower. The book concludes with the author’s return to India, and with notices of the fate of some of the individuals in whom we have been most interested by his narrative. “The work will well repay perusal. The most intrinsically valuable portion is perhaps that which relates to the writer’s adventures in Khaurism, and at the Court of Khiva; but the preseut time imparts a peculiar interest to the sketches of Russian character and policy.” — London Economist. MRS R. K. VAN ALSTINE. Charlotte Corday, and her Life during the French Revolution. A Biography. Crown 8vo, 5s. * “It is certainly strange that when history is ransacked for picturesque and interesting subjects, no one has yet told in English — for so Miss van Alstine remarks, and our own recollection supports her negatively— the romantic story of Charlotte Corday. The author has carefully studied her authorities, and taken pains to distin- guish fact from fiction, for fiction, it need hardly be said, has mixed itself plentifully with the story of Charlotte Corday. Miss van Alstine has been able to add to this story several genuine details that greatly heighten its effect.” — Spectator. EDWARD L. ANDERSON. How to Ride and School a Horse, with a System of Horse Gymnastics. Fourth Edition, revised and corrected, crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. “ An admirable practical manual of riding.” — Scotsman. “ The book deserves perusal by all who have dealings with horses —Birmingham Gazette. “ Though practice is of course essential, it is equally necessary that the practice should be guided by some principle, and the aspirant who adopts the methods ex- plained and recommended by Mr Anderson is not likely to regret his choice of an in- structor.” — Morning Post. D. T ANSTED and R. G. LATHAM. The Channel Islands. Revised and Edited by E. Toulmin Nicolle. Third Edition, profusely illustrated, crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. “ A useful and entertaining book. The work is well done, and to those who have not even paid a flying visit to this beautiful group it is calculated to causo a strong desire to explore and enjoy its attractions.” — Daily Chronicle. “ We are extremely glad to see a new edition of this fascinating work. . . . All who know the Channel Islands should read this admirable book ; and many who read the book will certainly not rest until they know the Channel Islan is.”— Slack and White. PROFESSOR D. T. ANSTED. Water, and Water Supply. Chiefly with reference to the British Islands. With Maps, 8vo, 18s. Towns and their water-supply is becoming a clamant grievance. Any Bookseller at Home and Abroad. 4 Great Reductions in this Catalogue MAJOR J. H. LA IV R ENCE-A R CHER, Bengal II. P. The Orders of Chivalry, from the Original Statutes of the various Orders of Knighthood and other Sources of Information. With 3 Portraits and 63 Plates, beautifully coloured and heightened with gold, 4to, coloured, £ 6 . 6s., Plain, £3. 3s. “ Major Lawrence-Archer has produced a learned and valuable work in his account of ‘ I’he Orders of Chivalry.' He explains that the object of the book is to supply a succinct account of the chivalric orders in a convenient form. The literary form of the work is amply convenient for reference and study. Its material form could be convenient only to some knight of the times when armour was worn in the field, and men were stronger in the arm than they are now. It is a handsome volume. The size of the book is doubtless due to the introduction of a series of engraved plates of the badges and crosses of the various orders described. These plates are executed in a finished style, and give the work an exceptional value for students of heraldic symbolism. The author may be congratulated on the successful issue of a laborious and useful task.”— Scotsman, 14th May 1888. SIR EDWIN ARNOLD, A/.A., Author of “'The Light of Asia J IsPc. The Book of Good Counsels, Fables from the Sanscrit of the Hito- padesa. With Illustrations by Gordon Browne. Autograph and Portrait, crown 8vo, antique, gilt top, 5s. The Same. Superior Edition, beautifully bound, 7s. 6d. “ It is so long since Sir Edwin Arnold’s Indian fables were in print that they may practically be regarded as a new book. In themselves they are almost the fathers of all fable, for whereas wc know of no source whence the ‘ Hitopadesa ’ could have been borrowed, there are evidences of its inspiration and to spare in Bidpai, in ASsop, and in most of the later fabulists.” — Pall Mall Gazette. “Those curious and fascinating stories from the Sanskrit which Sir Edward Arnold has retold in ‘ The Book of Good Counsels ’ give us the key to the heart of modern India, the writer tells us, as well as the splendid record of her ancient gods and glories, quaint narratives, as full of ripe wisdom as the songs of Hiawatha, and with the same curious blending of statecraft and wood-magic in them.” — Daily Telegraph. “ A new edition comes-to hand of this delightful work— a fit companion to ‘iEsop’s Fables’ and the ‘Jungle Book.’ Sir Edwin has done well to republish this record of Indian stories and poetical maxims from the Sanskrit. And the illustrations, a speci- men of which we give here, what shall we say of them? Simply that they are equal to the text. No more pleasant series of ‘ Good Counsels’ i3 it possible to find, and we are convinced that it is not an ill counsel — far from it — to advise our readers to forth- with get this charming work. They will derive not a little pleasure, and perchance instruction, from a perusal of the story of the jackal, deer, and crow, of the tiger and the traveller, of the lion, the jackals, and the bull, of the black snake and golden chain, of the frogs, and the old serpent, and of all the other veracious chronicles herein set forth.”— Whitehall Review. S. BA RING- GO ULD , ALA., A uthor of 4 4 Alehalahf &c. In Troubadour Land. A Ramble in Provence and Languedoc, with Illustrations by J. E. Rogers. Medium 8vo, 12s. 6d. “ The title of Mr Baring-Gould’s book only indicates one of the mauy points of interest which will attract the intelligent traveller during a tour in Provence and Languedoc. 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Wc prefer to send the reader to the volume itself, where he will find roorcuior much reflection.” — The A cademy. “ One of the most humorous and valuable of the general articles on Art is Mr Wyke Bayliss’ ‘ Story of a Dado.’ ” — The Standard. MISS SOPHIA BEALE. The Churches of Paris from Clovis to Charles X., with numerous Illustrations. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. Contents: — N otre Dame; Notre Dame des Champs; Nctre Dame de Loretta ; Notre Dame des Victoires; Genevieve; Val de Grace; Ste. Chapelle; St Martin; St Martin des Champs ; Etienne du Mont ; Eustacho; Germain l’Aux^rrois ; Germain des Pr&s; Gervais; Julien; Jacques; Leu; Laurent; Merci ; Nicolas; Paul; Roch; Severin; V. dePaul; Madeleine; Elizabeth; Sorbonne; Invalides. “ An interesting study of the historical, archaeological, and legendary associations which belong to the principal churches of Paris.” — Times. “ A comprehensive work, as readable as it is instructive. The literary treatment is elaborate, and the illustrations are numerous and attractive.” — Globe. “For the more serious-minded type of visitor who is capable of concerning himself in the treasures of art and store of traditions they contain, Miss Beale has prepared her book on the Churches of Paris. It is more than an ordinary guide-book, for it mingles personal opinion and comment with curious information drawn from the old and new authorities on the history and contents of the more ancient and celebrated of the Paris churches.”— Scotsman. “A monument of historical research and judicious compilation is The Churches of Pans from, Clovis to Charles X., by Sophia Beale (Allen and Co.). 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A Survey of the Geography, Govern- ment, Literature, Social Life, Arts, and History of the Chinese Empire and its Inhabitants. Revised Edition, with 74 Illustrations and a New Map of the Empire. 2 vols., demy 8vo, 42s. “ The work now before us is second to none in thoroughness, comprehensiveness, and all the tokens of accuracy of which an ‘outside barbarian ’ can take cognisance. —A. P. Peabody. Aiiy Bookseller at Home and Abroad. Great Reductions in this Catalogue SURGEON-MAJOR L. A. WADDELL , M.B. The Buddhism of Tibet. With its Mystic Cults, Symbolism, and Mythology, and in its relation to Indian Buddhism, with over 200 Illustrations. Demy 8vo, 600 pp., 31s. 6d. Synopsi > of Contents : — Introductory. Historical — Changes in Primi- tive Buddhism leading to Lamaism— RLe, Development, and Spread of Lamaism — The Sects of Lamaism. Doctrinal — Metaphysical Sources of the Doctrine — The Doctrine and its Morality — Scriptures and Literature. Mon- astic— The Order of Lamas — Daily Life and Routine — Hierarchy and Rein- carnate Lamas. Buildings — Monasteries— Temples and Cathedral — Shrines (and Relics and Pilgrims). Mythology and Gods— Pantheon and Images — Sacred Symbols and Charms. Ritual and Sorcery — Worship and Ritual — Astrology and Divination — Sorcery and Necromancy. Festivals and Plays— Festivals and Holidaj’s — Mysic Plays and Masquerades and Sacred Plays. Popular Lamaism — Domestic and Popular Lamaism. Appendices— Chrono- logical Table— Bibliography — Index. “By far the most important mass of original materials contributed to this reeondite study. ’ — Tnc Times. “Dr Waddell deals with the whole subject in a most exhaustive manner, and gives a clear insight into the structure, prominent features, and cults of the system ; and to disentangle the early history of Lamaism from the chaotic growth of fable which has invested it, most of the chief internal movements of Lamaism are now for the first time presented in an intelligible and syste- matic form. The work is a valuable addition to the long series that have preceded it, and is enriched by numerous illustrations, mostly from originals brought from Lhasa, and from photographs by the author, while it is fully indexed, and is provided with a chionological table and bibliography.” — Liverpool Courier. “ A book of exceptional interest.” — Glasgoiv Herald. “A learned and elaborate work, likely for some time to come to be a source of reference to all who seek information about Lamaism. ... In the appendix will be found a chronological table of Tibetan events, and a bibliography of the best literature bearing on Lamaism. There is also an excellent index, and the numerous illustrations are certainly one of the dis- tinctive features of the book.” — Morning PoA. “Cannot fail to arouse the liveliest interest. The author of this excel- lently produced, handsomely illustrated volume of nearly six hundred pages has evidently spared no pains in prosecuting his studies. . . . The book is one of exceptional value, and will attract all those readers who take an intfrest in the old religions of the far East.” — Publishers' > Circular. “ The author is one of few Europeans who have entered the territory of the Grand Lama, and spent several years in studying the actualities of Lamaism as explained by Lamas. A Lamaist temple with its fittings was purchased, and the officiating priests explained in full detail the symbolism an l the rites as they proceeded. Other temples and monasteries were visited and Lamas employed for copying manuscripts, and searching for texts bearing upon the author'* researches. Enjoying special facilities for penetrating the reserve of Tibetan ritual, and obtaining direct from Lhasa and Tashi-lhunpo mo>t of the objects an l explanatory material needed, much information has been obtained on Lamaist theory and practice which is altogether new.” “ The internal development and movements of Lamaism are now for the first time presented in an intelligible and systematic form. Details of the principal rites, mystic and other deep-rooted demon worship and dark sorcery, the religious Plays and Festivals, are given fully.” With numerous illustrations from originals brought from Lhasa, and from photographs by the author. For the Reduced Prices apply to of Messrs W. H. Allen 6 ° Cols Publications. 9 M. C. COOKE , M.A., LL.D. *** For fuller notices of Dr Cooke’s works see under Scientific, pp. 29, 30. The British Fungi : A Plain and Easy Account of. With Coloured Plates of 40 Species. Fifth Edition, Revised, crown 8vo, 6s. Rust, Smut, Mildew, and Mould. An Introduction to the Study of Microscopic Fungi. Illustrated with 269 Coloured Figures by J. E. Sowerby. Fifth Edition, Revised and Enlarged, with Appendix of New Species. Crown 8vo, 6s. Handbook of British Hepaticae. Containing Descriptions and Figures of the Indigenous Species of Marchantia, Jungermannia, Riccia, and Anthoceros, illustrated. Crown 8vo, 6s. Our Reptiles and Batrachians. A Plain and Easy Account of the Lizards, Snakes, Newts, Toads, Frogs, and Tortoises indigenous to Great Britain. New and Revised Edition. With Original Coloured Pictures of every species, and numerous woodcuts.' crown 8vo, 6s. F. C. DANVERS. Report to the Secreta r y of State for India in Council on the Portuguese Records relating to the East Indies, contained in the Archivo da Torre de Tombo, and the Public Libraries at Lisbon and Evora. Royal 8vo, sewed, 6s. net. REV. A. J. D. NORSE V, B.D . , IC.C . , P.O.C. Portuguese Discoveries, Dependencies, and Missions in Asia and Africa, with Maps. Crown 8vo, 7s, 6d. Contents. Book I. Introductory. The Portuguese in Europe and Asia. Portugal and the Portuguese. Portuguese Discoveries in the Fifteenth Century. Portuguese Conquests of India in the Sixteenth Century, The Portuguese Empire in the Sixteenth Century. Book II. The Portuguese Missions in Southern India. Early History of the Church in India. First Meeting of the Portuguese with the Syrians. Pioneers of the Portuguese Missions. The Rise of the Jesuits. The Jesuits in Portugal. St Francis Xavier's Mission in India. Subsequent Missions in the Sixteenth Century. Book III. The Subjugation of the Syrian Church. Roman Claim of Supremacy. First Attempt, by the Franciscans. Secon 1 Attempt, by the Jesuits. The Struggle against Rome. Book III . — continued The Archbishop of Goa. The Synod of Di amper. The Triumph of Rome. Book IV. Subsequent Missions in Southern India, with special reference to the Syrians. Radiation of Mission of Goa. The Madura Mission. Portuguese Missions in the Carnatic. Syrian Christians in the Seventeenth Century. Syrian Christians in the Eighteenth Century. Book V. The Portuguese Missions, with special reference to Modern Missionary efforts in South India. The First Protestant Mission in South India. English Missions to the Syrians 1806-10. English Missions and the Syrian Christians. The Disruption and its Results. Present State of the Syrian Christians. The Revival of the Romish Missions in India. Any Bookseller at Home and Abroad i o Great Reductions in this Catalogue C. L. EASTLAKE . Notes on the Principal Pictures in the Royal Gallery at Venice. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. VERY REV. FREDERICK IV. FARRAR , D.D., F.R.S. (. Archdeacon of Westminster). Words of Truth and Wisdom, by Very Rev. Frederick W. D.D., F.R.S. Crown 8vo, gilt top, 5s. Christian Statesmanship. Legislative Duties. The Use of Gifts and Oppor- tunities. The Brotherhood of Man. Energy of Christian Service. Christianity and the Human Race. Christianity and Individual. The Victories of Christian ity. TheChristian Remedyagainst the Frailties of Life. Prayer, the Antidote of Sorrow. Contents. The Conquest over Temp- tation. Too Late. The Souls of the Departed. What Heaven is. No Discharge in the War against Sin. The Dead which die in the Lord. The Resurrection of the Dead. The Blighted Life. ' Wisdom and Knowledge. The Voice of History. Farrar, The Monks. The Early Franciscans. The Hermits. The Missionaries. The Martyrs. Seneca. Seneca and St Paul. Gallio and St Paul. Roman Society in the days of St Paul. Sanskrit. Greek and Hebrew. Aryan Migrations. Words. “ In theological views he might be described as standing between the Evangelical party and the Broad Church ; but his knowledge, coloured by a poetic temperament, his superabundant fertility, and eloquent luxuriance of style, have gained for him a unique position in the theological thought of the last twenty years .” — Celebrities of the Century. GENERAL GORDON , C.B. Events in the Taeping Rebellion, being Reprints of MSS. copied by General Gordon, C. B., in his own handwriting; with Monograph, Introduction, and Notes, by A. Egmont Hake, Author of “ The Story of Chinese Gordon.” With Portrait and Map, demy 8vo, iSs. “The publication of this volume completes what may be called Ihe personal narrative of General Gordon’s eventful life told in his own words .” — Manchester Guardian. “ Tnero is no doubt that a wide circle of readers will like to read the story in the very words of the gallant leader of the 4 Ever Victorious Army.’ ” — D lily Graphic. A handy book of reference. Companion to the Writing Desk ; or, How to Address, Begin, and End Letters to Titled and Official Personages. Together with a Table of Precedence, copious List of Abbreviations, Rules for Com- position and Punctuation, Instructions on Preparing for the Press, &c. 321110, is. A useful manual which should he in every office. BARON CUVIER. The Animal Kingdom, with considerable Additions by W. B. Carpenter, M.D. , F.R.S., and ]. O. Westwood, F.L.S. New Edition, Illustrated with 500 Engravings on Wood and 36 Coloured Plates, imp. 8vo, 2 is. For the .Reduced Prices apply to of Messrs TV. H. Allen 6 ° Cols Publications. 1 1 M. GRIFFITH. India’s Princes, short Life Sketches of the Native Rulers of India, with 47 full-page Illustrations. Demy 4to, gilt top, 2 is. The contents are arranged in the following order: — Tun: Punjaijb— H.H. The Maharaja of Cashmere, H.H. Tho Maharaja of Patiala, H.H. The Maharaja of Kapur- thalla. Rajputana — The Maharaja of Ouidpur, Tho Maharaja of Jeypore, The Maha- raja of Jodhpur, The Maharaja of Uwar, The Maharaja of Bhurtpur. Central India — H.H. The Maharaja Holkar of Indore, H.H. The Maharaja Scindia of Gwalior, H.H. The Begum of Bhopal. The Bombay Presidency— H.H. The Gaik war of Baroda, H. H. The Rao of Cutch, H.H. The Raja of Kolhapur, H.H. The Nawab of Juarrghad. II H. The Thakore Sahib of Bhavnagar, H.H. The Thakore Sahib of Dhangadra, H. H. The Thakore Sahib of Morvi, H.H. The Thakore Sahib of Gondal. Southern India— H.H. The Nizam of Hyderabad, H.H. The Maharaja of Mysore, H.II. The Maharaja of Travancore, &c. “ A handsome volume, containing a sorios of photographic portraits and local views with accompanying letterpress, giving biographical and political details, carefully com- piled and attractively presented.” — Times. GEORGE GRESSWELL. The Diseases and Disorders of the Ox. Second Edition, demy 8 vo, 7s. 6d. “ This is perhaps one of the best of the popular books on the subject which has been published in recent years, and demonstrates in a most unmistakable manner the groat advance that has been made in Bovine and Ovine Pathology since the days of Youatt. ... To medical men who desire to know something of the disorders of such an important animal — speaking hygienically — as the Ox, the work can be recommended.” — The Lancet. C. HAMILTON. Hedaya or Guide, a Commentary on the Mussulman Laws. Second Edition, with Preface and Index by S. G. Grady, 8vo, 35s. The great Law-Book of India, and one of the most important monuments of Mussul- man legislation in existence. ‘•A work of very high authority in all Moslem countries. It discusses most of the subjects mentioned in the Koran and Sonna.” — Mill s Mohammedanism. “ A valuable work.” — A llibone. JOSEPH II A YDN. Book of Dignities, containing lists of the Official Personages of the British Empire, Civil, Diplomatic, Heraldic, Judicial, Ecclesiastical, Municipal, Naval, and Military, from the Earliest Periods to the Present Time, together with the Sovereigns and Rulers of the World from the Foundation of their respective States ; the Orders of Knighthood of the United Kingdom and India, and numerous other lists. Founded on Beatson’s “Political Index ” (1806). Remodelled and brought down to 1851 by the late Joseph Haydn. Con- tinued to the Present Time, with numerous additional lists, and an Index to the entire Work, by Horace Ockerby, Solicitor of the Supreme Court. Demy 8vo, 25s. “ The most complete official directory in existence, containing about 1,300 different lists.”— Times. “ The value of such a book can hardly be overrated.” — Saturday Review. “A perfect monument of patient labour and research, and invaluable for many purposes of reference.”— Truth. “This valuable work has cost its editor, Mr Horace Ockerby, a great deal of labour, and does infinite credit to his research and industry.” — World. Any Bookseller at Home. and Abroad. 12 Great Reductions in this Catalogue Rev . H. R. .HA WEIS, M.A . , Atithor of “Music and Morals.” Sir Morell Mackenzie, Physician and Operator, a Memoir, compiled and edited from Private Papers and Personal Reminiscences. New Edition, with Portrait and copy of Autograph Letter from the Queen, crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. Family Tree. Surroundings. Boyhood. A Vocation. The Throat Hospital. Contents. Private Practice. Leisure Hours. The Emperor. The German Doctors. The Book. The Respite. The Last Voyage. Last Glimpses. The End. “ Mr Haweis writes not only fearlessly, but with remarkable freshness and vigour. He is occasionally eloquent, and even pathetic. In all that he says wc perceive a transparent honesty and singleness of purpose .” — Saturday Review. “A deeply interesting book, and one which challenges in a most striking and fear- less manner the stern verdict which Sir Morell's own profession so generally passed upon his conduct before and after the death of his illustrious patient the Emperor. . . The volume is full of absolutely interesting details, many among them new .” — Daily Telegraph. HOWARD HENSMAN, Special Correspondent of the “ Pioneer ” (. Allahabad ) and the “ Daily News ” [London). The Afghan War, 1879*80. Being a complete Narrative of the Capture of Cabul, the Siege of Sherpur, the Battle of Ahmed Khel, the March to Candahar, and the defeat of Ayub Khan. With Maps, demy 8vo, 2 is. “ Sir Frederick Roberts says of the letters here published in a collected form that ‘ nothing could be more accurate or graphic.’ As to accuracy no one can be a more competent judge than Sir Frederick, and his testimony stamps the bo jk before us as constituting especially trustworthy material for history. Of much that he relates Mr Hensman was an eye-witness ; of the rest he was informed by eye-witnesses immedi- ately after the occurrence of the events recorded. There could, therefore, be little doubt as to the facts mentioned. Credibility might be concurrent with incorrect deductions, but we are assured by Sir Frederick Roberts that Mr Hensman’s accuracy is complete in all respects. Mr Hensman enjoyed singular advantages during the first part of the war, for he was the only special correspondent who accompanied the force which marched out of Ali Kheyl in September 1879. One of the most interesting portions of the book is that which describes the march of Sir Frederick Roberts from Cabul to Candahar. Tne description of the Maiwand disaster is given with combined clearness, simplicity, and power, and will be read with the utmost interest. Indeed, the book is in every respect interesting and well written, and reflects the greatest credit on the author.” — Alhenoe.um. SIR fOHN F. W. HERSCHEL, Bart., K.H. , &c., Member of the Institute of France, Src. Popular Lectures on Scientific Subjects. New Edition, crown 8vo, 6s. “ We are reminded of the rapid progress made by science within the last quarter of a century by the publication of a new edition of Sir John Herschel’s Popular Lectures on Scientific Subjects. In 186 L, spectrum analysis, as applied to the heavenly bodies, was referred to as a possibility ; now it is not only an accomplished fact, but the analysis of the gases contained in the sun has led to the discovery of one of them, helium, upon the earth. Some of the lectures, such as that on light, are practically popular treatises on the particular subject to which they refer, and can be read with advantage even by advanced students .” — The Westminster Review. For the Reduced Prices apf>ly to of Messrs W. II. Allen 6° Co's Publications. 13 REV. T. P. HUGHES. Dictionary of Islam. Being a Cyclopaedia of the Doctrines, Rites, Ceremonies, and Customs, together with the Technical and Theological Terms of the Muhammadan Religion. With numerous Illustrations, royal 8vo, £2. 2s. “ Such a work as this has long been needed, and it would be hard to find any one better qualitied to prepare it than Mr Hughes. His ‘Notes on Muhammadanism,’ of which two editions have appeared, have proved decidedly useful to students of [slam, especially in India, and his long familiarity with the tenets and customs of Moslems has placed him in the best possible position for deciding what is necessary and what superfluous in a ‘ Dictionary of Islam.’ His usual method is to begin an article with the text in the Koran relating to the subject, then to add the traditions bearing upon i«, and to conclude with the comments of the Mohammedan scholiasts and the criticisms of Western scholars. Such a method, while involving an infinity of labour, produces the best results in point of accuracy and comprehensiveness. The difficult task of compiling a dictionary of so vast a subject as Islam, with its many sects, its saints, khalifs, ascetics, and dervishes, its festivals, ritual, and sacred places, the dress, manners, and customs of its professors, its commentators, technical terms, science of tradition and interpretation, its superstitions, magic, and astrology, its theoretical doctrines and actual practices, has been accomplished with singular success ; and the dictionary will have its place among the standard works of reference in every library that professes to take account of the roligion which governs the lives of forty millions of the Queen’s subjects. The articles on ‘Marriage,’ ‘Women,’ ‘Wives,’ ‘Slavery,’ ‘Tradition,’ ‘Sufi,’ ‘Muhammad,’ ‘Da’wah’ or Incantation, ‘Burial,’ and ‘God,’ are especially admirable. Two articles deserve special notice. One is an elaborate account of Arabic ‘ Writing’ by Dr Steingass, which contains a vast quantity of useful matter, and is well illustrated by woodcuts of the chief varieties of Arabic script. The other article to which we refer with special emphasis is Mr F. Pincott on ‘ Sikhism.’ There is something on nearly every page of the dictionary that will interest and instruct the students of Eastern religion, manners, and customs.” — Athenaeum. Dictionary of Muhammadan Theology. Notes on Muhammadanism, by Rev. T. P. Hughes. Third Edition, revised and enlarged. Fcap. 8vo, 6s. “ Altogether an admirable little book. It combines two excellent qualities, abun- dance of facts and lack of theories. ... On every one of the numerous heads (over fifty) into which the book is divided, Mr Hughes furnishes a large amount of very valuable information, which it would be exceedingly difficult to collect from even a large library of works on the subject. The book might well be called a ‘ Dictionary of Muhammadan Theology,’ for we know of no English work which combines a methodical arrangement (and consequently facility of reference) with fulness of information in so high a degree as the little volume before us.” — The Academy. “ It contains multum in parvo, and is about the best outlines of the tenets of the Muslim faith which we have seen. It has, moreover, the rare merit of being accurate ; and, although it contains a few passages which we would gladly see expunged, it can- not fail to be useful to all Government employes who have to deal with Muhammadans ; whilst to missionaries it will be invaluable.” — The Times of India. “ It is manifest throughout the work that we have before us the opinions of one thoroughly conversant with the subject, and who is uttering no random notions. . . . We strongly recommend ‘Notes on Muhammadanism.’ Our clergy especially, even though they are not missionaries, and have no intention of labouring amongst Muham- madans, or consorting with them, ought to have at least as much knowledge of the system as can be most readily acquired, with a very little careful study, from this use- ful treatise.” — The Record. SIR W. HUNTER. Bengal MS. Records. A Selected List of Letters in the Board of Revenue, Calcutta, 1782-1807, with an Historical Dissertation and Analytical Index. 4 vols. , demy 8vo, 30s. A Statistical Account of Bengal. 20 vols., demy 8vo, £ 6 . Any Bookseller at Home and Abroad. i4 Great Reductions in this Catalogue J. HUNTER , late Hon. Sec. of the British Bee-keepers' Association. A Manual of Bee-keeping 1 . Containing Practical Information for Rational and Profitable Methods of Bee Management. Full Instruc- tions on Stimulative Feeding, Ligurianising and Queen-raising, with descriptions of the American Comb Foundation, Sectional Supers, and the best Hives and Apiarian Appliances on all Systems. Fourth Edition, with Illustrations, crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. “ We are indebted to Mr J. Hunter, Honorary Secretary of the British Bee-keepers’ Association. His Manual of Bee-keeping, just published, is full to the very brim of choice and practical hints fully up to the most advanced stages of Apiarian Science, and its perusal has afforded us so much pleasure that we have drawn somewhat largely from it for the benefit of our readers.” — Bee-keepers' Magazine ( New York). “ It is profusely illustrated with engravings, which are almost always inserted for their utility. . . . There is an old saying that ‘ easy writing is hard reading,’ but we will not say thus much of Mr Hunter's book, which, taken as a whole, is perhaps the most generally useful of any now published in this country.” — The Field. ZMAJOR LEIGH HUNT , Madras Army , and ALEX. S. KENNY, MR. C.S.E . , A.K. C . , Senior Demonstrator of Anatomy at King's College , London. On Duty under a Tropical Sun. Being some Practical Suggestions for the Maintenance of Health and Bodily Comfort, and the Treatment of Simple Diseases ; with remarks on Clothing and Equipment. Second Edition, crown 8vo, .4s. “This little book is devoted to the description and treatment of many tropical diseases and minor emergencies, supplemented by some useful hints on diet, clothing, and equipment for travellers in tropical climates. The issue of a third edition proves that the book has hitherto been successful. On the whole we can commend the hints which have been given for the treatment of various diseases, but in some places much has been left to the knowledge of the reader in the selection and application of a remedy.” — Scottish Geographical Magazine. “ Is written more especially for the rougher sex, and i3 only less important than ‘ Tropical Trials ’ because it has had many more predecessors. It is now in a third edition, and contains practical suggestions for the maintenance of health and bodily comfort, as well as the treatment of simple diseases, with useful remarks on clothing and equip- ment for the guidance of travellers abroad.” — Daily Telegraph. Tropical Trials. A Handbook for Women in the Tropics. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. “ Is a valuable handbook for women in the East, and, we are glad to see, now in its second edition. It does not treat theoretically of the maladies incidental to Europeans in hot climates, or go deeply into those matters which properly belong to the experi- enced doctor, but it gives plain, wholesome advice on matters of health, which, were it scrupulously followed, it is not too much to say would add fifty per cent, to the enjoyment of our countrywomen abroad. She could scarcely have a better guide as to what to do and what not to do than this excellent handbook, which deserves to be included in every woman’s foreign outfit.” — Daily Telegraph. JOHN H. INGRAM. 1 he Haunted Homes and Family Traditions of Great Britain.’ Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. Epitomised in One Volume by R. O' B YRNE , F. R. G. S . , Sfc. James’ Naval History. A Narrative of the Naval Battles, Single Ship Actions, Notable Sieges, and Dashing Cutting-out Expeditions, fought in the days of Howe, Hood, Duncan, St Vincent, Bridport, Nelson, Camperdown, Exmouth, Duckworth, and Sir Sydney Smith. Crown 8vo, 5s. For the Reduced Prices apply to of Messrs IV. //. Allen 6 ° Cols Publications. MRS GRACE JOHNSON , Silver Medallist Cookery , Exhibition. Anglo-Indian and Oriental Cookery. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. “ Overflows with all sorts of delicious and economical recipes.”— Pall Mall Budget. “ Housewives and professors of the gentle art of cookery who deplore the dearth of dainty dishes will find a veritable gold mine in Mrs Johnsons book ."-Pall Mall Gazette. Appeals to us from a totally original standpoint. She has thoroughly and com- pletely investigated native and Anglo-Indian cuisines, and brought away the very best specimens of their art. Her pillau and kedgree are perfect, in our opinion ; curries are scientifically classed and explained, and some of the daintiest recipes we have ever seen are given, but the puddings particularly struck our fancy. Puddings as a rule are so nasty ! The pudding that is nourishing is hideously insipid, and of the smart pudding it may truly be said that its warp is dyspepsia, and its woof indigestion. Mrs Johnson’s puddings are both good to taste and pretty to look at, and the names of some of her native dishes would brighten any menu. H. G. KEENE , CH.E., B.C.S . , M.R.A.S. , &c. History of India. From the Earliest Times to the Present Day. For the use of Students and Colleges. 2 vols, with Maps. Crown 8vo, 1 6s. “ The main merit of Mr Keene’s performance lies in the fact that he has assimilated all the authorities, and has been careful to bring his book down to date. He has been careful in research, and has availed himself of the most recent materials. He is well known as the author of other works on Indian history, and his capacity for his self- imposed task will not be questioned. We must content ourselves with this brief testi- mony to the labour and skill bestowed by him upon a subject of vast interest and importance. Excellent proporiion is preserved in dealing with the various episodes, and the style is clear and graphic. The volumes are supplied with many useful maps, and the appendix include notes on Indian law and on recent books about India.” — Globe. “ Mr Keene has the admirable element of fairness in dealing with the succession of great questions that pass over his pages, and he wisely devotes a full half of his work to the present century. The appearance of such a book, and of every such book, upon India is to be hailed at present. A fair-minded presentment of Indian history like that contained in Mr Keene’s two volumes is at this moment peculiarly welcome.” — Times. An Oriental Biographical Dictionary. Founded on Materials collected by the late Thomas William Beale. New Edition, revised and enlarged, royal 8vo, 28s. “A complete biographical dictionary for a country like India, which in its long history has produced a profusion of great men, would be a vast undertaking. The suggestion here made only indicates the line on which the dictionary, at some future time, could be almost indefinitely extended, and rendered still more valuable as a work of reference. Great care has evidently been taken to secure the accuracy of all that has been included in the work, and that is of far mord importance than mere bulk. The dictionary can be commended as trustworthy, and reflects much credit on Mr Keene. Several interesting lists of rulers are given under the various founders of dynasties.” — India. The Fall of the Moghul Empire. From the Death of Aurungzeb to the Overthrow of the Mahratta Power. A New Edition, with Correc- tions and Additions, with Map, crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. This work fills up a blank between the ending of Elphinstone’s and the commence- ment of Thornton’s Histories. Fifty-Seven. Some Account of the Administration of Indian Districts during the Revolt of the Bengal Army. Demy 8vo, 6s. Any Bookseller at Home and Abroad. i6 Great Reductions in this Catalogue DR TALBOTT, and others. Keble College Sermons. Second Series. 1877-1888, crown 8vo, 6s. “ To those who desire earnest, practical, and orthodox doctrine in the form of short addresses, these sermons will be most acceptable ; and their lofty tone, their eloquent wording 1 , and the thorough manliness of their character, will commend them to a wide circle of readers.” — Morning Post. “ Dr Talbot has a second time thoughtfully placed on public record some of the lessons which were taught during his Wardenship in Sermons preached in the Chapel of Keble College , Oxford , 1877-1888. The sermons are fresh and vigorous in tone, and evidently come from preachers who were thoroughly in touch with their youthful audience, and who generally with much acuteness and skill grappled with the spiritual and intellectual difficulties besetting nowadays the University career.” — Church Times. G. H. KIN AH AN. A Handy Book of Rock Names. Fcap. 8vo, 4s. “This will prove, we do not doubt, a very useful little book to all practical geo- logists, and also to the reading student of rocks. When a difficulty is incurred as to a species of deposit, it will soon vanish. Mr Rinahan’s little book will soon make it all clear. The work is divided into three parts. The first is a classified table of rocks, the second part treats of the lngenite rocks, and the third part deals with those rocks which are styled Derivate. Dana’s termination of yte has been most generally used by the author, but he has also given the ite terminations for those that like them. The book will be purchased, for it must be had, by every geologist ; and as its size is small, it will form a convenient pocket companion for the man who works over field and quarrj\” — Popular Science Revieiv. REV. F. G. LEE , D.D. ( Vicar of All Saint s\ Lambeth). The Church under Queen Elizabeth. An Historical Sketch. By Rev. F. G. Lee, D.D. (Vicar of All Saints’, Lambeth). Second Edition. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d*. “There is the same picturesqueness of detail, the same vigorous denunciation, the same graphic power, which made the earlier book pleasant reading even to many who disagree heartily with its tone and object. . . Dr Lee’s strength lies in very graphic description.” — Notes and Queries. “ This is, in many ways, a remarkably fine book. That it is powerfully written no one acquainted with Dr Lee’s vigorous style would for a moment dispute. Morning Post. “ Presenting a painful picture of the degradation into which the Church had sunk in Elizabeth’s reign.” — Daily Telegraph „ Sights and Shadows. Being Examples of the Supernatural. New Edition. With a Preface addressed to the Critics. Crown 8vo, 6s. “ This work will be especially interesting to students of the supernatural, and their name is legion at the present moment. It deals with more than one branch of what is commonly known as spiritualism. The introduction gives a brief resume of various forms of magic and divination which have obtained credence in all ages, and later on we find well-authenticated accounts of apparitions, supernatural warnings, hypnotic experiments, and miracles of healing. Mr Lee evidently believes that ‘ there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy,’ and few sane people will disagree with him, though they may not be inclined to accept all his opinions and assertions as they stand.”— Lady. “ Here we have ghostly stories galore, which believers in supernatural visitations will welcome as upholders of the faith that is in them. Dr Lee is a hard hitter and a vigorous controversialist, with a righteous contempt for your Darwins and Stuart Mills, and such like folk, and is not above suggesting that some of them have a decided worship of the god Self. As for ‘ the pompous jargon and silly cynicism which so many public scribes again and again make use of to throw discredit upon any phase of the supernatural,’ I have nothing to say. They can take care of themselves. This much I know, that ‘Sights and Shadows’ gives one an eerie feeling as midnight approaches and the fire flickers on the hearth.” — Gentlewoman. For the Reduced Prices apply to of Messrs W. H. Allen 6 ° Cols Publications. 17 COL. G. B. MALLESON. History of the French in India. From the Founding of Pondicherry in 1674, to the Capture of that place in 1761. New and Revised Edition, with Maps. Demy 8vo, 16s. “Colonel Malleson has produced a volume alike attractive to the general reader and valuable for its new matter to the special student. It is not too much to say that now, for the first time, we are furnished with a faithful narrative of that portion of European enterprise in India which turns upon the contest waged by the East India Company against French influence, and especially against Dupleix.” — Edinburgh Rcvifw. “ It is pleasant to contrast the work now before us with the writer’s first bold plunge into historical composition, which splashed every one within his reach. He swims now with a steady stroke, and there is no fear of his sinking. With a keener insight into human character, and a larger understanding of the sources of human action, he com- bines all the power of animated recital which invested his earlier narratives with popularity.” — Fortnightly Review. “ The author has had the advantage of consulting the French archives, and his volume forms a useful supplement to Orme.” — Athenaeum. Final French Struggles in India and on the Indian Seas. New Edition. Crown 8vo, 6s. “ How India escaped from the government of prefects and sub-prefects to fall under that of commissioners and deputy-commissioners; why the Penal Code of Lord Macaulay reigns supreme instead of a Code Napoleon ; why we are not looking on helplessly from Mahe, Karikal, and Pondicherry, while the French are ruling all over Madras, and spending millions of francs in attempting to cultivate the slopes of the Neilgherries, may be learnt from this modest volume. Colonel Malleson is always painstaking, and generally accurate ; his style is transparent, and he never loses sight of the purpose with which he commenced to write.” — Saturday Review. “ A book dealing with such a period of our history in the East, besides being interesting, contains many lessons. It is written in a style that will be popular with . general readers.” — A thenceum. # “ It strikes one as tho best thing bo has yet done. Searching, yet easy, his pen goes with unflagging power through the military wonders of a hundred years, connecting the accounts of battles by a sufficient historic thread.” — Academy. History of Afghanistan, from the Earliest Period to the Outbreak of the War of 1878, with map, demy 8vo, 18s. “ The name of Colonel Malleson on the title-page of any historical work in relation to India or the neighbouring States is a satisfactory guarantee both for the accuracy of the facts and the brilliancy of the narrative. The author may be complimented upon having written a History of Afghanistan which is likely to become a work of standard authority.” — Scotsman. The Battle-Fields of Germany, from the Outbreak of the Thirty Years’ War to the Battle of Blenheim, with maps and one plan, demy 8vo, 1 6s. “ Colonel Malleson has shown a grasp of his subject, and a power of vivifying the confused passages of battle, in which it would be impossible to name any living writer as his equal. In imbuing these almost forgotten battle-fields with fresh interest and reality tor the English reader, he is re-opening one of the most important chapters of European History, which no previous English writer has made so interesting and instructive as he has succeeded in doing in this volume.” — Academy. Ambushes and Surprises, being a Description of some of the most famous instances of the Leading into Ambush and the Surprises of Armies, from the time of Hannibal to the period of the Indian Mutiny, with a portrait of General Lord Mark Ker, K. C.B., demy 8vo, 18s. Any Bookseller at Home and Abroad. i8 Great Reductions in this Catalogue JAMES IR VI N L UPTON, F. R. C. V S . , author of ‘ ‘ The External Anatomy of the Horse f Src. The Horse : as he Was, as he Is, and as he Ought to Be, with Illustrations. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. “ Written with a good object in view, namely, to create an interest in the important subject of horse-breeding, more especially that class known as general utility horses. The book contains several illustrations, is well printed and handsomely bound, and we hope will meet with the attention it deserves.” — Lire Stock Journal. T. MILLER MAGUIRE , M.A., LL.D . American War — Campaigns in Virginia, 1861-2, with Maps. Royal 8vo, paper covers, 3s. 6d. MRS MANNING . Ancient and Mediaeval India. Being the History, Religion, Laws, Caste, Manners and Customs, Language, Literature, Poetry, Philo- sophy, Astronomy, Algebra, Medicine, Architecture, Manufactures, Commerce, &c., of the Hindus, taken from their Writings. With Illustrations. 2 vols., demy 8vo, 30s. IRVING MONTAGU ( late Special War Correspondent “ Illustrated London News ”). Camp and Studio. Illustrated by the Author. New Edition. Crown 8vo, 6s. “His animated pages and sketches have a more than ephemeral interest, and present a moving picture of the romance and the misery of countries and populations ravaged by great opposing armies, and many a picturesque episode of personal ex- periences ; he is pleasant ^pd amusing enough.” — Daily Sews. “ Mr Irving Montagu’s narrative of his experiences as war artist of the Illustrated London News during the Itusso-Turkish war, though late in appearing, may be read with interest. War correspondents and artists usually enjoy a fair share of adventure ; but Mr Montagu appears to have revelled in dangers which seem anything but desir- able when studied in cold blood. Mr Montagu has much that is interesting to tell about the horrors of the siege of Kars and the prowess of the fair young Amazon who commanded a troop of Bashi-Bazuks, and even seduced a Russian general to her side. How he got to the front in spite of Russian prohibition, disguised as a camp follower, how his portmanteau was shelled a few inches behind his back, what he risked and what he saw in the memorable lines before Plevna, will be read with great interest. The book is well illustrated by many vigorous sketches, some of w T hich are exceeding^ humorous.”— Athenaeum. “A bright chatty record of wars, scenes, and adventures in various parts of the world.” — Echo. Wandering's of a War Artist. Illustrated by the Author. New Edition. Crown 8vo, 6s. “ Mr Montagu is to be congratulated on an eminently readable book, which, both in style and matter, is above the average of productions in this kind.” — The Morning j P GSt. “ This is an enchanting book. Equally as writer and as artist, Mr Irving Montagu ii a delightful companion. This beautiful and exceptionally interesting volume does not by any means exhaust the literary and artistic achievements of the well-known ‘ special ’ of the Illustrated London News.”— The Daily News. “ His own adventures are largely seasoned with stories of other people and anec- dotes he picks up He went through the second siege of Paris under the Commune, and some of the be3t reading in the book is the picture he gives of the state of poor, beautiful Paris, seen by the eye of an observing, impartial man, who has no object in either exaggerating or under-colouring the work of the Commune.” — The Spectator. “ The adventures of Mr Montagu are narrated with humour, and are seldom dull reading.” — Glasgow Herald. For the Reduced Prices apply to of Messrs W. H. Allen & Col's Publications. I 9 J. MORRIS , Author of “ The War in Korea A &c., thirteen years resident in Tokio under the fapanese Board of Works . Advance Japan. A Nation Thoroughly in Earnest. With over ioo Illustrations by R. Isayama, and of photographs lent by the Japanese Legation. 8vo, 12s. 6d. “Mr Morris evidently knows the country well, and is a strong believer in its future ; his book will be found a useful summary of recent history, abounding in good character sketches, accompanied with photographs, of the leading men.”— Times. “ Is really a remarkably complete account of the land, the people, and the institu- tions of Japan, with chapters that deal with matters of such living interest as its growing industries and armaments, and the origin, incidents, and probable outcome of the war with China. The volume is illustrated by a Japanese artist of repute ; it has a number of useful statistical appendices, and it is dedicated to His Majesty the Mikado. ” — Scotsman. “Mr Morris, who writes, of course, with thorough local knowledge, gives a very complete and eminently readable account of the country, its government, people, and resource. . . The work, which contains a large number of portraits and other illustra- tions, is decidedly ‘ on the nail,’ and may be recommended not only as a book to read, but as of value for reference.” — Westminster Gazette. “ Puts before us a clear view of the point which has been reached. His work is historical, social, and descriptive ; we see in it the Japanese of to-day as he really is. Mr Morris has also something to say on the Japanese at home— how he eats, how he dresses, and how he comports himself ; while wider issues are discussed in the chapters treating of the administration of the islands, their ports, communications, trades, and armaments.” — Globe. “ A well-proportioned sketch of the Japanese of to-day, so recent as to include the results of the war. . . There is much else I should like to quote in this able and interesting book. It has a good chapter on natural history, and an excellent chapter on diet, dress, and manners ; it gives just enough of Japanese history to help the ordinary reader who wants to learn his Japan on easy terms ; it has also most useful and attractively conveyed information in its brief account of the principal cities of Japan, communications and armament, language and literature, mines and minerals.” — Queen. “ He summarises clearly, concisely, the existing knowledge on the Japanese Parlia- mentary system, territorial and administrative divisions, natural history, domestic and national customs, dynastic changes, old feudal institutions, town populations, industries, mineral and other natural resources, railways, armaments, the press, and other subjects too many for enumeration. Even the chapter on language and litera- ture makes an appalling subject interesting. ... Mr Morris has brought his very use- ful account of Japan up-to-date. He gives a good summarj' of the recent war with China, and then proceeds to make some well-considered suggestions on a matter of supreme importance to Europe no less than to the two Empires of the Far East.” CHARLES MARVIN. The Region of the Eternal Fire. An Account of a Journey to the Caspian Region in 1883. New Edition. With Maps and Illustra- tions. Crown 8vo, handsomely bound, 6s. “The leading authority of the English Press on the Central Asian Question is Charles Marvin, a man of iron industry, who has wielded his comprehensive knowledge of the region in such a manner as to render eminent service to his country .” — Opinion of Arminius Vambery. “Charles Marvin's services in respect of the Russo-Afghan Question have been invaluable. lie has heard with his own ears the opinions expressed on the subject by Russian generals and diplomatists, and, for the love of England, has spent his own money to warn England’s people.”— Opinion of Colonel Malleson, “ The Russo-Afghan Question^ p. 55. Any Bookseller at Home and Abroad. 20 Great Reductions in this Catalogue W. O'CONNOR MORRIS. Great Commanders of Modern Times, and the Campaign of 1815. Turenne — Marlborough — Frederick the Great — Napoleon — -Welling- ton — Moltke. With Illustrations and Plans. Royal 8vo, 21s. “ Mr Morris certainly brings to his task vast reading 1 and exhaustive research.” — Athenceum. “ VVe gladly welcome this handsome volume by Judge O'Connor Morris, which gives evidence on every page of careful reading and correct judgment. . . . An admirable book to place in the hands of any student who wishes to get some idea of the history of the art of war.” — Academy. “ To the students of war this book will prove of the utmost interest and the greatest possible service.” — National Observer. “ Writes vividly and well.” — Times. CARDINAL NEWMAN. Miscellanies from the Oxford Sermons of John Henry Newman, D. D. Crown 8vo, gilt top, 5s. “All the resources of a master of English style — except, perhaps one, description — were at his command ; pure diction, clear arrangement, irony, dignity, a copious command of words, combined with a reserve in the use of them— all these qualities went to make up the charm of Newman’s style, the finest flower that the earlier system of a purely classical education has produced.” — Athenaeum. “The pieces presented to us here are carefully chosen, and answer the purpose of the present volume. The selections which are contained in it happily avoid any of these passages which have been the grounds of controversy. As a general rule we are able to take in the teachings of this book without any arribre-pensee , without any feeling that we have here the germ of those theories which estrange their author from us.” — Athenceum. COL. F. A. WHIN YATES , late R.H.A., formerly commanding the Battery. Military Regiments— From Corunna to Sevastopol, the History of “C” Battery, “A” Brigade, late “C” Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, with succession of Officers from its formation to the present time. With 3 Maps, demy 8vo, 14s. EDWARD NEWMAN, F.Z.S. British Butterflies. With many Illustrations. Super royal 8vo, 7s. 6d. DEPUTY SURGEON-GENERAL C. T. PASKE , late of the Bengal Army, and Edited by F. G. AFLALO. Life and Travel in Lower Burmah, with Frontispiece. Crown 8vo, 6s. “ In dealing with life in Burmah we are given a pleasant insight into Eastern life ; and to those interested in India and our other Eastern possessions, the opinions Mr Paske offers and the suggestions he makes will be delightful reading. Mr Paske has adopted a very light style of writing in ‘ Myamma,’ which lends an additional charm to the short *historical-cum-geographical sketch, and both the writer and the editor are to be commended for the production of a realty attractive book .” — Public Opinion. For the Reduced Prices apply to of Messrs W. H. Allen 6 ° Co.’s Publications. 21 Translation of the famous Passion Play. Passion Play at Oberammergau, The, with the whole Drama translated into English, and the Songs of the Chorus in German and English ; also a Map of the Town, Plan of the Theatre, &c. 4to, cloth, 3s. 6d. ; paper, 2s. 6d. “ The author of ‘ Charles Lovvder ’ has done a real service in publishing' a transla- tion of ‘ The Passion Play at Oberammergau,’ with a description of the play and short account of a visit there in 1880. To those who have already seen it, this little book will recall vividly the experience of what must be to all a memorable day, while to those who are going in 1890 it is simply invaluable.” — Guardian. MARY A. PR A ITEM. My Hundred Swiss Flowers, with a short account of Swiss Ferns. With 60 Illustrations. Crown 8vo, plain plates, 12s. 6d. ; with plates coloured by hand , 25s. “The temptation to produce such books as this seems irresistible. The author feels a want ; the want is undeniable. After more or less hesitation he feels he can supply it. It is pleasantly written, and affords useful hints as to localities.” — Athenceum. R. A. PROCTOR. Watched by the Dead, a loving study of Dickens’ half-told tale. Crown 8vo, cloth, is. 6d. ; boards, is. “ Mr Proctor here devotes much study and much ingenious conjecture to restoring the plot of ‘ The Mystery of Edwin Drood.’ tt would not be fair were we to attempt to give in a small compass the result of his labours. It must suffice to say that those who have occupied themselves with this curious problem will be interested in the solution here offered for their acceptance.” — Spectator. WILLIAM PROCTOR , Stud Groom. The Management and Treatment of the Horse in the Stable, Field, and on the Road. Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged, Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 6s. “ There are few who are interested in horses will fail to profit by one portion or another of this useful work.” — Sportsman. “ We cannot do better than wish that Mr Proctor’s book may find its way into the hands of all those concerned in iho management of the most useful quadruped we possess.” — England. There is a fund of sound common-sense views in this work which will be interest- ing to many owners.” — Field. “ Coming from a practical hand the work should recommend itself to the public.” — Sportsman. ^ WILLIAM RAEBURN ANDREW. Raeburn (Sir Henry, R.A.), Life by his Great-Grandson, William Raeburn Andrew, with an Appendix comprising a list of his works exhibited in the Royal Academy, Edinburgh. 8vo, 10s. 6d. “ Mr Andrew’s book, which on this occasion appeals to a wider public, makes no pretence to do more than to bring together the biographical fragments concerning Raeburn gathered out of various publications and to ‘make them coherent with a little cement of his own.’ Possibly a fuller and more original biography of the greatest of our p >rtrait-painters, who was at the same time one of the greatest ornaments of the Edinburgh Society of the beginning of the century, may yet see the light ; and in the meantime we can be grateful to Mr Andrew for bringing together and arranging so rich a store of topographical and personal details connected with his illustrious ancestor. In an appendix is a useful annotated catalogue of the 1870 exhibition of Raeburn’s works. ” — Scotsman. Any Bookseller at Home and Abroad. 22 Great Reductions in this Catalogue R. RIMMER, F.L.S. The Land and Freshwater Shells of the British Isles. Illustrated with io Photographs and 3 Lithographs, containing figures of all the principal Species. Second Edition. Crown 8vo, 5s. “ This handsomely got up little volume supplies a long-felt want in a very ingenious and trustworthy manner. The author is an enthusiastic conchologist, and writes both attractively arid well, and in a m inner so simple and natural that we have no fear that any ordinarily educated man will easily understand every phrase. But the feature of this book which strikes us most is that every species of British land and freshwater shell has been photographed, and here we have all the photographs, natural size in the albertype process, so that the merest tyro will find no difficulty in identi- fying any shell he may find .” — Science Gossip. ALEXANDER ROGERS (. Bombay Civil Service , Retired). The Land Revenue of Bombay, a Plistory of its Administration, Rise, and Progress, with 18 Maps. 2 vols. , demy 8vo, 30s. “Mr Rogers has produced a continuous and an authoritative record of the land changes and of the fortunes of the cultivating classes for a full half-century, together with valuable data regarding the condition and burdens of those classes at various periods before the 1 present system of settlement was introduced. Mr Rogers now presents a comprehensive view of the land administration of Bombay as a whole, the history of its rise and progress,- and a clear statement of the results which it has attained. It is a narrative of which all patriotic Englishmen may feel proud. The old burdens of native rule have been lightened, the old injustices mitigated, the old fiscal cruelties and exactions abolished. Underlying the story of each district we see a per- ennial struggle going on between the increase of the population and the available means of subsistence derived from the soil. That increase of the population is the direct result of the peace of the country under British rule. But it tends to press more and more severely on the possible limits of local cultivation, and it can only be provided for by the extension of the modern appliances of production and distribu- tion. Mr Rogers very properly confines himself to his own subject. But there is ample evidence that the extension of roads, railways, steam factories, and other industrial enterprises, have played an important part in the solution of the problem, and that during recent years such enterprises have been powerfully aided by an abundant currency.” — The Times. ROBERT SEWELL. Analytical History of India, from the earliest times to the Abolition of the East India Company in 1858. Post 8vo, 8s. “Much careful labour has been expended on this volume.”— Athenxum. “ The object of the author in compiling the following analytical sketch of Indian history has been to supply a want felt by most students of the more voluminous standard works of Mill, Elphinstone, Thornton, and Marshman, for a condensed outline in one small volume, which should serve at once to recall the memory and guide the eye. At the same time he has attempted to render it interesting to the general reader by preserving a medium between a bare analysis and a complete history ; so that, without consulting the eminent authorities mentioned above, the mind may readily grasp the principal outlines of the early condition of India, and the rise and progress of the East India Company. For the more full comprehension of these facts the author has provided, in addition to a table of contents and a chronological index, an index to the geographical position of the places to which reference is made in the text, bearing the latitudes and longitude as given in Thornton’s ‘ Gazetteer of India.’ This will be found not only to aid the student who is but partially acquainted with the map of India, but also by means of occasional accents to guide him in the ordinary pro- nunciation of the names.” — Preface. For the Reduced Prices apply to of Messrs IV. H. Allen 6 ° Co.’s Pub l ica l ions. 2 3 G. P. SANDERSON. Thirteen Years among the Wild Beasts of India ; their Haunts and Habits, from Personal Observation, with an account of the Modes of Capturing and Taming Wild Elephants. With 21 full-page Illus' ra- tions, reproduced for this Edition direct from the original drawings, and 3 Maps. Fifth Edition. Fcap. 4 to, 12 s. “ VVe find it difficult to hasten through this interesting book ; on almost every page some incident or some happy descriptive passage tempts the reader to linger. The author relates his exploits with ability and with singular modesty. II is adventures with man-eaters will afford lively entertainment to the reader, and indeed there is n > portion of the volume which he is likely to wish shorter. The illustrations add to the attractions of the book.” — Pall Mall Gazette. “This is the best and most practical book on the wild game of Southern and Eastern India that we have read, and displays an extensive acquaintance with natural history. To the traveller proposing to visit India, whether he be a sportsman, a naturalist, or an antiquarian, the book vviil be invaluable : full of incident and sparkling with anecdote.” — Bailey's Magazine. “This— the fifth edition of a work as charming to read as it is instructive — will be welcomed equally by lovers of sport, and of natural history. Though he met with and shot many other kinds of wild beasts, the bulk of the volume, well written, well illus- trated, and generally well got up, deals chiefly with the elephant, the tiger, the bison, the leopard, and the bear. Mr Sanderson, with exceptional powers of observation, cultivated friendly intercourse with the natives ; and he was consequently able to utdise to the utmost the singularly favourable opportunities enjoyed by him as director of elephant-capturing operations in Mysore and Chittagong. The result is a book which to graphic details of sporting adventures far surpassing the common, adds a correct natural history of the animals chiefly dealt with, and particularly the elephant. From this real king of beasts, Mr Sanderson carefully removes every exaggeration made both for or against him, which had been repeated without any good foundation by one writer after another ; he substitutes for fables a description of elephantine anatomy, size, habits, and character which may be said to sum up all that we know for certain about tho animal, and nearly all that one can wish to know. We should have wished to see this edition brought up to date. The book is more fascinating than a romance ; and we have read it now the third time with as great a zest as when we revelled over the perusal of the first edition.” — Imperial and Asiatic Quarterly Review. PROFESSOR SHELDON. The Future of British Agriculture, how P'armers may best be bene- fited. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. “ Fortunately Prof. Sheldon has no mind to pi ly the part of a prophet, but from the plenitude of a long experience gives sage counsel how to farm abreast of the time and be ready for whatever may ensue. . . . This little book is well worth reading, and it is pleasant to find that the Professor by no means despairs of the future of agriculture in England.” — Academy. “ We welcome the book as a valuable contribution to our agricultural literature, and as a useful guide to those branches in which the author is especially qualified to instruct. ” — Nature. “In this beautifully printed and well-bound little book Professor Sheldon, in his usual happy style, surveys the agricultural field, and indicates what he thinks is the prospect in front of the British farmer. Like a watchman he stands upon his tower— and when asked, What of the night? he disavows not that we are in the night, but earnestly declares that the morning cometh apace. The professor is an optimist ; he does not believe that the country is done, and still less does he favour the idea that, taking a wide survey, the former days were better than these On the contrary, he urges that the way out of the wilderness is not by any by-path, but by going right ahead ; and, ere long, the man who holds the banner high will emerge triumphant.” — Scottish Farmer. J. SMITH , A.L.S. Ferns : British and Foreign. Fourth Edition, revised and greatly enlarged, with New Figures, &c. Crown 8vo, 7 s - 6d. Any Bookseller at Home and Abroad . 24 Great Reductions in this Catalogue G. BARNETT SMITH , Author of “ History of the English Parliament. ” Leaders of Modern Industry. Biographical Sketches. Contents The Stephensons, Charles Knight, Sir George Burns, Sir Josiah Mason, The Wedgwoods, Thomas Brassey, The Fairbairns, Sir William Siemens, The Rennies. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. “ ‘ Leaders of Modern Industry ’ is a volume of interesting- biographical sketches of the pioneers of various phases of industry, comprising the Stephensons, Charles Knight, Sir George Burns, Sir Josiah Mason, the Wedgwoods, Thomas Brassey, the Fairbairns, Sir William Siemens, and the Rennies.” — World. Women of Renown. Nineteenth Century Studies. Contents : — Frederika Bremer, Countess of Blessington, George Eliot, Jenny Lind, Mary Somerville, George Sand, Mary Carpenter, Lady Morgan, Rachel, Lady Hester Stanhope. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. Mr Barnett Smith continues his biographical activity. It is not man}^ weeks since a volume appeared from his pen on “ Christian Workers of the Nineteenth Century ” ; now we have “ AVomen of Renown : Nineteenth Century Studies.” The later is the larger and more elaborate work of the two, but in design and execution it is not greatly dissimilar from the earlier volume. Desirous of showing what the women of eminence whom he has chosen for delineation really were— how they lived, moved, and acted— the author has presented them wherever he could “as painted by them selves or their contemporaries.” Autobiographies and biographies are thus, as far as available, laid under contribution. In the hands of so capable a compiler as Mr Barnett Smith such materials have been skilfully utilised, and the result is a series of brightly written sketches. The Life and Enterprises of Ferdinand de Lesseps— The only full and Complete English Account of. New Edition. Revised, and brought up to the time of his death, with Portrait. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. “ A great part of M. de Lesseps’ career already belongs to history, and is invested with a lustre which nothing can obscure. Mr G. Barnett Smith makes this clear in his useful and painstaking compilation. . . . It is skilfully executed, and illustrates aptly and not altogether inopportunely, both the poetry and the prose of M. de Lesseps’ extraordinary career .” — The Times. “A very comprehensive life of Ferdinand de Lesseps has been produced by G. Barnett Smith, who has already proved his ability as a faithful and painstaking bio- grapher. The career of M. de Lesseps was one of great achievements and great vicissitudes. This biographer lauds his achievements. The facts of the prosecution in connection with the Panama Canal project are elaborately set forth in this volume, to which all readers interested in the question should refer for information on a matter which to people not resident in France must have appeared unusually complicated.” — Westminster Review. ARTHUR PENRHYN STANLEY, D.D, [Dean of Westminster). Scripture Portraits and other Miscellanies collected from his Published Writings. By Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, D.D. Crown 8vo, gilt top, 5 s - “ In virtue of his literary genius, his solid acquirements, his manly sense, and his sympathetic and generous piety, he ranks among the most eminent and estimable of Christian teachers.” — Chambers's Encyclopcedia. “These essays range over a period of twenty years (1850-1870), and they furnish a series of singularly interesting illustrations of the great controversies which have agitated that time. . . . Every one, indeed, of his essays has achieved in its day a s access which makes a recommendation unnecessary.” — Allibone. For the Reduced Prices apply to of Messrs W. H. Allen 6 ° Co.’s Publications. 25 E. (E. SOMERVILLE and MARTIN ROSS , THE AUTHORS OF “ AN IRISH COUSIN A Through Connemara in a Governess Cart. Illustrated by W. W. Russell, from Sketches by Edith CE. Somerville. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. “The quaint seriousness, the free and hearty fun, the sly humour of this narrative, are charmingly bright and attractive.”— World. “A bright and breezy narrative of two ladies in Connemara who preferred inde- pendence and a mule to society and a mail car. Their simple story is divertingly told.” — Times. “The delightful wilderness of mountain, peat bog, and heather, and all that they said and did, are graphically described in this chatty and extremely readable volume.” — Daily Telegraph. “ Sketches of Irish Life, the eccentricities of wandering Saxons, and descriptions of local scenery, are worked up in a manner whieh makes the book a pleasant companion. Mr Russell has in his illustration ably supported the writers.” — Morning Post. By the same Authors. In the Vine Country —Bordeaux and its Neighbourhood, Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. “ The genuine fund of wit and humour which sparkles throughout will be enjoyed by all.” — Glasgow Herald. “ The authors have the knack of putting their readers in the situation in which they themselves were, and so the book, light and smart as it is, is heartily enjoyable.’ — Scotsman . “ A bright, artless narrative of travel.”— Times. “There is not a dull line in the volume from the first page to the last.”— Lady's Pictorial. J. E. TAYLOR , F.L.S . , E.G.S., < 5 rV. For fuller notices of Dr Taylor’s Works, see Scientific , pp. 33, 34. Flowers : Their Origin, Shapes, Perfumes, and Colours. Illustrated with 32 Coloured Figures by Sowerby, and 16 1 Woodcuts. Second Edition. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. The Aquarium : Its Inhabitants, Structure, and Management. Second Edition, with 238 Woodcuts. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. Half-Hours at the Seaside. Illustrated with 250 Woodcuts. Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. Half-Hours in the Green Lanes. Illustrated with 300 Woodcuts. Fifth Edition. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. E. THORNTON. A Gazetteer of the Territories under the Government of the Viceroy of India. Last Edition. Revised and Edited by Sir Roper Lethbridge, C.I.E., and A. N. Wollaston, C.I.E. Demy 8vo, 1,070 pp., 28s. PERCY M. THORNTON. Harrow School and its Surroundings. With Maps and Plates. Demy 8vo, 15s. Any Bookseller at Home and Abroad. 26 Great Reductions in this Catalogue W. M.. TORRENS. History of Cabinets. From the Union with Scotland to the Acquisition of Canada and Bengal. 2 vols. Demy 8vo, 36s. “It is almost impossible— and, alas! now useless as regards the writer — to praise this book too highly. It is a clever, sincere, and painstaking contribution to the making of modern history, and all students of constitutional and parliamentary history will find much to interest and instruct them in these able volumes. In all the minor matters of references, indexing, and printing every care has been taken. Indeed, all is praiseworthy, and the pity is that the writer, should have passed away without receiving the thanks of students.” — St James's Budget. “ ‘ A History of Cabinets’ from the beginning of the Eighteenth Century down to the death of George II., which the late Mr M‘Cullagh Torrens regarded as ‘ the work of his life,’ was published yesterday. It consists of two volumes of considerable bulk, showing at once that something more than the origin and progress of the Cabinet system had occupied the attention of the author. In fact, a history of Cabinets is a history of Governments, and a history of Governments is, in a great measure, a history of England.” — The Standard. A. J. WALL. Indian Snake Poisons. Their Nature and Effects. Crown 8vo, 6s. Contents. The Physiological Effects of die Poison of the Cobra (Naja Tripudians). — The Physio- logical Effects of the Poison of Russell’s Viper (Daboia ltussell ii).— The Physiological Effects produced by the Poison of the Bungarus Fasciatus and the Bungarus Coeruleus. — The Relative Power and Properties of the Poisons of Indian and other Venomous Snakes. — The Nature of Snake Poisons.— Some practical considerations connected with the subject of Snake- Poisoning, especially regarding prevention and treatment. — The object that has been kept in view, has been to define as closely as possible, the con- ditions on which the mortality from Snake-bite depends, both as regards the physio- logical nature of the poisoning process, and the relations between the reptiles and their victims, so as to indicate the way in which we should best proceed with the hope of diminishing the fearful mortality that exists. JOHN WATSON, F.L.S. Ornithology in Relation to Agriculture and Horticulture, by various writers, edited by John Watson, F.L.S., &c. Crovtn 8vo, 3s. 6d. List of Contributors. — Miss Eleanor A. Ormerod, late Consulting Entomologist to the Royal Agricultural Society of England ; O. V. Alpin, F.L.S. , Member of the British Ornithologists’ Union ; ^Charles Whitehead, F.L.S. , F.G.S., &c., author of “Fifty Years of Fruit Farming”; John Watson, F.L.S., author of “ A Handbook for Farmers and Small Holders ” ; the Rev. F. O. Morris, M.A., author of “A History of British Birds”; G. W. Murdoch, late editor of The Farmer ; Riley Fortune, F.Z.S. ; T. H. Nelson, Member of the British Ornithologists’ Union ; T. Southwell, F.Z.S. ; Rev. Theo. Wood, B.A., F.I.S. ; J. II. Gurney, jun., M.P. ; Harrison Weir, F.R.H.S. ; W. H. Tuck. “Will form a textbook of a reliable kind in guiding agriculturists at large in their dealings with their feathered friends and foes alike.” — Glasgow Herald. “This is a valuable book, and should go far to fulfil its excellent purpose. . . . Jt is a book that every agriculturist should possess.” — Land and Water. “It is well to know what birds do mischief and what birds arc helpful. This book is the very manual to clear up all such doubts.” — Yorkshire Post. “In these days of agricultural depression it behoves the farmer to study, among other subjects, ornithology. That he and the gamekeeper often bring down plagues upon the land when they fancy they are ridding it of a pest is exceedingly well illustrated in this series of papers.” — Scotsman. For the Reduced Prices apply to of Messrs W. H. Allen 6 ° Co.’s Publications. 27 SAMUEL WILBERFORCE , D.D. ( Bishop of Winchester ). Heroes of Hebrew History. Crown 8vo, gilt top, 5s. “The tales which he relates are all good, and have a moral aim aud purpose.’’ — Athenaeum. “ It is written with a natural and captivating fervour.” — London Quarterly Review. “ An interesting historical account.” — London Lit. Gaz. “ Using his influence as a man of the world for the purpose of modifying those about him for good, and making them serve as his instruments for the furtherance of the objects which he had at heart. He was the most delightful of companions, and the wittiest talker of his time. Of his extraordinary versatility and extraordinary powers of work, it is impossible to speak at length here, but both qualities are abundantly illustrated in his life by Canon Ashwell.” — Celebrities of the Century. S. WELLS WILLIAMS , LL.D . , Professor of the Chinese Language and Literature at Yale College. China — The Middle Kingdom. A Survey of the Geography, Govern- ment, Literature, Social Life, Arts, and History of the Chinese Empire * and its ‘Inhabitants. Revised Edition, with 74 Illustrations and a New Map of the Empire. 2 vols. Demy 8vo, 42s. Dr S. Wells Williams’ Middle Kingdom has long occupied the position of a classic. It is not only the fullest and most authoritativo account of the Chinese and thoir country that exists, but it is also the most readable and entertaining. This issue is practically a new work — the text of the old edition has been largely re-written and tho work has been expanded so as to include a vast amount of new material collected by Dr Williams during tho late years of his residence in China — as well as the most recent information respecting all the departments of the Empire. Many new illustrations havo been added and the best of the old engravings have been retained. An important feature of this edition is a large map of the Chinese Empire from the best modern authorities, more complete and accurate than any map of the couutry hitherto published. PARRY WILLIAMS , R.N. {Chief Inspector of Machinery). Dedicated, by permission, to Admiral H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh. The Steam Navy of England. Past, Present, and Future. Contents: — Part I. — Our Seamen; Part II. — Ships and Machinery; Part III. — Naval Engineering ; Part IV. — Miscellaneous, Summary, with an Appendix on the Personnel of the Steam Branch of the Navy. Third and enlarged Edition. Medium 8vo, 12s. 6d. “ It is a series of essays, clearly written and often highly suggestive, on the still unsolved, or only partially and tentatively solved, problems connected with the man- ning and organisation, and propulsion of our modern war-ships, . . being laudably freo from technicalities, and written in a not unattractive stylo, they will recommend themselves to that small, but happily increasing, section of the general public which coucerns itself seriously and intelligently with naval affairs.” — Times. “Mr Harry Williams, a naval engineer of long experience and high rank, discusses the future requirements of the fleet. He is naturally most at home when dealing with points which specially affect his own branch of the service, but the whole book is well worth study.” — Manchester Guardian. “ Must be pronounced a technical book in the main, although its author expressly states that he wrote it ‘ not so much for professional as non professional men.’ Its manifest object is to promote the efficiency of our steam navy in times to come, keeping which aim steadfastly in view Mr Williams has brought great knowledge and ability to bear upon the endeavour to forecast what provision it would be well to make in order to meet the full naval requirements of the British nation. His highly instructive work is divided into four parts, under the respective titles of ‘ Our Seamen,’ 1 Ships and Machinery,’ ‘ Naval Engineering,’ and ‘ Miscellaneous,’ which again are carefully summarised in some fifty pages of eminently readable matter. The three chapters of miscellanea deal principally with the coal-endurance, engine-room complements, elec- tric lighting, and steam-steering machinery of Her Majesty’s ships.” — Daily Telegraph Any Bookseller at Home and Abroad. 28 Great Reductions in this Catalogue Professor H. H. WILSON , author of the “ Standard History of India .” Glossary of Judicial Terms, including words from the Arabic, Persian, Plindustani, Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali, Uriya, Marathi, Guzarathi, Telugu, Karnata, Tamil, Malayalam, and other languages. 4to, cloth, 30s. Wynter’s Subtle Brains and Lissom Fingers. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. Contents. The Buried Roman City in Britain. 41 Silvertown.” Advertising. Vivisection. The New Hotel System. The Restoration of our Soil. Half-Hours at the Kensington Museum. Mu die’s Circulating Library. Fraudulent Trade Marks. Superstition : Where does it End? The New Counterblast to Tobacco. Air Traction, Illuminations, Boat-Building by Machinery. The Effects of Railway Travelling upon Early Warnings. Dining Rooms for the Working Classes. Railway and City Population. A Day with the Coroner. The English in Paris. The Times Newspaper in 1798. The Under-Sea Railroad. Oh, the Roast Beef of Old England. Physical Education. Advice by a Retired Physician. The Clerk of the Weather. Portsmouth Dockyard. Village Hospitals. Railways, the Great Civilisers. On taking a House. Photographic Portraiture. Doctor’s Stuff. Smallpox in London. Hospital Dress. Excursion Trains. Health. The Working-Men’s Flower Show. Messages under the Sea. Town Telegraphs. The Bread We Eat. 41 Altogether ‘ Subtle Brains and Lissom Fingers’ is about the pleasantest book of short collected papers of chit chat blending information with amusement, and not over- tasking the attention or the intelligence, that we have seen for a good while .” — London Reader. LIEUT . G. J. YOUNG HUSBAND, Queen's Own Corps of Guides . Eighteen Hundred Miles in a Burmese Tat, through Burmah, Siam, and the Eastern Shan States. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 5s. 44 There is a good deal of jocular description in this book, which, as the reader will easily see, has been introduced with an eye rather to amusement thau to accuracy; but after all the volume will have repaid the reader for the few hours which may be spent in its perusal if it conveys to him, as it is calculated to do, a fair impression of the difficulties which beset the wayfarer in a strange land who, when in search of the pleasures of travel, begins his journey where he should leave off, and ends it where he should have started.” — Athenaeum. “Mr Younghusband’s account of his adventures is written simply and without exaggeration, but on the whole we think we would rather road about the Shan country than travel in it .” — Literary World. Bor the Reduced Prices apply to of Messrs W. H Allen < 5 ^ Cols Publications. 29 Scientific Morfis : inclubino 3Botan£, iRatural ibistorp, &c. E. BO NAVI A, M.D . , Brigade- Surgeon, Indian Medical Service. The Cultivated Oranges and Lemons of India and Ceylon. Demy 8vo, with oblong Atlas Volume of Plates, 2 vols. 30s. R. BRAITHWAITE , M.D., F.L.S . , < 5 rv. The Sphagnacese, or Peat Mosses of Europe and North America. Illustrated with 29 Plates, coloured by hand. Imp. 8vo, 25s. “ All museologists will be delighted to hail the appearance of this important work. . . . Never before has our native moss-flora been so carefully figured and described, and that by an acknowledged authority on the subject.” — Science Gossip. “ Mosses, perhaps, receive about as little attention from botanists as any class of plants, and considering how admirably mosses lend themselves to the collector’s purposes, this is very remarkable. Something may bo due to the minuteness of the size of many of the species, and something perhaps to the difficulties inherent in the systematic treatment of these plants ; but we fancy the chief cause of comparative neglect with which they are treated is to be sought in the want of a good illustrated English treatise upon them. In the work which is now before us, Dr Braithwaite aims at placing the British mosses on the same vantage-ground as the more favoured classes of the vegetable kingdom ; and judging from the sample lately issued, he will succeed in his endeavours.” — Popular Science Review. B. CARRINGTON , M.D . , F.R.S. British Hepaticae. Containing Descriptions and Figures of the Native Species of Jungermannia, Marchantia, and Anthoceros. Imp. 8vo, sewed, Parts 1 to 4, plain plates, 2s. 6d. each ; coloured plates, 3s. 6d. each. M. C. COOKE , M.A . , LL.D. The British Fungi : A Plain and Easy Account of. With Coloured Plates of 40 Species. Fifth Edition, Revised. Crown 8vo, 6s. “ Mr Cooke writes for those whose education and means are limited, and with pre- eminent success. It is really a pleasure to read the manuals which he has published, for they are up to the mark, and so complete as to leave hardly anything to be desired. The new work on the fungi appears to be equally valuable with those which he has already printed. It contains descriptions of the esculent fungi, the manner in which they are prepared for the table, how to discriminate the nutritious from the poisonous species, details of the principles of their scientific classification, and a tabular arrange- ment of orders and genera.” Handbook of British Hepaticae. Containing Descriptions and Figures of the Indigenous Species of Marchantia, Jungermannia, Riccia, and Anthoceros, Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 6s. “ It is very creditable to Mr Cooke that the drawings in his book are all sketches from nature made by his own pencil. This shows work, and is more respectable than the too common practice of copying engravings from the authorities in the particular branch of science. This little book is valuable, because in some respects it is certainly a good guide-book to a number of edible fungi unknown to the public.” — Popular Science Review. “Probably no group in the British flora has received so little attention as the Hepaticae. Dr M. C. Cooke has now filled up the gap by producing a ‘ Handbook of the British Hepaticae,’ containing full descriptions of all the species, about two hundred in number, known to inhabit the British Islands.” — Nature. M. C. Cooke's Books continued. Any Bookseller at Home and Abroad. 3 ° Great Reductions in this Catalogue M. C. CO ORE, M.A . , LL.D . — continued. Our Reptiles and Batrachians. A Plain and Easy Account of the Lizards, Snakes, Newts, Toads, Frogs, and Tortoises indigenous to Great Britain. New and Revised Edition. With original Coloured Pictures of every Species, and numerous Woodcuts. Crown 8vo, 6s. Contents. The Blind Worm. The Common Snake. The Smooth Snake. The Viper, or Adder. Great Water Newt. Gray's Banded Newt. Amphibia or Batrachians. *‘Mr Cooke has especially distinguished himself as fresh- water algae, his works on these orders being the standard treatises in English. He has also paid some attention to zoology and chemistry, his education in these as in other sciences being obtained by persistent self-instruction.” — Celebrities of the Century. Reptiles and Snake-stones. The Common Lizard. The Sand Lizard. The Green Lizard. The Natterjack. Palmate Newt. The Leathery Turtle. The Common Frog. The Edible Frog. The Common Toad. Common Smooth Newt or Eft. The Hawk’s-Bill Turtle. Appendix. a student of the fungi and the Rust, Smut, Mildew, and Mould. An Introduction to the Study of Microscopic Fungi. Illustrated with 269 Coloured Fig'ures by J. E. Sowerby. Fifth Edition, Revised and Enlarged, with Appendix of New Species. Crown 8vo, 6s. Those of our readers who are the happy possessors of microscopes would welcome this book with delight, as opening the way to a definite study of a most interesting branch of plant life. The minute fungi, here so faithfully depicted by Mr Sowerby, and so carefully described by Dr Cooke, have not only beauty of form and colour, but wonderful life-histories. Every hedge or lane or piece of waste ground, even in the suburbs of large towns, will provide specimens, which may be easily preserved on the plants which they attack or mounted as microscope slides. Important to Botanists and Students of Natural History. European Fungi (Hymenomycetum) — Synoptical Key to. Cooke (M. C. ) and Quelet (L., M.D., &c.) — Clavis Synoptica Hymenomy- cetum Europseorum. Fcap. 8vo, 7s. 6d. ; or, interleaved with ruled paper, 8s. 6d. “ Without pretending to high scientific quality, the work throughout is well fitted to instruct and to attract a class of readers who might shrink from grappling with a scientific text-book.” — Saturday Review. BARON CUVIER. The Animal Kingdom. With considerable Additions by W. B. Carpenter, M. I)., F. R. S., and J. O.. Westwood, F.L. S. New Edition, Illustrated with 500 Engravings on Wood and 36 Coloured Plates. Imp. 8vo, 21s. J. HUNTER , late Hon. Sec. of the British Bee-keepers' Association. A Manual of Bee-keeping. Containing Practical Information for Rational and Profitable Methods of Bee Management. Full Instruc- tions on Stimulative Feeding, Ligurianising and Queen-raising, with descriptions of the American Comb Foundation, Sectional Supers, and the best Hives and Apiarian Appliances on all systems. Fourth Edition. With Illustrations. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6jk “We cordially recommend Mr Hunter’s neat and compact Manual of Bee-keeping. Mr Hunter writes clearly and well.” — Science Gossip. “ We are indebted to Mr J. Hunter, Honorary Secretary of the British Bee-keepers’ Association. His Manual of Bee-keeping, just published, is full to the very brim of choice and practical hints fully up to the most advanced stages of Apiarian Science, and its perusal has afforded us so much pleasure that we have drawn somewhat largely from it for the benefit of our readers.” — Bee-keepers' Magazine {New York). For the Reduced Prices apply to of Messrs W. H. Allen 6 ° Cols Publications. 3i G. H. KINAHAN. A Handy Book of Rock Names. Fcap. 8vo, 4s. “ This will prove, we do not doubt, a very useful little book to all practical geologists, and also to the reading student of rocks. When a difficulty is incurred as to a species of deposit, it will soon vanish. Mr Kinahan’s little book will soon make it all clear. The work is divided into three parts. The first is a classified table of rocks, the second part treats of the Ingenite, rocks, and tbe third part deals with those rocks which are styled Derivate. Dana’s termination of yte, has been most generally used by the author, but ho has also given the ite terminations for those that like them. The book will be purchased, for it must bo had, by every geologist; and as its size is small, it will form a convenient pocket companion for the man who works over field and quarry.” — Popular Science Review. Professor E. LANKESTER. The Uses of Animals in Relation to the Industry of Man. New Edition. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 4s. Silk, Wool, Leather, Bone, Soap, Waste, Sponges, and Corals, Shell-fish, Insects, Furs, Feathers, Horns and Hair, and Animal Perfumes, are the subjects of the twelve lectures on “ The Uses of Animals.” “ In his chapter on ‘ Waste,’ the lecturer gives startling insight into the manifold uses of rubbish. ... Dr Lankester finds a use for everything ; and he delights in analysing each fresh sample of rejected material, and stating how each of its com- ponent parts can be turned to the best account.” — Athenaeum. Practical Physiology : A School Manual of Health. With numerous Woodcuts. Sixth Edition. Fcap. 8vo, 2s. 6d. Contents. Constitution of the Human Body. Nature of the Food supplied to the Human Body. Digestion, and the Organs by which it is performed. Nature of Blood and its Circulation by the Heart. Breathing, or the Function of Respira- tion. The Structure and Functions of the Skin. The Movements of the Human Body. The Brain and Nerves. The Organs of the Senses. “ Writing for schoolboys, Dr Lankester has been careful to consult their tastes. There are passages in this little work which will make it popular, and the instructor will probably be hailed by a name which is new to people of his class, that of a ‘ regular brick.’ ” — Athenaeum. MRS LANKESTER. Talks about Health : A Book for Boys and Girls. Being an Explana- tion of all the Processes by which Life is Sustained. Illustrated. Small 8vo, is. The Late EDWARD NEWMAN, F.Z.S. British Butterflies. With many Illustrations. Super royal 8vo, 7s. 6d. “ The British butterflies have found a good friend in Mr Newman, who has given us a history of their lives— from larva to imago , their habits and their whereabouts — which is one of the most perfect things of the kind. And we are glad to read the author’s statement that his work has attained, while in progress, a sale that is almost unattainable in English scientific works. Firstly, the work consists of a series of notices to the young who may be disposed to go butterfly-hunting. And in them we find the author’s great experience, and we commend this part of his work to our readers. The next part deals with the subjects of anatomy, physiology, and embrj'o- logy of the insects ; and finally we come to the separate account of each species. This latter is admirably given. First comes a capital engraving, life size, of the species, and then follows in order the life, history, time of appearance and locality, occupying from a page to a page and a half or two pages of a large quarto (or nearly so) volume. All this is done well, as we might expect from the author ; it is clear, intelligible, and devoid of much of the rubbish which abounds in books of this kind generally. We must conclude by expressing the hope that all who are interested in insects will make themselves aquainted with the volume .” — Popular Science Review. Any Bookseller at Hoitie and Abroad. Great Reductions in this Catalogue 3 2 MARY A. PRATTEN. My Hundred Swiss Flowers. With a Short Account of Swiss Ferns. With 60 Illustrations. Crown 8vo, plain plates, 12s. 6d. ; coloured plates, 25s. “The temptation to produce such books as this seems irresistible. The author feels a want ; the want is undeniable. After more or less hesitation he feels he can supply it. It is pleasantly written, and affords useful hints as to localities.”— A thenceum. S. L. PUMPHREY. A Little Brown Pebble, with 10 full-page cuts. Fcap. 4to, 3s. 6d. “ In the story of ‘ A Little Brown Pebble/ its writer endeavours to introduce geo- logical science into the nursery, showing what strange creatures lived in the ancient seas, what monsters inhabited the primeval forests, and how our country alternated between torrid heats and an arctic cold. The accuracy of the information is guaran- teed by competent authorities, and the illustrations are spirited. There is no reason why the attempt should not succeed.” — Academy , 21st December 1889. R. RIMMER , E.L.S. The Land and Freshwater Shells of the British Isles. Illus- trated with 10 Photographs and 3 Lithographs, containing figures of all the principal Species. Second Edition. Crown 8vo, 5s. “ This handsomely got up little volume supplies a long-felt want in a very ingenious and trustworthy manner. The author is an enthusiastic conchologist, and writes both attractively and well, and in a manner so simple and natural that we have no fear that any ordinarily educated man will easily understand every phrase. But the feature of this book which strikes us most is that every species of British land and freshwater shell has been photographed, and here we have all the photographs, natural size in the albertype process, so that the merest tyro will find no difficulty in identi- fying any shell he may find/’ — Science Review. J. SMITH , , A.L.S. Ferns : British and Foreign. Fourth Edition, revised and greatly en- larged, with many illustrations. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. “Each genus is described, and the technical characters upon which it is founded are shown in the accompanying illustrations, and the indispensable technical terms are explained by examples The meaning and derivations of the botanical names of ferns are also given in sufficient detail and with sufficient accuracy to meet the wants of amateurs, if not of scholars. But perhaps the most valuable part of the work is that devoted to instruction in the cultivation of ferns, which occupies some seventy pages of the book. A bibliography of the subject and an excellent index make up the remainder of this useful volume, which we recommend to all persons desirous of know- ing something more about ferns than being able to recognise them by sight.” — Field. “ Mr Smith’s work entitles him to admiration for his industry and for the manifest care with which he has studied his subject ; and his present enlarged work will certainly become and be a standard library book of reference for all pteridologists and orna- mental gardeners (whether professional or amateur) who devote attention to filiculture. And there really is no family of plants which is more elegant than are ferns. Indi- genous British ferns alone afford a most interesting scope of research and collection.” — Whitehall Review. “This is a new and enlarged edition of one of the best extant works on British and foreign ferns which has been called for by the introduction, during the interval of ten years which has elapsed since the issue of the first edition, of a number of exotic species which have been collected and arranged under their respective genera and tribes as an appendix. There are thus introduced 234 entirely new species. The sixty pages devoted to a treatise on the cultivation of ferns are invaluable to the fern-grower, professional or amateur, describing the conditions under which ferns grow in their native country — knowledge which is essential to their really successful cultivation in this.” — Rural World. For the Reduced Prices apply to of Messrs W. H Allen 6 ° Cols Publications. 33 J. E. TAYLOR , F.L.S . , Flowers : Their Origin, Shapes, Perfumes, and Colours, Illus- trated with 32 Coloured Figures by Sowerby, and 16 1 Woodcuts. Second Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 7s. 6d. Contents The Old and New Philosophy of Flowers— The Geological Antiquity of Flowers and Insects— The Geographical Distribution of Flowers— The Structure of Flowering Plants — Relations between Flowers and their Physical Surroundings— Relations between Flowers and the Wind— The Colours of Flowers— The External Shapes of Flowers— The Internal Shapes of Flowers— The Perfumes of Fiowers— Social Flowers — Birds and Flowers— The Natural Defences of Flowering Plants. “ This is an altogether charming book, full of wisdom, cheerful, simple, attractive, and informed throughout with a high purpose. Its object is to place within reach of the general public in an agreeable form the results of the most recent and compre- hensive botanical research. The author is so bold as to ask why flowers were made, and is not without means to answer the question reverently and truthfully. He connects them by the aids that science supplies with the history of creation, and the records of the rocks, and with the history of man, and the progress of the agricultural and horticultural arts. He tells us how they are influenced by soil and climate, how changed and multiplied by insects and other agencies, how their seeds are blown about the world, and how by innumerable divine appointments it at last comes about chat the life of a man is environed and beautified with flowers. The work is rich in the results of travel, and it happily connects the vegetable products of the globe with the conditions that favour them and the wants they satisfy. It is therefore a book for all ages, and for botanists and gardeners, as well as for such as rather too gladly confess they know nothing about plants. We should like to see it on every family table in the whole length and breadth of the United Kingdom ."—Gardeners' Magazine. The Aquarium : Its Inhabitants, Structure, and Management. Second Edition, with 238 Woodcuts. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. “ Few men have done more to popularise the natural history science than the late Dr Taylor. The work before us, while intended as a handbook to public aquaria, is responsible for many attempts, successful and otherwise, at the construction of the domestic article. The book is replete with valuable information concerning persons and things, while the directions for making and managing aquaria are very clear and concise. The illustrations are numerous, suitable, and very good.” — Schoolmaster. “The ichthyologist, be it known, is not such a fearful or horrific ‘sort of wild- fowl 5 as his name would seem to argue him. The prevalence of the breed, the extent of its knowledge, the zeal of its enthusiasm, and the number of the aquaria it has built for itself in town or country, are all part and parcel of that ! march of science ’ which took its impetus from Darwin and the ‘ Origin of Species.’ Those who do not already know that useful book, ‘ The Aquarium,’ by Mr J. E. Taylor, Ph.D., F.L.S., &c., should procure this new edition (the sixth). It" forms a convenient handbook or popular manual to our public aquaria. The aquarium, its inhabitants, its structure and its management, are the author’s especial care. And with the help of well-known works and a wide experience he has managed to put together a most praiseworthy book.”— Science Siftings. Half- Hours in the Green Lanes. Illustrated with 300 Woodcuts. Fifth Edition. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. “ A book which cannot fail to please the young, and from which many an older reader may glean here and there facts of interest in the field of nature. Mr Taylor has endeavoured to collect these facts which are to be recorded daily by an observant country gentleman with a taste for natural history ; and he has attempted to put them together in a clear and simple style, so that the young may not only acquire a love for the investigation of nature, but may also put up (by reading this little book) an im- portant store of knowledge. We think the author has succeeded in his object. He has made a very interesting little volume, not written above the heads of its readers as many of those books are, and he has taken care to have most of his natural history observations very accurately illustrated.” — Popular Science Review. J. E. Tap tor’s Books continued. Any Bookseller at Home and Abroad. 34 Great Reductions in this Catalogue J. E. TAYLOR , E.L.S., F. G.S. — continued. Half-Hours at the Seaside. Illustrated with 250 Woodcuts. Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. “ The love of natural history has now become so prevalent, at least among purely English readers, that we hardly meet a family at the seaside one of whose members has not some little knowledge of the wonders of the deep. Now, of course, this love of marine zoology is being vastly increased by the existence of the valuable aquaria at the Crystal Palace and at Brighton. Still, however, notwithstanding the amount of admirable works on the subject, more especially the excellent treatises of Gosse and others, there was wanted a cheap form of book with good illustrations which should give a clear account of the ordinary creatures one meets with on the sands and in the rock pools. The want no longer exists, for the excellent little manual that now lies before us embraces all that could be desired by those who are entirely ignorant of the subject of seaside zoology, while its mode of arrangement and woodcuts, which are carefully drawn, combine to render it both attractive and useful .”— Popular Science Review. IRtfcmo, Ueterinan?, ant> agriculture. EDWARD L. ANDERSON. How to Ride and School a Horse. With a System of Horse Gym- nastics. Fourth Edition. Revised and Corrected. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. “ He is well worthy of a hearing.” — Bell’s Life. “ Mr Anderson is, without doubt, a thorough horseman.” — The Field. “ It should be a good investment to all lovers of horses.” — The Farmer. “There is no reason why the careful reader should not be able, by the help of this little book, to train as well as ride his horses.” — Land and Water. JAMES IRVINE L UP TON, E.R.C.V.S. The Horse, as he Was, as he Is, and as he Ought to Be. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. “ Written with a good object in view, namely, to create an interest in the im- portant subject of horse-breeding, more especially that class known as general utility horses. The book contains several illustrations, is well printed and handsomely bound, and we hope will meet with the attention it deserves.” — Live Stock Journal. WILLIAM PROCTOR , Stud Groom. The Management and Treatment of the Horse in the Stable, Field, and on the Road. New and Revised Edition. Crown 8vo, 6s. “There are few who are interested in horses will fail to profit by one portion or another of this useful work. Coming from a practical hand the work should recommend itself to the public.” — Sportsman. “ There is a fund of sound common-sense views in this work which will be interesting to many owners.” — Field. GEORGE GRESSWELL. The Diseases and Disorders of the Ox. Second Edition. Demy 8vo, 7s. 6d. “ This is perhaps one of the best of the popular books on the subject which has been published in recent years, and demonstrates in a most unmistakable manner the great advance that has been made in Bovine and Ovine Pathology since the days of Youatt. . . . To medical men who desire to know something of the disorders of such an important animal — speaking hygienically — as the Ox, the work can be recommended.” — The Lancet. “ It is clear, concise, and practical, and would make a very convenient handbook of reference.” — Saturday Review. For the Reduced Prices apply to of Messrs IV. H. Allen 6° Cols Publications. 35 PROFESSOR SHELDON. The Future of British Agriculture. How Farmers may best be Benefited. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. “ Fortunately Prof. Sheldon has no mind to play the part of a prophet, but from the plenitude of a long experience gives sage counsel how to farm abreast of the time and be ready for whatever may ensue. . . . This little book is well worth reading, and it is pleasant to find that the professor by no means despairs of $he future of agriculture in England.” — Academy. “We welcome the book as a valuable contribution to our agricultural literature, and as a useful guide to those . branches in which the author is especially qualified to instruct.” — Nature. “In this beautifully printed and well-bound little book of 158 pp., Professor Sheldon, in his usual happy style, surveys the agricultural field, and indicates what he thinks is the prospect in front of the British farmer. Like a watchman he stands upon his tower — and when asked, What of the night ? he disavows not that we are in the night, but earnestly declares that the morning cometh apace. The professor is an optimist ; he does not believe that the country is done, and still less does he favour the idea that, taking a wide survey, the former days were better than these. On the contrary, he urges that the way out of the wilderness is not by any by-path, but by going right ahead ; and, ere long, the man who holds the banner high will emerge triumphant.” — Scottish Farmer. JOHN WATSON , F.L.S. . Ornithology in Relation to Agriculture and Horticulture, by various writers, edited by John Watson, F. L. S., & c. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. List of Contributors. — M iss Eleanor A. Ormerod, late Consulting Entomologist to the Royal Agricultural Society of England ; O. V. Aplin, F.L.S., Member of the British Ornithologists’ Union ; Charles Whitehead, F.L.S. , F.G.S., &c., author of “Fifty Years of Fruit Farming”; John Watson, F.L.S., author of “A Handbook for Farmers and Small Holders”; the Rev. F. O. Morris, M. A., author of “A History of British Birds” ; G. W. Murdoch, late editor of The Farmer ; Riley Fortune, F.Z.S. ; T. H. Nelson, Member of the British Ornithologists’ Union; T. Southwell, F.Z.S. ; Rev. Theo. Wood, B.A., F.I.S. ; J. H. Gurney, jun., M.P. ; Harrison Weir, F.R.H.S. ; W. H. Tuck. “ Will form a textbook of a reliable kind in guiding agriculturists at large in their dealings with their feathered friends and foes alike.” — Glasgow Herald. “ This is a valuable book, and should go far to fulfil its excellent purpose. . . . It is a book that every agriculturist should possess. ” — Land and Water. “ It is well to know what birds do mischief and what birds are helpful. This book is the very manual to clear up all such doubts.” — Yorkshire Post. “In these days of agricultural depression it behoves the former to study, among other subjects, ornithology. That he and the gamekeeper often bring down plagues upon the land when they fancy they are ridding it of a pest is exceedingly well illustrated in this series of papers. ” — Scotsman. Any Bookseller at Home and Abroad. 36 Great Reductions in this Catalogue Jittua, China, Japan, anb t be East. SURGEON-MAJOR L. A. WADDELL, M.B., F.L.S., F.R.G.S., Member of the Royal Asiatic Society, Anthropological Institute, Sfc. The Buddhism of Tibet, with its Mystic Cults, Symbolism, and Mytho- logy, and in its Relation to Indian Buddhism, with over 200 Illustra- tions. Demy 8vo, 31s. 6d. Synopsis of Contents Introductory. Historical: Changes in Primitive Bud- dhism leading to Lamaism — Rise, Development, and Spread of Lamaism — The Sects of Lamaism. Doctrinal : Metaphysical Sources of the Doctrine — The Doctrine and its Morality— Scriptures and Literature. Monastic : The Order of Lamas — Daily Life and Routine — Hierarchy and Reincarnate Lamas. Buildings: Monasteries — Temples and Cathedrals— Shrines (and Relics and Pilgrims). Mythology and Gods : Pantheon and Images— Sacred Symbols and Charms. Ritual and Sorcery: Worship and Ritual- Astrology and Divination— Sorcery and Necromancy. Festivals and Plays : Festivals and Holidays— Mystic Plays and Masquerades and Sacred Plays. Popular Lamaism : Domestic and Popular Lamaism. Appendices : Chronological Table — Bibliography — Index. “ By far the most important mass of original materials contributed to this recondite study.”— The Times. “ Dr Waddell deals with the whole subject in a most exhaustive manner, and gives a clear insight into the structure, prominent features, and cults of the system ; and to disentangle the early history of Lamaism from the chaotic growth of fable which has invested it, most of the chief internal movements of Lamaism are now for the first time presented in an intelligible and systematic form. The work is a valuable addition to the long series that have preceded it, and is enriched by numerous illus- trations, mostly from originals brought from Lhasa, and from photographs by the author, while it is fully indexed, and is provided with a chronological table and biblio- graphy.”— Liverpool Courier. “A book of exceptional interest.”— Glasgow Herald. “A learned and elaborate work, likely for some time to come to be a source of reference for all who seek information about Lamaism. ... In the appendix will be found a chronological table of Tibetan events, and a bibliography of the best literature bearing on Lamaism. There is also an excellent index, and the numerous illustrations are certainly one of the distinctive features of the book.” — Morning Post. “ Cannot fail to arouse the liveliest interest. The author of this excellently pro- duced, handsomely illustrated volume of nearly six hundred pages has evidently spared no pains in prosecuting his studies. . . . The book is one of exceptional value, and will attract all those readers who take an interest in the old religions of the far East.” — Publishers' Circular. SIR EDWIN ARNOLD, M.A., Author of “ The Light of Asia ,”