History of the World/History of the World (Bureau Development, Inc.)(1992).BIN/dp/0031/00313.txt

Text File | 1992-10-11 | 11KB | 197 lines

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$Pretitle{}
$Title{Australia And The Islands Of The Sea
Chapter XXVI.  The Channel Islands.}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Larkin, Dunton}
$Affiliation{}
$Subject{guernsey
islands
jersey
miles
sea
alderney
coast
harbor
channel
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$Date{}
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Title:       Australia And The Islands Of The Sea
Author:      Larkin, Dunton

Chapter XXVI.  The Channel Islands.

     The Channel Islands is the name employed to designate a group of islands
in the English Channel, off the northwest coast of France.  The principal ones
are Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark.  They are officially comprised in
the English county of Hants and the diocese of Winchester, and are the only
portions of old Normandy now belonging to the English Crown, to which they
have remained attached ever since the Conquest.  They have cost the government
a great deal, having been fortified at an immense expense.  The population
numbers about eighty-eight thousand.  The language spoken is very peculiar;
its basis being unquestionably the Norman-French, or Anglo-Norman.  There are
three well-marked dialects, - those of Jersey, Guernsey, and Sark.

     The climate of the islands is peculiar, differing in many points from the
climates of England and France.  The days in summer are seldom hot, and the
nights are pleasantly cool.  The autumn is remarkably equable, night frosts
being seldom felt before December.

     Among vegetable productions, the ilex, or evergreen oak, is eminently
characteristic, constantly retaining its bright green foliage.  The elm is
also common, and the beech grows well.  The farmers, as a rule, do not approve
of trees, as they think they harbor birds.  Among shrubs the furze and bramble
are the most prominent.

     Both Jersey and Guernsey are rich in wild flowers.  The great sea stock,
the foxglove, several orchids, and numberless others brighten the landscape.
Of flowerless kinds, the ferns are most interesting.  Mosses are abundant,
especially in Guernsey.  In all the islands lichens grow freely on the rocks.
The Guernsey lily, introduced from Japan, grows and flowers freely.  The
geranium remains green all winter.  The magnolia grows to be a large tree.
Myrtle, trained against the houses, is limited in height only by the house to
which it clings.  The fuchsia attains immense size, and is very common.

     There are few native quadrupeds and reptiles.  Wild geese, ducks,
plovers, gulls, petrels, swans, cormorants, and bitterns abound.  The variety
of fish is great.  The rockfish, the gar, the gigantic conger, and others
never fail.  Turbot, brill, dory, cod, mackerel, and mullet are almost
constantly on the market.  The swordfish, sunfish, angelfish, and even the sea
horse, lamprey, and blue shark occasionally find their way into the bays.
Shellfish are common, and in caves, bordering on the coast, are found the sea
anemones and a multitude of species of zoophytes.

     Jersey is oblong in form and very compact, having a length of twelve
miles and a breadth of five.  It lies about sixteen miles west of Normandy and
about forty-five miles south of Alderney.  The north coast is characterized by
bold and picturesque scenery, the others by large open bays terminated by
rocky headlands.  The interior is covered with trees, intersected by a network
of roads running in every direction.  The population of the island, according
to the latest census (1891), was fifty-four thousand five hundred.

     Jersey is celebrated for its breed of cows.  They give, on an average,
from four to five gallons of milk each day.  Pears, grapes, and potatoes are
exported in large quantities.  Vegetables of all kinds grow to perfection.
The cow cabbage is one of the curiosities of the island. It is raised for the
sake of the leaves, which are used to carry butter to market.  The stem grows
to be eight or ten feet long and is used as a walking stick.

     St. Heliers is the capital and chief town of Jersey.  It has both an
outer and an inner harbor, and a large floating dock of seventeen acres. The
impression made on entering the town from the pier is not good, as several
poor, narrow streets have to be traversed in order to reach the Royal Square.
Here are situated the courthouse, the public library, and two of the principal
hotels.  Clean and well-paved streets lead from the square in all directions.

     The churches of St. Heliers are numerous, the chief one being the parish
church near the Royal Square.  It is built in the early pointed Gothic style,
and dates from the year 1341.

     Victoria College, first opened for instruction in 1852, is a noble
structure surrounded with terraces and public walks, and commands a fine view.

     Fort Regent, a modern fortress begun in 1706, but completed only lately,
stands on a lofty ridge of granite to the east of the harbor. Elizabeth
Castle, an old and useless fortress, built on the rocks to the west, was
constructed in Queen Elizabeth's time, and covered the ruins of an old abbey
founded in the twelfth century.  Close by, though on a detached rock, is a
ruin called the Hermitage, of ancient date.

     Prince's Tower is one of many points of interest in St. Heliers.  The
tower is neither ancient nor remarkable, but it is built on a tumulus,
probably of great antiquity, and commands a fine view of the sea and part of
the island.

     Guernsey is second in size of the Channel Islands, and has an area of
twenty-four square miles, two thirds of which are under cultivation.  Its
population, including that of the islands of Herm and Jethon, numbers
thirty-five thousand.  The coast line is deeply indented with bays and
surrounded with sunken rocks.  The surface slopes from the south, where the
cliffs are lofty, to the north coast, which is low.  The soil is not naturally
rich, but with the aid of seaweed manure is rendered very fertile.  The
climate is moist, but healthy.  The orchards furnish pasturage for a famous
breed of cows, which compare favorably with the Jerseys.  They are larger, of
coarser structure, and greatly inferior in beauty of appearance; but they are
rich and large milkers, and the color of the butter they produce is far deeper
and richer than that of the rival race.

     The process of making butter in Guernsey differs from the methods of
adopted elsewhere.  The milk is poured into tall jars, set in a cool place,
and left untouched until churning day.  As the churning is done only once or
twice a week, the cream on the older milkings is likely to be much wrinkled,
and even moldy.  The churns are immense in size, often holding sixty or
seventy gallons.  Cream, milk, and mold are all poured into the churn, and the
churning never takes less than two and one half hours.  The farmers claim that
only by this method can they extract all the butter from the milk.

     The town of St. Peter Port, the capital, is built on a steep slope, and
boasts a superb harbor, being shut in from the sea by moles of massive
granite.  Its houses are comfortable, its streets are clean, and its markets
commodious.  The ancient town church has been restored without being spoiled,
and is the finest church building in the Channel Islands.

     The thatch-covered cottages in the interior of Guernsey are often
picturesque, many of them having the characteristic round-arched doorway,
which is as solid and substantial to-day as when it was built, centuries ago.
This arch, so common here, is not often seen in Jersey.

     Near the shore, north of the harbor of St. Sampson's, is Vale Castle, the
restored ruins of which are now used as a barrack.  In the same parish is the
Vale Church, marked by its curious porch, while to the north of this, about
one mile, is the most important Druid altar, or cromlech, of Guernsey.  Of
other important Druidical remains, the most curious is a tall monolith near
Rocquaine Bay.

     In the neighborhood of this church and harbor are the great granite
quarries of Guernsey.  Nearly one hundred and fifty thousand tons of kerbstone
are exported, chiefly to London.

     Alderney is about three miles long, and has a circumference of eight
miles.  Its population numbers two thousand.  The coast is indented with small
bays, only one of which affords even fairly good anchorage. Alderney was once
rich in Celtic remains; but out of many, which modern barbarism has destroyed,
one dilapidated cromlech alone remains.  There is but one town in the island,
St. Anne, situated on an elevated spot near the center.

     And yet Alderney is an important place; for its possession, as a high
authority affirms, "determines whether England or France shall command the
British Channel." The original estimate of its fortifications was Pounds
600,000, but it has since been declared that the actual cost is more than
twice that amount.

     Though possessing such a warlike aspect, Alderney has long been
associated with pastoral scenes.  The Alderney cow has a world-wide
reputation, and differs from the cattle in the sister islands chiefly in being
much smaller.

     Sark lies seven miles east of Guernsey and ten northwest of Jersey. It
has an area of fourteen hundred acres, and consists of two high peninsulas,
connected by a narrow isthmus.  These are called Great and Little Sark, and
the isthmus is one of the wonders of the island.  The sea on the east and west
sides has eaten into the land, leaving only a mere wall of earth and rock
between the two parts of the island.  This wall, which is broader at the base,
narrows toward the top, which is just broad enough to admit a country cart.
There is no protecting balustrade, and on each side there is a precipitous
descent of rock for more than a hundred feet to the roaring sea below.  This
is about four hundred and fifty feet long.  No small amount of nerve is
required in crossing, especially if the wind is very strong.

     One of the grand natural curiosities of Sark is "Le Creux Terrible,"
situated in a field on the east side close to the shore.  It is a huge natural
chimney, circular in form, with sides formed of vertical, naked rock, and
fully one hundred and fifty feet deep.  At the bottom, two tunnels connect it
with the shore, and through these the sea rushes when the tide flows.  The
spray is tossed almost to the surface, when the wind is high, and the seething
water, boiling and roaring in the black crater, is a frightful sight.

     Herm lies about two and one half miles east of Guernsey, or about halfway
between it and Sark.  The chief attraction to the tourist is Shell Beach,
which extends for nearly three quarters of a mile along the shore, and is one
mass of shells unmixed with sand or stones.  Herm, too, has nearly forty
varieties of sponges.  It abounds in corals, and has some rare specimens of
diminutive lobsters and other shellfish.  There is a small harbor on the
western shore, but dangerous currents flow along the coast.  The population is
very small.  Quarries once in operation were long since abandoned.