MIGRATORY POPULATION.

129

shrimps were annually obtained from the islands, and that the greater part of this large supply was conveyed to Paris.

The stone cutters are the most numerous of the three classes of Chaussey inhabitants. 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 Chaussey is largely used 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 Ile is somewhat migratory. As the winter comes on, the barilla collectors are the first to depart-then the quarry men gradually drop away, and lastly the fishermen 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 and 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 Ile 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, * Facus nodosus, F. vesiculosus, and F. serratus are the three kinds of vraic that yield the chief supply.

K

in 1343, from the hands of the Benedictines 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 candidates 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. At the time of the French Revolution, the ownership was made over to the state, but it has since passed into private hands.

Several of the smaller of the Chaussey Islands are named, and some are very interesting to the naturalist. They are separated from neighbouring 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 marvellous productions of the animal kingdom, with which the rocky shores of all the Channel Islands especially abound.

Till lately, the only public building on the Chaussey archipelago, was a light-house, the light from which is visible fifteen miles at sea, being at an elevation of 120 feet. For some time past there has been much activity shown in constructing, near the light-house, a fort of some strength, which will render the adjacent harbour, also in course of construction, 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 Chaussey into a stronghold. The position of this little archipelago in the deepest recess of the great bay formed by the coasts of Britany 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 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 Ile' of Chaussey; 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 nowhere, and can threaten nothing.

The subjoined illustration represents an abandoned ship laden with teak, wrecked in the Channel and seen drifting towards the Douvres rocks, in the winter of 1861.

CHAPTER VII.

CLIMATE AND METEOROLOGY OF THE ISLANDS AND THEIR SANITARY CONDITION.

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 meteorological ph nomena to which they are subjected. Placed near the wester extremity of the European continent in a wide channel, comm.nicating without interruption with an open ocean; situated n far from the main land, but within the influence of a group much larger islands; enclosed within a large bay, of which a par of the group forms one of the horns, and whose form great influences the tidal wave-these conditions suggest causes of local climate, well worthy of consideration, and all pointing to one conclusion.

In the first place it must be mentioned as an ascertained fa that near as the islands are to each other, to France and t England, their climates are in essential points distinct and loca and need separate consideration. We should, therefore, esider the peculiarities of one typical island, and then comp this with the others.

Guernsey, from its position as the outlying island—the n. t completely in the centre of the Channel-the furthest remos d from land-of medium size and of medium elevation, compard

THE CLIMATE OF GUERNSEY TYPICAL.

133

with the other islands-must be regarded as typical in respect of climate.

To be satisfied that this is the case, the reader need only refer to the physical map at the end of this volume, and consider the relative positions of all the islands and the nearest land. Alderney is within seven miles of France, and has an important group of rocks protecting it from the west. Jersey is double the size of Guernsey, only half the distance of the latter island from France, and is more in the heart of the great bay. Sark is very peculiar in its extreme smallness and the near approach made by its surface to a level, lofty table land; but as respects climate, it must receive the westerly winds after they have left Guernsey, and the easterly winds before they reach it; thus, in every sense, rendering Guernsey the typical island.

Under these circumstances, it cannot but be regarded as eminently fortunate, that since only one of the Channel Islands has had the advantage of systematic observations, extending over several years, this island should be Guernsey; and in referring to the annexed tabular view, it is satisfactory to be able to direct attention to it as containing a near approach to absolute results. The period of observation does not include the years since 1858, inasmuch as they have been exceptional in many respects, and probably form part of a cycle not yet completed, whilst the sixteen years selected appear to complete two climatal cycles.

N.B. The instruments employed in making the observations from which the table is constructed were as follows:-(1.) Barometer; made by Henry Barrow; compared with the standard by Mr. Glaisher. (2.) Thermometers; dry and wet bulb and maximum instruments made by Negretti and Zambra, index error determined by Mr. Glaisher; minimum thermometer made by Newman, on Rutherford's construction; all four feet from the ground, and many yards from other objects. Wet and dry thermometers read at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Minimum and maximum, at 9 a.m. Corrections for daily range applied from Mr. Glaisher's tables; barometer correction for elevation above sea level not applied. (3.) Rain Gauge; a copper funnel and cistern; the contents measured by a graduated glass jar. Instrument twelve feet from the ground, and quite free from the influence of trees and buildings.