MEASURES.

565

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 vergée, of about 2,150 square yards. English. Thus two and a-quarter Jersey vergées 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 vergée of Guernsey contains 1,960 square yards, and two and a-half Guernsey vergées are equal to an English acre.

The Alderney measures of land are the same as those used in Guernsey.

The Sark vergée 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 24 gallons, 10 pots, or 20 quarts, Jersey measure. The standard contains

43 lbs. 7 ozs. avoirdupois of distilled water at 60° 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 thirteenand a-quarter cubic inches, or five per cent., smaller than the imperial gallon.

For certain purposes of taxation, the Guernsey gallon is esti mated 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 halfbushel, 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. T Jersey cabot is thus equivalent to 434375 imperial gallons (12043 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 1204-3 cubic inches, is smaller than that used for barley, oats, potatoes, &c., which contains 1605.7 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, thirtyeight; and of rye and potatoes, forty pounds, all Jersey weight. Forty-two cabots of apples make a quarter, of 1596 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 dry measure; and goods are sold either by the denerel or bushel of admitted weight. Three denerels, in Guernsey, make one cabot; two cabots or six denerels, 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 OF THE ISLANDS.

The following abstract of returns published of the census of 1861 and of some former censuses of the present century may be useful for reference:

:

The number of males in Jersey on the occasion of the last census was 25,304; and of females, 30,774. There is thus a very large excess of females. In Guernsey and the smaller islands, there were 16,546 males and 18,816 females. The excess of females in Jersey is 9.75 per cent. of the total population, and in Guernsey 7.6 per cent.

St. Helier's in Jersey, and St. Peter's Port in Guernsey, contain nearly half the population in cach island. Thus in St. Helier's the inhabitants at the last census consisted of 12,813 males, and 16,715 females. Total, 29,528. This shows a decrease of the town population to the extent of 213 since 1851, but an increase in the relative disproportion of females and males; for the males have diminished by 577, and the females have increased by 364.

The number of houses in the town of St. Helier's, Jersey, in 1861, was 4,188 inhabited, 245 uninhabited, and 30 building. Total, 4,463. The average number of inhabitants to each house in the town was therefore 7.04. In Guernsey, the numbers were 2,459, 167 and 16. Total, 2,642. Average 6·67.

3. Value of Life.

It is worthy of remark that, in Jersey, in 1861, sixteen persons out of a thousand had attained the age of seventy-five, or upwards; whereas more than twenty out of a thousand were of that age in Guernsey. The following results are all in a similar direction, as showing a higher value of life in the smaller island: