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 traversing the granite; and no doubt a supply might be obtained from wells sunk into the solid rock.

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 sufficient landing-place, and of roads of any kind, except between the two farms, 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 7000 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 picturesque 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.

THE FERRIERES ROCKS.

69

Except towards Herm, the sides of Jethou are precipitous, 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 Crevichon. 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 comparatively deep water in sharp, jagged, and dangerous pinnacles. These are called the Ferriéres, 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 generally nearly twenty fathoms, on the side towards

WEST.

2

7

EAST.

SECTION OF SEA-BOTTOM AND ISLANDS FROM GUERNSEY TO SARK.

Scale of distances. 5000 yards = 1 inch; heights, 200 yards 1 inch.

Sark. On the west side, there are few places in the Little Russel where there is more than fifteen fathoms water, but the

rocks are more thickly grouped. The southernmost rock of this group, called the Sardriére, 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, intervening between this same rock and the Guernsey high land. The diagram in the last page will give an idea of the state of the sea-bottom at this part of the Channel.

SARK.

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 afterwards 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 elevation 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 more important pieces of land; one, the island of Brechou,* looking

*Brechou, or Brek'hou; the islet of the gap or breach (bréche, Swiss French, or breke, old Dutch).

towards Guernsey; the other, the "Burons," a number of islets on the east side. The relative importance of these will be seen by a reference to the diagram in page 69. Rocks appear at intervals 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 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 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

* By recent measurements the highest point of Sark is determined to be 365 feet above mean tide.

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 surrounds Sark, is wonderfully enhanced in beauty and picturesque 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 remarkable 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 toughestrounded 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, 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 departments. 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.