HARD WICKE ' S S CIE NCE- G O SSIP. 



227 



the Work, and the Seal." He holds that the Bible 

 in its first two chapters gives us the yesterday of our 

 world's history, whilst its last two chapters tell us of 

 the morrow. 



Through North Wales •with a Knapsack, by four 

 schoolmistresses (London : Kegan Paul & Co.). A 

 delightfully bright little book, full of interest from 

 end to end, and a well-written little book as well. 

 These four brave and intelligent girls did a seventeen 

 days' holiday from Birmingham and back for ^4 iar. 

 each, and seem to have enjoyed themselves amazingly. 

 We wish every young woman could go and do like- 

 wise. They appear to have been keenly alive to the 

 botany, geology, archaeology, etc., of the districts 

 they walked through, and this book is a useful record 

 of their unad venturous adventures. 



Advanced Physiography, by John Mills (London : 

 Chapman & Hall). This highly useful and well- 

 compiled work might perhaps be chiefly termed 

 " Physiographic Astronomy." It is written for 

 South Kensington students by a late Demonstrator in 

 the practical courses of astronomical physics at 

 South Kensington, so that the author knows what he 

 is writing about, and the readers he addresses. 

 General scientific readers will also find Mr. Mills' 

 book a compendious as well as comprehensive 

 Manual of Modern Astronomy in its various 

 branches. 



Half-Hours at the Sea-Side, by Dr. J. E. Taylor 

 (London : W. H. Allen & Co). This is a new 

 edition, brought up to date as regards its matter, of a 

 book written by the editor eighteen years ago, which 

 the public has been good enough to constantly 

 require new editions of up to this latest and 

 thoroughly revised issue. Its present bright 

 appearance does not disgrace the earlier editions ; 

 and, as regards type and illustrations, it perhaps 

 surpasses any of them. 



A VISIT TO TORY ISLAND : THE 

 SENTINEL OF THE ATLANTIC. 



ABOUT six-and-a-half miles off the north-west 

 corner of Donegal is situated the small island 

 of Tory, which a few years ago was familiar to most 

 people as the place where the ill-fated " Wasp " was 

 lost with nearly all hands. It has been called the 

 " Sentinel of the Atlantic," for it is the first land 

 made by vessels bound for Liverpool via north of 

 Ireland, and it has a powerful light and fog-horn on 

 its western extremity. It is about two-and-a-half 

 miles long by three-quarters of a mile wide, bounded 

 on the north by precipitous granite cliffs, which are 

 indented deeply in a fantastic manner forming all sorts 

 of little bays and islands with deep water close in, while 

 on the southern side it slopes gently down to and 

 under the water. Along the southern edge and 

 western end it is thickly strewn with granite blocks 



and boulders, which in heavy gales, when the waves 

 rush high up on the beach, are tossed and rolled 

 about in all directions. Some parts on the eastern 

 end of the island are thickly strewn with small pieces 

 of a fine-grained granite. The surface of the island 

 is fine turf, though this is being rapidly removed for 

 fuel by the inhabitants. There is not a tree or bush 

 to be seen, still there are numbers of pretty wild 

 flowers and a few ferns. 



Camusmore Bay, the principal landing-place, is a 

 small indentation in the centre of the island on the 

 south, and here is situated the chief village. On 

 landing, the most noticeable object is the ruined 

 round tower. All sorts of theories have been 

 suggested as to its use. It seems most likely that it 

 was used by the inhabitants, in times of trouble, for 

 the storage of their valuables, and possibly also as a 

 last stronghold, if their other defences failed. There 

 is no doorway, entrance being obtained through a 

 window which can be reached by climbing up the 

 side of the tower. In the little graveyard attached 

 to the chapel are some curious old stones, many of 

 them carved on, among them one which has a 

 remarkable resonant sound when struck, and is 

 supposed to have been used for the purpose of 

 summoning to church before they had a bell. It is a 

 coarse granite stone, and although there are several 

 others of exactly the same substance about, none 

 sound as this one does. The inhabitants number 

 about 300, all of whom are remarkably healthy * and 

 appear very happy and contented, and much attached 

 to the island. It is a singular thing the little value 

 they place on the services of a doctor, and always 

 submit to his kindly offices with a sort of protest. 

 The male inhabitants are chiefly employed in fishing, 

 egg-gathering, and burning kelp. The women 

 garden and gather kelp. The kelp (large coarse 

 brown seaweed thrown up in large quantities 

 on the beach) is gathered in panniers thrown over 

 the backs of ponies. On the road to the gathering 

 ground the women ride them, sitting very far back 

 sideways and bare-backed, and are most skilful in the 

 management of their frisky little animals. The kelp 

 is burnt in kilns, which are long troughs made in the 

 ground, and the sides of which are built up with 

 stones. After burning some time it becomes a solid 

 clinker-like mass, which is broken up into blocks and 

 sold to chemical works for about 70s. a ton. The 

 women go about barefooted, and it is very noticeable 

 what delicate features many of the young women 

 have ; but they age prematurely, the result of their 

 hard work and exposure. 



On the eastern point of the island just by Port 

 Doon (where the telegraph cable lands) are a few 

 houses, and the remains of an old encampment, the 

 last stronghold of the Irish against the English 

 invaders. The story runs, that an English captain 



* Three women died last year (1SS9) each over 100 years old. 



