284 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



my presence began to carry a certain monotony with it. 

 Even the two or three meagre dogs, which sniffed about 

 the pier, began to eye me with an air of supercilious 

 weariness ; and I forbear to investigate the sentiments 

 of the Scillians, lest they should too painfully resemble 

 the indifference of the dogs. Decidedly it was time to 

 pack up. I took the hint : the Granite Beauties turned 

 a cold boulder on me, and I resolved to weary them no 

 longer. My animals were scattered to the four winds 

 (figuratively, of course — one of the four being the rail- 

 way to London, which transported a coffee-tin of ane- 

 mones to a tank-loving lady) ; my tent was struck, and 

 after hurrying through Penzance, Falmouth, and Ply- 

 mouth, it was once more pitched in the pretty island of 

 Jersey. 



Nothing could be more charming than the welcome 

 smiled by the rich meadow-lands and orchards there. 

 After the bold picturesque solitudes of Scilly, it seemed 

 like once more entering civilised nature. Every inch 

 of ground was cultivated. Cornfields and orchards re- 

 splendent with blossoms, sloped down to the very edge 

 of the shore, and, by the prodigality of soil, defied the 

 withering influence of sea-breezes. It was not amazing 

 to me to learn afterwards that the land in the interior 

 yields double the crop, per acre, which can be raised in 

 most parts of England ; and that, although the rent is 

 £10 an acre, such rent can be paid by potatoes alone. 

 Elsewhere it is difficult to get even grass to grow close 

 on the shore, and trees have always a look of stunted 

 old-maidenish misery; but here the high tide almost 



