EARLY HISTORY OF GUERNSEY. 185 



under the guardianship of Briareus. He is surrounded by a host of 

 Demons or Genii,* who attend upon him." 



Sylla thus completes the picture, — "The barbarians," says he, 

 ^^ declare that Saturn is kept a prisoner in this island by his son 

 Jupiter, who watches over these isles, and the Saturnia sea, from a 

 place somewhat helow^ 



Nennius of Bangor,f one of the most ancient of British historians, 

 bestows the singular title of Mons-jovis, on mount St. Michsel ; the 

 archangel, in Cornwall, is the successor of him who conquered the 

 Giants and the Demons, Jupiter, the Jou of the Gauls; now 

 mount St. Michael, not only is " a short distance below Guernsey," 

 but we all know that the Normans formerly denominated it Mont 

 Naval, because it served them as a watch tower, from whence " they 

 were enabled to overlook" the islands and the sea which surrounds 

 them. 



"The grand peninsula (in Greek, epirus,) is fifty miles from 

 Ogygia,! but it is nearer to the other isles. The voyage to it is per- 

 formed in small vessels, when the tide on the coast is very low." 

 This is precisely what Diodorus Siculus and Holinshed mention 

 with respect to the channel islands in general, and the neighbour- 

 hood of the Sorlingues. 



Demetrius speaks of the " Golden rock," inhabited by " Saturn," 

 of the " Golden chains" which bind his antique majesty, like the 

 Ogmius of the Druids, according to Lucian. 



Perhaps some of my readers may have heard of the automatic car 

 with silver wheels, which bore our heroes, the companions of Saturn, 

 who were beatified warriors or Varous.§ It is to these legendary 

 personages that the insular poet alludes in his " L'Ancress :" — 



Let the fierce Hero drive the rattling car 

 From cliff to clifi*, and wage eternal war. 



It is rather singular that one of the mouths of the Creux de.s 

 Varous,\\ which, according to a Cdtel tradition, extends from Hou- 

 met to UEree, should be formed by nature in a rock, sprinkled 



* These are the Heroes or illustrious dead, in whose company 

 Saturn is represented to be, even by Homer, Hesiod, &c. 



t Edit : rarissime of Bertram. % Cotentin and Britanny. 



§ This word is either of Breton or Welch origin ; Varw the dead, 

 whence Haul Veirw, the sun of heroes or of the dead. Saturn, 

 whence Loup Varou or Garou, in French, Varov, among the an- 

 cient Britons was called Cadarn and Sadarn, and the heroes, his 

 companions, Kedeirn, or Cedeirn, the powerful. 



II A famous subterranean cavern. 



VOL. II.— 1833. z 



