186 EARLY HISTORY OF GUERNSEY. 



with an abundance of yellow mica. This mineral, which is com- 

 monly called caVs gold, as well as that which abounds at Rozel, in 

 Jersey, has frequently been tested by Aqua Regia. One of our an- 

 cestors, if I mistake not, once sent a cargo of it to be examined by 

 the London chemists. 



The chains spoken of by the Druid of Rimoul, as well as those 

 of Lucian^s Druid, were composed of the " finest gold." They were 

 appropriated to Saturn as the Sun of Heroes, the Father of Time ; 

 attributes which Macrobius and William Baxter have very properly 

 assigned him.* This chain, which draws along the planets in an 

 ancient and forgotten Gallic sculpture, and which proceeds from 

 the mouth of the father of the year, the Father God or Teu Tet of 

 the Gauls, is the same with the Attraction of the moderns and the 

 Harmony of the ancients. 



Flottans sans cesse autour de toi, 

 Dans une etemelle harmonie ; 

 Les mondes soumis a ta loi 

 Chantent ta puissance infinie. 



It is thus that this grand luminary is apostrophized by the poet, 

 the Saturn of the Phoenicians, of the Gauls and of the Bretons; the 

 Siva of the Hindoos and the Scandinavians. 



According to Macrobius, Saturn was both the Sun and the Star 

 which formerly bounded our planetary system ! it rose about St. 

 Thomas' day or Christmas, and was known by the titles of Mithras 

 and of Bacchus. 



I shall conclude this letter, such as it is, with an extract from 

 Rabelais ; the following poignant burlesque of the witty curate is 

 very reasonable ; we have both drawn from the same sources, and 

 the same facts have brought us to the same results. 



"Les isles Ogygies ne sont loing du port Sammalo ; faisons y 

 ung voyaige, apres qu^aurons parl^ a nostre Roy. En Tune des 

 quatre (Alderney, Serk, Jersey and Guernsey,) laquelle plus ha son 

 aspect au soldi couchant, on diet (je I'ay leu en bons et antiques 

 auteurs) habiter plusieurs Divinateurs, Vaticinateurs et Prophbtes ; 

 y estre Saturne, lie de belles chaisnes d'or, dedans une roche d^or, 



alimente d'ambrosie et nectar divin et apertement predire a ung 



chascun qui veult entendre son sort, sa destinee, et ce qui lui doibt 

 advenir. Car les parques rien ne delibbrent que le bon pbre ne 

 cognoisse en dormant." 



* Vide the article Teg Tat in Bagster's Glossarium Britann 



or An tat Ic vicu.v pcre* 



