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28 



CHRISTMAS NUMBER AND ALMANAC 



The drive l)ack to Penzance was cheered by the- light of 

 clowworms in the hedge-banks, and by that of tlie twin 

 Lizard lijzhts to seaward ; and the stars came out gloriously, 

 and the clear sky and balmy air suggested a foreign climate 

 rather than that of the British Isles. 



A journey in a van on the nioiTow brought our travellers 

 from Penzance to Helston. It was not the feast of flowers, 

 and so Ilclston looked very much like any other small country 

 town, and the Angel Inn was fully as comfortable as any 

 other old-fashioned house in an old-fashioned place. Bv 

 careful inquiry our tourists learned that one grand object of 

 their western excursion — the Loe Pool — lay but three miles 

 from Helston ; so they stipulated for a very early breakfast, 

 and with sandwiches in their tin case, they left the town by 

 seven o'clock in the morning. 



The ground, as you ajiproacli within tlie last half mile of 

 the inland lake, known as the Loe Pool, bears the signs of 

 frequent floods : very little verdure grows in the lower part 

 of the valley ; and the bushes arc entangled with straN\-, dead 

 weeds, and other wreck. Keejiing the right side of the 

 valley, the explorers soon came in sight of the lake, a hand- 

 some piece of water about three miles long, and one and a- 

 lialf broad in its widest ]iart. The path led along tlic banks 

 through pretty meadows and park-like fields ; it crossed a 

 Iirook by means of a rustic bridge, ]iasscd before a mansion 

 of some importance, and then traversed a low sandy shore 

 shadowed by birch and other small trees. Here grew the 

 Spring and Thyme-leaved Sandworts (Arenaria vcrna and 

 serpylliiolia), the broad and narrow-leaved Mouse-ears 

 (Cerastium vulgatum and viscosum), the Cathartic Flax 

 (Linum catharticum), and that most minute of flowering 

 plants, the Little Flax-seed (Radiola millegrana). This tiny 

 jilant is less than half an inch in height; its main stem and 

 numerous branches arc the thickness of a hair, and you may 

 count thirty cruciform flowers and fifty leaves on one plant. 



This sandy ground passed' they entered a hilly wood, and 

 sjon came out on high ground, close to the lake but com- 

 manding a prospect of the wide sea. The lake at its further 

 end is only separated by a bar of white sand and glittering 

 pebbles from the ocean. As our tourists observed, this lake 

 is much subject to inundations ; .and when the waters rise to 

 a great extent, tlicy endanger the machinery of several copper 

 and other mines in the neighbourhood. So when the floods 

 have reached a certain height, a deputation waits on the 

 mayor of Helston, and, accompanied cither by his worship or 

 a duly authorised lieutenant, proceeds to the bar of sand, 

 where workmen have already arrived, and arc only waiting 

 the signal for action. In a short space of time a channel is 

 cut through the bar, and the pent-up waters of the lake rush 

 out into the ocean, creating such a turmoil there that the 

 blue waves of the Atlantic are discoloured as far as theScilly 

 Islands. 



These rocky woods were not only gay with sunshine, buj 

 with the glowing umbels of the Portland and Wood Spurge 

 (Euphorbia Portlandica and Amygdaloides). The exceeding 

 brightness of the sand and pebbles of the bar made it trying 

 to walk upon ; and Dove and Mauve wished for parasols, for 

 their mushroom hats were no jirotcction from the glare. The 

 wliole of the bar had the appearance of being wet ; but this 

 arose fi-om the crystalline transparency of the material of 

 which it was comi>osed. Among the sand grew manv plants 

 of the Sea Holly (.Eryngium muritimnm), its spiny glaucous 

 foliage attracting observation and admiration to a much 

 greater extent than its globular umbels of pale blue flowers. 



To sit under the .shade of a clilf and watch the tide rolling 

 in, while they eat the luncheon they had brought, was a plea- 

 sant change and refreshment ; and then they pur.tued their 

 way along the other side of the lake. In a tract of swampy 

 ground they found the delicate Idossoms of tlie Pale Butter- 

 wort (Pinguicula lusitanica), and near to these the frail 

 stems of the Ivy-leaved Campanula (C. hederifolia) were 

 supporting themselves against the culms of gras,ses, and 

 hanging their delicate bells ready for a joy-peal. On rocky 

 ground, bushes of the Burnet Rose (R"s:i spinosissima) were 

 clustering ; a fewcream-coloiu'ed blossoms remaining, though 

 the greater part bad given place to blackening fruit. The 

 fragrant Sweet-briar, too, was there (11. rubiginosa), and the 

 Trailing Dog-rose (R. arvensis), in abundance. 



About half-way in the length of the lake the waters expand 



into an elbow, and there the water was full of weeds — the 

 Narrow-le.aved, Grass-leaved, and Fennel-leaved Pond Weeds 

 (Potamogeton tenellum, gramineum, and pectinatum), the 

 Tassel Grass (Ruppia maritima), and Floating Club Rush 

 (Scirpus fluitans), were the most imjiortant. 



They passed one cottage on that side the lake, and then 

 entered charming woods ; sometimes the path was dark with 

 cloistcr-liko branches, sometimes it allowed a view of the 

 lake and its meadow lands. At length they emerged from 

 the woods and found themselves in the valley again, the lake 

 lost to sight, and their own faces turned Hclston-wards. 



The fatigue of the clay at the Loe Pool necessitated a day's 

 rest, so it was not till the third day of their st.ay at Helston 

 that they proceeded in a 'hired carriage to the Lizard Point. 

 The dri\cr contrived that they should reach Kynance Cove at 

 low tide, and they had thus the advantage" of finding the 

 sands well exposed. 



The while windmill-like towers of tlie lighthouse were only 

 interesting from their associations, and the village of Landc- 

 wednack had few claims on notice beyond that of being the 

 most westerly village in England, and having a most 

 pictiu'esque and unapproachable harbour. All the country 

 was very bare, and, excepting for a few enclosures, was 

 covered with budding Cornish heath (Erica vagans), whilst 

 the few ajrologies for hedges were straggling bushes of the 

 Tamarisk, attracti^■e enough at that season from their nume- 

 rous and elegant spikes of rose-tinted bloom. The Starry- 

 headed Water Plantain (Alisma damasonium) was the only 

 plant that tempted them to leave the can-iage on their return. 



As they re-entered Helston the church bells struck up a 

 triumphant joy-peal. This roused their interest enough to 

 induce them to question the handsome and efficient chamber- 

 maid as to the cause of the_ rejoicing. The wom.an smiled, 

 passed her arm round one of the bed-posts, and leaning at her 

 ease upon it, replied — " Well, you see, it is because the elec- 

 tion is over." 



" Then who has won the day ? " exclaimed the two friends 

 in one breath, for their experiences at Fowey had rou.sed their 

 interest on the subject. The chambermaid smiled again, and 

 replied loftily — " It can't be known; for some hours yet in 

 Helston who has won — but the ringers know that whichever 

 it is he will pay them, and they are ringing for the victor." 



And the bells rang at East Looe, whither Dove and Mauve 

 repaired on the morrow : travelling by coach in the early 

 morning, by rail at midday, and by a hired vehicle, half van 

 half waggon, in the evening. They came in upon their old 

 friend Mrs. Charles Trcgelly at a critical moment, and their 

 interruption was by her accounted most opijortune. 



During their absence, at Fowey, Penzance, and Helston, 

 the ]iilchard trade had gone on merrily — in no degree inter- 

 rupted by the excitement of the electiou. The fish were 

 caught in thousands, packed " heails and tails" in the salting- 

 house, pressed by heavy weights till the oil ran in a stream 

 do\\Ti the gutter in the centi'c, and then duly salted and packed 

 in casks for exportation. The thick of this being over, and 

 the election being decided in favour of the iiojiular candidate, 

 the two leading fishwives waited u]ion Mrs. Tregelly with an 

 humble request, which was no less than that they might have 

 a dance and a supper, and that Mr. and Mrs. Tregelly would 

 preside. While ]ireferring this request, the two fishwives 

 were much troubled by mauvaise honte. Under this dircTul 

 influence they advanced hand-in-hand, and while pleading 

 their cause encircled each other's ample waists with propor- 

 tionably amjile arms, and otherwise acquitted themselves 

 very like children in a village school asking for a holiday. 

 When they departed it was hard to say whether they were 

 more rejoiced at the jirospcct of the Jeie, or at the termina- 

 tion of the interview. They described their feelings to their 

 waiting friends thus : " We felt as dazed as wheclbarro-v\-s." 



The fishwives' dance was a rare occasion for lovers of the 

 unique. The supper was of a character that might be called 

 heavy, consisting as it did of huge pieces of boiled beef, and 

 piled" dishes of vegetables. Mr. Tregelly hewed away as a 

 carpenter might do in cleaving wood, and was thankful when 

 at last the appetites of the fisherfolk were satisfied. Then the 

 arms had rest, but exertion became the duty of the other 

 limbs: and he bad to lead ott' the country-dance with the most 

 portly matron present. Mrs. Tregelly honoured an old fisher- 

 man "with her hand, and Dove and Mauve could not be less 



