GUERNSEY. 
I.—DESCRIPTIVE. 
-\ WING to its remoteness from the mainland, and consequently 
() its greater isolation, Guernsey presents in several respects a 
more interesting field for scientific study than any of its 
sister islands. 
In shape it more or less resembles a right-angled triangle, of 
which the longest side, which faces the north-west, measures between 
nine and ten miles. The land all along this part, as well as -at 
the northern extremity, lies very low, in many places scarcely rising 
above sea level, and the coast is indented by a succession of sandy 
bays fringed with rocky reefs and ledges, which are laid bare for a 
great distance seawards at low tide. ‘The southern portion of the 
island, extending about six miles from point to point, and forming 
as it were the base of the triangle, is of a totally different character. 
It consists of an elevated plateau, which abuts on the sea in pre- 
cipitous rocky cliffs, here and there intersected by deep valleys that 
open out into little coves nestling between projecting headlands. 
The town of St. Peter-Port, with its spacious harbour, is situated on 
the eastern side of the island, and on the same side, two or three 
miles further north, lies the smaller town of St. Sampson’s. ‘The 
total area of land above high-water mark is not quite twenty-four 
and a half square miles, the commonly recognised measurement 
giving 15,560 English acres, and of these about 11,000 acres are 
under cultivation. 
That Guernsey was at one time well wooded seems perfectly 
certain, for not only do two of the parishes bear the expressive 
names of The Forest (La Forét) and St. Peter-in-the-Wood (St. 
Pierre-du-Bois), but there exists under the sand on the shore at 
Vazon Bay a submerged forest of unknown extent, portions of which 
are occasionally uncovered after violent storms. At the present 
day, however, there are no longer either woods or copses, because 
land has become so valuable that it cannot be allowed to lie idle. 
Trees used to be fairly numerous in all parts even twenty or thirty 
years ago, but they have been ruthlessly felled and cleared away to 
make room for greenhouses, which are now by far the most striking. 
feature of the island, though by no means the most pleasing one 
from an esthetic point of view. 
