10 GUERNSEY. 
Small streams and rivulets are plentiful, ponds and pools very 
few; and the salt marshes, which abounded in the lowlands early in 
the century, have vanished. The soil is very productive under 
skilful management, and the land being mostly owned by small 
farmers and market gardeners, who cultivate it themselves, every 
square foot of available ground is utilised. Happily for the naturalist 
there are still left unreclaimed the sand-hills which border the shore 
of the low-lying districts, the grand stretch of undulating sward 
called Lancresse Common, and the steep, stony cliff-sides, covered 
with heather, gorse, and bracken. 
The island is traversed in all directions by fine broad roads, 
from which branch out at short intervals smaller roadways, lanes, 
and pathways in perplexing number and variety, all of them hedged 
in by banks loaded with ferns and wild flowers.. In rambling through 
the country lanes, it is difficult to realise that Guernsey is actually 
the most densely populated island on the face of the earth ; there is 
nowhere evidence of any overcrowding ; the houses are dotted about, 
and often lie in such out-of-the-way nooks that their proximity is 
hardly suspected. Many of the farm-houses are two or three 
centuries old, contrasting in their grey and sombre tones with the 
ornamental villas and pretty cottages which are springing up every- 
where with mushroom-like rapidity. Each house has its little front 
garden, neatly kept and aglow with flowers, and there is everywhere 
a general appearance of contentment and prosperity which cannot 
fail to be noticed by the least observant. 
There is much about Guernsey that reminds one of Cornwall— 
not the wooded districts, nor that part which is disfigured: by the 
aébris of tin mines—but the quiet agricultural region of the extreme 
south-west. On all sides are to be seen charming little bits of 
typical Cornish scenery. The rugged coast line, the small sandy 
coves, sheltered by bold headlands and rocky reefs, the intense blue 
colour of the sea, the leafy lanes and diminutive fields, the ancient 
churches, massive and grey. the quaint, old-fashioned farm-houses 
and thatched cottages, the little flower gardens, the cliffs, the sand- 
hills, the winding roads, and a hundred. other points, constantly 
recall the scenery of West Cornwall, and especially the Land’s End 
neighbourhood ; only all on a reduced scale, smaller in every way, 
more compressed, and, as it were, more compact. 
And, again, like Cornwall, Guernsey presents many evidences of 
having been the abode of prehistoric man, or, at least, of man in 
very early historic times. Five or six examples of those ancient 
monuments known as Dolmens, Cromlechs, or Druids’ altars are 
still to be seen at the north and west of the island, but a great many 
have been destroyed. One superb specimen crowns the hill over- 
looking Lancresse Bay, and owes its preservation to the fortunate 
accident of lying for ages hidden from human sight, buried in the 
sand. Another very fine specimen, towards Bordeaux Harbour, 
