2 INTRODUCTION. 
by the inhabitants, but it is gradually dying out, and, in Guernsey 
at least, will probably be quite extinct in another couple of genera- 
tions or so. This singular dialect (which differs considerably both 
in accent and in vocabulary in the various islands) is not a corrupt 
and distorted form of modern French, but a relic of the old Norman 
language which was introduced into England at the time of the 
Conquest, and which for some centuries afterwards continued to be 
the language of the English Court and the English nobility. 
It has been truly said that there are few places so small that 
take so long to see as the Channel Islands, for each one is remark- 
able for exquisite beauty of natural scenery. The climate leaves 
nothing to be desired ; few other spots in northern Europe are so 
mild and pleasant in the late autumn, all through November and 
December; there are no fogs, the winds are seldom cold, and at 
that season frosts are practically unknown. 
The various islands composing this little archipelago differ con- 
siderably in magnitude as well as in general features. Six of them 
have a resident population; but there are besides several unin- 
habited islets, and a countless multitude of rocks dotted about in all 
directions, in some parts too numerous to be marked on the charts. 
The entire area, extending over many hundreds of square miles, is 
exceedingly dangerous to navigation, not only on account of sunken 
rocks, but also because of a complicated and peculiar set of currents, 
which are so strong that in foggy weather ships are sometimes 
drifted for miles out of their proper course. 
Jersey, the largest of the group, has a population of about 55,000 
inhabitants, and covers sixty-two square miles, or nearly double the 
area of all the remaining Channel Islands put together. From its 
nearest point Guernsey, which lies to the north-west, is seventeen 
miles away; but, the harbour of St. Helier’s being situated on the 
south of the island, the distance from port to port is about twenty- 
five miles. Jersey is the most southerly of the islands. 
Guernsey is more isolated, and lies to the westward at a distance 
of twenty-six miles from the nearest part of the French mainland, 
on the coast of Normandy. ‘The shores of England are rather more 
than twice as far off, Portland Bill, in Dorsetshire, bearing nearly 
due north, being fifty-nine miles distant, and the Start Point, in 
Devon, to the north-west, a mile or two more. The population of 
Guernsey is about 36,000, and its area a little over twenty-four 
square miles. 
Alderney forms the northern outpost of the group, and is 
situated comparatively near to France, less than nine miles of sea 
separating it from Cap La Hague, near Cherbourg. The extreme 
length of the island, from north-east to south-west, is three miles 
and a half, and its greatest width not much more than one mile. 
It lies to the north-east of Guernsey at a distance from point to 
point of eighteen miles, and twenty-one from port to port. The 
