ALDERNEY. 
F all the Channel Islands the one least known to the outside 
world is Alderney. It is customary to speak of it as a bleak 
and desolate spot, devoid of any single object of interest, and 
surrounded by an exceptionally tempestuous sea. Scarcely five per 
cent. of the people who annually visit Jersey, Guernsey, and Sark 
ever set foot in Alderney, and to thousands of the permanent resi- 
dents of the larger islands it remains literally a terra incognita. No 
doubt the average tourist, bent on sight-seeing, would find it a dull 
and unattractive sort. of place: but to a dweller in cities, or to the 
tired brain-worker seeking rest, Alderney is in several respects 
without a rival, even in this favoured archipelago. The coast 
scenery is extremely picturesque, and in many places hardly to be 
surpassed for wildness and beauty: the air is delightfully pure and 
bracing: there is plenty of sunshine and comparatively little rain : 
whilst, above all, there is an indescribable sense of liberty and 
freedom, which is altogether lacking in the other islands. Nature 
has provided the place with all the requirements of a splendid 
health resort: and it may be that some day in the remote future 
Alderney will flourish as a fashionable watering-place. At present, 
however, there are but few indications of any immediate develop- 
ment in that direction. 
It is curious that, although situated so close to the mainland of 
France that the houses may be distinguished by the naked eye in 
clear weather, Alderney is the least French of all the Channel 
Islands. . The local fazozs, which differs considerably from the ver- 
nacular of the other islands, is rarely heard nowadays: and the 
English spoken by the common. peopie is purer than that of the 
corresponding class in either Jersey or Guernsey. There is regular 
communication with Guernsey by steamer three times a week, and 
once a week with Cherbourg. 
Alderney is shaped like an elongated oval, its extreme length 
being three and a half miles from: north-east to south-west, and its 
greatest width a little over a mile. The central portion consists of a 
level plateau about 250 or 300 feet above sea-level, bordered on the 
south and west by precipitous cliffs, and sloping gradually towards 
the north and east, where there are some fine sandy bays. The 
