412 ATK. 
you can almost drop a stone into the sea below. The two divisions. 
of the island on opposite sides of this isthmus are called respectively 
Great and Little Sark: the former being rather more than two miles 
long from north to south, the latter barely a mile. The greatest 
width of the larger peninsula is a little over a mile and a half. 
On the western side of Sark, the side which faces Guernsey, a 
narrow passage of deep and dangerous water separates the main 
island from the islet of Brechou, or Ile aux Marchands, which rises. 
nearly 200 feet above the sea. This detached fragment is about 
two-thirds of a mile long, and is surrounded by vertical walls of cliff. 
The entire coast-line of Sark is broken into numerous small 
coves, with sandy, shingly, or rocky beaches, but only a few of these 
are accessible from the land: in fact, the only way to explore the 
island properly is to make free use of a boat: but of course this can 
only be done during calm weather. The caves and caverns which 
abound on all parts of the coast are of remarkable size and beauty.. 
The most renowned are the Gouliot Caves, concerning which 
zoologists say that nowhere else in Europe can be found such a 
wealth and variety of marine life in so small a space. These caves, 
however, can only be thoroughly investigated a few times in the 
year, viz., at the very lowest spring tides. 
There is no town in Sark, and paved streets are unknown. The 
beautiful gardens and grounds belonging to the Seigneur, or lord of 
the island, the Creux du Derrible, and the Coupée, are the principal 
points of attraction with holiday excursionists. During the summer 
and autumn thousands of people visit the island: but the resident 
population does not much exceed six hundred. 
The rocks of Sark correspond in their main features with those: 
of Guernsey, though the geologist will find an ample field for study 
in the local modifications presented by the two islands. There is a 
plentiful supply of good spring water, but hardly any streamlets, so 
that little marshy ground and wet meadow-land is to be seen; there 
is also an entire lack of sand-hills and sandy commons, such as we 
find in Herm, Alderney, and on the north and west of Guernsey. 
The climate in general resembles that of the last-named island, ex- 
cept that the air is more bracing, though less so than in Alderney. 
For our knowledge of the phanerogamic flora of Sark we are in- 
debted to the researches of four botanists who have investigated the | 
island at different periods. The first of these, and perhaps the first 
person who systematically studied the botany of Sark, was Professor 
Charles Cardale Babington, who spent five days here at the end of 
July and beginning of August in the year 1838. On that occasion 
he noted 247 flowering plants and ferns, as recorded in the pages of 
his little book, Primitiae Florae Sarnicae, published in 1839. After 
an interval of some thirty odd years Dr. Martin M. Bull, of Jersey, 
published in the Journal of Botany for 1872 (p. 199) and for 1874 
(p. 83) two lists of plants observed by him in Sark, including six 
