HERM. 
CCORDING to the guide-books Jersey is unrivalled in its 
valleys, Guernsey in its bays and waterlanes, Sark in its caves, 
and Herm in its shell-beach. Whatever difference of opinion 
may exist with respect to the others, there can be none about 
Herm, for the shell-beach is not only unique in the Channel 
Islands, but, as conchologists well know, it is without equal on the 
British coasts for the profusion, variety, and rarity of the shells to be 
found there; in fact, to a collector it is absolutely inexhaustible. 
There is a second shell-beach further eastw 
little cove at the bottom of a rather deep valley ; it is very small, 
but extremely rich in shells, and is reputed to be even more pro- 
ductive in the way of rarities than the larger and better-known one 
Fringed as it is, especially to the northward, with irregular 
masses of rock and jagged reefs, which at low water form an almost 
unbroken stretch two miles long, the aspect of Herm and its sur- 
roundings is very different at high and low tide: but, like all the 
other islands, it rises high above the sea, though less so than its 
twin-sister Jethou. Irregularly oval in shape, it measures about a 
mile and a half in length from north to south, and half as much in 
width ; and like Guernsey, its southern and eastern portions are high 
and precipitous, bounded by rocky cliffs, while towards the north 
and west the land slopes down gradually to a low, flat, sandy shore. 
The central portion of the island is a nearly level tableland, 
mostly under cultivation, and producing good crops, as the soil is 
fertile: but the cliffs and slopes near the sea are too rugged to be 
utilised for agricultural purposes, and remain as nature formed 
them. There are very few places on the higher portion where a 
descent to the sea can be made with safety: and in scrambling 
among the rocks at the foot of the cliffs there is often considerable 
danger of being shut in by the rising tide. Deep ravines have been 
cut by the sea in various places, terminating in caverns, mostly of 
small dimensions as compared with those of Sark, but singularly 
beautiful in their brilliant drapery of sea-ferns. A narrow channel, 
less than a quarter of a mile across, divides Herm from Jethou ; it 
is extremely dangerous to navigation, partly on account of sub- 
merged rocks, and also owing to the force of the tide, which flows 
through with great rapidity. Springs of fresh water occur in dif- 
ferent parts of the island, and there are two running streams of insig- 
nificant size: trees are scarce, but vegetation in general is so 
