ON THE ICTIS OF DIODORUS SICULUS. 297 
Nor is it denied, that tin might have been 
conveyed in wagons along such an isthmus as 
this, in the time of Diodorus. But how that 
writer could describe a neck of land of such nar- 
row dimensions, uniting a single peninsula to the 
main land, as a large extent of ground, forming 
a number of isthmuses to several distinct peninsu- 
las, we must leave it to the ingenuity of those 
who advocate this hypothesis to explain. 
But the hypothesis has a still more formidable 
difficulty to contend with, in the fact, that St. 
Michael’s Mount was formerly neither island, nor 
peninsula; but a portion of the main land, situ- 
ated at some distance from the sea. It appears 
from tradition, confirmed by observation, that 
this mount once stood in a forest, and was called 
“The hoar rock in the wood.” In the charter 
of the Confessor, it is described as “ St. Michael 
near the sea.’’* Its exact distance from the coast 
is not mentioned in that document: but Florence 
of Worcester says, that it was originally enclosed 
within a very thick wood, distant from the sea 
siz miles, affording the finest shelter for wild 
beasts. The sea, however, has made great en- 
croachments on this part of the coast, within the 
* Sanctum Michaélem qui est juata mare. 
