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0101 



SCILLY ISLANDS. 



Julius IL to the Swiss teoop. which he had taken into his pay in the 

 war of the Holy League. 



JKnriis'rf . rit nissil about 10 miles N. from Bohwyx, is a thriving 

 phvw. with good paved street, numerous shops, inns, and 2897 

 falr'V *- The Benedictine abbey of Einsiedeln was founded in 

 the 10th century ; it stands outside of the town, is a square building 

 three stories high! and 47 feet long and 414 feet wide, with spacious 

 id n-n-*~ Hf~- and outhouse*. The church has several 

 The library of the monastery contains 26,000 volumes, 



, a small town OB the shore of the Waldstiitten-See, was 



formerly a distinct republic, the smallest In Europe, with a population 

 of about 1800, but H is now united to the canton of Schwyz. It 



.._i silks, leather, and potash. 



____ the head town of the district of the March, on the south 

 ahore of the Lake of Zurich, 16 mile. N.E. from Schwyz, has a hand- 

 OHM church, a town-house, *ome iron-forget, eeveral mills, and about 

 1600 inhabitant*. Ar<k, a pretty little town at the south extremity of 

 the Lake of Zug, has a good pariah church, a library in the Capuchin 

 convent, and about 1SOO inhabitants. 



The cantonal government is democratic. All citizens who have 

 completed their 18th year, and who are neither bankrupts nor under 

 tence of degradation, are members of the Landsgemeinde, or 

 General Assembly, which meets in the valley of Rothenthurm, in 

 the month of Hay, every other year, or oftener if required. The 

 huxlsgvmeinde appoints the landamman, or president of the canton, 

 the itatthaltflr, or lieutenant, and the treasurer; it sanctions or rejects 

 the project* of law or bills which are laid before it by the great 

 council, and examines the financial accounts of the canton. The 

 Totes are taken by show of hands, and :i simple majority decides. 

 The Great Council consists of 108 members, who are elected by the 

 various districts in proportion to their respective population for the 

 term of six years. The Cantonal Council consists of 36 members, 

 including those of the executive commission. It meets four times a 

 year under the presidenoe of the landamman. The Cantonal Tribunal, 

 or Supreme Court of Justice, consists of 14 members, besides supple- 

 mentary ones, named by the various districts for the term of six 

 yean. In every district there are district councils, with their 

 respective landamman, statthalter, treasurer, and other officers for the 

 district, besides district tribunals. Every citizen from 19 to 50 years 

 of age belongs to the militia. Every commune has a society of rifle- 

 men, and meetings for firing at the target The canton returns two 

 members to the National Council or Diet of Switzerland. [SWITZER- 

 LAND.] 



SCIGLIAlfO. [CALABRIA.] 



SCILLT ISLANDS, a group of islands about 30 miles W. by S. 

 from the Land's End in Cornwall, lying between 49 51' and 50 

 N. lat, 6 11' and 6 30' W. long. The aggregate area is 3560 acres. 

 The population in 1861 was 2627. The group forms one parish, in 

 the archdeaconry of Cornwall and diocese of Exeter. 



The ancient condition of these islands has been the subject of much 

 discuision. That at some remote period, antecedent to authentic 

 history, they may have been united to the main, and have been sepa- 

 rated from it by the incroachment of the sea, is not improbable. The 

 space between them and the mainland is occupied by softer rocks, if 

 we may judge from an insulated limestone rock, called the ' Wolf,' 

 and hard as they are, they are themselves diminishing in size. At 

 present there are more than 140 islands, but only six of them are 

 inhabited. These are St. Mary's, on the east side of the group; 

 Tresco, north-west ; St Martin's, north-east; St. Agnes, south; Bryher, 

 north-west ; and Sampson, west. 



The islands form a compact group, of about 30 miles in circum- 

 ference, surrounded by a deep sea, from which they rise for the most 

 part abruptly, with nigged sides. Between the islands the depth of 

 the sea is much legs ; and in several parts extensive flats, some of 

 them dry at low water, extend from island to island. The islands 

 and rocks consist almost entirely of granite, but there are in St Mary's 

 Island some beds of porphyry and some of chlorite containing pyrites. 

 Detached stones of gypsnm and alabaster are found in Tresco, St. 

 Martin's, and St Mary's. The granite is very liable to decomposition, 

 and presents some interesting geological phenomena. The shores are 

 covered in some parts by a coarse sand, the detritus of granite, occa- 

 sionally agglutinated into a kind of sandstone ; in other parts by a 

 fine shining white sand. The climate is milder and more equable 

 than that of Cornwall, but the islands are subject to dense fogs and 

 to sndden and violent storms. Few days of perfect calm occur in the 

 course of the year, and during the greater part of it the wind blows 

 from various points between north-west and south-west 



& Jfarf*, population 1668 in 1851, is the most important island. 

 It consists of two portions, the smaller of which, called ' the Hugh,' 

 is united to the other part by a low sandy isthmus, on which stands 

 /fuyk Tom, the capital of the group. The shore is generally steep, 

 and there are some small inlets or coves, besides St Mary's Pool, on 

 the north side, and Port Cressa on the south side of the isthmus of 

 Hugh Town. The island is about 8 miles in circumference. The 

 soil is generally good, and produces excellent crops of corn and pota- 

 toes. Hugh Town consists of a principal street, very crooked, and of 

 several lanes, alleys, and courts. A handsome church in the gothic 

 style, with a tower, was completed in 1888, at a cost of 1500J. The 



Wealeyan Methodists have a place of worship. Most kinds of handi- 

 craft are exercised in the island. A pier 430 feet long and 20 foot 

 broad, extends into St Mary's Pool. A small building, called the 

 court-house, is used by the council appointed by the proprietor of the 

 islands; beneath it are a small prison and a butcher's stall, which 

 receives the name of the market-house. The other principal buildings 

 are the steward's house and the post-office. About a mile from Hugh 

 Town, eastward, is the hamlet of Old Town, once the principal place 

 in the island, and still containing about 200 inhabitants, chiefly 

 fishermen. Small cottages are dispersed over the island, occasionally 

 grouped three or four together ; one little group is called London, 

 another Bristol The old church, with the graveyard, is near Old 

 Town. The Hugh is a steep hill rising about 110 feet above the 

 level of the sea ; it is fortified by lines having a circuit of more than 

 a mile, with 18 bastions or batteries, aud inclosing a small fort and 

 barracks for the officers and troops. There are two schools, supported 

 by the Christian Knowledge Society, and another school with a small 

 endowment 



Tretco, population 416 in 1851, the island next in importance, is 

 inhabited chiefly by pilots aud fishermen. Most of the houses are 

 on the north-east side, near the beach, opposite a harbour called Old 

 Grinsey harbour, and form a village called Dolphin Town. In the 

 south part of the island is a fine sheet of fresh water, half a mile long 

 and a furlong broad. Near this lake are the remains of a religious 

 house. The Abbey, a mansion recently erected by Augustus Smith, 

 Esq., the lessee of the islands, stands also near the lake. Tresco has 

 a small church, a Wesleyan meeting-house, a mission-house of the 

 Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, and a small unoc- 

 cupied fort or block-house. There are a stone tower called Oliver's 

 Castle, now deserted, and the ruins of a fortress called King Charles's 

 Castle. On the north side of the island ia a remarkable subterranean 

 passage called Piper's Hole. The Society for the Promotion of 

 Christian Knowledge supports here a clergyman and a day-school. 



St. Mao-tin's, population 211 in 1851, is about 6 miles in circum- 

 ference. It is chiefly inhabited by pilots and fishermen. The houses 

 form three groups : Higher Town, on a hill rising from a bay on the 

 south shore ; Middle Town, in the centre of the island ; and Lower 

 Town, near the south-west point of the island. Higher Town consists 

 of nearly 50 small houses, built of stone and thatched, with a small 

 church. About the middle of the 17th century, the island was unin- 

 habited; but there are indications that at an earlier period it was 

 fully peopled. The soil is chiefly waste land, or common pasturage. 

 On St Martin's Head, at the eastern end of the island, is a tower 

 20 feet high, with a conical top, built on an earthen mound, aud 

 designed as a landmark for seamen. A day school is maintained by 

 the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, and an Infant 

 school by the Society of Friends. 



St. Agnes, population 204 in 1851, has a very irregular outline; it 

 is surrounded by rocks, and the shore ia rocky and almost inacessible, 

 but the soil is the best cultivated and most productive in the whole 

 group. It consists of two parts St. Agues proper and the Gugh, 

 separated from each other at high water, but connected, when the 

 tide is out, by a narrow isthmus of sand. The houses in St. Agnea 

 are scattered about without regard to order or general convenience. 

 There is a small church. The Society for the Promotion of Christian 

 Knowledge has a day school on the island, and there are two Infant 

 schools. A lighthouse stands on the highest point of the island, 

 about 50 feet above the level of the sea : it is 52 feet high, surmounted 

 with a lantern of 20 feet additional height, with a revolving light. 



Bryher, population 118 in 1851, extends about a mile and a half 

 from north to south, with an average breadth of scarcely half a mile : 

 it consists of several steep hills connected by tracts of low land, a 

 considerable part of which is in cultivation. On the east side of the 

 island, between it and Tresco, is New Grinsey harbour, formed by the 

 shores of the two islands and by the flats, fordable at low water, 

 which in one part connect them. Some of the houses are grouped in 

 what is called the town of Bryher ; and there is a church. Sampson, 

 population 29 in 1841, and 10 in 1851, lies south of Bryher, with 

 which, as well ns with Tresco, it ia united by flats fordable at low 

 water. The few inhabitants support themselves by fishing, making 

 kelp, and occasionally acting as pilots. In St. Helens are the remains 

 of a church, supposed to have been the first ecclesiastical building iu 

 Scilly. 



The natural produce of the Scilly Islands consists of a thin short 

 grass intermixed with chamomile, heath, and dwarf furze ; fern and 

 moss are found near the shore. The soil is commonly a black peat, 

 mingled with granitic particles ; though sandy, it bears in many places 

 good crops of potatoes and barley. Wheat and rye are also grown. 

 The produce of the islands, which might easily be increased, is barely 

 sufficient for the inhabitants. There are no timber-trees, and no fruit- 

 trees, except in a few sheltered spots in St. Mary's. Garlic is much 

 cultivated, and most kinds of vegetables and flowers which grow in 

 England succeed here. The cattle and horses are small and poor : 

 their food consists partly of sea-weed for cattle, and furze for horses. 

 The sheep are of a peculiar breed and email size ; hogs are numerous ; 

 poultry scarce and poor ; and rabbits not so numerous as formerly. 

 Wild birds, especially sea-birds, are numerous; but the puffin, once 

 very plentiful, is now seldom seen. Fish are less numerous in the 





