12 LTJNDY ISLAND. 



have plunged them fathoms down ; and we spoke to 

 the good woman about the danger. Such, however, 

 is the power of hahit to create indifference, that she 

 actually appeared not to understand what was meant. 

 Great mixens outside the doors, strewn with the shells 

 of enormous limpets, and with those of the green 

 conical eggs of guillemots, afforded amusing evidence 

 of the favourite food of the poorer inhabitants of the 

 island. 



A few rods below the castle, where the greensward 

 slopes steeply down to the south-east, a sort of door- 

 way in the hill-side attracted our notice, and we 

 looked in. It was the entrance to a large chamber 

 excavated out of the solid rock, and bore indubitable 

 proofs of its being a work of art. The gray shale of 

 which this end of the isle is composed is friable, and 

 easily removed ; and time and labour alone would be 

 needed to form such a cavern as this. A long slab, 

 resting on two upright ones for joints, made the door- 

 way. The cave is now used as an occasional stable, 

 but tradition assigns a very different purpose for its 

 construction. It is called Benson's Cave, and its 

 history is as follows : 



" Exactly a century ago, the member of Parliament 

 for Barnstaple was one Thomas Benson, a man of 

 more talent than character. He was the owner of a 

 ship called the Nightingale, which having been lost 

 on her outward voyage to Maryland, he claimed the 

 insurance. Before it was paid, however, one of the 

 crew of the sunken ship gave information which led 



