OUR HOLIDAY IN CORNWALL 69 



Between this point of England and those cliffs 

 lies buried in the depths of the Atlantic the fabled 

 " Land of Lyonesse." 



" That wide space of ocean was once solid land, 

 a rich and fertile country, dotted with no less than 

 one hundred and forty parish churches, the lost 

 * Land of Lyonesse ' ; and these countless isles of 

 Scilly . . . are the peaks and high grounds of that 

 vanished country, which stood up above the inrush 

 of sea waves that drowned the lower lands fathoms 

 deep beneath the ocean. 



"Is there any truth in this old story? Was 

 there ever such a land stretching westwards from 

 these cliffs?" 



Mr. Arthur H. Norway in his very interesting 

 work, Highways and Byways in Devon and Corn- 

 wall, from whose work the above is quoted, seems 

 to think there is some truth in the fabled existence 

 of this wonderful land. He says 



"For my part, I claim that tradition is rarely 

 altogether wrong. What she tells us contains a 

 kernel of truth, however twisted or concealed by 

 careless repetition, and it would in my judgment 

 be far stranger if this definite and precise story 

 had grown up with no other foundation than if it 

 were in truth an actual recollection of that great 

 tragedy which can have had no parallel in the his- 

 tory of this country, and few in that of any other." 



It was with a feeling of regret that we were 

 compelled to forego the pleasure of a trip to these 

 most interesting islands. 



