XIII. 



A SUMMER TRIP. 



How many Englishmen, I wonder, at a competitive ex- 

 amination, could tell one anything definite about Lundy 

 Island, whither we have come over to-day, like Mrs. 

 John Gil pin " on pleasure bent," with our baskets and 

 our bottles duly packed to enjoy a day's outing. A 

 boat from Clovelly has brought us across gayly enough 

 (in calm weather) ; and here we are, safe and sound, 

 prepared to explore the zoological and botanical pecu- 

 liarities of rugged little Lundj. There is an old story 

 of a Scotch minister in one of the little islets of the 

 Clyde mouth who once prayed for the w r elfare of Great 

 Cumbrae and Little Cumbrae, and the adjacent islands 

 of Great Britain and Ireland. The good man's simple 

 insularity recalls to one's mind a certain wider insularity 

 which we all of us share. "When most people speak of 

 the British Isles they probably have in their mind's eye 

 only the two main elements of Great Britain and Ireland, 

 without considering the " adjacent islands" at all ; and 

 even if they thought a little upon the subject they would 

 not be likely to reckon up more than some dozen others 

 of the largest sort such as Wight, Man, Anglesey, 

 Orkney, Shetland, Skye. and Jura. But a geographical 

 authority credibly informs us that the British Isles really 

 comprise no fewer than one thousand separate islands 

 and islets, without counting mere jutting rocks or isolated 

 pinnacles. Of these, perhaps some two dozen are situ- 

 ated in the Bristol Channel, mostly off the jagged South 



