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KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[Aug. 1, 1884. 



Devonian heights extend southward to the Cornish high- 

 lands, that magnificent series of granite table-lands and 

 hills terminating in the Land's End and in the volcanic 

 rocks of Lizard Point. These liighlands average from 

 800 to 1,300 ft. above the sea level, and from the ridge 

 flow many short ri\ers through valleys rich with cornfields, 

 orchards, and meadows. The combination of sublime with 

 picturesque scenery is perfect, and on both sides of this 

 peninsula the shore-line is bold, often grand, and constantly 

 indented by beautiful bays guarded by imposing headlands. 



Some parts of Cornwall, like Falmouth — the creation, in 

 a shipping sense, of Sir Walter Raleigh — are popularly 

 known to most persons. Here, indeed, may be seen what 

 is in truth a strange sight under English skies — in the 

 form of lemon and orange-trees which yield plenty of fruit 

 growing against garden walls. As a whole, however, this 

 strange peninsula is rather out of the ordinary range of 

 the normal seeker for a seaside resort, and I will, therefore, 

 rapidly and lightly touch on a few of its salient features. 



St. Keverne, near the Lizard, with its quaint houses of 

 unhewn .stone, the joints being stopped by that remarkable 

 china clay which is in such demand as a principal ingre- 

 dient in manufacturing Staffordshire potteries, is one of 

 many examples of the extremely picturesque places to be 

 found in this remarkable region. Here grows the graceful 

 white heath {erica vagans), marking out with its pure 

 blossoms the conformation of the serpentine which, com- 

 posed of silica and magnesia, characterises the remarkable 

 metamorphic rocks of the Lizard. In some places the dark- 

 green masses of crystallised serpentine give a strange aspect 

 to the scene. In contrast to these rocky masses are the marl 

 lands, the true gardens of Cornwall, yielding enormous 

 crops of from eighty to ninety bushels of wheat to the acre, 

 if we may credit local agriculturists. Along the shores 

 the successive cliffs are marked by variety and grandeur. At 

 Nare Point is a cavern 100 ft. long, having, by a singular 

 juggle of some natural convulsion, an ancient beach con- 

 verted into its roof. Here one looks down on a famous 

 flat known as the Chynals Wollows, of some sixty acres, 

 and lying so low that in heavy gales the sea rolls in and 

 deposits a tribute of fine sand, in constant request for brass 

 castings in the great foundries at Hayle. 



The tamarisk hedges strike the stranger as something 

 new. The twigs are reported to be possessed of tonic 

 properties, and w-ere once in high repute in the days of 

 domestic herbal medicine. Cliffs, caves, strange fissures, 

 and extraordinary monoliths are among the common things 

 of this romantic shore, and here, in the eighteenth century, 

 there was, for a considerable period, a squadron of six 

 smuggling vessels, manned by 23.5 fir.st-i-ate seamen, carry- 

 ing 56 cannon, and maintaining for some years the com- 

 mand of these wild seas, notwithstanding all the King's 

 cruisers could do. 



This is but a patch of local colouring — a stray note in 

 respect to the great and varied interest of these 

 rugged shores. Penzance presents perhaps the most 

 striking sight in the district. A mountain rises with 

 ineffable grandeur from the midst of a lovely bay, beau- 

 tiful in summer as Baia; itself, which Horace, by-the-by, 

 preferred, he said, to all other watering-places in the 

 Romau world, and, shooting up with stern abruptness, cul- 

 minates in one of the most noteworthy pinnacles of the 

 county. The precipitous sides are in strong contrast to 

 the fertile lands around, and from St. Michael's Mount 

 is a magnificent prospect of the Channel. At Penzance 

 you can command both the English and the entrance to 

 the Bristol Channel. Here gigantic rocks are piled about 

 mute witnesses of some tremendous forces at work when, 

 this portion of the British Islands was roughly fashioned 



into its present form ; here are the famous " Logging " or 

 Loganstones — one of over a hundred tons being so deli- 

 cately poised that it moves at a touch, and afar in the 

 distance appears the Scilly archipelago. The island giving 

 its name to the group is almost Inaccessible, and only five 

 or six of the islands are regularly inhabited. These were 

 the Cassiterides, or, perhaps, the Hesperides of the ancients, 

 and they abound in strange monolithic monuments. Tresco, 

 which lies between Bryhher and St. Martin's, wa.s granted 

 by Athelstan to some monks in 930. St. Mary's, the 

 largest member of the group, is quite a little kingdom in 

 miniature. Hugh Town, the capital, is remarkable for the 

 mingling of very old-fashioned with neat modern houses, 

 and has an excellent pier, a post-oflSce, and custom-house. 

 In Tresco may be seen the vestiges of a tenth-century 

 abbey, and of a camp traditionally assigned to Oliver 

 Cromwell Druidic remains — some real, and many, I 

 suspect, fanciful — abound, and the geologist is certain here 

 of a rich field for operation. On leaving the mainland to 

 visit this singular cluster of rocky uplands — the highest 

 points, no doubt, of an enormous submerged country — a 

 splendid view is to be had of the Cornish coast formation 

 here. In some instances, the promontories have a close 

 resemblance to feudal castles. The thirty miles or so of 

 sea between the Land's End and the Scilly Isles was once 

 the famous Cornish champaign, and known as Lethowson, 

 or Lyonesse, and is said traditionally to have included 

 about a hundred and fifty churches. The landmarks of 

 this submerged region are the Wolf Rock and the Seven 

 Sisters — a cluster of cliffs whence fishermen of yore are said 

 to have hooked up unmistakable evidences of a lost civilisa- 

 tion. Some persons may think this exaggeration, but in 

 1817, in a January storm, it was for some hours extremely 

 doubtful whether the sea would not break right through 

 the country to St. Ives, and thus reproduce in the Land's 

 End another Scilly group. 



As to the SciUy isles, some of the books I have consulted 

 make them to number at most some forty or fifty, but 

 other more trustworthy authorities reckon up full three 

 hundred isles, islets, and rocks, scattered over an area of 

 thirty square miles. Penimis, the head of the isles, is 

 noticeable for its piled up granite blocks, forming walls, 

 rude arches, and vast chambers, all the work of natural 

 forces. There are caverns, covered galleries, and vaults 

 hung with beautiful ferns, and enclosing crystal pools, 

 while from the topmost blocks, the wild and lovely scene 

 would be quite a revelation of land and seascape to thou- 

 sands of persons who have seen nothing more striking than 

 the Dover cliffs or Beachy Head. 



One of the rocky marvels of these weird regions is the 

 " Pulpit " rock, over which projects a vast granite coping, 

 fifty feet long, and twelve broad. It looks unstable, but 

 is secure enough, and may yet last for ages. 



In these southern regions of England we have the wild- 

 ness and much of the sublimity of the Scottish Highlands, 

 mingled with and softened by a vegetation unknown in 

 other zones of the island. At Penzance, the decomposed 

 greenstone is marvellously fertile, and plants from Australia 

 that will grow at Kew only under glass, here thrive out of 

 doors. A perpetual southern spring reigns, but the near- 

 ness of the sea to all points of the land tempers what would 

 be an oppressive heat at seasons; and even in "winter" 

 the days are comparatively warm, and the sun is nearly 

 always shining. The mines are, of course, a source of inte- 

 rest, but these hardly come within my present scope. Few, 

 if any, counties of England present such examples of 

 longevity among the inhabitants, and undoubtedly the 

 purity of the atmosphere and the proximity of the sea to 

 all points of the peninsula are in themselves highly hygienic 



