THE GARDEN OF CYMODOCE 109 



Gosselin, hardly less peculiar and picturesque than 

 Le Creux ; for there the fishermen, to gain access to 

 the boats that float snugly in the little cove, have 

 to climb down the cliff by a precipitous path ending 

 in a perpendicular ladder. The third harbour, " Les 

 Eperqueries," at the northern extremity of the island, 

 is now little used, although before the construction 

 of Le Creux it was the only place where a vessel of 

 any size could land passengers. 



I have not yet mentioned the crowning wonder 

 of the island, the well-known natural bridge called 

 the Coupee, where the only road between the two 

 islands Great Sark and Little Sark runs for a 

 hundred yards between two precipices 290 feet high 

 without any fence or wall, a track only just wide 

 enough for a small cart to traverse. It is a queer 

 enough place on a windy day, and one across which it 

 would not be pleasant to drive a shying horse ; but 

 the natives look on it as all in the day's work, and 

 decline now to fence it with a rail because experience 

 showed that children would swing on it, and that 

 thereby the danger would be increased ! It is re- 

 corded that when the silver mines were worked in 

 Little Sark (the shafts and buildings are still there, 

 and traces of ore can be found, although the enter- 

 prise was a lamentable failure) one of the workmen 

 who was a little convivial, used to try his walking 

 powers on a more protected part of the road a little 

 before reaching the Coupee, and if he found that he 

 swayed too much from one side to the other, used 

 to lie down and sleep off his potations instead of 

 attempting the dangerous transit. For most sober 

 men, however, it has no terrors, and I myself, although 



