12 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



mandy and the towers of Coutances, which may be 

 seen, it is said, from a distance of thirty miles.* To 

 the north I could discern Jersey, an island which, 

 to the shame of our successive governments, still 

 belongs to the English, and where the ancient cus- 

 toms of France and our beautiful langue d'oil have 

 been preserved to the present day. At my feet the 

 archipelago seemed to form a semicircle, intersected 

 by channels, which were traversed from time to time 

 by square-sailed boats, and studded over with its 

 hundred of rocks and strangely- shaped islets, whose 

 sides were either hollowed by deep creeks and bays, 

 or flanked by bristling promontories. 



Grande-He, on which I had taken up my abode, 

 is about a quarter of a league in length, but of 

 much less considerable breadth; indeed, its area 

 scarcely equals that of the Jardin des Plantes. It 

 descends in the east by a gentle slope to the Sound, 

 whose narrow and deep channel is always open, and 

 affords at all times perfectly safe anchorage. To the 

 north rises Gros Mont, on which I was standing. 

 Towards the south the island terminates in an elevated 

 cape, called Pointe-Marie. The western coast is 

 formed by a succession of hills, one of which, known 

 as the Mont de Bretagne, is surmounted by the 

 ruins of an ancient fort, commanding the beautiful 

 beach of Port Homard. On the inner slope of these 



* Coutances, -which was formerly called Cosedia and subsequently 

 Constantia Castra, is one of the most ancient towns of the depart- 

 ment of La Manche. It has given its name to the territory known 

 as Le Cotentin. Its cathedral is one of the most remarkable 

 monuments of the ancient province of Normandy. 



