190 THE LAND'S END 



the earth had caused the hazel twig to dance and dip 

 in my hand. Or, if they had it, then, like their sense 

 of humour, it was of that lower or undeveloped root 

 kind discoverable in children and in primitive people. 



Undoubtedly this is contrary to the conclusion any 

 person would most probably form on a first and 

 superficial acquaintance with the people, on account 

 of their manner and disposition, in which they differ 

 so greatly from the more stolid, slower-moving, think- 

 ing and speaking English peasant. Nevertheless in 

 the English peasant in the north, south and Mid- 

 lands, in spite of that seemingly mental and physical 

 heaviness and absorption in the purely material things 

 which concern him in his struggle for existence, I 

 have found that hidden vein of romance and that 

 poetic feeling which I have failed to find in West 

 Cornwall. 



On this subject I do not venture to speak of the 

 Cornish people generally. There may be important 

 differences. I have been told that in the more 

 easterly parts, particularly in mining districts, the 

 people are not of so lively, friendly and communica- 

 tive a disposition as in West Cornwall ; but I assume 

 that here, in Bolerium, we get the least mixed, the 

 truer, Cornishman. Here it seemed to me that not 

 only with regard to the aesthetic faculties, but in 

 various other ways too, in mind and disposition, they 

 are like children of a larger growth. On this point 

 however, one may very easily go wrong, since the 

 same thought will sometimes strike us with regard to 

 other Celtic families. Yet in Cornwall I could not 



