THE COENISH PENINSULA. 79 



saud contains.* Oscillations of the land appear likewise to have had a laro-e share 

 in the changes witnessed along the coasts of Cornwall and Devonshire. On the 

 beach which the retiring tide uncovers at the foot of the Exmoor cliffs alono- 

 the Bristol Channel, may be seen the remains of ancient forests which can have 

 grown only on dry land. The submarine forest of Babbacombe, on the southern 

 coast of Devonshire, between Teignmouth and Torquay, indicates a subsidence of the 

 land to the extent of at least 20 feet. This subsidence, however, was evidently 

 preceded by an upheaval, for ancient beaches have been discovered far inland on 

 the hillsides. One of the caverns of this upheaved coast yielded flint implements, 

 which proves that man was an inhabitant of the country at a remote epoch. t 

 Prehistoric monuments are as numerous in Cornwall as in the Celtic countries of 

 Wales and Brittany. Neither cromlechs, " logans," nor rocking-stones, sepulchral 

 mounds, nor rings of unhewn stones are wanting to give completeness to this open- 

 air archaeological museum of Cornwall. 



Lundy Island (466 feet), a mass of granite 920 acres in extent, off" Barnstaple 

 Bay, marks the former limit of the coast in that direction, whilst the low 

 archipelago of the Scilly Islands may be looked upon as an outlier of the Cornish 

 peninsula. Only five out of the twenty-four islands of this archipelago exceed 

 250 acres in area, and they alone are inhabited. Î S.irason, which had a few 

 inhabitants in 1851, has since been abandoned, not because its inhabitants wished 

 it, but by order of the despotic proprietor of these islands. The inhabitants of 

 Samson, as well as the poor residing on the other islands, were transferred by him 

 to the mainland, and his tenants were ordered to keep only one son with them, to 

 be supported by the land. Those amongst them who had numerous families 

 were obliged to send their sons to sea or to the ship-yards. § The population 

 decreases from decade to decade, but the inhabitants have grown considerabl}' in 

 wealth. The people of Scilly, though very small as far as numbers go, are never- 

 theless an interesting subject for study, for amongst them the much- vaunted theory 

 of an " intelligent despotism " has been carried out with method and to perfection 

 for nearly half a century. || 



The Scilly Islands can bojst of some of the finest market gardens in England, 

 and they are largely indebted to steam navigation for their prosperity, for by its 

 means they are able to supply the London markets with early vegetables. The 

 warm and moisture-laden atmosphere secures the gardeners of the Scilly Islands, 

 and of the neighbouring coast of the Cornish peninsula, against winter frosts. 

 But though the climate is highly favourable to the growth of foliage, it does not 

 suit fruit. Even plums and apricots ripen only in exceptionally dry seasons. On 

 an average there are only six days of real calm in the year. The wind blows 

 almost without interruption from one point of the compass or the other, bringing 



* Alph. Esquiros, " L'Angleterre et la vie Anglaise." 

 t Pengelly, Reader, Nov. 19, 1864. 



Area. 

 X St. Marj-'s, Tresco, St. Martin's, St. Agnes, Boyer .... 2,330 acres. 



Nineteen uninhabited islands ........ 289 ,, 



§ Population (1851), 2,627, (1861) 2,431, (1871) 2,075. 



Il Froude, " Uses of a Landed Gentry " (Paper read at the Edinburgh Philosophical Inslituto). 



