REVIEWS. 
383 
“ The course of the tidal wave through the waters that surrouud the 
Channel Islands may be thus stated. The great wave coming in from the 
Atlantic advances from the south-west, and is turned to the east. A part 
of it passes on to the north-east, north of the islands ; but a part enters 
among them by various channels, and beiDg first lifted by shoal water, and 
then thrown back by the coast of Normandy, it is both detained in its 
course, and is deflected to the north. At Mont St. Michel the magnitude 
of the wave is at its maximum. Owing to the vast extent of the shallow 
water, and the narrowness of the deeper passages throughout the great bay 
enclosing the islands, the wave remains extremely large, amounting in 
Jersey to nearly forty feet, in Guernsey to almost thirty The velo- 
city of the tidal current, where not increased by narrow passages, is from 
two and a-half to three miles per hour. Although the course of the tidal 
wave may be thus traced, the current by no means follows the same law. 
In this respect the complication is so great that it would be quite impos- 
sible to describe it in this place ; but, in a general way, it may be stated 
that the stream does not flow northwards with the advancing tide w r ave in 
the open channels till the wave has been flowing three hoxirs, and that when 
it has turned it continues in that direction not only till the flood has 
turned, but till the retiring wave has receded half its course. In other 
words, the stream flows from half flood to half ebb, and ebbs from half 
ebb to half flood. While, however, this is the case in certain channels, the 
direction of the stream is not only different, but often diametrically oppo- 
site, at no great distance, but somewhat nearer shore.”* 
A visitor to Guernsey cannot fail to be struck with the great luxuriance 
of vegetation, especially of exotic forms. Plants which in England we are 
accustomed to regard as delicate or half-hardy, there thrive wonderfully, 
without any extraordinary care being bestowed upon them, even in winter. 
Hydrangeas and fuschias are particularly abundant, adorning almost 
every cottage garden with masses of bloom, which would be the pride of 
many an English conservatory. Fuschias attain the height of fifteen or 
twenty feet, and are rather trees than shrubs. The splendid Mexican aloe, 
Agave Americana , grows freely, sending up its gorgeous flower-stalks 
thirty or forty feet high. Yuccas, the Camellia japonica, and numerous 
exotic bulbous plants flourish in the open air. The well-known Guernsey 
lily is an example of the latter class ; and, says Professor Ansted, “the 
great beauty of the rich red flower of this lily, and the fact that it flowers 
regularly once in two or three years in the island, while it can seldom be 
made to flower a second time in England, are subjects of great pride to the 
islanders.” Nor is this richness of vegetation confined to cultivated 
plants : the indigenous flora affords many illustrations of the great 
geniality of the climate. Fronds of the sea, spleenwort ( Asplenium 
marinum ), have been gathered three feet in length ;t and in every lane 
* “ Between Guernsey and the Casquets the current sets from every 
point of the compass during each advance and recession of the tidal wave ; 
hence the navigation is exceedingly difficult and dangerous in foggy 
weather, ships being sometimes drifted miles out of their course.” 
t In the South Isles of Arran, Galway Bay, we have gathered fronds of this 
plant of a similar size, and Adiantum capillus veneris nearly as large. The 
two ferns grew together in perpendicular rock fissures on the beach, and, 
whatever the depth of the fissure, they sent up their fronds to the level, or 
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