24 Mr. Sutherland’s Account of Jersey. 
the fruit suffered greatly from want of shelter. This led to the 
absurd system of subdivision which has been in progress ever since, 
and which has so lamentably reduced the productive surface. The 
preposterous breadth of the dikes, and the unpruned luxuriance of 
the hedges, intertwined with brambles and other rank growing 
plants, are neither profitable nor ornamental ; and it is only sur- 
prising how the islanders should have remained so long blind to 
the waste and inconvenience they occasion. The more public roads 
exhibited traces of having been recently widened and repaired, 
an improvement suggested and carried into execution during the 
late efficient government of General Don. What sort of tracks 
they were previous to this trimming, may be conjectured from the 
state of the bye-roads. It is a fact strikingly illustrative of the 
besotted ignorance which too frequently characterizes the delibera- 
tions of interested bodies of men, that Governor Don encountered: 
great opposition, and even risked his popularity, when he first 
began this useful work ; but the clamour which prejudice raised 
against him, has long since died away, and the natives, convinced 
by experience of the sound policy that dictated the improvement, 
look back to his administration with gratitude and respect. 
About three miles inland from St. Helier, is a singular strue- 
ture named Prince’s Tewer, erected on an artificial mound or tu- 
mulus, and embowered in a grove of fine trees. The extensive 
prospect it commanded, and the indubitable antiquity of the ma- 
sonry, induced me to apply for permission to ascend it ; and I was 
rewarded with a bird’s eye view of nearly the whole island, and a 
vast sweep of the French coast, extending almost from Cape de !a 
Hogue to Avranches. An Englishman had lately taken up his 
abode in the tower, which, with the adjacent pleasure ground, he 
rented at forty pounds a-year. His object was to render it a place 
of resort to the inhabitants of St. Helier, and his advertisements 
promised that the “ delightful emotions excited by its unrivalled 
scenery, and the harmonious chat of the feathered tribe, should not 
be counteracted by the comfortless sensations of hunger, thirst, and 
weariness.” The interior of the tower was neatly and appropriate- 
ly fitted up. One apartment was designated the chapel; and in 
the highest room were several telescopes, mounted so as to traverse 
to any point of the compass, for the gratification of visitors. 
But it is the traditionary history of Prince’s Tower that renders 
it interesting in the eyes of the islanders. In former times it was 
known by the name of La Hogue-Bye, and the following legend, 
quoted from Le Livre noir de Coutances, gives the origin of its 
celebrity :—In remote times, a moor or fen in this part of Jersey, 
was the retreat of a monstrous serpent or dragon, which spread ter- 
ror and devastation throughout the island. At length a valorous 
Norman, the Seigneur de Hambye, undertook to attempt its de- 
struction, which, after a terrible conflict, he accomplished. He 
was accompanied in this adventure by a vassal of whose fidelity he 
had no suspicion, but who, seeing his lord overcome by fatigue, 
