only devils and spirits of the storm. After
many more caverns,—whereof the principal
are called The Shops (les Boutiques),—have
been explored, we are landed, with difficulty
enough, to see the Creux Terrible—a gigantic
circular hole of some two hundred feet
sheer ascent, the effect, I suppose, of some
frightful convulsion of nature. To be caught
by the tide in this place would be certain
death to anybody without wings, for the
sides are but little less steep than those of a
brick well; and yet it is attested that a
King Charles's spaniel, which had refused to
follow its master's boat, did crawl up like a
fly to the very summit. To lean over from
the top is very horrible, and does not
afford a good view; besides that, there
is a savage bull in the same field with the
Creux Terrible. The Coupé, a narrow edge
of rock several hundred feet in height, is the
only road between Great and Little Sark;
and, I doubt not, will one day come down
with a run, and leave them two separate
islands. The width of the summit is from five
to eight feet, and there is no protection on
either side. Yet I saw a native gallop at
full speed on it on horseback.

From the pleasant little palace where we
board and lodge (at four shillings a-day) a
pathway leads us through an enchanted dell,
and over a fairy-haunted down to the Bay of
Dixcart. It is on these especial sands that
Thetis loves to bask, and watch her nymphs
at play, for there is no way (that she knows of)
down the cliffs, and no mortal would dare to
peep at her over their overhanging brows.
The long blue coasts that stand so clear
against the sky, too, are much farther off than
they seem to be; so she enjoys in peace a
perfect privacy. We ourselves repair hither
before the sun, so as to be dressed and away
before her coming. My companions, as they
parted the transparent water, or came up
rosy from their dive into the deep, looked
like mermen; while, above them, the black
heights rose out of the sea, with grass and
lichen over them, the heather on their
topmost summits purpling in the sun.

Our walks inland were scarcely of less
beauty; whether by the farmhouse hidden in
the foliage, or the cottage glorious with
fuchsia, or the minister's house, with the quaint
old garden, or by the Seigneurie, which is
the Palace of Sark. The laws of the Channel
Islands are all more or less feudal; but those
of Sark are so entirely. The Seigneur has
almost every power, save that of life and
death; and, more than that, he has authority.
The simple people—who are given in
marriage and are forbidden to marry by him,
who are expatriated or retained at his
pleasure, and to whom the modern comforts and
elegancies of his residence appear to be the
possessions of a superior being—do
absolutely pay homage and obedience willingly
and without cavil. The present lord, as it
happens, is a refined and courteous gentleman,
as hospitable (we had early proof) as
any lord of the isles can be; but he has only
lately become possessed of the Seigneurie,
and his surprise at his own powers is even
greater than that of the inhabitants. He
employs a vast quantity of workmen, is
building and improving in all directions, and
probably has as much good in his power
to effect personally as any man in the British
dominions. He chances to be a clergyman;
but he is also the colonel of the militia, and
has the appointment of all Sark offices—
clerical and lay. The way in which the
Seigneur is addressed by his subjects in the
Sark dialect (a better patois, by-the-bye,
than the Guernsey French) is such as would
make one believe that he is a god. They
have a firm faith that he is the right hand
man and confidential adviser—but at the
same time quite the equal in power and
dignity—of Queen Victoria. All that the
crown lays claim to in England in the way of
mines and treasure-trove and royalties, are
in Sark the Seigneur's. Half profits from the
waifs and strays of wrecks are also paid to
him; from which he derives no trifling income.
The law of primogeniture is very strict; and,
in case of there being no male issue, the eldest
daughter inherits before the nephew. Where
there is no issue at all, the property reverts
to the Seigneur. His great trouble is with
the younger sons; who, being portionless,
must needs go forth into the world to seek
their fortunes, and are afterwards desirous
of returning to their native shore with their
wives and families. He is obliged to prevent
this, or the island would be soon over-populated;
and this protectionist principle is,
under the circumstances, necessary enough.
He is compelled by his charter to have
always forty men in Sark capable of bearing
arms, although he has upwards of a hundred;
the whole population of the place being more
than seven hundred. These men are the
best shots in the Channel Islands, and are
provided even with two good six-pounders.
They had a field-day lately; and, after
excellent practice at white rocks, with the
guns and a long range, they feigned two
Russian men-of-war's boats, and picked the
supposed invaders off, with their muskets,
very creditably. They constantly fire
volleys into the caverns, to bring down any
overhanging rocks, which else would fall
at less expected times and destroy the boats
that harbour under them. The loading of
some of their private weapons for this
purpose terrified us not a little. The stock
was fastened to the breech by twine; so that
it must have been rather hard to take
the sight; and first, they put the percussion-
cap on, and then they loaded the gun. The
spring of the lock being also broken, an
urchin stood behind with a stone, to hit the
hammer down when aim bad been taken by
the chief performer. I doubt not, however,
besides the standing army of Sark, that a