Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/404

Rh 392 CHANNEL ISLANDS Channel Islands. would seem to have been covered. The process which has thus stript the islands is still going on around the coasts, wearing the cliffs into caves and gullies, and grinding the rocks into shingle and sand. The tide in St Michael s bay is of very considerable force, and rises to a height of about forty feet at Jersey, and to about thirty at Guernsey, while the difference of high water at spring and neap tides is seventeen feet at the former island and eleven at the latter. The minerals belong ing to granitic rocks are very abundant, such as crystals of felspar and hornblende, and many kinds of quartz and felspar. Asbestos is found, and chlorite is everywhere abundant. The flora of the islands is remarkably rich considering their extent nearly 2000 different species of plants having been counted throughout the group. Of timber properly speaking there is hardly any, but the evergreen oak, the elm, and the beech grow well and are abundant. Wheat is the principal grain in cultivation ; but far more ground is taken up with turnips and potatoes, mangold, parsnip, and carrot. The tomato ripens as in France, and the Chinese yam has been successfully grown. There is a curious cabbage, chiefly cultivated in Jersey, which shoots up into a long woody stalk from 10 to 15 feet in height, fit for walking-sticks or palisades. Grapes and peaches come to perfection in green-houses without artificial heat ; and not only apples and pears but oranges and figs can be reared in the open air. The arbutus ripens its fruit, and the camellia clothes itself with blossom, as in more southern climates; the fuchsia reaches a height of 15 or 20 feet, and the magnolia attains the dimensions of a tree. Of the flowers, both indigenous and exotic, that abound throughout the islands, it is sufficient to mention the Guernsey lily with its rich red petals, which is supposed to have been brought from Japan. The number of the species of the mammalia is little over twenty, and several of these have been introduced by man. There is a special breed of horned cattle, and each island has its own variety, which is carefully kept from all inter mixture. The animals are small and delicate, and marked by a peculiar yellow colour round the eyes and within the ears. The red deer was once indigenous, and the black rat is still common in Alderney and Herm. Nearly 300 species of birds have been found, or more than half the whole British list. There are few localities in the northern eeas which are visited by a greater variety of fish, and the coasts abound in Crustacea, shell-fish, and zoophytes. Owing to the Norman system of land-tenure being still in force, the land is parcelled out among a great number of small proprietors, and in Alderney, for example, five or eight acres of arable land is accounted a fair estate. The results of this arrangement seem to be favourable in the extreme. Every corner of ground is carefully and intelli gently cultivated, and a considerable proportion is allotted to market-gardening. The cottages are neat and comfort able, the hedges well trimmed, and the roads kept in excellent repair. &quot;Wealth is for the most part pretty equally distributed, and poverty or pauperism is comparatively unknown. There is a very considerable export and import trade, the value of the produce and manufactures of the islands dispatched to England in 1874 amounting to 159,639, or between .9 and 10 for every acre of land ; while the total importation of British and foreign articles reached the sum of 982,656. The population of the whole group has largely increased during the present century, though, on account of exceptional causes, the numbers in Alderney, Sark, and a few of the smaller islands are not so great as they were a few years ago. In 1821 Jersey had 28,600 inhabitants, as compared with 56,627 in 1871 ; and Guernsey and the dependent islands, inclusive of Alderney, Sark, &amp;lt;fec., bad 20,827, as compared with 33,699. For further details on the economical con dition of the islands the reader may consult the separate articles ALDERNEY, JERSEY, &c. The language spoken in ordinary life by the inhabitants of the islands is in great measure the same as the Old Norman French, though modern French is used in the law courts, and English is taught in all the parochial schools, and is familiar to a gradually increasing proportion of the population, especially in Jersey and Alderney. The several islands have each its own dialect, differing from that of the others at once in vocabulary and idiom ; and a very marked di fference is observable between the pronunciation in the north and the south of Guernsey. It has even been asserted that every parish in that island has some recognizable peculiarity of speech ; but if this is the case, it is probably only in the same way in which it could be asserted of neighbouring parishes throughout the country. None of the dialects have received much literary cultivation, though Jersey is proud of being the birthplace of one of the principal Norman poets, 11. Wace, and has given a number of writers to English literature. The Guernsey patois is rendered pretty well known to the philologist by the Rimes Guerne- siaises of George M6tivier, who has since published a Dictionnaire Franco-Normand, ou Recueil des mots parti- culiers mi dialects de Guernesey, 1870 ; and a fair idea of that of Jersey is obtainable from the Rimes et Poesies Jtrsiaises de divers auieurs, by A. Mourant, 1865. The original ethnology and pre-Christian history of the Channel Islands are largely matters of conjecture and debate. Of early inhabitants abundant proof is afforded by the numerous megalithic monuments cromlechs, kistvaens, and maenhirs still extant in various quarters, and it is well known that the number of these memorials was much greater in recent centuries. One of the most important, indeed a cromlech near St Helier s was only removed in 1788. But little trace has been left of Roman occupation, and such remains as have been discovered are mainly of the portable description that affords little proof of actual settlement. Accord ing to tradition St Marcou or Marculfus visited the islands as a Christian missionary in 540, and in 568 he was followed by St Magloire (a friend and fellow-evangelist of St Samson of Dol), who founded monasteries at Sark and at Jersey. In 933 the islands were made over by Rodolph of Brittany to William of Normandy, the son of Rollo ; and after the Norman conquest of England, their allegiance shifted between the English crown and the Norman coronet according to the vicissitudes of war and policy. During the purely Norman period, they had been enriched with numerous ecclesiastical buildings, some of which are still extant, in a more or less perfect condition. In the reign of John of Eng land, the future of the islands was decided by their attachment to the English crown, in spite of the separation of the duchy of Nor mandy. To John it has been usual to ascribe a document, at one time regarded by the islanders as their Magna Charta ; but modern criticism leaves little doubt that it is not genuine. An unauthen- ticated &quot; copy &quot; of uncertain origin alone has been discovered, and there is little proof of there ever having been -an original ; while it is plain that the islands were in possession of several of the privi leges which it professes to accord previous to the supposed date. The reign of Edward I. was full of disturbance and trouble ; and in 1279 Jersey and Guernsey received from the king, by letters patent, a public seal as a remedy for the dangers and losses which they had incurred by lack of such a certificate. Edward II. found it necessary to instruct his collectors not to treat the islanders a? foreigners ; his successor, Edward III., fully confirmed their privi leges, immunities, and customs in 1341; and his charter was re- cognized by Richard II. in 1378. In 1343 there was a descent of the French in Guernsey ; the governor was beaten, and Castle Cornet besieged. In 1380 Pius IV. issued a bull of anathema against all who molested the islands ; it was formally registered in Brittany in 1384, and in France in 1386 ; and in this way they