and yet, one may go there at any hour of the day,
without seeing a single individual profiting by the
advantages offered by nature. Why then put art
in requisition, to create a luxury which will certainly
be unappreciated by the inhabitants ? Jersey is not
suificiently continental in its tastes, to relish a public
promenade ; and yet one would think, this is a taste
which it would not be difficult to acquire ; for it includes
in it, the desire of seeing, and of being seen :
and certainly it is felt to be a great convenience to the
traveller, on almost every part of the continent, who
desires to learn something of the general aspect of
the population of a town, to have only to ask the
road to the public walk,—be it, boulevard, prater,
or prado.
I should say of the street population of St. Helier
generally, that it differs little from that of any English
town—especially a sea port. There is certainly no
difference in the dress and appearance of the upper
classes; unless it be, that among gentlemen, jackets
are as much in use as long tailed coats—a taste which
is observable in the English sea ports,—and that but
moderate attention is bestowed upon the neatness of
apparel. Among the lower orders, the enormous flap-
eared pyramidal cap, worn by the Norman women, is
frequently seen; and there is indeed a French air, and
an admixture of French dress, among the women
of the inferior ranks. The trade between Jersey, and
the nearest villages of the French coast being constant,
especially during the fruit and game season, rows of
Norman peasant women may then be seen seated outside
of the market place, with their capons, partridges,
hares, woodcocks, &c.
There is one thing however, very striking, in the
aspect of the street population of Jersey,—the extraordinary
contrast exhibited between business and idleness.
The English residents form a large proportion
of the inhabitants; and the English residents have
nothing to do. There is therefore, the constant contrast
between that portion of the population whose
object, and I may even say, whose difficulty is, to get
quit of time,—and that other portion, the native inhabitants
namely, whose object is, to make the most of it.
The former, is certainly the more difficult, and the
more fatiguing task.
C H A P T E R II.
General aspect of Jersey—Valleys, and Streams—Ivy—View over
the Island—Character of the Valleys—Dells, Orchards, Cattle
—The New Roads, and the Old Lanes—Military Objections to
the New Roads.
T he general aspect of Jersey, is wooded fertility;
and the general character of its scenery, is beauty.
The scenery, even upon the coast, nowhere rises into
the sublime; and although some of the valleys and
coves, exhibit glimpses of the picturesque, beauty and
softness are the prevailing features. One would
scarcely expect to find, in an island hardly forty miles
in circumference, any great diversity of scenery, or
variety of surface,—upon which indeed, the former is