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4 8 CHANNEL ISLANDS :
in the conviction, that no island of more distant seas,
offers a sweeter scene.
I have mentioned one other bay, — that of St.
Brelade, which lies in the southern part of the island,
—and which, for many reasons, is one of the most
interesting of all its bays. The shores of this bay are
sloping,—as are all the southern shores of the island,
and are everywhere covered with a small ground rose,
of the finest colour, and emitting all the fragrance of
the “ rose d’amour.” Excepting in the southern parts
of Bavaria, I have never observed this rose elsewhere
than in Jersey. St. Brelade’s bay has an attraction
which none of the other bays possess. The ancient
parish clmrch stands on the west side of the bay, quite
at the water’s edge, elevated a little above it; the
churchyard is washed by the sea at high tide; and on
this side of the bay, a picturesque back ground is
formed by rock, and wood,—and by a deep cleft, that
runs up from the shore. The church itself, is the
most ancient in the island; it is extremely small, and
extremely plain; and boasts neither tower nor spire;
and one of the old chapels of the island, which are
anterior in the date of their erection, to the churches,
stands in the churchyard. There are many other
remains of these chapels in Jersey; but this is the
only one in any tolerable preservation. The curious
in antiquities may find wherewithal to speculate upon,
in the vestiges of some rude paintings that are still
to be discovered on the walls of the chapel, and which
in their day, were no doubt thought to embellish
them.
Take it all in all, the bay of St. Brelade, is perhaps
the most attractive of the island bays. Boulay bay
is grander; St. Aubin’s nobler; Rozel and Greve de
Lecq, more secluded; but in none of them, do we
find so much, as in St. Brelade’s, the union of the
barren, the wild, and the picturesque; and in none of
them, do the works of man, harmonize so well, with
the natural scenery that surrounds them.
The coast, and shores of Jersey, present strong-
natural defences: for independently of the precipitous
cliffs, which form almost the whole northern shores of
the island,—and of the enormous beds of rocks which
in the southern and eastern shores, stretch for several
miles from high water mark, great chains of rock
extend at some distance from shore, along both the
north and south of the island; and numerous isolated
rocks, some of them elevated high, and others but a
little, above the surface of the water, lie scattered in
the surrounding sea. These, independently of the
direct dangers that arise from them, produce a multitude
of conflicting currents, which, joined to the
great force of the tide, render the navigation of the
shores of Jersey both difficult and hazardous. If a
vessel be seen in distress in a heavy gale, it is usual to
say, “ if she be a Jersey vessel, she’s safe enough, but
if a stranger, she ’11 be lost.”
There are traditions, not only that the chain of
rocks of which I have spoken, formed in remote times,
a part of the island, but that it was connected by a
bridge, with France. That the former tradition may
have some foundation, is probable; and indeed there
are incontestable proofs that considerable tracts of
land, now lying fnr within the range of the tide, weie
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