variety of smaller protuberances,* both above and below the surface, in different parts of the surrounding ocean, constitute a most formidable barrier. Nor are these all; -this immense assemblage of rocks, by obstructing the natural course of the tides, produces a multitude of strong and diversified currents, which contribute a prodigious accession of strength to the other natural outworks. ·

It is a very probable conjecture, that many of the adjacent rocks were originally part of the island itself; but torn from it by the force of violent tempests. On the southern, the eastern, and the western sides, there are incontrovertible proofs that large portions of useful land have been ingulfed; and strong sca banks are found, in many places, necessary to prevent further encroachments.†

There is a legendary tradition, that this island was once so contiguous to France, that persons passed over, on a plank, or a bridge, paying a small toll to the abbey of Coutances. That all the islands in this quarter formed a portion of the continent itself, does not seem very improbable; their external appearance evidences some

Every individual rock that rises above high-water mark is distinguished by a particular name, which is well known to the fishermen, and to the farmers who resort to it during the seasons for eutting vraic. See an account of this article under the head of MANURE, &c.

+ See Note (A).

dreadful convulsion: the rocks, by which they are encircled, together with those between them and France, support this hypothesis. If, however, a near approach, or even a contact, ever existed, it must have been at a very remote period, as no direct historical account whatever records or alludes to it.*

Many traditionary stories, perhaps most of them, originated in real events: these, confounded with others, or obscured, by an admixture of fable, become, in process of time, enveloped in mysterious darkness

The height to which the tide rises, at certain times, seems to render the account improbable ; yet it may partly be founded on truth. Le Pinacle, a high rock, close to the shore, in the north-west corner of Jersey, would be completely insulated, twice daily, were it not connected with the island, at its base, which rises above the level of the highest tides. Supposing, therefore, that this point of contact did not exist, and that Le Pinacle were a rocky promontory projecting from another island, sufficiently near to admit of a bridge, and all improbability ceases; while the utility of such a medium must be sufficiently evident.

• The Roman remains at Mont-Orgueil castle, and the camp near Rosel, afford tolerable proofs that they were, when erected, on the border of the sea, as they still continue to be.

Several circumstances give a colour to the probability, that the whole of St. Michael's bay, from Cap de la Hogue to Cap de Frehelle, or the greater part of it, was once dry ground, either forming a portion of the main land, or insulated.

From Ecrehou to the coast on which Gouey is situated, the depth of water is only from two to five fathoms, with a rocky bottom, and long sand banks: and for more than one third of the distance between Les Minquiers and the town of St. Malo, the water is so shallow, and the bottom so broken, that it is marked as impassable.*

In that open bay wherein Mont St. Michel is situated, and from which the neighbouring sea takes its name, the shore is so flat, that, in equinoctial tides, the water sometimes ebbs and flows through the prodigious extent of seven leagues.

From Granville to Chausey, and even to Les Minquiers, there is no great depth, seldom more than seven fathoms; and between Chausey and the main are many shoals.

Proceeding northwards, along the coast of France, there is, near the mouth of the river Sienne, a branch of which runs up to Coutances, the small village and haven

* These marine observations are mostly from La Rochette's Chart, with which several others, in many respects, agree.

of Regneville. At a distance of ten miles from this place, the sea has only a depth of from one and a quarter to two fathoms. The Seigneur du Mont Chaton, in the neighbourhood of Regneville, had the fishery of the river, down to a rock named Ranqui; which is now nearly two leagues from high-water mark, and only dry at very parti-› cular spring tides. This affords a proof that the land extended, formerly, to the rock itself: it would otherwise have been absurd to term it a river fishery. Some time prior to the French Revolution, that exclusive privilege was contested; and, after a very expensive process, confirmed only two months before the total abolition of all seigniorial rights in France.

A tradition has been handed down, in Normandy, that there existed formerly, between Jersey and the diocese of Coutances, a forest, which extended from Le Mont St. Michel to Cherbourg: it is conjectured that the greater part of this forest has been absorbed by the sea; because, at spring tides, a number of trees and stumps are discovered: a circumstance that strengthens the idea is, that no vestiges remain of a forest, called Sisci, which is mentioned in old writings. The verge of this forest is supposed to have extended to the parish church of St. Père, which is now on the very border of the shore, near

Granville: that church was erected on the site of the monastery of Sisci.*

After passing Carteret, at which place the tide ebbs three miles, the water along the coast begins to deepen. This is the natural consequence of approaching the race of Alderney, in which strait the current, at spring tides, runs at the rate of six miles in an hour.

An additional reason for supposing that Normandy and Jersey were, at one time, less distant from each other, than they now are, is, that the latter is mentioned by Papyrius Massonius, as an island of the shore of Coutance. This expression seems to indicate an approximation which the present distance would not justify.

A still stronger proof, and one that would alone be sufficient, is the following extract from Steeven's Supplement to Dugdale's Monasticon :-" Bernard d'Abbeville, "to avoid being chosen Prior of St. Cyprian's, proceeded "to the borders of Brittany, into the peninsula of Chaussey, on the north side of that province."

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This last quotation seems, likewise, to confirm the opinion, already expressed, that the encroachment of the sea was principally on the continental side. It is, however, highly improbable, that an ingulfment, which tore away so extensive a portion of Normandy, should have

* See Note (B). + See Falle's History.