American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1875-05-29
The Island of Sark..ss

SEVEN miles from Guernsey is Sark,
| one of the SMALLEST most curious, most
interesting, most elusive, most desOlate,
most beautiful, most dangerous, m ,st
sublime of the Atlantic islands. The
! old legend makers, who have sung such
wierd tales of phantom islands, now APP
Ipearing close at hand, then vanishing
like enchantment, must have drawn
their Inspiration from watching Sark
| from Guernsey. On some days it is so
distinct and looks SO near that cliffs and
houses and even men can be distin-
guished with the naked eye, and the soft
| play of light and shade and color on the
rocks. The next day one shall look in
the same direction and he will discern
| with difficulty the faint, hazy outline of
| what seems an island forty miles away.
The approach to the island is almost
always hazardous, and except in the best
weather no boat can land or leave, owing
| to the maelstrom-like velocity and turbnr
lence of the tides, which rush raging in
all directions around the shore, and fill
the hollow caves with melancholy dirges,
as if for the many wrecked on that mer-
| ciless coast. The late 6eigneur of Sark
| was lost off Point NeZ, and the present
Seigneur and his, family have had an
| escape bordering on the miraculous.
Sometimes, even in summer, weeks will
pass without the possibilitvso of cssmmuni-
eating with the island. In winter, one
must depend entirely on Sark boats, of
seven or eight tons burden, STRONG and
weatherly. In summer small steamer
plies in good weather between Guernsey
and Sark, but it cannot enter the port,
which is doubtless the smallest in Eu-
rope. 1t is formed by breakwster
thrown across q miniature bay called
the Creux. A little beach extends
around the base of the vertical cliffs, and
Al - Il T. l., -, \
by an artificial opening actually pierced
through the surrounding wall of granite.
Sark is about three miles and a half
long, and is divided into Great and Lit
tie Sark, the latter being q small penin-
sula at the southern end, united to the
main portion by curtain of rock some
200 yards long, called the Coupe. 1t is
300 feet above the sea, on one side liter
ally vertical, on the other nearly SO. The
path at the top is not over five Ieet wide.
1t is SAID one person who lived on Little
Sark never dared during a lifetime to
cross over the Coupe. Another old fell
low, who used to like to take his grog of
an evening in Great Sark, would, on re-
turning to Little Sark at night, walk sew
eral times over log that lay near the
Coupe. If the result was satisfactory to
his equilibrium, he would then venture
to reel across the Coupe. The cliffs sur
rounding the island furnish an inexhaust-
ible supply of the grand, the wild, the
picturesque. The rocks are clothed with
highly-colored vines and lichens; the
magnificent caves, seemingly the abode
of sea fairies, TEEN with varied and
beautiful submarine vegetation and d.
verse forms of life, shellfish, mollusca,
alge and the like. Our limits forbid
more than allusion to such spots as the
Antelets, the Creux du Derrible, DIX
cart Bay, etc.
The interior of the island is devoted to
agriculture and pasturage, and although
not generally wooded, and destitute OF
streams, presents many choice bits of
rural underwood. The avenue leading
to the Seigneurie is exceedingly beauti-
full, and the building itself is very
pleasing object. The huts of the peas
antry are often of the most massive con-
struction. having walls six feet thick.
Those who suppose Monaco, or An
DORA, or San Marine to be the smallest
State in Europe must awake from their
delusion. Sark has, by the last cencus,
only 546 Inhabitants, and is practically
"A independent State, owing only a
feudal allegiance to Great Britain by way
of Guernsey.-S. G.. W. Benjamin, TN
HarDer'S M101ziue