Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1881-10-21
SARK ISLAND.
A Rough Sea Voyage from Guern-
Sey to Sark.
The Democrats Foreign Core
spondent Still Among the
Channel Islands.

ST. PETER PORT, GUERNSEY, Aug.
18th, 1SS1.-Last night nearly all of
our party at the Cambridge had
decided TO 60 to Sark to-day, but
this morning dawned in a very dis
NAL way, bringing with it promises
ofrain and a southwest wind, which
already had made the sea very
rough. So first, the gentleman and
wife who had lived so long in India,
gave up thoughts of going; then the
maiden ladies, who objected to land
ing in small boats then my con-
sentative friend and the Manchester
young man, until finally, | was left
/ the only one to repres mt our hotel
on board the Mary Ann" Armed
with umbrella and rubber coat, |
went down to the pier, and there
found about fifty in much the same
condition as myself, celebrating
whether Sark was really worth a
trip across eight miles of water in a
little screw steamer, on a wet day,
with the almost certainty Of getting
horribly sea sick and the positive
certainty of getting wet. The sailors
said that we might not be able to
land, and if we did land, we might
not be able to come back for several
days. As starting time drew near
however, about fifty undecided men
and women managed to get on
board, and, in little while we
were steaming out of the harbor,
waterproofed and Macintoshed as
only English people can be- Outside
the harbor the little steamer soon
began to roll about, first on one side,
then on the other, then standing on
one end, while the screw buzzed out
Of the water at the other. The
ladies of the party, either closed
their eyes, or took on that stony
stare which means, | am lost if |
move or even wink the pretty girl,
who was never ill-so she said-soon
thought she would 90 below; the
twin sisters supported each other in
turns as they communed over the
side the married lady III front Of
me began to seold her husband for
suggesting such trip, and the
old lady under cover seemed one
lump of wretchedness. | was
cheerful enough to enjoy the little
trip and had my hands full holding
on my hat and clutching every
minute a little pea-green boy. who
in his misery, seemed to want to
pitch himself overheard. Like Mark
Twain, | was also busy holding the
boat up or down.
We had soon passed Heron and
Bechon and were skirting Sark. |
could almost fancy that we had Just
passed the Fastnet Rock, and were
skirting the coast of Ireland, although
instead Of treeless, emerald hilltops,
with here and there hut, we here
had small islands, which presented
no visible landing place, and were
covered with a wealth Of heather and
furze. We seemed to go all around
the island before coming to its har-
Dor, which when we approached it
between the outlying guard of rocks,
presented one ofthe most picturesque
Hslghts | ever beheld. 1t seemed but
tiny breakwater, cemented to the
bottom of precipitous cliff, the
black mouth of a tunnel showing at
the further end. In an instant we
were surrounded by the boats Of the
islanders, who seemed to look upon
us as their prey, and to whom we
were consigned in very undignified
manner over the side of the steamer,
each passenger seeming to try to
stand on his head as he got into the
little boat, which was dancing up
and down in the most uncere-
monlous manner. Mr.. w. John
stone Mcnamara and | collided. and
in so doing managed to shake hands,
and both being alone, asked the
pleasure of each others company
whilst at Sark. W. ]. NJ. was in
splendid spirits, and conided to me
that he had felt very queer during
the passage, but now felt Jolly as a
sand-boy,n SO like two and-boys,
we had soon entered the mysterious
tunnel and passing through, found
ourselves ascending a steep hill in
as pretty shaded lane as could be
found in Devonshire Sark is one
of the smallest of the habitable
channel islands, and processes to
have about five hundred inhabitants,
who seem to live a most peaceable
and contented life, working in their
fields and fishing in the surrounding
sea. Their language resembles the
Guernsey patois, but unlike that, can
boast of no literature. Their Gus
toms are as quaint as their speech,
and in reading of them and their
laws one is in thought carried back
to the middle ages. Sark is con-
nected with Guernsey in government.
but has separate legal existence,
and many are the strange sentences
/ l1acSai I forOaf how MANI, .-aars -