ieve, unclimbable except at one place, at least for
those who are not experienced cragsmen or Alpine experts. At low water
a causeway of rocks joins it to the mainland, but at half-tide even it
is impassable, except in a boat on a calm day. On a windy day such a
strong tide rushes through the strait that a boat would be swept away in
the attempt to cross, although the distance is only four or five hundred
feet. The narrowness of the channel makes the rush greater.

Still keeping the middle path we come to an awful yawning chasm in the
earth, called La Creux Terrible. Its sides are so sheer that one
shudders to approach its crumbling brink for fear a slip should mean a
step into eternity. No man could fall here and live to tell the
sensation. Standing near the brink one can just discern the bottom, and
hear the sea surging and rolling along the floor as the tide gradually
rises. The chasm is funnel-shaped, and about two hundred feet deep by
about one hundred feet across. The bottom is connected with the beach by
a cavern, which may be entered at low tide, and the view taken from
below upward; but woe to the individual caught in this cave, for he
would have but a poor chance for his life if the tide once hemmed him
in.

Leaving this dreadful place, which I never approached but twice in the
dark, we shortly come to a very noticeable rock rising from the sea; it
is called Le Rocher Rouge, but as the apex takes the form of a gigantic
arm-chair, I have taken the liberty (as I have done with many other
places and things) of rechristening it Trone de Neptune (Neptune's
Throne), and it has so fixed itself in my mind, that I have often during
a stormy night wondered if he might not be sitting there ruling the
elements, but never had the temerity to go and see. I may here tell the
reader that although not naturally superstitious, I have a way of
peopling my island with beings during the solitary walks I take in the
day, that at night I almost fancy these spirit-forms hover round
me--perhaps watching me. It may be that I have mistaken the flight of a
sea-gull or night-bird for something superhuman, but on several
occasions I have been warned of approaching danger by something outside
myself; not tangible to the touch, nor definable to the eye, but still
noticeable to the ear and to the mind. Put it down a bird, as your
opinion, reader, and enjoy that opinion, and let me enjoy my warning
watchers, whether fowl or spirit. Perhaps du