ennis Castle chiefly occupied our attention. It is of considerable
size. At one part is a round tower--the most ancient portion of the
building--erected in the time of Henry the Eighth. The works extend
seaward, so that they guard the entrance to the harbour. We wandered
from bastion to bastion, gazing over the ocean two hundred feet below
us. The paved platforms, the heavy guns, and the magazines for
ammunition showed that the fortress was prepared for an enemy. Should
one appear, may its garrison hold out as bravely as did that under the
command of old John Arundel, a partisan of the Stuarts, when besieged by
the Parliamentary army, until the defenders and their brave captain were
starved into submission.

We walked on along the shore until stopped by the Helford river--really
an arm of the sea--which we crossed in a ferry-boat. We caught sight,
in the far distance to the southward, of the Manacles, a group of
isolated rocks, on which more than one stout ship has been knocked to
pieces. All along were fine romantic cliffs, the views rewarding us for
our exertions. We returned on board soon after sunset, and I employed
the rest of the evening in writing up my journal.

CHAPTER FIVE.

LAND'S END.

A fine, bright morning found us outside the harbour, with the Manacles
on our starboard bow, steering for the Lizard, which we hoped to round
before noon, so as to reach Penzance that evening. We passed
sufficiently near the Manacles to distinguish their black heads standing
with threatening aspect high out of the water.

"It was there, sir, a few years ago, a large ship--The John--was lost
during thick weather when making for Plymouth, and upwards of one
hundred of her passengers and crew perished," observed Truck, as he
pointed out the rocks to us. "She had no business to be so close in
shore, and that is all I can say. It is sad to think how many stout
ships have been cast away on the rocks about here. When we set to the
Lizard we shall see the Stags."

After passing the Lizard we kept the land close on board. As the wind
was south-west, we sailed straight for Penzance. We could distinguish
high and broken cliffs of a reddish hue extending the whole way to the
Lizard; when they disappeared we could perceive a low rocky point
running out towards the Stags. On the summit of the cliffs which form
the Lizard Head stand two lighthouses, two hundred and twenty-three feet
apart. A covered passage runs b