Peat—
In the Northern parts of the island is found in great abundance, and a load, which will go much further than a ton of coals, is sold at about 1l.[A] It is dug up on the sea shore and the adjacent marshes in the neighbourhood of Grande Roque, and is used by the English in that part of the island, the natives preferring vraic on account of the superior ashes which it yields. It is not so good as the Welsh peat; and is called in the vernacular tongue of the island gorban, or a god-send, a name given it by one of the ancestors of the present Baillif, who first discovered it as being a valuable article of fuel. At the Amballes, a place near town, and situated considerably above the level of the sea, peat was found when digging for the foundation of the gas-works, June 12, 1830, at about forty-five feet from the surface, under a block of granite.
[A] A correspondent of the Horticultural Chronicle advises its being mixed with coal, when it makes a fine cheerful fire, useful in certain cookery, and were it not for the gas of the latter, would be much more pleasant than wood.
Peat-heaps, with a View of Roc-du-Guet, or Watch Rock.