ST. FEOCK.
The woods of Tregothnan, the wide-spreading park belonging to Lord Falmouth, come now into view, where Ruan Creek opens on the right, running three miles in an easterly direction. The creek takes its name from the village of Ruan Lanihorne, at the furthest extremity, where the waters of the Fal run white with the washings from upland clay-workings, like a river of milk, and the mud resembles cream-cheese. Midway is Lamorran, the detached tower of its church washed by another branching creek.
MALPAS.
Returning to the main stream, Malpas is reached in another mile and a half, past Tregothnan and the hillside church of St. Michael Penkevil on the right, and the ruins of Old Kea church on the left. St. Michael's churches are generally on heights. This is on the Headland of the Horse; for that is what "Penkevil" means. Just as the Cornish word "eglos," for church, closely resembles the French église, so it will here be noted how nearly like the French cheval is the Cornish "kevil," for horse. In the restored church are monuments to Lord Falmouth's ancestors, notably to the famous Admiral Boscawen. The St. Kea who gave his name to Kea church was a fifth-century Irishman who lived awhile in Wales, in Cornwall, and in Brittany.
Malpas is said to mean "smooth passage," although the word certainly seems to be a corruption of malus passus, a bad passage. It is locally "Mopus." But whether a good or ill ferry, it is certainly a very beautiful spot.
ST. CLEMENTS.
Tresilian Creek, the ultimate extension of these waters, here branches off to the right, with the waterside village of St. Clements round the first bend, its rustic cottages and church embowered amid tall trees. There is a charming little corner, illustrated here, behind the old church, whose weathered age, and the bull's head and other symbols of the four evangelists, that look curiously down from the angles of the tower, demand to be put upon record. A very tall Cornish cross, of the fifth or sixth century, stands at the back entrance to the vicarage, with an abbreviated inscription in large letters running up the shaft. It has been expanded into ISNIOCVS VITALIS FILIVS TORRICI.