A flying visit to the lighthouse top, to look down once more on the fields and gardens, rocks and headlands of the little isle; a scamper over Wingletang Down, with the fresh sea-breeze in our faces; and a last peep at the little lonely church by the shore. That is all there is time for, if we wish to reach St. Mary’s before dark. And packing still to be done!
As we sail homeward, looking back we can discern on the Gugh that strange and fearful-looking rock, the Kittern, also called the Turk’s Head; fearful-looking, I say, because its shape recalls to me so strongly Watts’ dreadful Minotaur, crushing the life out of the innocent, as he overlooks the sea.
How can I end on such a note as that! It is but a strange and idle fancy that has come into my head; and there is nothing gloomy about the islands to justify it.
Here is something which is much more typical of them, our boatman’s two small—very small—sons, who have come down to the quay to “help” anchor the boat. Their bright faces are full of light and life and sparkle, like the islands bathed in noonday sunshine, and encircled with “the innumerable laughter of the sea.”
They are true children of their island-home; their joyous freedom finds an echo in the joyous freedom of the Life around them; in the spirit of the wild sea-birds; in the leaping, restless, shimmering waves; in the fresh sweet breezes that blow across the downs; and not least in those dancing myriads of flowers, flowers, flowers; those “hosts in the sunshine,” sent, as God’s messengers, “to set our hearts free.”
[BOOKS REFERRED TO OR QUOTED FROM IN THE FOREGOING PAGES]
Saga of King Olaf Tryggwason, by Snorri Sturluson, 1222.
Itinerary of William of Worcester, 1478.
Itinerary of John Leland, written 1533-9; first published 1710.
The Survey of Cornwall, by Richard Carew, 1602.
Voyage of Duke Cosmo III of Tuscany, 1669.
Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe, 1676.
A Natural and Historical Account of the Islands of Scilly, by Robert Heath, 1750.
Observations on the Ancient and Present State of the Islands of Scilly, by Dr. William Borlase, 1756.
A Survey of the Ancient and Present State of the Scilly Islands, by the Rev. John Troutbeck, 1794.
History of Cornwall, by the Rev. R. Polwhele, with Supplement by Whitaker, 1804.
A View of the Present State of the Scilly Islands, by the Rev. George Woodley, 1822.
A Week in the Isles of Scilly, by the Rev. I. W. North, 1850.
Scilly and its Legends, by the Rev. H. J. Whitfeld, 1852.
A Londoner’s Walk to the Land’s End, by Walter White, 1855.
Sea-side Studies, by G. H. Lewes, 1857.
Rambles in Western Cornwall, by J. C. Halliwell, 1861.
Rambles beyond Railways, by Wilkie Collins, 1861.
Cornwall and its Coasts, by Alphonse Esquiros, 1865.
The Age of the Saints; a Monograph of Early Christianity in Cornwall, by W. Copeland Borlase, 1893.
Book of the West, by the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, 1899.
Cassiterides and Ictis—where were they? by Thurstan Peter, 1909.
Armorel of Lyonnesse, by Walter Besant.
Major Vigoureux, by A. T. Quiller-Couch.