Editor’s Note.—“Le groupe le plus important de demeures de fées que j’aie rencontré est celui des Houles (l’anglais hole, caverne, grotte).” … “Elles se prolongent sous terre si loin, que personne, dit-on, n’est allé jusqu’au fond … parfois on les appelle Chambres des fées. Il y en a où l’on voit, dit-on, des tables de pierre sur lesquelles elles mangeaient, leurs sièges, et les berceaux en pierre de leurs enfants.”—Traditions et Superstitions de la Haute Bretagne, p. 84.
Le Creux Mahié.
The whole of the southern coast of Guernsey, from Jerbourg, or St. Martin’s Point, to Pleinmont in the parish of Torteval, is extremely precipitous, but abounding in picturesque beauties of no common character. Bold headlands, with outlying granite rocks rising like pyramids and obelisks from the clear blue sea, alternating with caves and bays to which access is gained through deep glens and ravines, some richly wooded, some hemmed in on both sides by rugged hills, but through all of which a tiny rill of the purest water trickles, keeping up a perpetual verdure—slopes covered in early spring with the golden blossoms of the gorse, in summer with the purple bells of the heather, and in autumn with the rich brown fronds of the withering bracken—cliffs mantled in parts with luxuriant ivy, in other with many coloured lichens, and out of every crevice of which the thrift, the campion, and other flowers that delight in the vicinity of the sea, burst in wild profusion—all combine to form pictures which the artist and the lover of nature are never tired of studying.
The constant action of the waves for unnumbered centuries has worn out many caverns in these cliffs, the most considerable of which is that known by the name of “Le Creux Mahié,” or as some old writers wrote it “Mahio,” and it undoubtedly took its name, so says Mr. Métivier, from its ancient proprietor, the king of the infernal regions.
“The Prince of darkness is a gentleman;
Modo he’s called and Mahu.”
—King Lear. Act 3, Sc. 4.
The Hindoos have the same name in their Maha-Dêva, a giant of the family of the dives or demons.[65] In the province of Mayo, there is a Sorcerer or Druid, the Priest of Mayo, who lives in a cavern, and is called “the King of the Waters.”
It is also sometimes called “Le Creux Robilliard,” from a family of that name on whose property it was situated. It lies in the parish of Torteval, and is reached by a narrow pathway, winding down the almost precipitous side of a steep cliff, into a small creek worn out by the sea between the headlands. The cave itself, there can be no doubt, must have been formed by the waves wearing away gradually a vein of decomposed rock, softer than that which forms the sides and roof. At some remote period a large portion of the rock which forms the roof of the cavern has given way, and has partially blocked up the entrance, leaving only a long low fissure through which access can be had to the interior, and forming a sort of platform of solid stone, which effectually cuts off any further encroachment on the part of the sea. A steep descent over broken fragments of rock leads down to the floor of the cave, which appears to be nearly on a level with the beach at the foot of the platform. A glimmering light from the entrance enables one to see that the rock arches overhead in a sort of dome, and a bundle of dry furze or other brushwood, set on fire, lights it up sufficiently to bring out all the details. It is a weird sight; as the flickering flames illumine one by one the various masses of rock that are piled up to the roof at the extremity of the cavern, and disclose the entrances to two or three smaller caves. These are, in reality, of no great depth, but they are sufficiently mysterious to have given rise to more than one report concerning them, and there are but few of the peasantry who would be bold enough to attempt to explore their recesses. It is firmly believed by them that there is a passage extending all the way under ground as far as the Church of St. Saviour’s, about a mile distant as the crow flies; and it is also affirmed that there is an entrance through a small hole to an extensive apartment, in the midst of which stands a stone table, on which are set out dishes, plates, drinking vessels, and other requisites for a well-served feast, all of the same solid material.[66]
There are obscure traditions of the cavern having been at some early period the resort of men who lived by stealing their neighbours’ sheep, and plundering their hen-roosts, but these traditions cannot be traced to anything more definite than what is commonly alleged of all such places, neither are the tales told of its having been the resort of smugglers more to be relied on. The difficulty of access to it, either by sea or land, makes it very improbable that it should have been used for this purpose; besides, in former days, Guernsey was a perfectly free port, nothing that entered was subject to any duty that it would have been profitable to evade, and before the establishment of a branch of the English Custom House, all exports could be made without the troublesome formalities of clearance and declaration now required. Of late years the smuggling of spirits into the island in order to avoid payment of the local dues in aid of the public revenue, has been carried on to rather a large extent; but this has taken place on more accessible parts of the coast. Possibly, however, tobacco made up in illegal packages, which would subject it to seizure if found waterborne, may occasionally have been deposited here for a time, until it could be carried off secretly to the French vessels passing the island in their coasting voyages between Normandy and Brittany.