A book of the west. Volume 2, Cornwall : $b being an introduction to Devon and CornwallBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
A book of the west. Volume 2, Cornwall : $b being an introduction to Devon and Cornwall
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Cornwall (England : County)
All at once I sank above my waist, and was being sucked further down.
I cried to my companion, but in the darkness he could not see me, and
had he seen me he could have done nothing for me. The water finally
reached my armpits. Happily I had a stout bamboo, some six feet long,
and I placed this athwart the surface and held it with my arms as far
expanded as possible. By jerks I gradually succeeded in lifting myself
and throwing my body forward, till finally I was able to cast myself
full length on the surface. The suction had been so great as to tear
the leather gaiters I wore off my legs. I lay full length gasping
for nearly a quarter of an hour before I had breath and strength to
advance, and then wormed myself along on my breast till I reached dry
land.
Some of the Cornish bogs are far worse than those on Dartmoor. Crowdy
is particularly ugly and dangerous. In a dry summer they may, however,
be traversed, as the surface becomes caked.
Dozmare Pool is, next to Loe Pool, the largest sheet of sweet water in
Cornwall. It abounds in fish, and was formerly a great resort of the
worker in flint, as innumerable traces of the industry testify. Arrow-
and spear-heads, scrapers, and an almost unlimited amount of chips and
flakes may be found near it. In the lake is a cranogue, or subaqueous
cairn, on which was formerly a palafite dwelling. The bottom of the
pool is certain to richly repay exploration.
For those who desire to enjoy moor air at a high elevation, there
is a pleasant little inn at Bolventor, called the “Jamaca Inn”; but
the visitor must take with him his own supply of liquor, as it is a
“temperance house.”
The moors about well reward exploration; they abound in prehistoric
antiquities, and in scenes of great but desolate beauty.
Lewanick (Llan-Winoc) was an interesting church with good bench-ends,
but an unfortunate fire destroyed the interior, and almost everything
of interest has disappeared. There is, however, in the church a
cresset-stone. This is a structure like a font, but with the surface
scooped out into five little bowls for containing oil and floating
wicks. Formerly, in the days when there existed a difficulty in
kindling a fire, it was important that a light should be kept
perpetually burning in the church, to which the parishioners might have
resort in the event of their fires going out. But such cresset-stones
are now extremely rare. There is one at Calder Abbey with sixteen
bowls, one at Furness with five. At Ballagawne, in the Isle of Man,
is one with one large bowl and nine small ones. A cresset-stone exists
in the court before San Ambrogio, Milan, and I saw one set up before
a very early church at Civeaux, in Vienne, upon which the schoolboys
amused themselves with jumping and dancing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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