Jethou; or, Crusoe Life in the Channel IslesSuffling, Ernest R. (Ernest Richard)
General
Jethou; or, Crusoe Life in the Channel Isles
Suffling, Ernest R. (Ernest Richard)
Channel Islands; Jethou
It will be remembered that two of the conditions my father imposed upon
me, were that I should not land on any other island nor speak to anyone
under any pretence whatever, and these rules I rigorously carried out.
Many a time passing boatmen hailed me, but a wave of the hand and my
finger pointed to my output tongue was the only answer they received,
consequently I was called the "Dumb Man of Jethou," or the "Yellow Boy,"
and as such and by no other name many of the fishermen knew me. Those
who did not know my history pitied me as a kind of voiceless castaway or
semi-sane being.
My long trips were sometimes undertaken on calm moonlight nights: one, I
remember, was to St. Sampson's Harbour, Guernsey. I started about three
a.m., and reached the harbour before four o'clock, so that I had a good
look around the little haven, and at the shipping before anyone was
astir. I moored to the cable of a big brigantine which was lying
alongside the wharf ready for her cargo of granite for London. Curb
stones, blocks for paving, and broken metal for macadam roads are all
shipped here to the amount of several thousand tons weekly, so that the
granite quarrying and dressing give occupation to about 2,000 men,
women, and children. Granite working and fruit growing are the two great
industries of the island, which seems to me to be composed principally
of two extremely different materials--granite and glass; at any rate it
is not the place for stone throwing.
As I swung on the cable of the big ship, I made myself a cup of coffee;
for I always carried a small lamp stove with me, so that I could cook
the fish I caught fresh from the sea, or make myself a cup of tea or
coffee to wash my meal down with.
I have since found, that within the memory of persons still alive,
Guernsey was nearly cut off from Vale Parish by an arm of the sea, which
flowed over the salt marshes at high tide, so that all communication was
cut off between the two parts of the island except by one little bridge
and the ferry boat. The bridge was about 380 yards west of St. Sampson's
Church; but at the present day pleasant meadows, houses, and roads take
the place of the broad stream of salt water and marshes, which formerly
made Guernsey and Vale separate islands twice a day, at the time of high
tide.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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