"ALIEN'S" LETTER FROM ENGLAND. (Specially written for the Witness Ladies' Page.)

Otago Witness, Issue 2692, 18 October 1905, Page 75

" ALIEN'S " LETTER FROM ENGLAND. (Specially written for the Witness Ladies' Page.)

FROM LAND'S END 10 LONDON.

Trom the extreme edge of England to the heart of the world sounds a long way, &nd covers much history, yet the journey may be accomplished between the sunrise and sunset of an English summer day. End is usually taken last in the tourist's list, of,. sight-seeing in Cornwall. It lies beyond the great Western railway, .which terminates at Penzance, and a" coach (drive is the most popular method of covering the 10 miles of interesting country between' the last, cliff of England and Penzance. 1 Penzance, by train from Redruth, was .leached in about an hour, through striking and rugged country, the great granite piles taking strange and fantastic bhape. One bold feature of the coastline is St. Michael's -Mount, standing out- to sea ■« ith its • castle"/ built lighthouse- wise, oi, the top of the rock. This' "residence of Lord . St. JLeyan must be a beacon on clack"" eights to* the men at sea. 5 -The^ south and! west of Cornwall has "been called iHe English Rivieri; it is, indeed, a .country A of grandeur and £u^ierb contrasts, and it is a question why. so many ■English folk "go fo France while such air and scenery may. be }ad at home But every year the Londoner crowds more and more -these- exquisite water-places, and Penzance seemed to "be a favourite resort, for there was no mistaking the style and manner of the town-bred men and women about, although frock coat and silk hat had b&sn discarded for flannels and prims and muslins and sun-hats. I did not see-Penzanee at" its best. It !had" rained in- the morning, and the hot «artb was sending up, a mild vapour bath. Like the other seaside «towns, Penzance is hilly, but 'has been modernised from it& original simplicity ior the accommodation of its numerous visitors. A wide and handsome esplanad-e runs along the sea front, ■well accommodated with seats, from which an expansive sea view tempts the idler to linger. On -a clear day. the Lizard Point, •with its lighthouse, is visible, and Newlyn, v a quaint fishing village built in a cove. One of- the most picturesque of sights is at night," when- the- fishing 'fleet is' lighted on the bayy'and hundreds of-'fishing- boat's, ' each bearing. their light, ar.e scattered over the waters. - The town band was playing in the gardens, and an.operi-air concert was in progress in the pavilion,-but these up-to-date attractions were not bo alluring as the wide magnificence of sea and sky and high granite rocks, and most of the tourists *• "who travel as far as the Great Western railway can carry them, at a speed unrivalled in- the world, '"'far from the busy haunts," prefer the charms of the mystic country surrounding, to the attractions of Penzance itself. - The explorer of these westerly parts of . -;the .''West. .Country," cannot exhaust their interest in a. summer holiday, and on the road to Land's End from Penzance days could be spent instead of hours. About a,, mile 'from the town one gets into most beautiful wooded country, the roadway being arched "over -with tall elms. Th."se woods are part of _tlie grounds of Trereiffe, and one catches a glimpse of Trereiffe ** House, literally embowered in greenery, the foliage of a yew being 'trained over the front of the house. „_ Branching right and* left are_ roads' leading to Newlyn, and quaint old villages, and all along the road are lnonu- . ments of antiquity. An ancient wayside cross, an old 1 -bridge consisting of three stone arches spanning a clear trout stream that runs into-Gwvas Lake-; odd little _inns, monumental stones, old, old. village churches surrounded with grey tombstones ; and neai the beautiful and ancient estate of Tregonebrifi is a noted Druidical circle of BoscaweiLUn. -' Borlace, the Cornish antiquarian, says this circle of 19 stones with a pillar in —the- centra was a council place or place of judgment -of the Druids. "Whilst -any election or decree was depending or .any solemn compact to be confirmed, the principal persons concerned stood each by his pillar, and where a middle stone .was erected, in the circle there etood the prince or general, elect." They look so eerie, those stones, standing in their deserted field, and tHe sensation of strangeness is added to .■when, on, jeUirnjng. to the high road, the _gui4*''points but" what are called "giant's footsteps/ impression in rock, as it ■were, of two Inunan feet. V After the "fifth mile from Penzance, a little off the track, is a tiny oratory dedicated long ago, to St. Guinus, and near by is a well whoaa waters are supposed to •mve powers for'the" sick and sorry ; and another divergence shows a deserted cemetery ~of "the "early Quakers", all forgotten in the bleak wilderness of briars. Then, down the .lull, to lb.i little church town Senne'n,' with the blue waters of Whitsar.d Bay on th.c right — and a mile from the end ofTEngland. One comes to the famous inn called "the First and the Last Inn of England." Approaching Land's End is the sign, "The Last Inn in England," and, leaving Land's End, " The First Inn 'n OEngla'nd." And then, at last, one stands on°"Peal Point," the final group of rocks -of the promontory. A slope runs down :to tha extremity of England, over which is a steep precipice, and not more than ♦ 60ft below, the beating ocean, whose waves iboomT and thunder along the granite coast into deep caverns: • It is^quits impossible to describe or.° s sensations standing there on England's ridge, looking over the waters that connect - (with "the under world." What hurricanes jhaye beaten those cliffs! And the rocks in' the immediate vicinity, grotesque and curious, and fantastical in shape, standing there since the waters were divided from jfche land, have earned since England's days 'of chivalry names as curious as their shape. ..*£Ehe Armed Knight." the "Irish Lady."'

| among many others. One rock is called "Dr Johnson's Head," and it bears a striking resemblance to the portrait of that writer. At a distance of little over a mile is the Longships Lighthouse, built on { a rock which, being interpreted from Cam Brae, means the " Great Cam," and rises 71ft above th« water, the rock and i the lighthouse combined rising to 127 ft high. Yet, notwithstanding, its great lanthorn has moi4 ib»n once been clashed to pieces during a tempest. 1 By another 'route back from Land's End j was still another historical chapter of ■ cores and earns and parish churches, and on the old tombs are some strange inscriptions. At St. Burian, on the floor of the tower, is an ancient tomb, on which is . inscribed : — ■ ' Clarice, the wife of Geoffrey de Bolleit, lies Tiere; God, on her soul have mercy. Who prays foi her soul shall have 10 days' pardon. — Amen. And a tablet to the memory of "Arthur i Levelis, of Trewoofe, who died 1671" : — ' This worthy family hath flourished here Since William's Conquest, full six. hundred i year j And 1 longer much it might, but that the blest Must spend a, seanenths in a blessed rest. But yet this gentleman (last of his name) Hath by his virtues eterniz'd the same, Mxich more than children could or books, i foi Love Records it here in heartes, m life above. I But one might lingei indefinitely over the quaint, the beautiful, and the historic I of the West Country, which during the summer months bas been described as a "land- where it. is always afternoon"' in ' its fjuiet and peace. But town and business call, and holidays would perhaps lose tbe>ir charm if too long protracted, so a sunny oeiwu sees 'a delayed packing, and with j farewells and a long, last look at barn ! Brae, whose head is still in the morning ! clouds, we take our seats fof Truro. The j grey mine-shafts glide by among ohe , granifc; boulders, and the wild moorland ' is a. field of xomance viewed by the light ' of myth and story. We change at the sleepy little station of Cornwall's oity, and > board the express which started from Penzaace an hour before. No need to 1 scramble' for a seat; there is. plenty of room. It is only mid- August, and the great crowd of holiday-makers ar« still lingering behind; and the few folk in each compartment are sun-browned and wistfullooking — not towards the great metropolis, but backward whence they came. Ota we rush till PlymputJh is reached, with ironclads and training-ships on its waters; then Devon again, with grey clouds hanging over Dartmoor and its grey, glo'omiy prison ; then the .darkness of a 'tunnel*; then Teignmouth and the red sandstone cliffs. J'here had been a terrific thunderstorm raging through Devon the previous night, which had iiocded .streams a.nd burnt by j ii + s lightning more than one dwelling ; ' but the only evidence of its ravage on tins : sunny day as we sped along was an apple tree in a luscious orchard lying on its side, its branches laden with fruit, and here and there a late ungamered field of corn looking bowed and brokem. The towers of Exeter Cathedral were distinct against the sky; then red-and-green Devon gives to ; Somerset; then, later, Bristol, Bath, till the last 50 miles give here and there a glimpse of th« Thames ,' tben the sloping woods to its edge and green fields are lost, the busy suburban towns rush on you, and there, the "cloud-capped towers" of London lie mysterious and dim in the evening sky. A moment or two after its advertised time the Great Western express slows down from its seven-hours' run and draws in to its Paddington platform. The doors are flung open, and busy porters ask, ! "Luggage," lady?" — and a roar which is not of the sea once again greets one's ears. i