Show island of sark Is feudal state once haunt of pirates now a peaceful place willi ancient Cus customs tollis prepared by national geographic society washington D ca w VU service the dame of sark park recently WHEN adon went shopping in london the event was news in at least two continents for ln lit dame de sark sari is the first lady of the only purely feudal state remaining in the world tile the island of S sark ark in the en english alb channel sark Is the fourth largest of the channel islands it lies iles 70 miles south of england ind and 22 miles from the coast of france it Is three and a half miles long and one and a half I 1 ulles miles wide and yet because of its numerous hays bays and coves it h has a s 35 miles of coast it is the highest land in the alie channel islands the cliffs rising on nil all sides almost perpendicularly tire are covered with innumerable mu varieties of rock plants and lowers flowers while below are sandy bays and wonderful eaves caves whose sea hewn walls are covered with and sea an nn emones of every color of the rainbow on the beaches may mav bo be found semiprecious stones such as ame cats eyes and moonstones moon stones the island Is not without minerals at one time mines were worked which produced copper silver antiro antimony ory and galena the interior of the island Is undulating with valleys full of wild allow em e M a and in the spring the whole Is covered with a blaye of golden gorse blue bells and primroses prim roses no venomous beasts live in sark not even a toads I 1 on landing at the sark sari harbor which Is one of the smallest lu in the world the visitor finds himself entirely surrounded iv by steep cliffs and nil the only means of access to the island from there Is by a road pl passing issing through a tunnel feet ion long pierced in tile the cliff and thence by a steep winding road which leads to the center r of the island where there are a few small shops and four hotels the highway high way continues to la coupee where the island Is divided into two parts great sark and little sark joined by a huge hilge natural causeway of rock nearly buo W feet high and feet long across which runs a road just wide enough for one cart and horse 13 1 itly najt lf A A X i it at A 1 I i 0 t A sark windmill built by the grace of queen elizabeth in 1571 to cross at a time on one cue side of this causeway Is a sheer cliff on the other a sloping way down to beautiful lie 1 dutiful sands in split spite of 0 its minute size sark has a history of no little interest 1 as its written records begin in A D and there is ample evidence of occupation in the stone age in tile the sixth century saint magloire Magio ire bishop of dol in brittany established a monastery here the ruins of which including an old wall and two chapels stand just beside the dames house here an order of 62 monks flourished until 1412 when they were withdrawn to tile the abbey 0 of montebourg Monte bourg in france once pirate haunt years rolled on and sark became the haunt of pirates said to be from scotland who were a constant menace me nace to shipping ui n the channel lind and against whom expeditions from england were sent bent out the island was cleared of their presence but ruin was left in their wake jt it was occupied by the french some time early in the sixteenth century and it was wrested from them by a ruse the details of which were recorded by sir walter raleigh aleigh It himself who was vas governor of jersey some fifty years later as follows A flemish vessel arrived off the coast and the sailors pretended that their captain coptain was dead ind and asked leave to bring his body ashore for burial on permission being granted they carried the collin up the hill to the little church of saint and allot thore ahr rc closing the door they opened the catrin which was full of arms turned on the french garrison and surprised them killing some and taking the rest prisoners ra soon after this the island was again deserted until from the island of jer bey arose a man who was ill finally ally to establish the future constitution of sark this thia wits was sir ideller de car the uly airty edgill delilli it s seigneur p 4 or of saint ouen olien in jersey I 1 to 0 whom nto nin irga 1 igi queen 1 granted tile the island candill by let patent unit under er abe great seal of england this royal grant gan gae e to sir letter and his successors almost unlimited powers on co condition n that he colonize the island wt with it forty families to each of whom he allotted a portion of the land to farm each man was equipped with a musket for the defense of the island so that to this day it Is often spoken of as tile the island of the forty find and anen now when a farm changes hands it 1 Is S still cited as one of 0 the conditions of th the e iced deed of conveyance that a man with a musket hall be kept on the farm arm though tile the de carteret family still outs tile the manor of saint ouen in jersey sark passed out of 0 its hands when in 1732 it was sold with all its rights and priNi privileges leges and eventually came caine to tile the great grandmother of the present dame of sark in 1852 for many years tin an artillery militia was maintained consisting of about nebout one hundred men now all that remains are a few old cannon lying disused and half hidden in bracken and gorse on tile the cliffs while lii in the grounds of tile the dames house is a line fine old bronze cannon which was presented to the first seigneur of sark in 1572 by queen elizabeth and bears an inscription to that effect the darnes dames house or Deurl c 11 lies iles in a sheltered part of the island and like nil all the old houses Is built of gray granite the original or main part of the house dating from stands on the site of the old monastery and no doubt many ot of the stones used to bull build it were taken from tho the ruins the fireplace in the hall bears the date 1075 and the sundial on the outside igsa the gardens are opened to the general public free of any charge every monday appeal to the dame great privileges are always accompanied by grave responsibilities so that the dames home may be described as the clearing house of all island controversy it Is open at any time to any inhabitant of the island who ho wishes to see her for any reason and she sometimes longs for the leisure of th alie tired business man when lien often both sides of a difficulty are brought to tier her for final judgment discussions cus cuss lons take place on subjects which range from AN whether bathers shall wear beach pajamas or whether the chief pleas shall pass a measure to deal with the prevention of infectious diseases among cattle the sark parliament Is called tile the chief pleas and it sits three times a year unless called by the dame in an emergency the forty holders of the farms allotted originally in plus plug twelve deputies elected among the rest of the inhabitants who now dow number are members of the parliament to Sar kites the king of england is their feudal lord the duke of normandy and he has no more loyal and devoted subjects than they who have from time immemorial been part of 0 the duchy of normandy whose duke william the conqueror invaded and took england and was thereafter recognized as king of england but to them has always remained duke of normandy jn in point of fact the channel islands were never a part of england but part and parcel of the duchy of normandy and as such no doubts doubt took part in the conquest of england sark Is the smallest self governing part of the british empire and the only part which has no public debt in ill fact it has a substantial credit balance the language of the island officially is french though everyone speaks english which is taught equally with french tit in the schools so that everyone Is bilingual among themselves the islanders always speak their own patois which is ft a survival of the old norman french as spoken at the time of the conquest it Is never written and cannot be understood by anyone not brou brought glit up in its midst sark has a boys and a girls school in regard to which it Is interesting to note dote that sark was the f first part of 0 the british empire to adopt compulsory corn pul education the dame inspects both schools school sat at examination time hild and asks the children questions in french and english and satisfies herself as to t beir general mental progress motor cars barred A law against tile the Import importation important at ion ot of motor cars has been passed and this la is strictly enforced the dame believes b c there should be one spot left on oil earth where modern transportation can ile be forgotten and where pl peace ace and quiet are undisturbed she also refuses to allow the importation of any female dog tile the ownership of such percept by the seigneur being forbidden under an old ell custom tom upheld by law for centuries it Is also the old right of the seigneur alone to keep pigeons an excellent excelle tit law as in this way their number Is 19 controlled and dania damage e to crops Is minimized the large stone pigeon cote Is an essential part ot of any feudal seigne urfe it Is also a Seigneur fal privilege e that none but he may grind corn or build a 11 mill and although althou gli the old windmill la Is now no longer used he still grinds all corn brought to the by the more modern methods of motor and machine charging each cacti farmer fanner a small fee for grinding all cereals gro grown wit in sark are subject to tithes and no man may harvest his crops until these tithes called ol di lines inos have been collected the fa farmer has to notify the seigneur 48 hours before he be intends carting so that some one may be sent to the fields to sen see blat every tenth sheaf Is set aside for the rue sLig seigneur neur who also has 11 tithe of elder lambs wools and a royalty on all minerals kach each or of the he forty pays a yearly tithe or ground rent on ills property and the old chimney tax or pou foulage poul lage as it Is called Is 19 still in force paid in live chickens every year to the seigneur |