| Show island of sark Is feudal fedal state once haunt of pirates now a peaceful place with ancient customs prepared Pre by national nation G garl society coo E D C cl scry urs the dame of 4 sark re W bently went shopping 1 ill loudon in the event was waa news tor for at least two continents la dame de sark Is the first IW andy JY of the only purely feudal state late remaining in the world the island or of sark in L ane english channel sark Is the fourth largest of the channel islands it lies 70 miles lies south of england and 2 22 miles from the coast of france it Is three and a half miles long and one and a half of Us its miles wide and yet because it has 33 5 numerous bays and coves miles of coast it Is the highest land in tile alie channel islands tile the cliffs rising on all sides almost perpendicularly are covered with innumerable varieties of rock plants and flo flowers ners while below are sandy bays and wonderful caves cares whose sea hewn walls are covered with seaweeds eeds and sea an emones of every color of the rainbow on the beaches may be found semiprecious stones such as ame cats eyes and moonstones moon stones the island Is not without minerals ut at one time mines were worked which produced copper silver antimony antl morty and galena the interior of the island Is undulating with alth valleys full of wild flow lowera and in the spring the w whole hole Is covered with ft a blaze of golden gorse blue bells and primroses prim roses no venomous beasts live in III sark not even a toad on landing a at t the sark harbor which Is one of the smallest in the world the visitor finds himself entirely surrounded by steep cliffs and the only means of access to the island from there Is by a road passing through a tunnel 0 00 feet long pierced in the did cliff and thence by a steep winding road which leads to the center of the island where there are a few small shops and four hotels the highway continues to la coupee where the island Is divided into two parts great sark and little title sark joined by a huge natural causeway of rock nearly feet high and feet long across which runs a road just wide enough for one cart and horse I 1 A sark windmill built by the grace I 1 of queen elizabeth in 1571 to cross at a time on one side of this causeway la is a sheer shee r cliff on the other a sloping way down to beautiful sands in spite of its minute size sark has a history of no little interest as its written records begin in A D and there Is ample evidence of occupation in the stone age 1 in the sixth century saint bishop of dol do in brittany established a monastery here the ruling ruins of which including an old wall and two chapels stand just beside the dames house here an order of 82 62 monks flourished until 1412 when they were withdrawn to the abbey 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 to shipping in the channel and against whom expeditions from england were sent seat out the island was wag cleared of their presence but ruin was left in their wake 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 himself who bo was governor of jersey some fifty years later as follows A flemish vessel arrived off the coast and the sailors pretended that their captain was dead and asked leave to bring his bis body ashore for burial on permission being granted they carried the coffin up the hill to the little church of saint Maglo magloire lre and there closing the door they opened the co coffin fillo which was full of arms turned on the french garrison and surprised them killing some and taking the rest prisoners soon after this the island was again deserted until from the island of jersey arose a man who wits was finally to establish the future constitution of sark this was sir heller de car the fifty eighth seigneur of saint oue in jersey to whom in queen quee Rl labeth th granted grunted the island conditionally by letters patent under the great seat seal of england this gave to sir heller fell royal grant ernnt anil and his successors almost unlimited powers on condition that he colonize the island with forty families to each of whom he allotted a portion of the land to farm kach each man was equipped with a musket for the defense of the island so that to th this Is day it Is often spoken of us as the island of the forty and even now when a farm changes hands it Is still cited its as ono of the th conditions of th the e deed of conveyance musket shall be with a that a man on the farm though the de cartere Carter ct bainny suii still owns the manor 0 of saint ouan ruen in jersey jerley sark passed out of its hands hand when in 1732 1731 it was sold with all its if rights and privileges tin and d eventually came I 1 to 0 the great grandmother ot of the present dame or of in ID 1852 for militia was artillery many years an maintained consisting of about one hundred men now till all that remains tire are a few old cannon lying disused and halt half hidden in bracken and gorse on the dills cliffs while in the grounds of at the dames house Is a 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 dames house or sel beurle ne urle lies in a sheltered part of the island and like all the old bouws Is built A the original or main of gray granite part of the house dating from 1505 stands on the site of the old monastery and no doubt many of the stones clones used to build it were taken from the ruins the fireplace in the hall ball bears the date and the sundial on the outside 1683 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 nay may be described as the clearing house of all island contro controversy ersy it Is open at any time to any inhabitant of tile the island who rho wishes to see her for any reason and she sometimes longs tor for the leisure of the tired business mare man when often both sides of a difficulty are brought to her tor for final judgment discussions cus cuss lons take place on subjects which range from 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 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 1505 plus twelve deputies elected among the rest of the inhabitants who now number are members of the parliament to Sar kites the king of england Is their feudal lord the duke of normandy and he be hits has no more loyal and devoted subjects than they who have from time immemorial been part of 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 in point of fact the channel islands were never a part of england but part and parcel of the duchy of normandy and as is such no 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 fact it hits has a substantial itil credit balance the language of the island officially Is french though everyone speaks english which thich Is taught equally with french in the schools so that everyone Is bilingual among themselves the islanders always speak their own pa patois which Is a survival of the old norman french as spoken at the time of the conquest it Is never written often IV and cannot be understood by anyone not brought up in its midst sark has a boys and a girls school in regard to which it Is interesting to note that sark was the first part of the british empire to adopt compulsory education the dame inspects both schools at examination time and asks ask the children questions in french and english and satisfies herself as to their general mental progress motor cars barred A law against the importation of M motor ator cars has hag been passed and this Is strictly enforced the dame believes there should be one spot left on earth where modern transportation I 1 coin can be forgotten and where pence peace and quiet are undisturbed she also refuses to allow the importation of any female dog the ownership of such except by the seigneur being forbidden under an old custom upheld b by y law for centuries tt it Is also the old right of the seigneur alone to keep pigeons BD an excellent law as in this way their number Is controlled and damage to crops Is minimized sed the large stone pigeon cote Is an essential part of tiny any feudal it Is also ft a Selga eurial privilege that none but he may grind corn or build a mill and although the old windmill Is now no longer used he still grinds nil all corn brought to the by the more modern methods of motor and machine charging each farmer a small fee for grinding all cereals grown la in sark are subject to tithes and no man may harvest his crops until these tithes called oll dimes mes have been col lecter the farmer has to notify the seigneur neur 48 hours before be intends carting so that some one may be sent to the fields to see that every tenth sheaf Is set aside for the seigneur who also has a tithe of elder cider lambs wools and a royalty on oil all minerals each of the forty pays ft a yearly tithe or ground rent on his property and the old chimney tax or foulage pou lage as it Is called Is still in force paid in div chickens every year to the selga seigneur eur |
