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is the creek of Hayle, which has been fashioned by the energy of man into a useful harbour, and given rise to the foundation of two extensive iron-foundries. Between those and the sea are the hills of blown sand, which have ever been the homes of the Fairy people. The lighthouse of Godrevy stands, a humble companion, to balance in this bay,—the "Mount," which adorns the bay, washing the southern slope of this "narrow neck of land." Godrevy marks the region of sand extending to the eastward. To the north the shores become more and more rugged, culminating in St Agnes' Beacon, a hill of graceful form rising somewhat rapidly to a considerable elevation. From this the "beetling cliffs" stretch away northward, until the bold promontory Trevose Head closes the scene, appropriately displaying another of those fine examples of humanity—a lighthouse.

To the left, towards the sea, rises the cenotaph of Knill, an eccentric man, who evidently sought to secure some immortality by this building, and the silly ceremonials carried on around it; the due performance of which he has secured by bequests to the Corporation of St Ives. Around this the mining district of St Ives is seen, and her fishing-boats dotting the sea give evidence of another industry of vast importance to the town and neighbourhood. Westward of St Ives, hills more brown and rugged than any which have yet been viewed, stretch away to Zennor, Morva, and St Just, and these, girding the scene beneath our feet, shut out from us the region of the Land's-End.

On the summit of this hill, which is only surpassed in savage grandeur by Carn Brea, the giants built a castle-the four entrances to which still remain in Cyclopean massiveness to attest the Herculean powers by which such mighty blocks were piled upon each other. There the giant chieftains dwelt in awful state. Along the serpentine road, passing up the hill to the principal gateway, they dragged their

captives, and on the great flat rocks within the castle they sacrificed them. Almost every rock still bears some name connected with the giants-"a race may perish, but the name endures." The treasures of the giants who dwelt here are said to have been buried in the days of their troubles, when they were perishing before the conquerors of their land. Their gold and jewels were hidden deep in the granite caves of this hill, and secured by spells as potent as those which Merlin placed upon his "hoarded treasures." They are securely preserved, even to the present day, and carefully guarded from man by the Spriggans, or Trolls, of whom we have to speak in another page.

IN

THE GIANTS AT PLAY.

N several parts of Cornwall there are evidences that these Titans were a sportive race. Huge rocks are preserved to shew where they played at trap-ball, at hurling, and other athletic games. The giants of Trecrobben and St Michael's Mount often met for a game at bob-buttons. The Mount was the "bob," on which flat masses of granite were placed to serve as buttons, and Trecrobben hill was the "mit," or the spot from which the throw was made. This order was sometimes reversed. On the outside of St Michael's Mount, many a granite slab which had been knocked off the "bob" is yet to be found; and numerous piles of rough cubical masses of the same rock, said to be the granite of Trecrobben Hill, shew how eagerly the game was played.

* Mr O. Halliwell, who carefully followed in the "Footsteps of the Giants,” referring to this game as played by them, says :—

"Doubtlessly the Giant's Chair on Trink Hill was frequently used during the progress of the game, nor is it improbable that the Giant's Well was also in requisition. Here, then, were at hand opportunities for rest and refreshment-the circumstances of the various traditions agreeing well with, and in fact, demonstrating the truth of each other."

Trecrobben Hill was well chosen by the giants as the site of their castle. From it they surveyed the country on every side; and friend or enemy was seen at a considerable distance, as he approached the guarded spot. It is as clear as tradition can make it, that Trecrobben was the centre of a region full of giants. On Lescudjack Hill, close to Penzance, there is "The Giant's Round," evidently the scene of many a sanguinary conflict, since the Cornish antiquarian authority Borlase informs us, that Lesgud-zhek signifies the "Castle of the bloody field." On the cairn at Gulval are several impressions on the rocks, all referable to the giants. In Madron there is the celebrated "Giant's Cave;" and the well-known Lanyon cromlech is reported by some to be the "Giant's Coit," while others declare it to be the "Giant's Table." Cairn Galva, again, is celebrated for its giant; and, indeed, every hill within sight has some monument preserving the memory of those, "the Titans fierce."

H

HOLIBURN OF THE CAIRN.*

OLIBURN, according to tradition, was a very amiable and somewhat sociable gentleman; but, like his brethren, he loved to dwell amongst the rocks of Cairn Galva. He made his home in this remote region, and relied for his support on the gifts of sheep and oxen from the farmers around—he, in return, protecting them from the predatory incursions of the less conscientious giants of Trecrobben. It is said that he fought many a battle in the defence of his friends, and that he injured but one of his neighbours during his long lifetime.

* "Somewhere amongst the rocks in this cairn is the Giant's Cave-in ages long gone by the abode of a giant named Holiburn."—HALLIWELL. Mr Halliwell was fortunate in securing a name. I have often heard of the giant in question, but I never heard his name.

This was, however, purely an accident. The giant was at play with the human pigmies, and in the excitement of the moment, being delighted at the capital game made by a fine young peasant, he tapped him on the head, and scattered his brains on the grass. I once heard that Holiburn had married a farmer's daughter, and that a very fine race, still bearing a name not very dissimilar, was the result of this union. Holiburn, like his brethren, was remarkably fond of quoits; indeed, go where we will within the Land's-End District, the "Giant's Quoit" is still shewn. Other-shall we call them household-relics of the giants occur. From Cairn Galva to

Zennor we find a series of "Giant's Chairs;" and, careful to preserve each remarkable relic of this interesting race, here is also the "Giant's Dinner-Plate." That St Ives, too, was not without its giant, although the record of his name is lost, is evident from the fact that a tooth, an inch broad, was taken from a "Giant's Grave.":

• The following extract from a note written by the late Zennor postman and poet, shews how enduringly the giants have left their names on the rocks of Cornwall:

"Some districts in Cornwall were said to have been peopled in olden times by giants, and even Zennor District possesses the largest quoit-three Logan rocks-whilst Trecrobben hill still exhibits the Bowl in which the Giants of the West used to wash. The large granite boulder near to the residence of the Rev. Mr S, curate of Morva, is said to be the Giant's Dinner-plate. Further down the hill, and hard by the Zennor vicarage, the seats of the giants are still shewn by the inhabit ants. Indeed, so strong is the belief that giants inhabited the hills of the west, that a young lady in this neighbourhood assayed, a month or two ago, to deliver a lecture, or address, on the subject, taking for her text, 'There were giants in those days.' But the giants were not immortal; colossal as were their frames, they too had to sleep with their fathers.' Whether Jack the Giant-killer took any part in ridding the earth of this wonderful race of men we cannot positively state, but thus much is certain: the giants were succeeded by a numerous race of sinall people, and so small as not to be observable by the eye."

THE GIANT OF NANCLEDRY.

N Nancledry Bottoms, about a mile from the famous hill Castle-an-Dinas, there stood at one time a thatched house near the brook which runs murmuring down the valley. Rather more than thirty years since, some mouldering "clob" (mud) walls, indicating the existence at one time of a large dwelling, were pointed to as the former residence of a terrible giant. He appears to have led a solitary life, and to have lived principally on little children, whom he is said to have swallowed whole. His strength was indicated by several huge masses of granite which were scattered around the Bottoms, and in the neighbouring fields. These were carried by him in his pockets, to defend himself from the giants of Trecrobben, with whom he appears to have been on unfriendly terms. This giant is note-worthy as the only one recorded who lived in a house.

TREBIGGAN THE GIANT.

REBEGEAN is the name of a village near the Land's

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End. This name, as we have already stated, signifies the town of the giant's grave. The giant's existence was confirmed by the discovery of a vault and some large bones in it, on this spot.*

Trebiggan divides with Tregeagle the honourable immortality of being employed to frighten children into virtue. Often have I heard the unruly urchins of this neighbourhood threatened with Trebiggan. They are told that Trebiggan was a vast man, with arms so long that he could take men out of the ships passing by the Land's-End, and place them

* See Heath's Description of Cornwall, 1750.

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