tide for three or four hours.

The mount itself is a remarkable granite rock, about a mile in
circumference and 250 feet high. It was referred to by Ptolemy, and is
supposed to have been the island Iclis of the Greeks, noticed by
Diodorus Siculus as the place near the promontory of Belerium to which
the tin, when refined, was brought by the Britons to be exchanged with
the Phoenician merchants. Its British name was equivalent to "the grey
rock in the woods," a traditional name, apparently confirmed by the
discovery of a submarine forest extending for some miles round the base
of the mount. The beauty of the spot caused it to be selected by the
ancient Britons as a favourite resort for worship, and shortly after the
introduction of Christianity it became a place of pilgrimage, and was
visited in the fifth century by St. Kelna, a British princess, who
founded a hermitage there. Some sort of military defences protected the
mount at a very early date, for Edward the Confessor's charter in 1047
to the Benedictine monks, whom he settled here, especially mentions its
_castella_ and other buildings.

In Charles II.'s reign the estate was purchased from the Basset family
by the St. Aubyns, who still remain its owners. In the castle itself,
which crowns the mount, the chief feature is the old hall, now known as
the "Chevy Chase" room, from its being adorned with carvings of various
field sports. There is some fine old furniture and good pictures.
Visitors are allowed to see the principal rooms of the castle when the
family are from home, and at all times to see the quaint old Gothic
chapel. There is a small fishing village with a pier and harbour at the
foot of the rock.

[Illustration: _Photochrom Co., Ltd._