steamer, at a place not far from th paddle-box, and there looking to the southward in the middle of a wide bay, they saw the dark form of Mont St. Michel rising like a steep mountain directly out of the waves. The tide was up now, and the rock was entirely surrounded by water. Mrs. Morelle was very much struck with the extraordinary appearance of Mont St. Michel, and she admitted that it was much to be regretted that they had not been able to go and visit it. In the mean time the steamer was going on at a rapid rate away from the land, and out upon the wide sea, while yet the motion was as steady and smooth as if she had been upon a river. The island of Jersey was in sight, lying like a long low cloud in the northern horizon. There were other islands on the way, and the steamer passed quite near some of them. The children gazed at the precipitous cliffs which formed the shores of these islands, and at the groups of black and ragged rocks which rose here and there above the water near them, with a feeling of awe. Mrs. Morelle herself, finding that the motion of the steamer was so slight that it produced no sensible effect, walked about the deck, amusing herself sometimes by looking out over the sea toward the different coasts which were in sight, and in ascertaining what land it was in this direction and in that by means of a map, and at other times by surveying the various groups of passengers on the deck of the steamer, and observing the peculiarities of their dress and their demeanor. An hour or two passed in this way, and at length the shores of Jersey began to draw near. Grimkie and John were continually going forward where they could see better what was ahead, in order to watch the approach of the land. They repeatedly invited Mrs. Morelle and Florence to go too; but Mrs. Morelle said that it was not so easy for ladies to make their way back and forth through narrow passage ways, among baggage and machinery, and over the boxing of the main shaft, and that accordingly she and Florence would wait until the town and the features of the landscape could be seen distinctly. "But what do you mean by distinctly?" asked John. "We can see the town quite well now." "I call it seeing distinctly, when you can see the windows of the houses," said Mrs. Morelle. The boys went forward again, and presently returned saying, that they could see the windows of a castle in the harbor, and then Mrs. Morelle and Florence went forward. Here they found a very picturesque and charming prospect opening before their eyes. The land was all before them in full view. In the centre there appeared a wide and beautiful bay opening toward the south, with a broad sandy beach, in a semicircular form, extending from right to left for a distance of three or four miles. At the two extremities of the bay, were two lofty and picturesque promontories, crowned with fortresses and Martello towers. Along the whole extent of the bay too, back of the sandy beach which bordered the water, the land rose precipitously, with green slopes, and rocky precipices, and groves of trees, and little cottages, and handsome villas, intermingled all the way. Near the western end of the bay, nestled in a little dell that there opened into the interior, was a hamlet of white houses, with a small harbor formed by two projecting piers, and a castle on a rock at a short distance from the shore. At the eastern end of the bay was the great town of St. Helier. It was toward this town that the steamer was steering. It lay in a broad and shallow valley, at the foot of the lofty promontory which formed the eastern extremity of the bay. The summit of the hill was crowned with an immense fortification, and the face of it formed a perpendicular precipice toward the sea. There was another great fortification seated on a rocky island, about a mile from the shore, on the other side of the town. There were a great many other small islands, and black rocks, raising their heads above the water all along the shore, and extending to two or three miles from it. The steamer took her course through and between these groups. The track was marked out by buoys, and by poles set upon sunken rocks, and Sometimes by the rocks themselves being painted whi te to serve as beacons. The long white walls of the piers which formed the harbor, became more and more conspicuous, as the steamer drew nearer, and all the environs of the town-as the heights and hill-sides which surrounded the place, came out more and more into view-were found to be adorned with fully villas, and gardens, and public edifices, and ter-raced walls, which gave to the landscape an appearance of extraordinary richness and beauty. Steamer glided swiftly in through the opening between the two piers, and came up to a sloping quay near the entrance,-made sloping The 80 that at all states of the tide, steamers arriving Sea, and having passengers to land upon the from |