The inhabitants are very poor. The only sources of their livelihood
are fishing and bathing visitors. A great number of the latter come
every year, as the bathing, on account of the extraordinary swell,
is reckoned extremely efficacious. Unfortunately, great fears are
entertained that this watering-place cannot exist much longer, as
every year the island decreases in size, from the continual falling
away of large masses of rock, so that some day the whole place may
disappear into the sea.
From the 5th to the 10th of July, we had continued stormy and cold
weather, with a heavy sea, and great rolling of the ship. All we
poor "land-lubbers" were suffering from sea sickness. We first
entered the British Channel, also called "La Manche" (420 miles from
Cuxhaven) in the night of the 10-11th.
We awaited with impatience the rising of the sun, which would
display to our gaze two of the mightiest powers in Europe. Luckily,
the day was fine and clear, and the two kingdoms lay before us, in
such magnificence and proximity, that the beholder was almost
inclined to believe that a sister people inhabited both countries.
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