Soon afterwards we reached a considerable village bearing the strange name of Marazion, a place evidently once of some importance and at one time connected with the Jews, for there were the Jews’ Market and some smelting-places known as the Jews’ Houses.  Here we came to the small rock surmounted by a castle which we had seen in front of our track for some miles without knowing what it was.  Now we discovered it to be the far-famed St. Michael’s Mount.  According to legend this once stood in a vast forest of the mysterious Lyonesse, where wild beasts roamed, and where King Arthur fought one of his many battles with a giant at the “Guarded Mount,” as Milton has so aptly named it.

As we were told that the Mount was only about half a mile away, we decided to visit it, and walked as quickly as we could along the rough-paved road leading up to it.  On the Mount we could see the lights being lit one by one as we approached, and, in spite of the arrival of the first quarter of the moon, it was now becoming dark, so we discussed the advisability of staying at St. Michael’s for the night; but we suddenly came to a point on our road where the water from the sea was rushing over it, and realised that St. Michael’s Mount was an island.  We could see where the road reappeared a little farther on, and I calculated that if we made a dash for it the water would not reach above our knees, but it was quite evident that we had now come to a dead stop.  The rock by this time looked much higher, spreading its shadow over the water beneath, and the rather serious question arose as to how or when we should be able to get back again, for we had to reach Land’s End on the next day.  Finally we decided to retrace our steps to Marazion, where we learned that the road to the Mount was only available under favourable conditions for about eight hours out of the twenty-four, and as our rules would have prevented our returning by boat, we were glad we had not proceeded farther.

[Illustration:  ST. MICHAEL’S MOUNT.]

According to the Saxon Chronicle, the inroad from the sea which separated St. Michael’s from the mainland occurred in 1099.  The Mount had a sacred character, for St. Michael himself was said to have appeared to a holy man who once resided there, and St. Keyne also had made a pilgrimage to the Mount in the year 490.

The rock rises about 230 feet above sea-level, and is about a mile in circumference, but the old monastery had been made into a private residence.  At an angle in one of the towers, now called St. Michael’s Chair, in which one person only could sit at a time, and that not without danger, as the chair projected over a precipice, was a stone lantern in which the monks formerly kept a light to guide seamen.  The legend connected with this was that if a married woman sits in the chair before her husband has done so, she will rule over him, but if he sits down on it first, he will be the master.  We thought this legend must have resulted from the visit of St. Keyne, as it corresponded with that attached to her well near Liskeard which we have already recorded.