The little fishing population of Mont St. Michael, and the stories they
tell of the dangers of the quicksands, will while away the time in the
evening and reward us for staying; and we shall see such an exhibition
of hopeless _ennui_ on the part of the French officers in garrison as
will not soon be forgotten.
It would require a separate work to describe in detail all the buildings
on the rock;[33] (it takes a day to examine the fortifications and
dungeons alone); we have therefore only attempted to give the reader an
idea of its general aspect; of what M. Nodier, in his '_Annales
Romantiques_,' describes as 'l'effet poetique et religieux de la fleche
du Mont St. Michael;' and indeed we have hardly dared to picture to
ourselves the complete magnificence of the basilica of the Archangel, as
mariners who approached these shores must have seen it three hundred
years ago, with its lofty towers of sculptured stone; and the image of
its patron saint, turning towards the western sun a fiery cross of
gold.
CHAPTER VIII.
_MORTAIN--VIRE--FALAISE._
We now turn our faces towards the east, and starting again from
Avranches on our homeward journey, go very leisurely by diligence,
through Mortain and Vire to Falaise.
The distance from Avranches to Mortain is not more than twenty miles,
and takes nearly five hours; but the country is so beautiful, and the
air is so fresh and bracing, that a seat in the banquette of the
diligence is one of the most enviable in life.
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