receiving the daily allowance, short in weight, or inferior in quality. Thre cooks under such circumstances were not the easiest managed portion of the crew, and I saw on one occasion a company of soldiers required to restore peace amongst them, broken by some infringement of their rules. Every article of food which ought to have been warm, was cool enough ere it reached the vessel, a quarter of a mile distant, through the crowded tiers of vessels or passing praams, and often have I seen the cooks detained half an hour from the passage being blocked up by vessels and lighters, removing from one part of the Mole to another. Many an amusing scene have I witnessed with cooks and their lurkeys, pursuing their course either from, or to their respective vessels, which during three-fourths of the distance lay in the same direction: to see them at dinner time, issuing from their smoky fastness with the saucepans, kettles, kids, and other portions of the dinner equipage, their faces blackened by the smoke of the fires, mixed with the perspiration, from their heated bodies, and the steam of their smoking kettles; to behold them fairly embarked in their frail craft, the majority paddling or sculling onwards, while some more adventurous or lazier member of the body, would erect his jury mast, and with a mat sail steer his lurkey with a paddle; then again to hear their quizzing of all and sundry who came near them, Russian and English indiscriminately, laughing at the jokes both spoken and practical, as they told. I never could fancy anything more appropriate to liken them to, at such a time, than a horde of Indian savages issuing from some fastness and hurrying onwards to attack some foe. The cook in Cronstadt became a man of importance among his shipmates; having constant access to the shore, he could bring spirits or other articles for the crew, and having full command of his lurkey, he alone could grant permission to any one, wanting to pay an evening visit to some acquaintance on board another vessel. From the rivalry existing amongst themselves, with the crowded state of the Mole, and the more crowded state of the tiers, accidents were continually occurring, and it was always considered a fortunate issue to the cook's passage, when he arrived without spilling the contents of his kettle or saucepan; often we were minus our usual allowance, and not unfrequently kettles and all went to the bottom from a collision between the tiny lurkey and some heavier craft. A narration of the cook's adventures during his passage formed always an interesting event at meals. On Sunday afternoon races between the lurkeys were frequently got up, for cooks are as tenacious of the character of their craft as the skipper of his vessel, and I have known them positively refuse the lurkey first given them on their arrival, as not fast enough for their purpose. These lurkeys are kept by parties on shore for hire, a small sum being paid for their use while the vessel remains in harbour. CAPE LA HAGUE AND CAPE LA HOGUE.-Extract of a Letter from Mons. C. de Gerville, Hon. F.S.A., &c., &c., communicated by the Council of the British Archæological Association. SINCE my residence in England to the present time, I have observed that all charts call the northern extremity of the coast of the Cotentin "Cape la Hogue." The same error may be observed on all the old charts which I saw there, and the Danish charts also contain the same error. But it is time to investigate this mistake, as it may possibly be attended with inconvenience. Here, we are unanimous in calling this point Cape La Hague, and in distinguishing it from Cape La Hogue, which is very near Barfleur, on which Cape there is a good light. Certainly, as the Cape belongs to France we have a right to decide this matter, but as it is a point which might be contested, I will endeavour to establish the truth from official sources. I shall commence with the present time, and afterwards go back a thousand years. All the French charts, those which are published by the Depôt de la Guerre, those of Cassini, published a hundred years ago, those of the diocese of Coutances, which appeared in 1687, Iagree in calling the north point of this coast Cape La Hague, the extreme of the peninsula whereon the light of Anderville has just been placed. The registers of the Bishop of Coutances extending back from 1790 to 1251, all agree in calling it the Deanery of La Hague, it being termed in the latin of the registers of the thirteenth century Decanatus de Haga. This would be sufficient proof, but an established evil will require more than this to eradicate it, so you shall have proof of another kind, and no less conclusive. In 1026, the Duke of Normandy married Adela, the daughter of Robert, and sister of Henry the First of France, who at her second nuptials, married a Flemish count, and became the mother-in-law of William the Conqueror. A learned benedictine, Don Luc D'Achéry, has preserved in his Spicilegium, the dowry of this marriage. Richard presented the Princess Adela as her dowry extensive tracts of ducal domains, and among others the district called La Hague, with a sea-port (pagum qui dicitur Haga cum portu maris) which is the port of OmonvilleHague, still well known and frequented by the inhabitants of Aurigny and its neighbourhood. Thus you see that the name La Hague is recognized by our government of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by our ecclesiastical government from the reign of St. Louis to the revolution, and by the Dukes of Normandy in 1026, forty years before the conquest of England. But what is more remarkable still is, that this name was known and probably given to this tract of land by the pirates who gave their name to Normandy, perhaps also by the Saxon pirates, who named these coasts and those of Bessin Littus Saxonicum. In the maps of Cassini, and even in those of Mariette, published 159 years ago, appears the famous entrenchment, intended to isolate the promontory of La Hague, con taining seven parishes. This entrenchment, on which I wrote a memoir twenty years ago, is known as the Hague dyke. It bears this name on the charts of Mariette, Cassini, Cadastre, and on those of the Depôt de la Guerre. But whence the Teutonic origin of the name? It evidently originated with the people north of Germany, from whence the ancient Saxons or Danes occupied the promontory of La Hague, under the Carlovingian race of kings, perhaps under the Roman emperors. However it may be, the name for at least a thousand years has been officially recognized in the district of the Cotentin. The proof of a German origin is no less evident. The name of Hague or Hagen is found everywhere on the German coasts from the Hague in Holland (Haga comitis), to Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, and beyond this again on the coasts of the Baltic. The term Hague signifies wood, Haga Comitis: the Haye has the same meaning as Bois-le-Comte. The greater part of the Hague has the appearance of a devastated forest. Our latin titles of the middle ages give the name of Haye to the forests, which have preserved the French name of Haies, as La Haie de Valognes, La Haie Comtesse, La Haie Pesnel,—in nemoribus, et Haies meis: see the word Haia in the glossary of Ducange. I have said that the name of Cape la Hogue instead of that of La Hague has produced other errors, and I will mention two of the most remarkable in the history of the Channel Isles. In 1121 the ship which embarked the children of Henry the First for England, with 150 illustrious personages of his court, sailed from Barfleur on the 24th November, and struck on a rock so close to the port that the cries of those who perished in the vessel were distinctly heard from the shore. On the following day, the St. Catherine, a fishing boat went out to her from the port at daylight, and found one person only that had survived the disaster, who was a butcher of Rouen named Berold. All contemporaneous historians relate this fact; the details are circumstantially given in Ordericus Vitalis, and all agree in the place of wreck being off Barfleur. And yet all the historians of the Channel Islands persist in stating the rocks of Aurigny as the place of the disaster, simply because they confound La Hague with La Hogue, which latter is really near Barfleur. In the same way the famous battle off La Hogue in 1692 is referred to as off Cape La Hague. This battle commenced immediately off Cape Barfleur, was continued to the eastward, when James the Second, then in the chateau of Quinéville, witnessed it distinctly from the church of the village, and exclaimed very patriotically, no doubt, but with bad policy, "See how well my Englishinen fight." And yet again, according to the historians of the Channel Islands, it was off Aurigny and the Caskets that this battle took place. But we have lately had an undeniable proof of the locality of the battle. On the 7th March, 1833, the sea having receded in an extraordinary manner, exposed the remains of the hulls of several of the largest vessels of the French fleet, which were cast away and burnt off St. Vaal la Hogue, sufficiently within the bay of La Hogue to escape being taken by the enemy. I have preserved some remains, and there are more in the town of Valognes, and in several houses of St. Vaal. If the historians of the Channel Islands are so much at fault on a fact so little remote from the present time, a fact on which there are both English and French official accounts, they are more to be blamed than those of the middle ages. In my next letter I hope to give you the history of the missions of St. Magloire and of his monument in the Isle Sark, during 1000 years, and I shall add to it if my space permit a curious charter by which Pierre de Preaulx in 1203 gave to the abbey of Val Richer the isle of Escrehou, become since that time a bed of rocks between Jersey and the coast of France, on condition of building a church (basilicam) for the daily performance of mass. To C. Roach Smith, Esq., Secretary of the British Archæological Association. C. DE GERVILLE. OREGON. "He that would win the race must guide his horse, Else though unequall'd to the goal he flies, As this question is intimately connected with the navigation of the ocean, the hydrography of the north-west coast of America, maritime traffic, and is, moreover, of national importance, it must be one of considerable interest to the seaman. The war-cry has again been reiterated in America, and a speech of Mr. Adams has been published, in which he points out to his countrymen that their claim to the Oregon territory is derived-whence? From the circumstance of the master of an American whaler having been the first person to discover the river Columbia! No such thing-but from Holy Writ! It has at least the merit of originality and priority over all the other claims; but we take leave to observe that it is of universal application,-ergo-as good for England as for America. The Senators, however, of the latter, when lacking argument to prove a claim, as in this instance, resort to abuse or bluster-the weapons of the weak-or, adopt, as Mr. Adams has done, some monstrous absurdity in lieu of fact which rests on the sure foundation of truth, and which had it been honestly entertained, would at once have put an end to the claim, as to the question of right: but "Uncle Sam's obstinacy is unyielding, his creed being: "Never give up! there are chances and changes, "Never give up! for the wisest is boldest, The assumption upon which this Senator rests the claim of the United States to the territory of Oregon, and by extension of the precept to any other that they can master, out-herods all other droll Yankeeisms; for rife as are Jonathan's whimsicalities-strung with strange fancies and burlesque conceits, there are few, perhaps, of the hundreds which the Press of the States issues to create mirth, that are so far-fetched, or more extravagant, than the noted Senator's origin of his country's claim or right to the disputed land in question. It must, no doubt, have been highly edifying to the congregated wisdom of the Capital of the West, to have heard the clerk of the House read the several verses of the first chapter of Genesis, in proof of the Oregon claim. But, we imagine, if the thing was not altogether intended to ridicule the universal-appropriation-mania, that it will prove as harmless as the indulgence of those persons who take pride in tracing back their ancestorial lineage. Be that, however, as it may, we may all safely acknowledge the embarrassment that the parties would be thrown into, if, by some decree which they could not escape, their Title Deeds were demanded in confirmation of their claims to Oregon, or to any other portions of the continent still unoccupied by the white men. But, as far as the forms and usages of civilized countries have been exercised, and reciprocally acknowledged as binding in claims of territorial sovereignty, there can be no doubt whatever that England has the best title, or rather claim according to custom, in which point of view we can alone regard it. As to the apocalyptical documentary evidence which the senator gave as decisive in favor of his country, the British cabinet no doubt will allow that of Washington, all the benefit it may calculate as likely to flow from the revelation. This claim of England is founded (according to usage from the early periods of maritime discovery) on the well known and recorded circumstance of Sir Francis Drake having been the first discoverer of the north-west coast of America, (as far back as the year 1579,) between the latitudes of 38°, and 48°, and which he named New Albion. This tract has since been called Oregon, probably from the appellation which the native inhabitants on the banks of the Columbia gave to that river. Its entire extent is included between the latitudes of 42° (which is the boundary line for North California,) and 52°; in an east and west direction, it comprises about ten degrees of longitude. But Drake did more than discover the land, anchor in one or two of its bays, and refit his vessel; he took formal possession, agreeable with custom, (which the Americans, be it observed, have themselves followed,) • It has been considered as an unbecoming act of levity in a grave Senator. |