The flora of the islands is remarkably rich considering their extent nearly 2000 different species of plants having been counted throughout the group. Of timber properly speaking there is hardly any, but the evergreen oak, the elm, and the beech grow well and are abundant. Wheat is the principal grain in cultivation; but far more ground is taken up with turnips and potatoes, mangold, parsnip, and carrot. The tomato ripens as in France, and the Chinese yam has been successfully grown. There is a curious cabbage, chiefly cultivated in Jersey, which shoots up into a long woody stalk from 10 to 15 feet in height, fit for walking-sticks or palisades. Grapes and peaches come to perfection in green-houses without artificial heat; and not only apples and pears but oranges and figs can be reared in the open air. The arbutus ripens its fruit, and the camellia clothes itself with blossom, as in more southern climates; the fuchsia reaches a height of 15 or 20 feet, and the magnolia attains the dimensions of a tree. Of the flowers, both indigenous and exotic, that abound throughout the islands, it is sufficient to mention the Guernsey lily with its rich red petals, which is supposed to have been brought from Japan.

The number of the species of the mammalia is little over twenty, and several of these have been introduced by man. There is a special breed of horned cattle, and each island has its own variety, which is carefully kept from all intermixture. The animals are small and delicate, and marked by a peculiar yellow colour round the eyes and within the ears. The red deer was once indigenous, and the black rat is still common in Alderney and Herrn. Nearly 300 species of birds have been found, or more than half the whole British list. There are few localities in the northern seas which are visited by a greater variety of fish, and the coasts abound in Crustacea, shell-fish, and zoophytes.

Owing to the Norman system of land-tenure being still in force, the land is parcelled out among a great number of small proprietors, and in Alderney, for example, five or eight acres of arable land is accounted a fair estate. The results of this arrangement seem to be favourable in the extreme. Every corner of ground is carefully and intelligently cultivated, and a considerable proportion is allotted to market-gardening. The cottages are neat and comfortable, the hedges well trimmed, and the roads kept in excellent repair. Wealth is for the most part pretty equally distributed, and poverty or pauperism is comparatively unknown. There is a very considerable export and import trade, the value of the produce and manufactures of the islands dispatched to England in 1874 amounting to £459,639, or between £9 and £10 for every acre of land; while the total importation of British and foreign articles reached the sum of £982,656. The population of the whole group has largely increased during the present century, though, on account of exceptional causes, the numbers in Alderney, Sark, and a few of the smaller islands are not so great as they were a few years ago. In 1821 Jersey had 28,600 inhabitants, as compared with 56,627 in 1871; and Guernsey and the dependent islands, inclusive of Alderney, Sark, <fcc., had 20,827, as compared with 33,699. For further details on the economical condition of the islands the reader may consult the separate articles Alderney, Jersey, <fcc.

The language spoken in ordinary life by the inhabitants of the islands is in great measure the same as the Old Norman French, though modern French is used in the law courts, and English is taught in all the parochial schools, and is familiar to a gradually increasing proportion of the population, especially in Jersey and Alderney. The several islands have each its own dialect, differing from that of the others at once in vocabulary and idiom; and a very marked di fference is observable between the pronunciation in the north and the south of Guernsey. It has even been asserted that every parish in that island has some recognizable peculiarity of speech; but if this is the case, it is probably only in the same way in which it could be asserted of neighbouring parishes throughout the country. None of the dialects have received much literary cultivation, though Jersey is proud of being the birthplace of one of the principal Norman poets, R. Wace, and has given a number of writers to English literature. The Guernsey patois is rendered pretty well known to the philologist by the Himes Guern¢· siaises of George Métivier, who has since published a Dictionnaire Franco-Normand, ou Recueil des mots particuliers au dialecte de Guernesey, 1870; and a fair idea of that of Jersey is obtainable from the Rimes et Poesies Jersiaises de divers auteurs, by A. Mourant, 1865.

The original ethnology and pre-Christian history of the Channel Islands are largely matters of conjecture and debate. Of early inhabitants abundant proof is afforded by the numerous megalithic monuments—cromlechs, kistvaens, and maenhirs—still extant in various quarters, and it is well known that the number of these memorials was much greater in recent centuries. One of the most important, indeed—a cromlech near St Helier’s—was only removed in 1788. But little trace has been left of Roman occupation, and such remains as have been discovered are mainly of the portable description that affords little proof of actual settlement. According to tradition St Marcou or Marculfus visited the islands as a Christian missionary in 540, and in 568 he was followed by St Magloire (a friend and fellow-evangelist of St Samson of Doi), who founded monasteries at Sark and at Jersey. In 933 the islands were made over by Rodolph of Brittany to William of Normandy, the son of Rollo; and after the Norman conquest of England, their allegiance shifted between the English crown and the N orman coronet according· to the vicissitudes of war and policy. During the purely Norman period, they had been enriched with numerous ecclesiastical buildings, some of which are still extant, in a more or less perfect condition. In the reign of John of England, the future of the islands was decided by their attachment to the English crown, in spite of the separation of the duchy of Normandy. To John it has been usual to ascribe a document, at one time regarded by the islanders as their Magna Charta; but modern criticism leaves little doubt that it is not genuine. An unauthenticated “copy” of uncertain origin alone has been discovered, and there is little proof of there ever having been ∙an original; while it is plain that the islands were in possession of several of the privileges which it professes to accord previous to the supposed date. The reign of Edward I. was full of disturbance and trouble; and in 1279 Jersey and Guernsey received from the king, by letters patent, a public seal as a remedy for the dangers and losses which they had incurred by lack of such a certificate. Edward II. found it necessary to instruct his collectors not to treat the islanders a? foreigners; his successor, Edward III., fully confirmed their privileges, immunities, and customs in 1341; and his charter was recognized by Richard II. in 1378. In 1343 there was a descent of the French in Guernsey; the governor was beaten, and Castle Cornet besieged. In 1380 Pius IV. issued a bull of anathema against all who molested the islands; it was formally registered in Brittany in 1384, and in France in 1386; and in this way they acquired the right of neutrality, which they retained till 1689. Henry V. confiscated the alien priories which had kept up the same connection with Normandy as before the Conquest, and conferred them along with the regalities of the islands on the duke of Bedford. During the Wars of the Roses, Queen Margaret, the consort of Henry VI. made an agreement with Maulevrier, the seneschal of Normandy, that if he afforded assistance to the king he should hold the islands independently of the Crown. A force was accordingly sent to take possession of Jersey Castle. Orgueil was captured and a small part of the island subjugated, but the rest held out under Philip de Carteret, and in 1467 the vice-admiral of England, Sir Richard Horbiston, recaptured the castle and brought the foreign occupation to an end. By a charter of 1494, the duties of the governors of Jersey were defined and their power restricted; and the educational interests of the island were furthered in the same reign, by the foundation of two grammar schools by John Neal. The Reformation was heartily welcomed in the islands; and under the influence of French pastors, the form of worship adopted was the Presbyterian. The greatest severity was exercised in the maintenance of the new ecclesiastical discipline. In 1554 one Richard Girard was flogged through the town of St Helier’s for defending the doctrine of the mass; in 1576 several persons were thrown into prison by the royal court for not having taken the communion, and they were not to be liberated till they could repeat the commandments and the Lord’s prayer; and in 1592 it was enacted that all persons should attend divine service morning and evening under the penalty of a fine.

The Presbyterian form of church government was formally sanctioned in Jersey and Guernsey by Queen Elizabeth; and in 1603 King James enacted that “they should quietly enjoy their said liberty.” During the governorship of Sir John Poyton, however, disputes arose between him and the Presbyterian “colloquy” or synod about nomination to benefices, and both parties appealed to the king. A commission was appointed in 1609, but peace was not established. An Episcopal party had been formed in Jersey, and in 1619 David Bandinal was declared Dean of the island. A body of canons which he drew up agreeable to the discipline of the Church of England was accepted after considerable modification by the people of his charge; but the inhabitants of Guernsey maintained their Presbyterian practices. Of the hold which this form of Protestantism had got on the minds of the people even in Jersey abundant proof is afforded by the general character of the worship at the present day. Having taken different courses in religion the two islands naturally attached themselves to different sides in the great struggle between king and parliament Jersey was for Charles and Guernsey for the Commons. The former island maintained its loyalty till 1651, when the royal cause became hopeless, and even Sir George Carteret, who had been its principal support, was obliged to surrender. Both islands had suffered severely from the struggle, and the people of Guernsey complained that two-thirds of the land was out of cultivation, and that they had lost “their ships, their traffic, and their trading.” After the Restoration there was considerable improvement, and in the reign of James the islanders got a grant of wool for the manufacture of stockings—4000 tods of wool being annually allowed to Jersey, and 2000 to Alderney. By William of Orange the neutrality was abolished in 1689, and during the first American War there were two unsuccessful attacks on Jersey. In 1767 an attempt was made to introduce the English custom-house system; but it proved practically a failure, and the islands throve on smuggling and privateering down to 1800. Since then their history has been one of quiet progress, with no more serious disturbance that can arise from local rivalries.

Heylin, Relation of two Journeys, 1656; Philip Faile, Caesarea, or an Account of Jersey, London, 1694, revised edition, 1734; Dicey, An Hist. Account of Guernsey, 1750; E. Allen, Argument to His Majesty’s Royal Commissioners in the Island of Jersey, 1812; Berry, Hist, of Island of Guernsey, 1815; Plees, Account of Jersey, 1817; Inglis, Channel Islands, 1835; Duncan, Hist, of Guernsey, 1842; F. B. Tupper, Chronicles of Castle Cornet, Guernsey, 1851; Hoskins, Charles II. tn Channel Islands, 1854; Le Quesne, Constit. Hist, of Jersey, 1856; Girardin and Morière, Rapport d’uns Excursion Agricole à Jersey en 1856, 1857; De la Croix, Jersey, ses antiquités, ses institutions, d⅛.,1859j D. T. Ansted and R. G. Latham, The Channel Islands, 1865. The last work is an interesting compilation, and treats of the islands in their geographical, botanical, zoological, and historical relations. See also a paper in the Fortnightly Renew ∖∖X>JS) by the Rev. F. Barham Zincke.