in a straight line. It branched out of the trunk at an
acute angle, and was carried in a sweep through the
rocks with holes at intervals for the admission of
light and air. The total length must have been
nearly 3500 feet. The passage can in places be just
traced by the falling in of the ground above, but it
cannot be pursued within. At the beginning of this
century this smugglers' cave was in use.
There is still living an old woman who can give information relative to the use of this cave.
"Well, Genefer, did you ever see smugglers who employed the Vouggha?"
Vouggha, as already stated, is the old Cornish word for cave.
"Well, no, sir. I can't say that; but my father did. He minded well the time when the Vouggha was filled wi' casks of spirits right chuck-full."
"But how were they got there?"
"That was easy enough. The boats ran their loads into Forth Cothan, or, if the preventive men were on the watch, into Forth Mear, which is hidden by the Island of Trescore, drawn like a screen in front. They then rolled the kegs, or carried 'em, to the mouth of the Vouggha or to Trevemedar, it did not matter which, and they rolled 'em into the big cave, and then stopped the mouth up. They could go and get a keg whenever they liked by the little passage that has its mouth in the garden."
"Did the preventive men never find out this place?"
"Never, sir, never. How could they? Who 'd be that wicked as to tell them? and they wasn't clever
