Page:Cornwall (Salmon).djvu/146

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CORNWALL clifF-castles reaching from the one Treryn to the other. Some have supposed these to have been the last resort of the late Stone-men, the "giants" of popular tradition; and this west- most corner of Britain must have been their last shelter. Just before reaching the headland the traces of an old chapel may be noticed, with a slab that was probably the altar-stone ; and round this arc signs of hut-dwellings. Perhaps most of these clusters of beehive-huts had a little oratory in their midst ; such certainly was the case in Ireland. Gwavas Lake, just off Newlyn, is only a lake traditionally. It is said that there was once really a lake here, surrounded by the fbrest which we know flourished where the waters of Mount's Bay are rolling. This wooded district, with church and houses, was submerged by the same tempest that is supposed to have played havoc with the Scilly Isles and to have inundated Cardigan Bay. It is even said that the parish of Paul is so called from pol or pool, and not from any saint of that name; but this might be so without proving anything, for the Celtic " pool " more often meant a mere creek or in- let than a small lake. As regards the forest, Robert Hunt relates having himself gathered beech-nuts among the sands of Mount's Bay, and the remains of submerged trees are a reality ; so that we cannot reject the possibility of Gwavas Lake having once been what it still professes to be. Qweek. (See Constantine.) I20