escriptions
to fill the pages of a book which is confined to such subjects only as
are most exclusively and strikingly Cornish.

The town of Helston, where we now halt for the first time since we left
the Cheese-Wring and St. Cleer's Well, might, if tested by its own
merits alone, be passed over as unceremoniously as the towns already
passed over before it. Its principal recommendation, in the opinion of
the inhabitants, appeared to be that it was the residence of several
very "genteel families," who have certainly not communicated much of
their gentility to the lower orders of the population--a riotous and
drunken set, the only bad specimens of Cornish people that I met with in
Cornwall. The streets of Helston are a trifle larger and a trifle duller
than the streets of Liskeard; the church is comparatively modern in
date, and superlatively ugly in design. A miserable altar-piece, daubed
in gaudy colours on the window above the communion-table, is the only
approach to any attempt at embellishment in the interior. In short, the
town has nothing to offer to attract the stranger, but a public
festival--a sort of barbarous carnival--held there annually on the 8th
of May. This festival is said to be of very ancient origin, and is
called "The Furry"--an old Cornish word, signifying a gathering; and, at
Helston particularly, a gathering in celebration of the return of
spring. The Furry begins early in the morning with singing, to an
accompaniment of drums and kettles. All the people in the town
immediately leave off work and scamper into the country; having reached
which, they scamper back again, garlanded with leaves and flowers, and
caper about hand-in-hand through the streets, and in and out of all the
houses, without let or hindrance. Even the "genteel" resident families
allow themselves to be infected with the general madness, and wind up
the day's capering consistently enough by a night's capering at a grand
ball. A full account of these extraordinary absurdities may be found in
Polwhele's "History of Cornwall."

But, though thus uninteresting in itself, Helston must be visited by
every tourist in Cornwall for the sake of the grand, the almost
unrivalled scenery to be met with near it. The town is not only the best
starting-point from which to explore the noble line of coast rocks which
ends at the Lizard Head; but possesses the further recommendation of
lying in the immediate vicinity of the largest lake in Cornwall--L