By G·E·Mitton A & C Black Ltd 45 & 6 Soho Square London W...

Islands have always exercised a peculiar fascination over Englishmen, perhaps because, accustomed as they are to a sense of security induced by the surrounding sea, they never feel more comfortable than when the sea is on all sides at a measurable distance. It has been the ambition of many an Englishman to possess an island, however small, of his own. But England is not particularly blessed in this matter, and we may look with envy at the fringe of islands, large and small, precipitous and flat,

Carisbrooke is the central attraction for visitors, just as, by position, it is well-nigh the centre of the island. Even from childish days the picture of the patient donkey walking in a wheel to draw up water from the well, or the touching tale of the little Princess Elizabeth, who pined to death in the castle, has been familiar to everyone. The donkey who now holds the office is probably just as great an interest to the thousands of tourists—one Whit-Monday has been known to bring ten thousand

For such a small area the island can boast a surprising number of literary associations. That which remains pre-eminently the first is the long residence of Tennyson at Farringford, near Freshwater; this lasted for more than half his life, though in the end the poet was so worried by those tourists who wished to "see" him, in the same simple style they went to see Carisbrooke or the Zoo, that he built himself a new home near Haslemere, and thither retreated during that part of the year when he w

Cowes is without rival in the world as a yachting place and the most celebrated of all yacht clubs, the Royal Yacht Squadron, has its headquarters here. During Cowes Week, in the beginning of August, distinguished visitors flow in such numbers to the place that the accommodation is strained to the utmost. Cowes follows Ascot and Goodwood, and is patronized not only by titled persons of every kind, but by millionaires of the newest type, to say nothing of crowned heads from Europe. Yachting is in

So curious and diversified is the geology of the island that it has been described as a microcosm of geology, for it contains in itself every kind of stratified rock. This geological variety shows itself markedly in the scenery; in fact, there are few places where the influence of geology on scenery can be so well studied. For instance, at Alum Bay, near the Needles, the whole of the strata from the chalk to the fluvio-marine formation are displayed in unbroken succession. The colours in these c

Among the antiquities of the island the Roman villa at Brading must certainly rank first. This was discovered by the late Mr. Hilton Price, F.S.A. The villa consisted of a central block with a wing on each side. The central part was doubtless occupied by the owner, and the two wings by his slaves and soldiers. There are traces of two distinct periods of occupation, and indications that the villa was ultimately destroyed by fire. In the course of the excavations tiles, broken pottery, coins, bron