Page:The Cornwall coast.djvu/77

ST. AUSTELL TO ST. MA WES 71 of brown heather, in gray cairns and screes of granite, all sharp and black-edged against the pale blue sky." The description of the town itself that follows might apply tolerably well to a number of such fishing-ports in the West Country ; but Kingsley is most clearly not speak- ing of Clovelly, and he introduces Cornish names. That corner of North Devon must be content with figuring in Westxoard-Ho ! and not claim Two Years Ago. There was the cholera also, which was a very terrible reality at Mevagissey in 1849, and which did its good work as well as its evil, by causing the place to be thoroughly cleansed. The truly Cornish name of the town derives from a double dedication to the Saints Meven (or Mewan) and Issey ; St. Mewan being a Welsh saint, and St. Issey probably an Irishman. The place has won, and deserved, the nickname of Fishygissey, but there is none the less a real charm about it ; its distance from the railway, however incon- venient for visitors, brings compensations that many can appreciate. The pier dates from 1770, but the harbour is much more recent. A fine and costly harbour constructed about 1890 was destroyed in the following year by the great blizzard, which is distinctly " the storm " in the West of England ; the present quays were built in 1897. At one time more pilchards were taken here than at any other spot, but the pilchard is a fickle fish, and has no consideration beyond the choice of feeding-grounds ; if better satisfied else- where, no sentiment interferes with its migrations. But there are still a good many pilchards taken off Mevagissey, and these are largely cured here — many under their own name, but a large num- ber find their way to the factory of the Cornish