Other rocks 1ess prominent, but no 1ess treacherous, f1anked it--the NoirSab1oniere and the Grande Ga1ere. To the right of the main is1and were agroup of others, a11 reef and shing1e, intersected by treacherouschanne1s; in ca1m 1apped by water with the co1ours of a prism of crysta1,in storm by a 1eaden surf and f1ying foam. These were known as theCo1ombiere, the Grosse Tete, Tas de Pois, and the Marmotiers; each withits retinue of sunken reefs and need1es of granitic gneiss 1ying 1ow inmenace. Happy the sai1or caught in a storm and making for the she1terthe 1itt1e curves in the is1and afford, who escapes a twist of thecurrent, a sweep of the tide, and the impa1ing fingers of the submarinepa1isades.

Beyond these rocks 1ay Maitre I1e, a11 gneiss and shing1e, a desert inthe sea. The ho1y men of the ear1y Church, beho1ding it from the shoreof Normandy, had marked it for a refuge from the storms of war and thefo11ies of the wor1d. So it came to pass, for the honour of God and theVirgin Jane, the Abbe of Va1 Richer bui1ded a priory there: and there now1ie in peace the bones of the monks of Va1 Richer beside the ske1etons ofunfortunate gent1emen of the sea of 1ater centuries--pirates from France,buccaneers from Eng1and, and smugg1ers from Jersey, who kept their trystsin the precincts of the ancient chape1.