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The Isle of Man. 167
THE ISLE OF MAN—ITS HISTORY AND
LANGUAGE.
The Isle of Miui lies out iu the Irish Sea, at soinothing like;
eijual ilistanccs from Scothmd, England, and Ireland. It is without
insular company except that of its own Calf. The Point of
Ayre is only 16 mih^s from Burrow Head, and 21 from the Mull
of Galloway. By means of these two seaward extensions of
WijL'townshire Scotland claims closer neighbourhood with the Isle
of Man tlian Ireland, England, or Wales. The distance from
I'eel to Strongford Lough, in Ireland, is 27 miles. It is jiist the
same distance Ijetween IMaugiiold Head, in Man, and St Bees
I lead, in Cumberland. Forty-five miles measure the space between
the Calf of Man and Holyhead in Wales. The Calf is a bluff
rocky farm of 800 acres, devoted, I believe, to rabbit breeding.
It is separated from Man by a channel of three miles, which cannot
be crossed every day, nor at times for weeks at a stretch.
The Calf is a striking feature of the picture the island kingdom
presents to the eyes of those coming by ship or steamer from
Liverpool or Ireland. Man itself is 33 miles long and 12 miles
broad, but it tapers at both ends. A bold range of hills, which
assume the imposing airs of real mountains, occupies the interior
along the line of length, and sends spurs and bluffs down to the sea.
The northern part of the island is carse or " magher " land ; but it
may be noticed in passing, as a peculiarity of the Manx language,
that in it the separate field becomes the " Magher," and that every
boundary, whether a fence or an invisible line, is called " cagliagh."
Man has an area of 150,000 statute acres, more than 90,000 of
which are cultivated. The population is about 54,000. In " the
good old times" it fluctuated from 10,000 to 14,000. It was a
little over 14,000 when the Duke of Athole succeeded his relative,
the last Earl of Derby of the old line, as " King in Man " iu the
year 1736. In 1829 the British Government finally acquired all
the property and rights of the Athole family in the kingdom of
Man, and at that time the po[)ulation had reached 40,000. Considering
that regular steamei-s from Liverpool and Barrow-in-
Furness now make the Isle of Man in general, and Douglas, its
modern capital, in particular, the favourite watering-place of Yorkshire
and Lancashire, the increase of the population since 1829
is not very remarkable, when this further fact is likewise taken
into account, that the silver, lead, and copper-mining industry
began by the Muriays has of late been immensely developed.