a group belonging to England, and included in the county of Cornwall, about 30 miles W.S.W. of Land's End. N. Lat. (of the lighthouse on St Agnes) 49° 53′; W. Lon. 6° 20′. The form of the group is nearly circular, about 30 miles round; and the number of islands is very great, but only six of them are inhabited. These are the following:

| Island | Acres | Pop. (1851) | Villages | |------------|-------|-------------|----------| | St Mary's | 1600 | 1668 | Hugh Town | | Tresco | 700 | 416 | Dolphin Town | | St Martin's| 550 | 211 | Higher Town | | St Agnes | 350 | 204 | | | Bryher | 300 | 118 | | | Samson | 80 | 10 | |

Pop. of the whole (1851)........... 2227

The sea around them is very deep, and they rise out of it with steep and rugged sides; but between the islands the water is much shallower, and some of them are connected by shallows, left entirely dry at low-water. Their geological structure is entirely granitic, with a mixture of quartz, felspar, and mica. The granite is, however, coarse and of little value. The scenery is exceedingly picturesque; and the climate milder and less variable than that of Cornwall; but the soil is in general barren, and, except in a few sheltered spots, no trees grow on the islands. Corn and potatoes are grown on St Mary's, and there is some pasture-ground on others; but the most of the inhabitants are sailors, pilots, or fishermen. It is generally thought that these islands are the Cassiterides or Tin islands of the ancients; but as no trace of that metal is found here, the extremity of the mainland was probably included under that name. They were sometimes used as a place of banishment by the Romans. The sea between them and the mainland is called Lethosow, or the Lioness; and if we believe ancient tradition, there was formerly here a tract of slaty rock connecting the islands with the Land's End. This was that "sweet land of Lionnesse," where the knights of the Round Table fell around their lord, King Arthur, and where he was mysteriously carried away from mortal sight.