From what has been already said, it will be seen that the great spinal column of Cornwall is in the north and that consequently the principal rivers must flow to the south. It is true that the Camel and its tributaries rise in the north and flow north to debouch into Padstow estuary, but that is the only river of the smallest consequence that directly feeds the Atlantic.

On the Camel

On the Camel

The Camel rises in the wind-swept, sodden, clay land above Boscastle, and dribbles down to Camelford, passing under Slaughter Bridge and the stone of Lateinos which traditionally mark the scene of King Arthur's last fight and death. After leaving Camelford, it plunges through a beautiful wooded valley, under Helsbury Castle occupying a bleak conical hill—a castle of the Dukes of Cornwall, but consisting only of a stone camp of prehistoric date and a ruined chapel in the midst dedicated to St Sith or Itha, an Irish saint. It passes Lavethan, a hospitium of the monks of Bodmin, and between wooded banks through Pencarrow and Dunmeer woods, and having run south, it now turns north to meet and mingle waters with the Allan, which has cleft for itself a very similar and equally beautiful valley. The Allan rises near the slate quarries of Delabole, and glides down by St Teath, and by St Mabyn on its bleak stormbeaten height, itself snug between beautiful hanging woods and with sweet old-world manor houses clustering near, and meets the Camel at Egloshayle. Thence they flow away into the Padstow estuary under the old 15th century bridge at Wadebridge, past the Camelot of legend—the only streams of any consequence that flow north.

With regard to the Tamar, we may call it as we please a Devonshire or a Cornish river. It divides the counties through the principal part of its course, but it has its source in Morwenstow, on a wretched moor, in Cornwall. Not much can be said in its favour till it reaches Bridgerule. From that point past North Tamerton (and Vacey, which although on the left bank was included in Cornwall, and has two formidable earthworks) it glides down to Werrington, where it meets the waters of the Attery and passes under Polson Bridge within sight of Launceston. Thenceforth the Tamar is in the full bloom of beauty. Carthamartha (Caer Tamar) stands at its junction with the Inny. Below Polson Bridge it has accepted the Lyd from Devon. Then through the lands and woods of the Duke of Bedford at lovely Endsleigh, under the bold crags of Morwell, up to which the tide reaches, then past Calstock and Cothele, and in serpentine writhes about Pentillie Castle, and so into the Hamoaze—the most beautiful river in England, excepting possibly the Wye.

Wadebridge

Wadebridge

The Inny, one of the feeders of the Tamar and altogether Cornish, must not be omitted, for it is a beautiful stream. It rises in the elevated land by Davidstowe and ripples down near Altarnon, passing in a picturesque valley the Holy Well and chapel of St Clether and the ancestral seat of the Trevelyan family at Basil; then, still in its beautiful valley, past Polyphant, famous for its quarries of a stone that admits of the most delicate carving, until it reaches the Tamar at Innyfoot. It is a river rich in trout. An old Cornish song of the Altarnon volunteer has the verse:

O Altarnon! O Altarnon! I ne'er shall see thee more,
Nor hear the sweet bells ringing, nor stand in the church door,
Nor hear the birds a-whistling, nor in the Inny stream
See silver trout glance by me, as thoughts glance by in dream.

It is not however the Inny but a tributary that actually passes Altarnon.

Royal Albert Bridge, Saltash

Royal Albert Bridge, Saltash

The Lynher falls into the Hamoaze, running for much of its course parallel to the Inny. It rises in the Bodmin moors and flows through the beautiful grounds of Trebartha where it receives a feeder from Trewartha marsh that leaps to meet it in a pretty cascade. Trewartha marsh has been turned over and over for tin and gold, and the Squire of Trebartha formerly furnished his daughters with gold rings made from the precious ore found in it. A curious settlement of the Celtic period exists above the marsh. It has however been much mutilated by farmers, who have carried off the stones for the construction of pigstyes. The Lynher flows through the park of the Earl of St Germans, past the beautiful church with its Norman west front, and then is lost in the united waters of the Tamar and the Tavy.

Under Brown Willy is a pool called Fowey Well, which is traditionally held to be the source of the Fowey river. This however is not the case. It rises under Buttern Hill (1135 ft.) crowned by cairns, but as the Fowey Well has no outlet visible, it is supposed to decant by a subterranean stream into the river. Leaping down from the moors, the Fowey enters a wooded valley and, turning abruptly west, flows through another well timbered valley. Running beside the railway, and then turning sharply south, it passes the old Stannery town of Lostwithiel, to which the tide reaches, and plunging into a narrow glen with St Winnow on one side and Golant on the other, finally reaches the sea at Fowey harbour.

There are two Looe rivers, one rising in the Bodmin moors receives the overflow of Dozmare Pool, and flowing deep below Liskeard receives the West Looe above the estuary. Duloe, which has a small but interesting circle of upright stones, stands between them and is supposed to be so called as between the two Looes. Before reaching Duloe the river has passed under St Keyne, famous for its Holy Well commemorated by Southey in a well-known ballad.

There is no river of any importance till we reach the Fal. Rising on Goss Moor, not far from St Columb, and passing Grampound and Tregony, now an utterly decayed place, it meets the Tressilian and the Truro rivers, and all three, insignificant hitherto, suddenly acquire importance and spread out into the beautiful estuary of the Fal or Carrick Roads. Here are Penryn creek, Mylor creek, and Porthcuel harbour, commanded by the castle of St Mawes. None of these owe their importance to the sweet waters they bring down; all their value is due to the tide that flows up to Truro.

The entrance to the Roads is found between Zoze Point and Pendennis Point, the latter at one time defended by a strong castle. Almost halfway between the points is the dangerous Black Rock, to which a former Trefusis conveyed his wife and there left her to be overwhelmed by the rising tide. Happily she was rescued by some fishermen. The Helford river is but a creek, noted for its oyster beds, into which a little stream dribbles.