The herb which
fattens the sheep and feeds such quantities of cattle is a little plant
which grows between and under the flint stones, which the sheep and
other animals turn up with their feet, to come at the bite; beside
which, there grows a plant on this _Crau_ that bears a vermilion flower,
from which the finest scarlet dye is extracted; it is a little red
grain, about the size of pea, and is gathered in the month of May; it
has been sold for a crown a pound formerly; and a single crop has
produced eleven thousand weight. This berry is the harvest of the poor,
who are permitted to gather it on a certain day, but not till the Lord
of the Manor gives notice by the sound of a horn, according to an
ancient custom and privilege granted originally by King RENE.--On my way
over it, I _gathered_ only a great number of large larks by the help of
my gun, though I did not forget my _Montserrat_ vow: It was a fine day,
and therefore I did not find it so tedious as it must be in winter or
bad weather; for if any thing can be worse than sea, in bad weather, it
must be this vast plain, which is neither land or sea, though not very
distant from the latter, and in all probability was many ages since
covered by the ocean.
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