The following tale is not one of mere fiction, for most of the events related in these pages actually occurred in that neighbourhood, and are related even now by the old inhabitants when they meet with a stranger willing to listen to them. It is a remarkable fact that the broad Cornish dialect was not spoken in the Lizard district some years ago as it was in most other parts of the county. The inhabitants seemed to be a distinct race. The men were generally taller and more robust than those found in the mining districts; and the women had, and many of them still retain, the dark hair and eyes and regular features of the Spaniard — the cause of which, though attempts have been made to account for it, is still Open to conjecture.