The yellow book: an illustrated quarterly (7.1895)

The Web of Maya

By Ella D’Arcy

I

Tas is the name of the land lying at the southern extremity


of the Isle of Saint Maclou. It would form a separate islet

by itself, but that it is joined to the larger one by an isthmus, a
wall of rock, of such dizzy height, of such sheer descent, that
the narrow road on top gropes falteringly its perilous way from
side to side.
The fishermen of Saint Maclou, who are also its farmers, its
field-labourers, its coachmen, when driving a party of trippers
over to Le Tas, get down at the beginning of the Coupee, as
this strange isthmus is called, and, in their courteous broken English,
invite their fares to get down too. Then, holding the horse by
the bridle, and walking backwards before him, the driver leads
him over the Coupee, turning an anxious eye this side and the
other, to see that the wheels keep within the meagre limits: for, a
careless movement here—a false step—and you would be precipitated
down a clear three hundred feet to the sea below. But it is only
an experienced fisherman who will take you over the Coupee at
all. If a young man happens to be driving, he will send you into

Le