Channel Islands, a group of small islands off the NW. coast of France, of which the largest are Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark; formerly part of the Duchy of Normandy, and now all that remains to Britain of her French dominions, being subject to it since 1066; have a delightful climate mild and bright, and varied and beautiful scenery; the soil is fertile; flowers and fruit are grown for export to Britain, also early potatoes for the London market; Guernsey pears and Jersey cows are famous; valuable quarries of granite are wrought; the language is Norman-French.
Population (circa 1900) given as 92,000.
Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)
Channel, The English * Channing, William Ellery