To the east, along a rocky coast beaten by a foaming sea, there stretched a deserted and fragrant heath.

It was the Beach of Shadows, and the inhabitants of the island never ventured on it for fear of the serpents that lodged in the hollows of the rocks and lest they might encounter the souls of the dead who resembled livid flames.

To the south, orchards and woods bounded the languid Bay of Divers.

On this fortunate shore old Mael built a wooden church and a monastery.

To the west, two streams, the Clange and the Surelle, watered the fertile valleys of Dalles and Dombes.
Now one autumn morning, as the blessed Mael was walking in the valley of Clange in company with a monk of Yvern called Bulloch, he saw bands of fierce-looking men loaded with stones passing along the roads.