The Roads Were Bordered By Hedges Of
Mimosa, And Near Many Of The Houses There Were Avenues
Of The Mango.
Some of the views, where the peaked hills
and the cultivated farms were seen together, were exceedingly
picturesque; and
We were constantly tempted to
exclaim, "How pleasant it would be to pass one's life in
such quiet abodes!" Captain Lloyd possessed an elephant,
and he sent it half way with us, that we might enjoy a ride
in true Indian fashion. The circumstance which surprised
me most was its quite noiseless step. This elephant
is the only one at present on the island; but it is said others
will be sent for.
May 9th. - We sailed from Port Louis, and, calling at the
Cape of Good Hope, on the 8th of July, we arrived off St.
Helena. This island, the forbidding aspect of which has
been so often described, rises abruptly like a huge black
castle from the ocean. Near the town, as if to complete
nature's defence, small forts and guns fill up every gap in
the rugged rocks. The town runs up a flat and narrow
valley; the houses look respectable, and are interspersed
with a very few green trees. When approaching the anchorage
there was one striking view: an irregular castle perched
on the summit of a lofty hill, and surrounded by a few scattered
fir-trees, boldly projected against the sky.
The next day I obtained lodgings within a stone's throw
of Napoleon's tomb; [1] it was a capital central situation,
whence I could make excursions in every direction. During
the four days I stayed here, I wandered over the island from
morning to night, and examined its geological history. My
lodgings were situated at a height of about 2000 feet; here
the weather was cold and boisterous, with constant showers
of rain; and every now and then the whole scene was veiled
in thick clouds.
Near the coast the rough lava is quite bare: in the central
and higher parts, feldspathic rocks by their decomposition
have produced a clayey soil, which, where not covered by
vegetation, is stained in broad bands of many bright colours.
At this season, the land moistened by constant showers,
produces a singularly bright green pasture, which lower and
lower down, gradually fades away and at last disappears. In
latitude 16 degs., and at the trifling elevation of 1500 feet,
it is surprising to behold a vegetation possessing a character
decidedly British. The hills are crowned with irregular
plantations of Scotch firs; and the sloping banks are thickly
scattered over with thickets of gorse, covered with its bright
yellow flowers. Weeping-willows are common on the banks
of the rivulets, and the hedges are made of the blackberry,
producing its well-known fruit. When we consider that the
number of plants now found on the island is 746, and that
out of these fifty-two alone are indigenous species, the rest
having been imported, and most of them from England,
we see the reason of the British character of the vegetation.
Many of these English plants appear to flourish better than
in their native country; some also from the opposite quarter
of Australia succeed remarkably well. The many imported
species must have destroyed some of the native kinds; and
it is only on the highest and steepest ridges that the
indigenous Flora is now predominant.
The English, or rather Welsh character of the scenery, is
kept up by the numerous cottages and small white houses;
some buried at the bottom of the deepest valleys, and others
mounted on the crests of the lofty hills. Some of the views
are striking, for instance that from near Sir W. Doveton's
house, where the bold peak called Lot is seen over a dark
wood of firs, the whole being backed by the red water-worn
mountains of the southern coast. On viewing the island
from an eminence, the first circumstance which strikes one,
is the number of the roads and forts: the labour bestowed
on the public works, if one forgets its character as a prison,
seems out of all proportion to its extent or value. There
is so little level or useful land, that it seems surprising how
so many people, about 5000, can subsist here. The lower
orders, or the emancipated slaves, are I believe extremely
poor: they complain of the want of work. From the reduction
in the number of public servants owing to the island
having been given up by the East Indian Company, and the
consequent emigration of many of the richer people, the
poverty probably will increase. The chief food of the working
class is rice with a little salt meat; as neither of these
articles are the products of the island, but must be purchased
with money, the low wages tell heavily on the poor people.
Now that the people are blessed with freedom, a right which
I believe they value fully, it seems probable that their numbers
will quickly increase: if so, what is to become of the
little state of St. Helena?
My guide was an elderly man, who had been a goatherd
when a boy, and knew every step amongst the rocks. He
was of a race many times crossed, and although with a
dusky skin, he had not the disagreeable expression of a
mulatto. He was a very civil, quiet old man, and such
appears the character of the greater number of the lower
classes. It was strange to my ears to hear a man, nearly
white and respectably dressed, talking with indifference of
the times when he was a slave. With my companion, who
carried our dinners and a horn of water, which is quite
necessary, as all the water in the lower valleys is saline, I
every day took long walks.
Beneath the upper and central green circle, the wild valleys
are quite desolate and untenanted. Here, to the geologist,
there were scenes of high interest, showing successive
changes and complicated disturbances.
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