114 ST. HELENA. COAST VIEW. 



close to its majestic, gloomy, barren, and inac- 

 cessible cliffs, washed at their base by a fathom- 

 less ocean. The entire coast, indeed, presents 

 a rampart of weathered and iron-bound cliffs, 

 of a sombre, burned hue scarce a trace of ve- 

 getation is visible a line of low surf frets at the 

 foot of the steeps a few sea-fowl skim the water, 

 or fly from the hollows of the rocks while some 

 solitary signal-houses, perched on the topmost 

 heights, or a conspicuous magazine and battery, 

 on the summit of a mountain called High Knoll, 

 are the only indications of human occupants. 

 The scene it offers is novel and grand, even 

 " sublime in barrenness," but melancholy in the 

 extreme, and well adapted to elicit the remark 

 made by Napoleon, when he gained the first 

 view of the land of his exile : " Is this the Pro- 

 methean rock to which I am to be chained for 

 life ?" To him it was indeed a Promethean rock, 

 where the vulture of Disappointment never 

 ceased to prey upon his heart. 



We had felt some surprise, when approaching 

 this island, at receiving none of the usual inter- 

 rogatory signals from the look-out houses ; and 

 not less, when a boat, despatched (in conformity 

 with ancient custom) to a powerful battery on 

 Sugar-loaf Point, to report the ship, and request 

 permission to proceed to the anchorage, returned 



