116 CAPABILITIES OF THE SOIL. 



vantages to fleets returning from the eastern 

 hemisphere, as a spot for rendezvous, supplies, 

 or departure ; although, in a political light, the 

 necessity for preserving this speck of land, at no 

 inconsiderable expense, as an important key to 

 our eastern territories, should cause the British 

 to regret that it had ever emerged from the 

 ocean. 



To call this island a " rock," is libellous, and 

 by no means descriptive ; for notwithstanding 

 the desolate and repulsive appearance of its 

 coast, the interior of the country is sufficiently 

 well vegetated and watered, possesses extensive 

 valleys of verdant and arable soil, and offers 

 numberless scenes of the most picturesque and 

 romantic beauty. With due allowance, also, for 

 the demands of an over-grown population, and 

 of many shipping, the fertility of the soil is not 

 to be despised : more than 8000 acres of land 

 are now successfully cultivated ; and of potatoes 

 alone, upwards of 6,000 bushels are annually 

 produced. 



All accessible parts of the coast are very 

 strongly fortified, but more especially the en- 

 trance to James' Valley, and the cliffs that com- 

 mand the anchorage. Many of the inland 

 mountains, also, whose pinnacled heights ap- 

 pear inaccessible, are defended by pieces of ord- 



