120 INLAND SCENERY. 



but the former includes the greatest proportion 

 of impressive scenery ; while the one being 

 chosen for departure, and the other for return, a 

 visit to Longwood and the Tomb may be made 

 to comprise a tour of nearly half the island, and 

 a distinct prospect of the whole. The western 

 road passes close to the well-timbered and orna- 

 mental grounds of Plantation House, (the coun- 

 try residence of the governor of the island,) and 

 from one point, commands a view of "Lot's Wife/' 

 a remarkable column of basaltic rock, based on 

 the summit of an isolated hill, picturesquely 

 placed in the midst of a deep glen, covered with 

 flowering gorse and abounding with game. On 

 every side, dark ravines, naked columnar rocks, 

 and broken mountains, (their summits capped 

 with clouds,) contrast forcibly with thick planta- 

 tions of Pine and Acacia trees, mantling the de- 

 clivities of distant hills ; amphitheatres covered 

 with pasturage, and watered by rivulets or small 

 cascades ; and smiling valleys, sprinkled with 

 cottages, specks of cultivated land, and grazing 

 cattle ; the whole presenting a landscape which 

 at every turn of the road unfolds some new and 

 beautiful feature characteristically wild, it is 

 true, yet such as cannot be viewed without plea- 

 surable and almost enthusiastic emotions. 



Approached from this direction, the vicinity of 



