354 ST. HELENA. [CUAP. xxi. 



is the only one at present on the island ; but it is said others will 

 be sent for. 



May gtk. 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 to\vn 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 : * it was a capital central situation, whence I could make excur- 

 sions 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 2,000 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, and at the trifling elevation of 1,500 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 



* After the volumes of eloquence which have poured forth on this subject, 

 it is dangerous even to mention the tomb. A modern traveller, in twelve 

 lines, burdens the poor little island with the following titles, it is a grave, 

 tomb, pyramid, cemetery, sepulchre, catacomb, sarcophagus, minaret, and 

 mausoleum I 



