5i8 ST. HELENA 



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 India 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 



