ST. HELENA 45 



that no more hides be sold to the people : for that we are about 

 to engage one John Orchard, a tanner who has offered himself to 

 tan and dress those hides at three shillings and sixpence a piece : 

 all other skins at the prices following : 



A calf's skin at 1/6 



A sheep's skin at 1/6 



and goat skins at sixpence each : and have supplied him with one 

 of the Honourable Company's blacks to help and assist him ; it 

 being too much work for himself ; and the said Orchard hath 

 obliged himself to learne and teach the Black his trade of a tanner 

 and currier : and that articles of agreement be drawn accordingly. 

 The advantageous proposals to our Masters in this matter are thus : 

 First, the preservation of the trees; secondly, as we used to do, to 

 sell those hides to tanners at three shillings apiece, and that, when 

 tanned sold them again from twelve to fourteen shillings apiece, 

 so that with one another we may probably clear seven shillings a 

 hide : and if shipping comes we may be able to tan two hundred in 

 a year (besides all other skins) which will clear seventy pounds a 

 year, if sold out ; besides the advantage of the small skins ; and if 

 wee employ shoemakers to work 'em up, wee are apt to believe 

 that this article will yield our Masters one hundred pound a year 

 at least : the loss of the work of the black and all other charges 

 deducted. 



He also made a safe roadway from town to country by 

 means of Ladder Hill. In a letter to the East India Company 

 dated 1715 it is stated that two Spanish gentlemen, one a 

 priest and the other an engineer, arrived on the island from 

 Mexico. They professed a knowledge of mining and re- 

 ported : " There are certainly some rich mines of metal here." 

 These Spaniards stayed several months, and Governor Pike 

 was much interested in the search for gold. After five 

 months' search he had not abandoned the idea, but com- 

 plained that want of labour prevented their getting to a 

 sufficient depth. Another record of this hoped-for gold mine 

 was, in an official letter dated June 15, 1716, as follows : 



The Governor has employed most of his time since the arrival 

 of the Heathcote with Mons. Olievier, a Spaniard, who has dwelt a 

 considerable time both in Mexico and Peru, amongst the Spanish 

 mines, and he has set some of your Honour's slaves to work at 

 digging on the north-east part of this island, near a place called 

 Turk's Cap, where we have found a sort of mineral earth which 

 the Spaniard says is a sure sign of a mine of metal. We have sent 

 home musters of it by the Heathcote, and are assured by Mons. 

 Olievier that as we go deeper, we shall find clearer and more evident 

 proofs of metal. We wish we had hands to spare that we might 

 keep some employed in digging on this occasion, because we desire 



