ST. HELENA 153 



from England, and the beef is of good quality. Sheep are 

 numerous, and provide sweet and tender mutton. Pigs 

 are kept in the country and their flesh when well fed is good. 

 Goat-meat is often procurable, and of good flavour. Fowls 

 are reared in numbers, but ducks, geese, and turkeys are 

 not so plentiful. Eggs are as a rule plentiful, but poultry 

 and eggs have been more scarce during the increased popu- 

 lation of military and of Boer prisoners. Vegetables also 

 were quickly bought up by them. Prices given during 

 this time were 6d. to is. for cabbages, 405. per bag for 

 potatoes, 2s. 8d. per Ib. for fresh butter. 



The language spoken is English (and with a purity not often 

 found in the rural districts of England) ; the islanders how- 

 ever find a difficulty with the letter " v " and " w," calling a 

 veil a wale, a person said to be vain is described as wain, 

 while a child named Willie will become Villie ; in this 

 respect they are no worse than uneducated Londoners. 

 The letters " th " also are a stumbling block, the native 

 children using the expressions de, dis and dat for the, 

 this and that. 



