478 WELSH CHARACTER OF SCENERY, [chap. xxi. 



plants now found on the island is 746, and that out of these 

 tifty-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 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 



