1836.] ITS APPEARANCE. 467 



bright yellow flowers. Weeping-willows are common on the banks 

 of the rivulets, and the hedges are made of the blackberry, pro- 

 ducing 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 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 laud, 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 Com- 

 pany, 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 V 



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, 



