INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. vii 



*' it were enclosed, it might be greatly improved ; but doing that 

 " would require many hands, the stone, most of it being to be 

 " brought a good distance,* — but the ground being near to a 

 " level for above five hundred acres of it, carts may be used. The 

 " enclosing the whole, we think, would be too great an attempt 

 " to begin at once ; yet we think nothing more proper than to 

 " enclose some of the best part, for when once this wood is gone 

 " the island will soon be ruined." 



No traces of lava nor shells are to be seen on this plain, nor 

 under its surface : throughout its whole extent there is seldom to 

 be found a stone, of any sort, larger than a walnut: but in dig- 

 ging ditches for the fences at Long Wood, we lately discovered 

 considerable beds of small stones resembling gravel. They are, 

 however, a sort of soft iron stone, easily pulverised : some are 

 close to the surface, others a foot or two underneath ; and it has 

 been observed that the crops are always more exuberant where 

 the soil is intermixed with these stones. 



The plough might therefore range over at least 1200 acres of 

 this plain, without meeting with the smallest impediment. The 

 soil is excellent, and, in many places, of great depth. This was 

 ascertained by the Lieutenant Governor, who resided there some 

 years ago, in making an unsuccessful attempt to find water. In 

 a ravine, many feet below the surface of the plain, he dug a pit 

 80 feet deep : in which nothing was found but the same fine soil, 

 composed of mould and friable clay. 



Indeed, if we may judge from a deep ravine, which partly 

 divides the plains of Long Wood and Dead Wood, the soil and 

 substratum of friable clay in this part of the island may very 



* It is remarkable that upon the eastern side of this " rocky island," there are no good 

 quarries : tlie only stone to be found, and that is a mile to the westward of Long Wood, 

 is a kind of indurated clay. 



