INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. ix 



would at this day have remained ; and notwitlistanding there be 

 evident marks of some parts of the exterior boundary <>f St. 

 Helena having- been formed by lava, and afterwards rent open 

 and changed by subterraneous convulsion, yet, upon the whole, 

 there appears to be strong grounds for supposing that the finest 

 parts of the interior are the remnants of primitive land. 



Although the plain above-mentioned appears to have escaped 

 in the general devastation, yet in its vicinity are evident traces 

 of the most terrib.^ agitations. The Devil's Punch Bowl,* on 

 the west — numerous dreary and barren conical hills on the north, 

 between the plain and the sea, and the deep chasms at Turk's 

 Cap, and Prosperous Bay, are indubitable proofs that all those 

 parts have been violently convulsed : but perhaps the most un- 

 accountable of the whole is, that amidst so much disorder and 

 confusion there should remain a piece of level land which measures 

 200 acres. 



This remarkable spot is situated a little to the south of the 

 Great Wood, and half a mile west from the promontory on which 

 the Prosperous Bay telegraph is erected. It is elevated 5 or 600 

 feet above the level of the sea ; and is encompassed by low hills 

 on the south and east, and rather open towards the other points. 

 The soil is mud, and very strongly impregnated with salt : nothing 

 grows upon it but marine plants. A water-spout which deluged 

 the island in March 1786, left a sheetof water, which lay upon this 

 flat for five or six days afterwards. How so large a portion 

 of land could have been raised to so great an elevation, without 



• The Devil's Punch Bowl extends nearly from Halley's mount to Long Wood. It is 

 an immense hollow which, in certain points of view, assumes a circular appearance ; and 

 hence its name. It is 1000 yards from east to west, 700 across, and about 250 yards in 

 depth. The sides are steep, excepting on the west, where there is some projecting land, 

 on which stand a house and garden. It is the head of Rupert's Valley. 



C 



