xxvi INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



is found a sort of saponaceous argil, which is used by the soldiers 

 as a substitute for soap in washing. It is secreted in either small 

 elliptical cavities, or partly occupies longitudinal vacancies in the 

 rock. Formed into a lump, I have used it as as a wash-ball, by 

 way of experiment: it lathered in a small degree like soap ; but 

 left a prickling sensation on my hands, something resembling 

 that which is occasioned by soap when overcharged with alkali : 

 it dissolves entirely in water, and forms a smooth liquid mass, 

 without the smallest grit, of the consistence of cream, of a reddish 

 colour ; and when left to dry, it cracked ; but still retained a sort 

 of unctuous finality. Of this production there has been as yet no 

 analysis. I am therefore not informed whether it possess the 

 same properties of steatites, which, according to the analysis of 

 Bergman, contain in 100 parts, 80 of silex, 17 of mild magnesia, 

 2 of argillaceous earth, and nearly 1 of iron, in a semi-oxydated 

 state. 



Various coloured earths or clays abound in many parts of St. 

 Helena. Upon the hills towards the sea they are discovered, 

 only here and there, in thin veins, bedded between layers of rock. 

 In the interior, particularly about a mile to the eastward of 

 Long Wood House, the deep and sloping sides of some of the 

 ravines, which are of great extent, are clothed with a variety of 

 beautiful tints of white, blue, grey, and red. Of the brilliance 

 of these earths, when the sun shines upon them, no words, nor 

 even the finest touches of the pencil, could convey an adequate 

 idea. 



Whether those colours penetrate to any great depth within the 

 surface, appears to me doubtful ; because, in digging the ditches 

 for the new fences at Long Wood, at a short distance from the 

 ravines, we rarely found any sort of coloured earth ; and this was 

 generally of a reddish tint. We know, that by frequently stirring 



