Ixviii INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



inhabitants, by being compelled to industrious habits, would 

 have been affluent ; and its fertile lands, by yielding more than 

 two crops a year, would have supplied, in abundance, almost 

 every necessary of life. 



St. Helena has generally been represented as a barren rock; 

 but this is not the fact. There are two or three thousand acres, 

 (as already observed) covered with excellent soil of unusual depth, 

 and capable of cultivation. Comparing it with Malta, every 

 part of which I have explored, I consider it infinitely superior 

 in capabilities. In Malta there is scarcely any natural soil, and 

 yet that island abounds in corn, cotton, silla, and fruit of all 

 kinds ; and the prices of provisions are moderate. Its fields, 

 formed at a great expense, by bringing soil from Sicily, contri- 

 bute to support a large population, and its cotton-thread is a 

 valuable export. 



But, at Malta, every man depends on his own industry: at St. 

 Helena, on the contrary, it is remarkable that all, with very few 

 exceptions, are under no such dependence. If a soldier be 

 employed in labour, it matters not to him whether he be idle or 

 active ; he knows he is clothed, fed, and paid, at the Company's 

 expense. It is the same with the slave ; for he, poor man, 

 has no stimulus to exertion ; he is also fed and clothed by his 

 master, but not paid. And in respect to some others, and the 



embarked for England, he gives a very summary view of the state of the island : ' We 

 ' have had,' says he, ' a fine season again ; and this place plentifully abounds with yam, 

 ' and hcef, and ■idk.Jelhws!' Letter to the Court of Dii-ectors, 24th March, 1732.'' 



*' Goveriior Dunbar was unweaiied in his exertions (1743-7) to watch over the re- 

 soui'ces and fertility of the island. ' He introduced the plough : and his experiments in 

 the cultivation of oats, barley, and wheat, at Long Wood, gave rise to such hopes of suc- 

 cess, that a barn was erected there ;" but his successor had no taste for improvements, and 

 those promising beginnings were totally forgotten, and no longer thought of, until the year 

 1808. 



