HELENA. 
and about 2300 have become free by 
is farming a 
sim youd will + i 8s. sinosigeh The price : 
pou r, however, 1s « the w of a carpenter 
are or 7s,.a day ;. of a. mason, jmp ago 
~ mon labourer 2s. or 2s, 6d.. A black servant may be 
hired £10 to£20 per annum; but must in ad- 
dition be oo with clothing, maintenance, and 
medical attendance in case of sickness. The price of a 
slave of good character, and acquainted with husbandry 
work, is £150; but others of inferior ifications 
may be procured for £30. Even with all these ex- 
pences of cultivation, the lands in general are estimated 
to yield a profit of seven or pt thet i and, if 
wisely i ed, as supposed by Governor Beatson, to 
be capable of an inexhaustible supply of fresh 
provisions and y les for the trade of 
: 
e southern 
and eastern world. The use of the plough, drawn by 
oxen, so recently introduced by this officer, may tend 
to diminish the expences of the farmer; but only 2000 
acres are said to be capable of being tilled in this man- 
men’s heads, | ing a great. waste of labour. 
Asses, however, have lately 
from £5 to £25. They are well adapted to the island, 
as they prefer those vegetables which the other animals 
refuse to eat. 
By repeated charters from the crown of Great Bri- 
tain, the island of St Helena is assigned to the East In- 
dia Company as perpetual proprietors, with all the 
-powers of sovereignty and legislation. The supreme 
authority on the island is vested in the governor and a 
council, The council is composed of the lieutenant- 
governor, and senior civil servant, with the addition oc- 
casionally of a fourth and sometimes a fifth member as 
the Court of Directors may judge proper. These re- 
present the lords proprietors, superintend all the con- - 
cerns of the island, act as justices of the peace, and ex- 
ercise the ordinary jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical 
court. When the council is not assembled, the whole 
authority of the board centres in the governor, who 
may also exercise, as occasion 
of Captain-General. The civil establishment consists 
of an accountant, pay-master, store-k , and the se- 
cretary to government with their assistants, some of 
whom are at the head of inferior departments, and 
whom promotion takes place according to se- 
among 
niority. The ordinary military force is composed of a py; 
corps of artillery, commanded by a lieutenant-colonel, 
a sy toe of infantry, and five com 
and black militia, who are at times rather on the foot~ 
ing of volunteers. There are also a head surgeon, an 
ineer, and a lain. 
he whole island forms only one parish, but is di- 
vided into three districts, the t, West, and South or 
Sandy Bay divisions, There are two churches, one in 
requires, all the powers . 
701 
the town, and the otlier in the country; and the 
isters of religion in the: hav of ate Year, 
nisters onienet 
patie inthe tne gocial of in Mery, the? 
2 penerell an 
" 1 pat pet jad om 
ingencies. The only revenue pany is de- 
rived from the rents of their lands, which may amount 
to about £1100, but gradually increasing as the old 
leases expire ; and. from the profits of a monopoly of 
arrack, which are estimated at £6000. But they have a 
dead panel of £200,000 sunk in public works,. naval 
and tary stores, &c.; and also warehouses for all 
kinds of articles useful to the natives or the shippi 
which, though sold at a profit of ten per cent: 
cover the expences. But the best returns from the 
island must be sought in the accommodation which it af- 
fords to the Pin, rnp shipping, and the security which 
it provides for their commerce, against the hazards of 
the sea, and the attacks of an enemy. Its water, + cli- 
mate, and vegetable productions, are. so excellently 
adapted, particularly for scorbutic diseases, that many 
who have been sent to the hospital in the last stage of 
the scurvy, have, in the nore of two weeks, been re- 
stored to perfect health. Itis generally acknowledged 
however, that the spirit of monopoly renders all the ne- 
cessaries of life immoderately expensive, ially to 
strangers; and that a more abundant supply of fruits 
and vegetables might be provided for the vessels which 
arrive in the roads, if it were not that the who 
raise these articles for sale, prefer a high price to a 
large disposable crop; and would rather, it is affirmed, 
allow them to rot, sell them at a lower rate. Fresh 
beef, which, by a regulation of the government, is fixed 
at a certain rate, (of late years about 6d. or 64d. per 
pound,) is the only kind of provisions which can be 
rocured at a moderate price. , Other .articles-of food, 
in the year 1805, were purchased at the following prices, 
which Pan however, considerably, according to the 
deman: : . 
La G on) di 
Turkeys, from . . 110 Qto2 O Oeach, 
Geese, from . 2 1 5 Oto 110 O each. 
Ducks, from . . O 8 Oto 012 Oeach. 
Grown fowls, from . 0 9 Oto 0412 Oceach. 
Mutton, from. 1. 0 1 2to 0 1 6 perlib. 
Pork, from». 2°90. 1 6 toO'1 8 per lib. 
Potatoes, from. Q 8 Oto 010 Operbushel. 
Baguy tar ect oo... 0 6S O perdozen, 
Cab iy toed crore Or 2 Greash: 
Pumpkins, . ery M O 2 Geach. 
Milk, from. .'0 0 4to0 0 ore ate 
Turtleand coal fish, . - . 0 O Sper 
Fish of other kinds, 
frm... + . 0 0 £toO O Sperlib, 
ies of white . 
Strangers residing in the town can be accommoda- 
ted in private houses, at the rate of thirty 8, OF 
one guinea a-day, with an excellent table, good wines, 
and seantonielie ROER 
By the regis returns for ees 1805, the 
population of St Helena, exclusive of the garrison and 
* The late additions to the officers and garrison, in consequence of Bonaparte’s residence on the island, are said to have raised the an- 
7 
nual expences of the settlement to £300,000, 
+ The water is excellent and abundant, and can now be conveyed so easily into the boats by pipes, that a Geet has been known to 
take on board 2000 tons in less than three days, 
* 
St Heleus- 
' 
Population. 
