St Helena. 
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Company’s civil éstablishnient, amounted to'2064, of 
which number 504 were white inhabitants, and 1560 
blacks’: Of the Jatter, 329 were free. In. 1814, the 
whole population, including the son, which’ ought 
always to be about one thotisand men, was estimated 
at’ 4000 souls. Upon an’ average’ of five years, from 
1801 t6 1805 inclusive, 165 ships touched annually at 
the island: and i time of war, when’ fleets are’ detain- 
ed for convoy, the crews’ and passengers frequently 
equal the whole amount of the population. No stran- 
gers are permitted to settlé’on the island, without per- 
mission from the East India Company. It has been 
recommended to allow the’soldiers, whose time of ser- 
vice may have expited, to remain as husbandmen ; 
and to import Chinese labourers, who might be bound 
to serve the Company in the first instance, but permit- 
ted to’ hire themselves to othe?s, when not required to 
work for government. No importation of slaves has 
been allowed for along time; and those who belong 
to the island, being generally treated with much kind- 
ness, are rather increasing in number. The inhabitants 
are in general a robust and healthy race, but rarely at- 
tain to a great age. The’ diseases to which they are 
subject, are principally of a catarrhal nature ; and yet 
it has been observed that the driest seasons are frequent- 
ly the most unhealthy. The mbhabitants of the town 
retire to their farms and gardens during the greater 
part of the year; but, upon the arrival of the home- 
ward bound India fleets, they flock with alacrity to the 
town, open their houses for the accommodation of the. 
passengers, and entertain their guests with plays, dan- 
ees, and concerts. They are a worthy, humane, and 
cheerful race of people, superficially accomplished, and 
sufficiently fond of gaiety. The young women are de- 
scribed as very smart and agreeable in their manners. 
They are bold and expert riders, galloping up and 
down the most formidable precipices. Their complex- 
ions are fine, and they are said to be very successful in 
procuring hasty matches among those who touch at the 
island, on their return from India. Most of the set~ 
tlers, more recently arrived from Europe, employ their 
capital rather in mercantile than in agricultural con- 
eerns ; and considerable gains are made among them 
by the sale of European articles to the India fleets. 
_ This extraordinary spot of ground, independent. of 
its political and commercial advantages, may justly be 
regarded as a most interesting natural curiosity, and, 
notwithstanding all that has been written respecting: it, 
there is still wanting a scientific survey, and accurate 
classification of its natural history.. But it has recently 
become a peculiar object of curiosity to the nations of 
Europe, in consequence of its having been selected as 
the prison of Napoleon. Bonaparte ; and as there:ap- 
pears to be but one opinion as to the justice and policy 
of his detention, the principal point of enquiry general- 
ly relates to its adaptation for the security of his per- 
son. In addition to the almost inaccessible ramparts 
with which it has been provided by nature, its eminen- 
ces are covered with telegraphs and watch towers, and 
its various fortifications defended by nearly 500 pieces 
of cannon, 80 that, with ordinary vigilance and a coms 
petent garrison, it may be pronounced impregnable by 
any external force. t though a rescue may be next 
to impossible, an escape is not accounted impracticable. 
There are various points on the coast, where one or 
two individuals, with a certain degree of naval assist« 
ance from without, (which the multitude of fishing 
boats, and ordinarily favourable state of the weather 
soust tend to.facilitate,) may, without much difficulty, 
5 
“702 
‘that, even in an o' 
HEL 
leave the island ; and instances’ have 6ecuired to prove, 
boat, a-run mi: ht be‘aecompl jish- 
ed, with little hazard, to ie Sadan of Ascension, or 
even to the coast of Brazil. | See Lord Valentia’s Ta. 
vels, vol. i. Forbes’s Oriental Memoirs. be 
Travels in Africa. Brooke's History of’ the Island of 
St Helena. « Jolinson’s Account of St na. Beat- 
son’s Tracts relative to the Island of St Helena. (q) 
HELIACAL, is a term derived’ from jas, the sun, 
and applied to the rising and setting of the heavenh 
bodies. A star is said to rise heliacally, when, after hax 
ing been in conjunction with the sun, it gets to such a 
distance from that luminary as to become visible in the 
morning before sun-rise. A star is said’ to set heliacally 
when it approaches so near to the sun that it can 
longer be seen’ in thé evening after sunset, 
HELICON, is the ancient name of a mountain in 
Beotia, near the Gulf of Corinth, sacred'to Apollo and 
‘the Muses, who’ thence received the name of Helico- 
nides. Its modern name is Sagara, pronounced Sacra, 
an obvious corruption, as Dr Clarke has stated, of As- 
cra, a town upon’ Helicon, and the birth-place of He. 
siod. _ Dr Clarke, who visited this mountain, has fa- 
voured the public with a gt Lets by escription 
of it. Instead’ of s 
circuitous route’ along’ the level country, he ascended 
the mountain from Neocorio, passed by the monastery 
of St Nicholo to Sagara, and afterwards descended by 
the monastery of St George to Lebadea. He ascended 
g to Lebadea, 
im a north-west direction above the village of Neocorio, 
and passed a chapel in ruins. On his right hand, there 
was a rivulet flowing from Helicon sbetinds ‘the plain of 
Neocorio, or Thespia ; and beyond this, on the oP site 
side of the dingle through which this rivulet fell, he saw 
from an eminence a village called Panaja. After tra- 
velling along the north-east side of the mountain, he 
reached in about an hour the little monastery of St Ni- 
cholo, situated within a sheltered recess of Helicon. 
The mountain surrounded it on roeey a ruined tower 
belonging to Panaja appearing in front through a small 
wooo i The prshe ath filled the air with their 
spicy odours. A perennial fountain threw its limpid 
waters into the rivulet below; and the mot w 
almost concealed amid trees, no less remarkable for their 
variety than for their beauty and Juxuriance. The 
fountain was covered with moss and with creeping 
plants, forming a pendant foliage over all the fabric con- 
strueted around it. In a church near the money, 
Dr Clarke found a long inscription on the shaft of one 
of the pillars, distinctly mentioning that the MOYZEIA, 
or sacred to the Muses, according to Pausa- 
nias, were celebrated near a grove upon Mount Heli- 
con. This inscription, and other evidence, convinced 
Dr Clarke that he had now discovered the fountain 
Aganippe, and the Grove of the Muses. Hence it fol- 
lowed, that the rivulet below was the Permessus, pa- 
rent of Aganippe, called Termessus by Pausanias, and 
flowing, as he describes it, in a circuitous course from 
Mount Helicon. ' aa 
A path winding through the grove, conducts 
the monastery to the spot where, upon the left hand, 
the water gushes forth in a clear and continued stream. 
« The patty about the fountain,” says Dr Clarke, “ was 
until lately very ancient, and not wa ago there was an 
antique cistern} in front of it; but the present monks, 
ing the work in a ruined state, undertook to repair 
it, and thus destroyed much of its original and vener- 
able appearance. ‘4 its state of restoration, however, 
it is not without picturesque beauty; for they have 
