NATURE 



501 



THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1875 



THE ISLAND OF ST. HELENA 

 St. Helena : a Physical, Historical, and Topographical 

 Description of the Island, including its Geology, Fauna 

 Flora, and Meteorology. By John Charles Melliss, 

 A.I.C.E., F.G.S., F.L.S. (London : L. Reeve.) 

 " ' I 'HERE is a change to be introduced into our mode 

 -•- of work as compared with that of former investi- 

 gators. When less was known of animals and plants, the 

 discovery of new species was the great object. This has 

 been carried too far, and is now almost the lowest kind of 

 scientific work. The discovery of a new species, as such, 

 does not change a feature in the science of natural history 

 any more than the discovery of a new asteroid changes 

 the character of the problems to be investigated by astro- 

 nomers. It is merely adding to the enumeration of 

 objects. We should look rather for the fundamental 

 relations among animals ; the number of species we may 

 find is of importance only so far as they e.xplain the 

 distribution and limitation of different genera and families, 

 their relations to each other and to the physical condi- 

 tions in which they live. Out of such investigations there 

 looms up a deeper question for scientific men, the solu- 

 tion of which is to be the most important result of their 

 work in the coming generation. The origin of life is the 

 great question of the day. How did the organic world 

 come to be as it is .' " 



This passage, quoted by Mr. Bentham in his address to 

 the Linnean Society for 1868, from an instructional lecture 

 given by Agassiz on the voyage out to his young com- 

 panions in his Brazilian expedition, sums up the grounds 

 on which writers of books on systematic natural history 

 must now be prepared to have their work criticised. It is 

 no longer enough to publish, however sumptuously, bare 

 enumerations of the organisms which inhabit some spot 

 of the earth's surface. No treatment can be really con- 

 sidered scientific which does not go a good deal further, 

 and, regarding the fauna and flora of a country as phe- 

 nomena to be accounted for, endeavour to unravel their 

 causes, history, and relationships. No one has shown with 

 more penetration and success than Mr. Bentham, what im- 

 portant and interesting general results may be educed from 

 the most apparently arid fields of systematic investigation. 

 But it is only the gradual elucidation of such results that 

 really affords anything like a scientific sanction to this 

 kind of study, and it is because this has in many cases 

 been very much lost sight of, that taxonomy — especially 

 on the Continent— has fallen into a disrepute which is 

 just as unscientific and unphilosophical as a morbid 

 appetite for taxonomic studies unqualified by any search 

 for results of general biological interest. 



It will now perhaps be apparent why this stately octavo 

 which Mr. Melliss has devoted to the natural history 

 of St. Helena does not yield either the kind or amount 

 of satisfaction which a cursory inspection might lead one 

 to expect. It is quite true that science owes a great debt 

 to Mr. Melliss for carefully collecting the extremely inter- 

 esting forms of life which St. Helena possesses, and which 

 from one cause or other are rapidly disappearing. But 

 his gatherings have been already worked up by different 

 naturalists, and the results published in various scientific 

 Vol. XI. — No. 287 



journals. The mere enumeration of genera and species 

 which he gives in these pages, with occasional remarks, 

 is not by any means interesting reading, and is of course 

 but of very small use for any purpose of reference. 



The first of the five parts into which the book is divided 

 is occupied with the history of the island. It was dis- 

 covered in 1502 by John de Nova Castella, commanding 

 a Portuguese fleet on its return from India. The day 

 being the anniversary of Helena the mother of Constan- 

 tine, the island was named St. Helena in her honour. 

 The Portuguese left on the island a supply of goats, asses, 

 and hogs, and in this way commenced at once the gradual 

 extirpation of the indigenous flora which has since never 

 ceased to proceed. The Portuguese for a time had a 

 settlement, which they appear soon to have deserted. The 

 Dutch next took possession, only in turn to abandon it, 

 after which it was occupied about the middle of the 

 seventeenth century by the East India Company. Twice, 

 however, in the next quarter of a century it was again 

 taken possession of by the Dutch, to be again retaken 

 from them by the English. 



St. Helena never appears to have had any internal 

 source of independent income. The population lived by 

 supplying the needs of the garrison, the " Liberated 

 African depot," the West African squadron for the sup- 

 pression of the slave-trade, and the passing eastward- 

 bound ships. The garrison is now represented by a 

 handful of Engineers and artillerymen, the depot is abo- 

 lished, the squadron reduced, and the trade to the east 

 is almost entirely diverted through the Suez Canal. No 

 articles for export are produced ; the " natives " prefer to 

 live on imported rice ; the farmers barely exist on their 

 deeply mortgaged properties. Yet the soil, composed of 

 volcanic debris, is undoubtedly productive, and, were it 

 tilled with even moderate energy, might yield profitable 

 returns. The cultivation of Cinchona has been encou- 

 raged by the home Government, but has been treated 

 with entire apathy by the colonists. The population, 

 amounting to 6,860 in all, consists of the " yam stalks," 

 or " natives " proper, the descendants of the slave popu- 

 lation liberated in 1S32 ; they are of mixed origin, partly 

 European, partly Asiatic. The West African negroes form 

 about a sixth of the whole population ; they were intro- 

 duced from the captured slavers, and form settlements 

 apart from the " natives." The white inhabitants con- 

 sist of the Government officials, the garrison, and mer- 

 chants and farmers. 



The history of the colony contains little of any interest. 

 The ennui of island life was probably the exciting cause 

 of several mutinies. In the first, in 1693, the governor 

 was murdered, but the lieutenant-governor was equal to 

 the occasion, and stamped out the conspiracy which was 

 spreading among the black slaves. Amongst other re- 

 pressive measures one of the ringleaders " was hanged 

 alive in chains and starved to death." Mr. MeUiss appa- 

 rently approves of this, and compares it with " Governor 

 Eyre's prompt measures." Of course there is a good deal 

 to say about Napoleon— the house in which he lived, and 

 the mode in which he was buried. 



Part II. treats of the Geology and Mineralogy. It does 

 not appear to add anything essential (unless we except 

 the stupid story about " the apostate friar ") to the 

 admirable account given by Mr. Darwin in his " Volcanic 



