XXI 



ITS APPEARANCE 



517 



could rnake excursions in every direction. During the four 

 days I stayed here, I wandered over the island from morning 

 to night, and examined its geological history. My lodgings 

 were situated at a height of about 2000 feet ; here the weather 

 was cold and boisterous, with constant showers of rain ; and 

 every now and then the whole scene was veiled in thick clouds. 

 Near the coast the rough lava is quite bare ; in the central 

 and higher parts feldspathic rocks by their decomposition have 

 produced a clayey soil, which, where not covered by vegetation, 

 is stained in broad bands of many bright colours. At this 



ST. HELENA. 



season the land, moistened by constant showers, produces a 

 singularly bright green pasture, which lower and lower down 

 gradually fades away and at last disappears. In latitude 16°, 

 and at the trifling elevation of 1500 feet, it is surprising to 

 behold a vegetation possessing a character decidedly British. 

 The hills are crowned with irregular plantations of Scotch firs ; 

 and the sloping banks are thickly scattered over with thickets 

 of gorse, covered with its bright yellow flowers. Weeping- 

 willows are common on the banks of the rivulets, and the 

 hedges are made of the blackberry, producing its well-known 

 fruit. When we consider that the number of plants now found 

 on the island is 746, and that out of these fifty-two alone are 



