257 



After experiencing for several weeks the reality of this sublime 

 poesy, in doubling the southern promontory, we at length enjoyed 

 a favourable gale; which settling in the regular south-east trade 

 wind soon wafted us to St. Helena, where we passed near three 

 weeks in all the pleasure and variety which this small but cheerful 

 island amply affords. Having fully described it in a former voy- 

 age, I have now little to add: eight years had elapsed since my 

 first visit, during which the cultivation of the island was consider- 

 ably improved, especially in the growth of potatoes. This valu- 

 able root now supersedes the yam in the estimation of the island- 

 ers, and the numerous vessels that stop there for provisions. Many 

 farmers raise two crops a year, from four to five hundred bushels 

 each; the medium price was now six shillings per bushel. The 

 surface of the island contains about thirty thousand acres; six 

 thousand were then said to be under cultivation. When Lord 

 Valentia visited it twenty years afterwards, the cultivation was in- 

 creased to between seven and eight thousand acres. 



Exclusive of the tutelary saint from whence St. Helena derives 

 its name, the two Grecian goddesses of Crete and Delos unequally 

 divide their sway over the inhabitants of this Atlantic isle, and 

 one of them exerts no small influence over its visitors. The o-od- 

 dess of Chastity, whose votaries in a voluptuous climate are pro- 

 bably not very numerous, gives her name to the loftiest moun- 

 tain in this romantic region, Diana's Peak being near three thou- 

 sand feet above the picturesque valley which contains the little 

 metropolis, where the queen of Love and her mischievous boy 

 exert their sway, and wound the hearts of their itinerant votaries, 



VOL. IV. i L 



