ST. HELENA 139 



NOTICE. 



To be had on the shortest notice and quick despatch at the store 

 of the undersigned : — " Island lime." 



(Signed) N. D. Smith. 

 Jidy 6, 1866. 



But neither lime nor shells are found in the interior. 



The subsoil throughout the island is clay, of various kinds. 

 One is called marl, but it does not effervesce upon the applica- 

 tion of acids. When divested of its superincumbent earth, it 

 has often the appearance of stone, but on exposure to the 

 atmosphere it soon separates. It is frequently used as a 

 substitute for gravel on the roads and does not generally 

 clog like clay ; it is however very slippery in wet weather. 

 Lands near the coast, when not entirely rock, have a thin 

 covering of loose friable earth, which if well watered is very 

 productive, particularly in the valleys. The soil upon the 

 summits and steep sides of the hills in the interior is rich, 

 though light and of no great depth. The surface-covering 

 of other parts is various — from soil as light as dust to heavy 

 black clay, the greater part of the intermediate lands between 

 the verdant heights and the barren outskirts being of a fine 

 loamy soil from four inches to three feet deep, upon a stratum 

 of good yellow or red clay. A good deal of plaster of Paris 

 has been found in Prosperous Valley. It is dug from the 

 rock not more than a foot below the surface, and is very easily 

 reduced to powder. It makes a good plaster and also a 

 beautiful shining whitewash for walls. Sand and gravel 

 are rarely met with except near the coast. 



Governor Beatson (1815), in his book, says :— 



Many of the soils of the island are wholly destitute of sand, 

 and this circumstance is that which causes all attempts to make 

 bricks a failure. 



Bricks of good quality have however since been made. 

 Mr. Thomas Deason, of Longwood, manufactured bricks 

 of good quality with which he built a windmill tower. This, 

 although more than twenty years old, still is in excellent 

 condition, the bricks showing no signs of deterioration. 

 Bricks also have of late years been made in Friar's Valley 

 and used in the renovation of Friar's Lodge ; these latter 

 were made by the Boer prisoners of war. 



