366 
JOURNAL OP A 
hut with impunity, there is not one of you, who would not long 
ago have requested to be received as a member of such a com- 
munity." 
27th. Evening-prayers were read in the cabin before dinner. 
While we were dining with the officers in the gun-room, the mas- 
ter came down with the good news, that St. Helena was in sight. 
The information was received with great coolness by the old ma- 
riners, and as we could not anchor there after sunset, we remain- 
ed under an easy sail all night, standing off and on. 
28th. I was early on deck, expecting to find a huge peak ris- 
ing out of the sea, as St. Helena is often represented. I was 
surprised, therefore, to see a long, high, and, from that distance, 
smooth-looking land, exhibiting nothing striking or picturesque; 
but, as we approached, more of its peculiar features were visible, 
and its appearance became interesting. No coast I have ever 
seen, looks more desolate ; and one may easily conceive the an- 
guish of the ladies who accompanied Bonaparte, to have been as 
great as described, when they beheld the black dismal precipices, 
without a blade of grass or bush upon them, among which they 
were perhaps to spend the remainder of their lives. Several 
kloofs, (to keep up the old favourite appellation), divide the 
masses of ragged rocks. They appear filled with a black mould, 
the crumbling fragments of decomposed volcanic substances. 
We soon discovered the Podargus sloop of war, cruizing off the 
island, and, by signal, sailed towards her. Captain Wallis, her 
commander, came oft" in his boat, and paid a long visit to Cap- 
tain Forbes. 
On a nearer approach, several curious peaks, rocks of fanciful 
shape, and caverns near the sea, attracted my attention. The 
general colour of the rocks is dark-grey, with fissures and veins 
of a brown-yellow tint. Batteries are placed on several eminen- 
ces, forming a line of defence all round the accessible part of the 
island. As we sailed roinid the point, James-town burst upon 
