SAINT HELENA. 
313 
CHAPTER XII. 
Of St. Helena, where we arrived on the 27th, I have not much 
to relate. The Embassy in visiting this island were chiefly desirous 
to obtain an interview with Napoleon, which being delayed, although 
constantly expected, till the day before our departure, they had little 
opportunity of examining its scenery. This is of a very peculiar kind, 
and difficult to describe to those who have never visited a volcanic 
country. It consists in a great measure of barren ridges, generally 
bare but sometimes covered with a short grass, inclosing deep ravines. 
The cabbage and the gum tree are almost the only arborescent plants 
growing wild on the island ; and the latter, in its hoary and abortive 
look, seems formed to harmonize with its unattractive situation. 
But if the island be defective in those natural beauties which belong 
to a luxuriant vegetation, it is not devoid of picturesque views. The 
ridges often rising to the height of fifteen hundred feet, are in some 
places nearly perpendicular throughout, in others gently sloping, and 
occasionally are covered with hillocks. Waterfalls often occur, and 
gushing over the black surface of the rocks, are seen at a great dis- 
tance. In some favoured glens, villas surrounded by the vegetation 
of all parts of the globe, are seen nestling amidst the surrounding 
desolation. 
Of these, Plantation House, the seat of the Governor, is cer- 
tainly the most attractive. It looks towards the sea, over a green 
declivity, inclosed by two ridges of rock clothed with beautiful 
pines. Amongst the innumerable plants that decked its grounds, I 
distinguished the oak of Great Britain, the pine of China, and the 
willow of New Holland, thriving in full and equal vigour. The mag- 
nificent Ficus religiosus , the Canarium commune , the Cassuarina equi- 
