36 
ST. HELENA. 
pruning knife of retrenchment. It is true that the Civil Establish- 
ment was very much larger than need be, but to reduce it without 
injuring its efficiency required much care and judgment, and after 
he had spent a year or two in endeavours to lessen the expenditure, 
the Home Government considerably reduced the salary, and appointed 
the then Colonial Secretary, Hudson Ealph Janisch, Esq., to succeed 
him as Governor of the Island. 
Twenty years ago St. Helena was left, so far as communication 
with Europe was concerned, quite outside of civilization ; five months 
at a time elapsed without its inhabitants hearing a word of home 
news, or even seeing a newspaper ; but now the great strides of 
oceanic steam navigation have brought it, as well as other places, so 
to speak, nearer to England, and by mail packet from Southampton 
it may .be reached in from seventeen to twenty-one days. The first 
week of the voyage is occupied in reaching Madeira, by which time 
the sea-sick voyagers, about whose sufferings so many accounts have 
been written, have sufficiently recovered to enjoy the enchanting 
break afforded by a few hours ashore in that lovely island. The 
next few days are occupied in steaming down amongst the beautiful 
islands of the Canarian Archipelago, with, generally, a fair view of 
the renowned Peak of Teneriffe towering high above the clouds. A 
sight of Cape Verde, on the coast of Africa ; and a day or two, by 
way of change, of that intolerable damp, steamy, hot atmosphere so 
inseparably associated with equatorial regions ; and then a week or 
ten days amongst the fresh South-east trade winds, the deep blue 
seas of the South Atlantic, with bright sunny skies, and St. Helena 
is reached ; the voyager looking back with pleasure to what has been 
in reality nothing more than an agreeable yachting trip, instead 
of the much-dreaded long sea voyage. The arrival of the 
English mail, the greatest event of the month, was formerly an- 
nounced with a great display of bunting and firing of guns, but, the 
spirit of economy having extended to that remote spot, much of this 
has passed away. Even the long familiar boom of the morning and 
evening gun has ceased to gladden the ears of the people by reminding 
them that theirs is a garrison town ; and the most striking announce- 
ment of important arrivals is the reverberating shouts and screams 
of “ St-e-e-e-e-a-mer ! M-a-n-o-o-w-a-r !” which the street boys and 
the whole out-door population send forth on the occasion. The dark, 
barren cliffs of the Island, rising from six to seven hundred feet 
