58 
ST. HELENA. 
tlie coast line now, and we should fail to recognise, in its present 
form, the same Island. Atmospheric action upon the rocks, through 
long ages, bringing about gradual denudation, has reduced its 
elevation, and, with the aid of heavy rains and slight upheaving 
force, rendered its surface irregular ; while the unceasing wear and 
tear of the restless ocean on its rocky coast has reduced its area to 
almost one half of its original size. 
With this figure of the Island in mind, we may next proceed to 
view the effects produced by such causes, as have just been mentioned, 
upon its surface ; and first in order examine the water-cut gorges 
which have been already referred to as intersecting the northern, 
eastern, and western portions. These ravines, the largest of which 
number about sixteen, originate on the high land near the crater's 
edge, but deepen and widen as they approach the sea coast, where 
some of them measure not less than one-eighth of a mile across at 
the bottom, three-eighths of a mile across the top, and a thousand 
feet in depth. Lemon V alley, viewed from Thompson’s Hill, affords 
a good type of these huge channels. The strata on each side 
correspond in position so regularly, that any suspicion of their being 
caused by convulsive fractures is dispelled. The passage of rain 
water from the mountain tops towards the sea is doubtless the 
chief agent by which they have been formed, and the process of 
deepening and widening may still be seen going on during heavy 
rains. The water which falls on the high land rushes down towards 
the sea, and, in its course washing out the rubble and mud beds, 
undermines the lava until it splits off in great fragments, rolls down, 
and in its turn is carried away. Many caves, formed by the under- 
mining of the lava beds in this manner, may be seen along the 
hillsides which enclose these ravines, and they also abound along the 
sea shore where the waves have washed out the laterite beds for 
many feet in a horizontal direction. Some of them constitute the 
only habitations owned by fishermen ; others nearer the water level 
are in consequence inaccessible, and serve only to increase the roar 
of the waves as they roll in and out of them. There is a large one at 
Frying-pan Cove, twenty feet in depth, and there are some situated 
on the coast near Deep Valley, which are stalactitic, but these latter 
are only accessible by boat at low tide. 
In this manner these channels or gorges have, in coui’se of time, 
been gradually increased in size, their enlargement doubtless being 
