MAMMALIA. 
85 
and that many more could be supported. Nevertheless, they 
are not mucli cared for or looked after, and large numbers are annually 
imported for consumption from the Cape of Good Hope. “ Island 
mutton” is exceedingly good, preferable to that imported from the 
Cape, and mucli resembles Welsh mutton both in appearance and 
flavour. 
Hircus, Linn. 
H. segagrus, Linn. — Goats are quite wild. It has been estimated 
that 1000 or more of them exist. They have been one cause of the 
extinction of the indigenous plants, and, although war has been waged 
against them, and even their extermination threatened on several occa- 
sions, they still remain almost useless and destructive to vegetation. 
Sus, Linn. 
S. scrofa, Linn. — Few cottages or huts exist without a pig, which, 
as in the Irish cabin, takes its place as a member of the family. It 
feeds chiefly on acorns and the roots and stems of Guinea yam, Calla 
cethiopica, when boiled. It was introduced by the Poituguese 
when the Island was discovered, with a view to affording food for 
future voyagers, and there are white as well as black, and long as well 
as short-nosed pigs. 
Order Cetacea. 
At St. Helena, the neighbourhood of which affords a good whaling 
ground, there are five kinds of cetaceous animals commonly known. 
The exciting, and in many instances highly remunerative, occupation 
of whaling is, however, exclusively carried on in the South Atlantic 
by American vessels, at least sixty or seventy of which call at the 
Island every year. They are ships averaging from 80 to 200 tons 
burthen, and rendezvous at the Island for refitting, re-provisioning, 
and transhipping their oil to those vessels which may be homeward 
bound, about the month of October, previous to their cruising south- 
ward towards Tristan d’Acunha. The local whaling ground 
extends from 30 to 180 miles off the Island, but the vessels are 
constantly seen cruising close to the land during that portion of the 
year from April to July, and whales have even been taken within a 
few miles of the roadstead. Beyond the circulation of money which 
these vessels calling at the Island necessarily occasion, the St. 
Helenians derive no profit whatever from this source of wealth, which 
lies at their verv doors. One or more whaling ships have been ILied 
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