248 C O O K »s V O Y A G E. 
manifeft from the (tones, for fome of them, efpecially thofc 
in the bottom of the valiies, are burnt almoft to a cinder : in 
fome there are l'mall bubbles, like t’nofe that are feen in glafs 
which has been urged almoft to fufion, and fome, though at 
firft fight they do not appear to have been expofed to the action 
of great heat, will be found, upon a clofer infpedtion, to con- 
tain lmall pieces of extraneous bodies, particularly mundick, 
which have yielded to the power of fire, though it was not fuf- 
ficientto alter the appearance ofthe ftone which contained them. 
It appeared, as we approached it on the windward fide, 
like a rude heap of rocks, bounded by precipices of amazing 
height, and confiding of a kind of half friable ftone, which 
fhows not the lead fign of vegetation ; nor is it more pro- 
mifing upon a nearer view: in failing along the fhore, we 
came fo near the huge c iffs, that they ,'ecmed to over-hang 
the Ihip, and the tremendous effeft of their giving way, made 
us almoft fear the event : at length we opened a valley, called 
Chappel Valley, which refembles a large trench ; and in this 
Valley we difcovered the '■own. The bottom cf it is (lightly 
covered with herbage, but the fides are as naked as the cliffs 
that are next the fea. Such is the firft appearance of the ifland 
in its prefent cultivated date, and the firft hills muft be pafied 
before the valiies look green, or the country difplays any other 
marks of fertility. 
The town (lands juft by the fea-fide, and the far greater 
pari of the houfes are ill built ; the church, which originally 
was a mean ftrudlure, is in ruins, and the market-houfe is 
nearly in the fame condition. 
The white inhabitants are all Englifh, who, as they are 
not permitted by the Eaft India Company, to whom the ifland 
belongs, to carry on any trade or commerce on their own ac- 
count, fubfift wholly by fupplying fuch fhips as touch at the 
place with refrefhments, which, however, they do not pro- 
vide in proportion to the fertility of the foil, and thfe tempe- 
rament of the climate, which would enable them, by cultiva- 
tion, to product all the fruits and vegetables both of Europe 
and India. This ifland indeed, frr.ail as it is, enjoys the dif- 
fers nt advantages of different climates, for the cabbage-trees 
which grow upon the higheft ridges can by no art be cultivated 
upon the ridges next below, where the red-wood and gum- 
wood both flourifh, which will not grow upon the ridges above, 
and neither of the three are to be found in the valiies, which, 
in general, are covered with European plants, and the more 
common ones of India. 
Here are a few horfes, but they are kept only for the faddle, 
’’at all labour is performed by (laves ; nor are they furnifli'- 
ith any of the various machines which art has invented to 
;ate their talk. The ground is not every where too fteep 
for 
