XXI 
ITS APPEARANCE 
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could make excursions in every direction. During the four 
days I stayed here, I wandered over the island from morning 
to night, and examined its geological history. My lodgings 
were situated at a height of about 2000 feet; here the weather 
was cold and boisterous, with constant showers of rain ; and 
every now and then the whole scene was veiled in thick clouds. 
Near the coast the rough lava is quite bare ; in the central 
and higher parts feldspathic rocks by their decomposition have 
produced a clayey soil, which, where not covered by vegetation, 
is stained in broad bands of many bright colours. At this 
ST. HELENA. 
season the land, moistened by constant showers, produces a 
singularly bright green pasture, which lower and lower down 
gradually fades away and at last disappears. In latitude 16 0 , 
and at the trifling elevation of 1500 feet, it is surprising to 
behold a vegetation possessing a character decidedly British. 
The hills are crowned with irregular plantations of Scotch firs ; 
and the sloping banks are thickly scattered over with thickets 
of gorse, covered with its bright yellow flowers. Weeping- 
willows are common on the banks of the rivulets, and the 
hedges are made of the blackberry, producing its well-known 
fruit. When we consider that the number of plants now found 
on the island is 746, and that out of these fifty-two alone are 
