5 iS 
ST. HELENA 
CHAP. 
indigenous species, the rest having been imported, and most of 
them from England, we see the reason of the British character 
of the vegetation. Many of these English plants appear to 
flourish better than in their native country ; some also from 
the opposite quarter of Australia succeed remarkably well. 
The many imported species must have destroyed some of the 
native kinds ; and it is only on the highest and steepest ridges 
that the indigenous Flora is now predominant. 
The English, or rather Welsh character of the scenery, is 
kept up by the numerous cottages and small white houses ; 
some buried at the bottom of the deepest valleys, and others 
mounted on the crests of the lofty hills. Some of the views 
are striking, for instance that from near Sir W. Doveton’s 
house, where the bold peak called Lot is seen over a dark 
wood of firs, the whole being backed by the red water-worn 
mountains of the southern coast. On viewing the island from 
an eminence, the first circumstance which strikes one is the 
number of the roads and forts ; the labour bestowed on the 
public works, if one forgets its character as a prison, seems out 
of all proportion to its extent or value. There is so little level 
or useful land that it seems surprising how so many people, 
about 5000, can subsist here. The lower orders, or the 
emancipated slaves, are, I believe, extremely poor; they 
complain of the want of work. From the reduction in the 
number of public servants, owing to the island having been 
given up by the East India Company, and the consequent 
emigration of many of the richer people, the poverty probably 
will increase. The chief food of the working class is rice with 
a little salt meat ; as neither of these articles are the products 
of the island, but must be purchased with money, the low 
wages tell heavily on the poor people. Now that the people 
are blessed with freedom, a right which I believe they value 
fully, it seems probable that their numbers will quickly increase ; 
if so, what is to become of the little state of St. Helena ? 
My guide was an elderly man, who had been a goatherd 
when a boy, and knew every step amongst the rocks. He was 
of a race many times crossed, and although with a dusky skin, 
he had not the disagreeable expression of a mulatto. He was 
a very civil, quiet old man, and such appears the character of 
the greater number of the lower classes. It was strange to 
