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 Indian 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 my ears to hear a man, nearly white and respectably
dressed, talking with indifference of the times when he was a slave.
With my companion, who carried our dinners and a horn of water, which
is quite necessary, as all the water in the lower valleys is saline, I
every day took long walks.
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