Page:Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks.djvu/503

Rh or other exposed to the effects of a great degree of heat. Some are evidently burnt almost to a cinder, especially those which are found near the bottoms of valleys, as may be seen in going up Side Path, and probably Ladder Hill also. Others show small bubbles as are seen in glass which has been heated almost to fusion; others again from their situation on the tops of ridges have been exposed to a far less degree of heat, or from their own apyrous qualities show scarcely any signs of having been on fire, yet in many of these, when carefully examined, are found small pieces of extraneous bodies such as mundics, etc., which have submitted to the fire, though it was not able to make any alteration in the appearance of the stone containing them.

Thus much for these suggestions, fit only for those who can believe a Babylonian chronology. I pass now to the present state of the island, a subject which affords much entertainment to a contemplative mind, and more food to an inquisitive one than the shortness of my stay gave me opportunity to collect.

Making it as we did, and as indeed most ships do, on the windward side, it is a rude heap of rocks bounded by precipices of an amazing height composed of a kind of half-friable rock, which, however, show not the least sign of vegetation, nor does a nearer view appear more promising. In sailing along the shore ships come uncommonly near it, so that the huge cliffs seem almost to overhang and threaten destruction by the apparent probability of their giving way; in this manner they sail until they open Chapel Valley, where stands the small town. Even that valley resembles a large trench, in the bottom of which a few plants are to be seen; but its sides are as bare as the cliff next the sea. Such is the apparent bareness of the island in its present cultivated state. Nor do you see any signs of fertility till you have penetrated beyond the first hills, when the valleys begin to be green, and although everywhere inconceivably steep, produce a great deal of good herbage. Among these are the planters' houses, near each of which is a small plantation of cocos, the only vegetable they seem to take much trouble to cultivate.