Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 2.djvu/550

 the sea. The Ladder contains six hundred and seventy steps. The flag-staff is in the Government gardens, above the battery. Munden's Fort and Batteries command the side of James's Valley, and Rupert's Battery is at the bottom of a valley of that name.

We anchored a little before 5 : it was very cold, from the wind rushing down the valley directly upon the anchorage. The sunset was fine, in the midst of dark clouds, contrasted with others of a burning crimson; and to the right the dark rock of St. Helena rose abruptly from the sea. The more I gaze on this desolate-looking and rocky island, the deeper becomes my pity for, and the interest I feel in, the fate of Buonaparte.

The young officers are in high glee, fishing off the poop; they have just caught two small silver mackarel. The gun fires at 9, after which time no boat will quit the island, and no person is permitted to land. I fear I shall be unable to visit Sandy Bay, on the other side of the island; an officer of the "Winchelsea" told me not to miss seeing that bay on any account; he gave us sixty-two days from the Cape to England, and eleven to St. Helena; we arrived here in ten days and a quarter. The captain of the "Essex" came on deck just before we anchored, he appeared very, very ill,—in my opinion, fearfully so.

22nd.—A rainy and cold morning; it cleared about noon, when I went on shore, and climbed the steps of Ladder Hill for some distance,—they are almost perpendicular; want of time prevented my ascending to the summit of the six hundred and seventy steps. Admired the pretty church just within the gateway, and visited the market; beef and mutton, ten pence to one shilling per pound; grapes, just in, at two shillings and sixpence per pound; the peaches are bad, the loquats the same, and but few vegetables; beet-root and cabbage good; articles of every sort very dear.

A good sketch of the town may be taken from the upper end of the principal street, looking towards the sea. Walked over the Government gardens, in which is a cenotaph, in memory of the officers and men who died in the "Waterwitch" off different