Reginald Laurence Antrobus and Frank Richardson Cana

“ Fauna.—St Helena possesses no indigenous vertebrate land fauna. The only land groups well represented are the beetles and the land shells. T. V. Wollaston, in Coleoptera Sanctae Helenae (1877) , shows that out of a total list of 203 species of beetles 129 are probably aboriginal and 128 peculiar to the island—an individuality perhaps unequalled in the world. More than two-thirds are weevils and a vast majority wood-borers, a fact which bears out the tradition of forests having once covered the island. The Hemiptera and the land-shells also show a strong residuum of peculiar genera and species. ”

“ In the neighbourhood of Man and Horse (S.W. corner of the island) , throughout an area of about 40 acres, scarcely 50 sq. yds. exist not crossed by a dyke. On the leeward (northern) side of St Helena the sea-face is generally formed by cliffs from 600 to 1000 ft. high, and on the windward side these heights rise to about 2000 ft., as at Holdfast Tom, Stone Top and Old Joan Point. The only practicable landing-place is on the leeward side at St James's Bay—an open road stead. ”

“ A remedy was sought in the establishment of industries. An attempt made in 1869–1872 to cultivate cinchona proved unsuccessful. Attention was also turned to the aloe (Furcraea gigantea) , which grows wild at mid elevations, and the New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax) , an introduced plant, for their utilization in the manufacture of fibre. From 1875 to 1881 a company ran a mill at which they turned out both aloe and flax fibre, but the enterprise proved unremunerative. ”

“ The greatest extent of level ground is in the N.E. of the island, where are the Deadwood and Longwood plains, over 1700 ft. above the sea.
Climate.—Although it lies within the tropics the climate of the island is healthy and temperate. This is due to the south-east trade-wind, constant throughout the year, and.to the effect of the cold waters of the South Atlantic current. As a result the temperature varies little, ranging on the sea. level from 68° to 84° in summer and 57° to 70° in winter. The higher regions are about 10° cooler. The rainfall varies considerably, being from 30 to 50 in. ”

“ Since the substitution of steamships for sailing vessels and the introduction of new methods of preserving meat and vegetables (which made it unnecessary for sailing vessels to take fresh provisions from St Helena to avoid scurvy) the population has greatly diminished. In 1871 there were 6444 inhabitants; in 1909 the civil population was estimated at 3553. The death-rate that year, 6.4 per 1000, was the lowest on record in the island. The only town, in which live more than half the total population, is Jamestown. Longwood, where Napoleon died in 1821, is 31/2 m. ”