Book Description

Excerpt from Tracts Relative to the Island of St. Helena: Written During a Residence of Five Years It had long been very generally supposed that St. Helena was a rocky and unproductive island; mostly devoid of soil; scantily supplied with water; subject to severe and unusual droughts; abounding with rats, and wholly incapable of extensive cultivation or improvement. Whether these notions have originated with early writers, or in hearsay information of passing visitors, or in wilful misrepresentation to answer particular ends, it is unnecessary in this place to enquire. It will be sufficient to observe, that they were very prevalent, both in England and at St. Helena, at the period of my appointment to the Government; and that soon after my arrival, having reason to believe they were neither supported by facts nor appearances, I considered it my duty fully to investigate the whole; so as to ascertain whether or not those obstacles to improvement really did exist. The means that were pursued will be found interspersed throughout the first part of this Work. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.