Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-03-17
THE ISLAND OF ST. HELENA
How It Has Changed Since Napoleon Passed
His Captivity There.
Interesting Facts About the Place and
Its People Recalled-In BAD
Financial Straits.
From the New York Tribune.

From the New York Tribune.
All that has given the Island of st. Hell
ena its fame is the fact that it was there
that Napoleon spent the last six years QS15-
1s2D Of his life. So long as his name con-
tinues to hold the place it does in human
history, the little isolated volcanic cone.
of forty-seven square miles, with a popula-
ton Of barely 1000. will not be permitted
to sink into oblivion. The transportation
of General Cronie and his men to that
lonely place, more than 1900 miles from
Africa and 800 miles from the nearest is
land (Ascension). would. of course, serve
to add to 1t new interest and bring 1t once
more into prominence.
st. Helena was discovered in 1902 by a
Portuguese explorer. Juan de Nova Cas-
tia 1t was then densely wooded, with
redwood and ebony, but the destruction of
It's forests has been followed by a wasting
now mostly barren. Willows. poplars and
other trees from the temperate zone have
been introduced. Apples. pears, grapes and
potatoes have been. brought and now grow
side by side with coffee and tea plants,
sugar cane, cotton and bananas.
The island was first settled by Portu-
guese deserters, who were afterward Joined
by escaped slaves Their offspring were q
tuguese. Some Of them. however. must
have escaped the general slaughter, for
when Sir John Cavendish. in his voyage
around the world. visited st. Helena in
1888 he found 1T inhabited and containing
a small town. In 1645 the Dutch attempted
to establish a settlement, but relinquished
the island to the English in 1851 In 1868
the commander of a homeward- bound East
India fleet of English vessels took formal
possession of it in the name of Charles II,
who Immediately made 1t over to the East
possession in 1872 but the next year it was
recaptured by Captain Richard Munden
with three ships Since that time the is
land has remained a British possession.
The East India Company invited settlers
to emigrate from England to St. Helena,
and numbers of families which had been
reduced to beggary by the great fire in
London took advantage of the offer Of free
land, Which was assigned to them provided
they would cultivate 1t within six months.
Slaves were also introduced from NADIA
Sascar. Being situated in the direct track
of vessels bound from the east to England
around the Cape of Good Hope it soon be-
came an important port of call for q large
number of vessels. The chief source of in
come of the inhabitants was derived from
supplying fresh provisions to the ships that
put in at the port. A large garrison was
also kept up, there being at one time nearly
1900 men stationed there. Between 1915
and ISL the British government withdrew
the Island from the East India Company,
its chief use during that period being as a
prison for Napoleon. In 1922 the East India
Company resumed its Jurisdiction over it,
pul III 1864 IL became a crown colony,
The island continued to prosper until the
opening of the Suez canal This altered the
route to the East Indies. thus depriving the
Inhabitants of their means of livelihood
me introduction of steam navigation also
made 1t unnecessary for vessels to touch at
that point
The island also received another blow in
the reduction of the garrison and of the
n ma squadron which had been kept up for
the suppression of the slave trade. The in
habltants fell into poverty, having nothing
TO depend upon but the precarious sale of
supplies to American whalers which some
tunes make st, Helena a port of call. 1t Is
now British admiralty coaling station TO
which the Cape and West African SQUAD
rons sometimes resort One battery of Roy
are also stationed there.
Almost throughout it's entire circumfer-
ence or twenty-eight miles the island pre-
SCENTS 70 the eye an unbeaten wall of cliffs,
jamestown. the capital of the island is
built in ravine which has almost vertical
sides, the height to the east being called
Rnperts Hill, and that to the west Ladder
Hill. These two mountains gradually re-
cede from one another until at the sea
where they end in perpendicular cliffs. The
ravlne Is $50 feet broad. This triangular
space Is ABOUT one and a quarter miles long
and Is defended by Notifications at the en-,
trance of the ravine Ladder Hill gets its
name from the steep wooden steps known
as Jacobs Ladder, which lead directly tn
Its summit, 600 feet in height
One Of the chief objects of interest in ST.
Helena Is the house at Longwood in which
Napoleon passed his captivity. The plateau
OF Longwood is about 1000 feet above the
level or the sea and bounded by deep RAJ
vines. 1t Is on the Rupert Hill side Of the
ravine In which jamestown is built. Here
are the long. low buildings in which Ma
Poieon lived and the new house which he
ala not i've to occupy. Here also is Mar
shall Bertrand's cottage. Napoleon's tomb
is IN Slane's valley, about a mile from
Longwood. But the body was removed to
france In a man-of-war by the Prince de
Jotnvtlle in 1910, and now lies under tho
dome OF the Hotel des Invalides in Paris
Perhaps the taking of General Cronje and
his men to st. Helena would restore tn II
some OF its former prosperity For some
years the island has been getting deener
and deeper into financial straits and fhe
population has been steadily diminishing.
In 1871 the Inhabitants numbered G. IA: ten
years later the population was 5,O59. while
by the census of 1891 it was only Lie. in
cludlng the garrison. According to NThe
Statesman's Year Book there are onIv
about one hundred births year and about
seVenty-fve deaths However, about two
hundred persons annually emtgrate to the
United States and to South Africa. Cronie
and his men would help to bring these
numbers up again. 1t is said that this is
one of the most salubrious spots on the
race OF the earth. and the longevity of