The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-12-10
THE ISLAND OF ST. HELENA.
Interesting Facts About the Place
and Its People Recalled-In Bad
Financial Straits.


Financial Straits.
| From the New York Tribune.
All that has given the Island of 81
Helena it's fame is the fact mat 1t was
there that Napoleon spent the last siA
| years lSl5-1S2D of his life. So Ions
| as his name continues to mold the place
it does in human history, the littl,
| Isolated volcanic cone of tortN-seNel
| square miles. with Il population ol
| barely 1000. will not be permitted t,
| sink into oblivion. TIL. transportation
| of General Cronje and his men to that
! lonely place more than LOO miles
from Africa and 500 miles from the
| nearest island tAscension). would, OF
! course serve TO add to it new interest
| and bring it one" NOR" int" promi-
| nence.
st. Helena was discovered in $50.
by u Portuguese explorer Juan q.
| Nova Castillo. 1t was then densely
wooded. with redwood and ebony. but
! the destruction of its forests has been
| followed by q wasting away of the soil
so that the slopes are now mostly bar
ren. Willows. poplars and other trees
from the temperate zone have been
!
| 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 deserttrs. who were afterward
Joined by escaped slaves. Their Off
| spring were IL little later largely eN-
terminated by the Portuguese. 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 l0SS
he found it Inhabited and containing
Il small town. In 1916 the Dutch at
tempted 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 III, who
Immediately made il over to tho East
India Company. The Dutch again OBJ
tained possession in 1872. but the next
year ii was recaptured by Captain
Richard Munden with three ships
Since that time the island has re-
mained British possession.
The East India Company invited set
tiers to emgrate 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 it within six months. Slaves
were also introduced from Madagascar.
Being situated in the direct track of
vessels bound from the east to Eng
land around the Cape of Good Hope
il soon became an important port of
call for q large number of vessels.
The chief source of income of the in
habitants 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 $4,000 men stationed there. Be-
tween 1915 and 1921 the British gov
ernment withdrew the island from the
East india Company, It's chief use
during the period being as Il prison for
Napoleon. In 1922 the East India Com
pany resumed its jurisdiction over it,
out in 1884 it became Il crown colony.
1he island continued 10 prosper nnt'l
the opening of the EaS. indies, thus
drpriving the 'nhahirants % their
inCnnS of liv.:huut;. The lntroi;l.ti III
of steam naVigl ion also ma,ie IL un-
necessary "Or vessels TO touch at that
point.
Il he island also received another blow
in the reduction of the garrison and of
the naval squadron which had been
kept up for the suppression of the
slave trade. The inhabitants fell into
poverty, having nothing to depend up
on but the precarious sale Of supplies
to American whalers which sometimes
make st. Helena a port of call. 1t is
now 4 British admiralty coaling sta
ton. to which the Cape and West
One battery of Royal Artillery and one
company of infantry are also stationed
there.
Almost throughout its entire circum-
ference of twenty-eght miles the is
land presents to the eye an unbeaten
wall of cliffs, varying from 500 to 1000
feet in height. jamestown, the capital
of the island Is built in ravine which
has almost vertical sides, the height
to the east being called Ruperts Hin.
and that to the west Ladder Hill.
These two mountains gradually recede
from one another until at the sea.
where they end in perpendicular cliffs.
The ravine is $40 feet broad This
triangular space is about one and a
quarter miles long, and j. defended
by Notifications at the entrance of the
ravine. Ladder Hill gets its name
from the steep wooden steps known
as Jacobs Ladder, which lead directly
to it's summit, 600 feet in height.
One of the chief objects of interest
in st. Helena is the house at Long
wood in which Napoleon passed his
captivity The plateau of Longwood is
about 1000 feet above the level of the
sea and bounded by deep ravines. 1t
is on the Rupert Hill side of the ra-
vine in which jamestown is built. Here
are the long, low buildings in which
Napoleon lived and the new house
which he did not live To occupy. Here
also is Marshal Bertrand's cottage.
Napoleon's tomb is in Slane's valley, |
about a mile from Longwood, But the |
body was removed to France in man |
of-wal by the Prince de Joinyille in |
1910, and now lies under the dome of |
the Hotel des Invalides in Paris
Perhaps the taking of General Cronje |
and his men to st. Helena would re- |
store TO IL some of its former pros |
perity. For some years the island has |
been getting deeper and deeper into
financial straits, and the population
mas been steadily diminishing, In 1871 |
he inhabitants numbered GAIA; ten
years later the population was 5,O59.
while by the census of 1891 1t was only
l,1l6. including the garrison. Accord
ng to "The Statesman's Year Book"
here are only about one hundred
births year and about seventy-fiye