AT ST. HELENS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10957, 23 December 1911, Page 3 (Supplement)

AT ST. HELENS.

(By Nita H. Padwick.)

It was a fine morning, the skv'cloud-.; • less, the water a ring of smiling blue.;; when St. Helena daw:ned at the edge olj. the April seas. Slowly the. Ship-drew ; nearer to the island; V which .', loomed larger and ever larger. Ascension had' |>een our last port.of call, arid it was; ■,■ interesting to compare .the general as-, pects of these two isolated isles of ocean' —Ascension of unmistakably volcanic, origin, its cone-shaped hills terracotta! ni the sunset.; St.- Helena of the steep sheer cliffs, grey-blue and hazv in the , morning east. As .1 looked .two Scot- • tish isles of the 'Western ' Khum of the many peaks and "Eigg> with its rocky scuir, came into. ,mv mmd. Though greatly smaller they ingeneral outline resemble the two lone.sisters of .the. South Seas. Some two hours after our first glimpse of the island we dropped anchor in Jamesf town Bay on the north-west, coast! Looking "landwards from this bay, St! Helena lies a rampart' of steep brown cliffs, climbing up into the thin .'blue sky; cliffs barren, ruddy, entirely uniEnglish, destitute of all' vegetation.. In the bottom of a rocky sleep the flat red roofs and lemon walls of James-, town, and here clumps of green palm?"'l or banyan trees stand out and relieve the eye. ; All were eager for the shore. No one had landed since the ship called at' Las. Palmas some ten days previously, and then for hut a couple of hours in the evening to juggle with pesetas in the sleepy paim-shaded casino. As soon;' therefore, as the yellow peter "was hauled down from the fore-mast we huddled eagerly into the land-boats which lav. all around, an idle flock awaiting .the convenience of the passengers. A couple of dark-skinned natives pulled our boat ashore. On nearing the harbor someone pomtad out Jacob's ladder, a familiar feature of the island." It is a rather striking rock-path leading sheer up the face of a very steep cliff. Nqi angels ascending or descending werej. "'"' " however, visible that day. Any of the former would have our sincerest commiseration.

At the little stone pier a mob awaited our arrival. Tawny boatmen and loafers of all descriptions posed idly and picturesquely on the jetty steps. Women and girls with brown skins and dark eyes crowded round selling beads,-' strings of beads, bead bags, bead belts—' it was an obsession of beads and brown;' eyes. With promises of immense purchases on our return we escaped forthe moment, and followed the sandy, road to the town, accompanied only by a few of the most persistent saleswomen, who refused to be shaken off. '.'.: Vendors of fruit next attacked us, native women standing in the shade of quivering green banyan trees. Their wares were strange yellow mangoes, green prickly pears, or the purple egg'-, shaped fruit of the passion-flower, sometimes called granadillas. The last are cut across, a little sugar sprinkled within, and the pulp scooped out with a spoon. The flavor is delicious, and quite unlike that of any British fruit. Mangoes are juicy and difficult to,deal withpolitely. They are best eaten in one's 1 bath.

The yellow sand-road twisted upwards. . A rough low cart drawn by a pair of donkeys and driven by a man with a slouch hat passed. With the zest of the true British tourist we snapshotted everything, and entered the town.

Longwood, where Napoleon was imprisoned, is, of course, the' place of. greatest interest in St. Helena, - but Longwood was .sonic five miles distant; and the time at our disposal short. We had. therefore, to content ourselves, with Jamestown, and there, was much of. interest there. Imagine an English rural village built round a village green: the street straggling through and beyond. This is Jamestown, but instead of green grass there was sand, instead of red brick cottages,low lemonwashed buildings with stoeps • (i.e., verandahs), instead of clipped yewhedge banyans quivered and mangolias lifted rosy blossoms above the brown soil.

Each building bore its title in large black letters start] ingly distinct on the pale walls. To the left the post office, to the right the gaol, where someone, a gaoler probably, languished on a balcony above n. magnolia tree. In the rjniet of the little stone church.' pampas grass and white slim-petalled lilies formed the Easter decorations. Tii the. post office, a dark, St. Helena girl in white muslin sold huge St. Helena stamps almost three times the size of British penny ones. With these we adorned a stack of post-cards and letters. Then on, past the inn, to the lace shop.

This industry of lace-making is of recent growth. It was started after the removal of the British garrison from the island. The withdrawal of the troops who had for long been: a part of the life of St. Helena caused great poverty and stagnation, and to alleviate these lace-making was introduced. It is now a fairly flourishing industry. The chief customers are visitors from steamers calling at the port, but much too is exported. The lace shop was presided over by dark-skinned St. Helena lace-makers. The lace is sold by the yard in various patterns, or it adorns handkerchiefs, d'byleys, tea-cloths, etc: It is very pretty and durable, a little like TorchoxT lace in quality. The drawn-thread work seen on the d'oyleys and teaTcloths is very handsome and well finished. It is.of less intricate design and delicacy than the drawn-thread work of Teneriffe, but is less well known, and will probabry wear better. We made a few purchases, then dipped into another shop, where beads,St. Helena. Goss china and Napoleon souvenirs were sold. Bead-stringing-vies with lace-making as an island, occupation. The so-called beads are really seeds of various plants, some tiny,' others almost-as big as beans, but rounder. The small black and red ones are the natural colors, hut the ■ large ones are mostly dyed. They make quits pretty ornaments.

The road through the town now forked in various .directions. "We chose the branch on the extreme left, which 1 climbed up and along the steep side of the valley. It was hot. The heat quivered and danced over the little strip of. sea just visible at the valley's mouth, where our ship prison lay lazily at anchor. Bare brown rocks rose on either side of the hare brown, valley. In the bottom the town straggled inland, date-palms with tufted tops and fringed banana, trees waving ever so faintly above the low roofs.. Here and there a bougainvillea or magnolia, made a rosy splash of color. Beside the road prickly pears trailed across the barren ground. These are a species' of; cactus with oval leathery-leaves.' The green and prickly fruit was just ripening. We climbed up for nearly a mile. The higher country inland looked greener and much more fertile. ,An old St. Helena man who had attached himself to our party assured us that "Jus' a little higher up, jus' round dat bend," we should catch a glimpse of the Governor's house. ' .

When wo had rounded several.beiids; and the residence of the Governor/re- ; mained an invisible castle in the:airj/we" decided to turn back, and dismissed-our "'■■-_■ friend with a. shilling arid\a/pbbr/t>p£; ; ~- nipii of English Therr 5 " r downhill again, past a school ground _ where. little ■'browriT . cliilai'en ' with "big soft eyes were rrinnirig. aboufc;.'' The natives of .St". • Helena hue from lightest tan''"to darkestybrowa/*i : English : is their, only language,;";'aiid : ,' they ;object to ''being called niggers! They are '."Sty Helena '.'■ people."' •", Once more we. entered the 'littletown. Then followed the delights:- of tea in:'a' low, cool room opposite the lace shop; tea with fresh milk, most acceptable after a fortnight at sea: tea with granadillas and sugar. ' Battling our way with difficulty through a bombardment of bead-sellers, we reached the jetty, and stepping into . No. 9 boat, were pulled swiftly to the waiting ship. Some two hours later the moon rose . in a golden haze to the eastward, and [in our wake beneath the white velvet . [stars of St. Helena sank slowly into,-' the tropic seas. - ;-.._