The Greater Number Had Been Banished For Murder
And The Worst Crimes; Others For Causes Which Can Scarcely
Be Considered As Moral Faults, Such As For Not Obeying, From
Superstitious Motives, The English Laws.
These men are
generally quiet and well-conducted; from their outward
conduct, their cleanliness, and faithful observance of their
strange religious rites, it was impossible to look at them
with the same eyes as on our wretched convicts in New
South Wales.
May 1st. - Sunday. I took a quiet walk along the sea-coast
to the north of the town. The plain in this part is quite
uncultivated; it consists of a field of black lava, smoothed
over with coarse grass and bushes, the latter being chiefly
Mimosas. The scenery may be described as intermediate in
character between that of the Galapagos and of Tahiti; but
this will convey a definite idea to very few persons. It is a
very pleasant country, but it has not the charms of Tahiti, or
the grandeur of Brazil. The next day I ascended La Pouce,
a mountain so called from a thumb-like projection, which
rises close behind the town to a height of 2,600 feet. The
centre of the island consists of a great platform, surrounded
by old broken basaltic mountains, with their strata dipping
seawards. The central platform, formed of comparatively
recent streams of lava, is of an oval shape, thirteen
geographical miles across, in the line of its shorter axis. The
exterior bounding mountains come into that class of structures
called Craters of Elevation, which are supposed to have
been formed not like ordinary craters, but by a great and
sudden upheaval.
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