ld
appear, of terrific magnitude, on that sequestered little spot. On
this extraordinary operation of nature, many conjectures have been
offered, but no good or satisfactory reason has ever been assigned to
satisfy my mind; for the simple reason, that the same causes would
produce the same effect on St Helena, Ascension, or any other island
or promontory exposed to a wide expanse of water. I shall attempt
to describe the scene that a succession of Rollers would present,
supposing, what has indeed happened, that a vessel is caught on the
coast when coming in.

The water will be perfectly smooth--not a breath of wind--when,
suddenly, from the north, comes rolling a huge wave, with a glassy
surface, never breaking till it meets the resistance of the land, when
it dashes down with a noise and a resistless violence that no art or
effort of man could elude. It is succeeded by others. No anchorage
would hold if there were anchorage to be had; but this is not the
case; the water is from ninety to one hundred fathoms deep, and
consequently an anchor and cable could scarcely afford a momentary
check to any ship when thus assailed; or, if it did, the sea would, by
being resisted, divide, break on board, and swamp her. Such was the
fate of the unfortunate ----, a British sloop of war; which, after
landing the captain and six men, was caught in the rollers, driven on
shore, and every creature on board perished, only the captain and his
boat's crew escaping. This unfortunate little vessel was lost, not
from want of skill or seamanship in the captain or crew, for a finer
set of men never swam salt water; but from their ignorance of this
peculiarity of the island, unknown in any other that I ever heard
of, at least to such an alarming extent. Driven close in to the land
before she could find soundings, at last she let go three anchors; but
nothing could withstand the force of the "Rollers," which drove her in
upon the beach, when she broke in two as soon as she landed, and all
hands perished in sight of the affected captain and his boat's crew,
who buried the bodies of their unfortunate shipmates as soon as the
sea had delivered them up.

There is another remarkable peculiarity in this island: its shores, to
a very considerable extent out to sea, are surrounded with the plant,
called _fucus maximus_, mentioned by Captain Cook; it grows to the
depth of sixty fathoms, or one hundred and eighty feet, and reaches in
one long stem to the