Making it as we did and indeed most ships do on the windward side it is a rude heap of Rocks bounded by precipecis of an amazing height, composd of a kind of half friable rocks which however shew not the Least sign of vegetation, nor does a nearer view apear more promising. In sailing along the shore ships come uncommonly near it so that the huge Clifts seem almost to overhang and threaten destruction by the apparent probability of their giving way: in this manner they Sail till they open Chappel Valley where stands the small town. Even that valley resembles a large trench, in the bottom of which a few plants are to be seen, but its sides are as bare as the cliff next the Sea. Such is the apparent barrenness of the Island in its present cultivated state, nor do you see any signs of fertility

Voyaging Accounts