Ascension

Ascension, a solitary island nearly in the middle of the South Atlantic, 685 miles NW. of St Helena, in 7° 57' S. lat., and 14° 21' W. long. It is said to have received its name from having been discovered by a Portuguese navigator on Ascension-day, 1501. It is 7½ miles long by 6 broad, its area being 35 sq. m. First occupied by the English in 1815, in connection with Napoleon's detention on St Helena, it is now used only as a sanatorium, having ceased since 1887 to be a coaling depôt. Like St Helena, it is of volcanic origin, being one of the peaks of a submarine ridge which separates the north and south basins of the Atlantic. It rises in the Green Mountain to a height of 2870 feet. The water-supply is drawn from this mountain at a great height above sea-level. The climate is dry and healthy. Vigorous attempts have been made in recent years to bring the land under cultivation. Young trees, shrubs, furze, grasses, and hardy plants have been planted with success; and now the grasses fatten a large number of sheep and cattle. European vegetables are grown, besides the indigenous tomato, castor-oil plant, and pepper. Thus this barren rock has been made capable of supporting a considerable population. Turtles are very abundant. Several astronomers and savans have visited Ascension, from Halley in 1677, to Darwin, Sir Wyville Thomson, and Mr and Mrs Gill. Pop. (1871) 27; (1886) 500; (1891) 300—officers and marines (with families), and 50 Kroomen. See Mrs Gill's Six Months in Ascension (1879).