238 MR. R. N. RUDMOSE BROWN ON 
Tur Borawy or Goven Isna&p.—I. Phanerogams and Ferns. 
By R. N. Rupmose Brdyy, B.Se., Botanist of the Scottish 
National Antarctic Expedition. (Communicated by Mr. W. 
Borrixa Hemstey, F.R.S., F.L.S.) 
[Read 4th May, 1905.] 
(PLarrs 7-9.) 
GovGu Istann, or Diego Alvarez, which lies in the mid-South 
Atlantic (Lat. 40? 20  S., Long. 9° 56° 30" W.), may be regarded 
as the most outlying island of the Tristan da Cunha group. It 
lies S.E. by S. about 220 miles from Nightingale Island, the 
nearest island of the group. 
lt is a small island some 7 or S miles in a northerly and 
southerly direction and 3 or 4 miles east and west. It rises to 
a height of about 4000 feet. 
The island has never been permanently inhabited, though the 
islanders of Tristan da Cunha appear to have occasionally visited 
it according to Mr. Moseley *. 
From August 1888 to January 1889 a party of twelve men 
belonging to a New London sealing schooner lived there. One 
of these men (George Comer), who appears to have had some 
knowledge of science, besides bringing home some bird-skins and 
eggs, kept a diary in which are a few notes relating to plants. 
Comer T says “ there are two kinds of trees, though while one is 
plentiful, the other is quite scarce. The grass and brakes grow 
very rank." * Wood is plentiful. The trees are stunted, but 
quite thick in some places on the island." “The trees retain 
their leaves the year round." *“ The thick bushes extend to an 
elevation of about 2000 feet." The tree referred to is no doubt 
Phylica nitida, while possibly the other * tree” is the tree-fern 
Lomaria Boryana. Comer also states that he found some 
potatoes growing wild “ where there used to be a camp of sealers 
18 years ago.” Near the landing-place, on what is apparently 
the only piece of level ground near sea-level, ruins of one or two 
huts are to be seen. These, I afterwards found at Cape Town, 
had been inhabited in the year 1892 by a party of sealers from 
South Africa who had spent thirteen months on the island. The 
sealing had proved a comparative failure, and they had not 
* Moseley, Journ, Linn, Soe., Bot. xiv. (1874) p. 884. 
t Verrill, Trans. Conn. Acad. ix. (1505) pt. ii. p. 432. 
