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XXIX. Some Account of the Island of Tristan da Cunha and 
of its Natural Productions. By Captain Dugald Carmichael, 
ELS. 
Read December 16, 1817. 
Tre British Government having judged it expedient to take pos- 
session of the island of Tristan da Cunha, a military detachment, 
consisting of about fifty men, with a captain, two subalterns, and 
a medical officer, was sent to occupy it from the Cape of Good 
Hope. Motives of curiosity led me to apply for permission to 
accompany this expedition, which embarked on board His Ma- 
jesty's ship Falmouth on the 2d of November 1816. A liberal © 
supply of agricultural instruments, with a team of labouring oxen, © 
and some cattle for breeding, was sent on board at the same time. 
We sailed from Table Bay on the 3d, and two days after en- 
countered a heavy gale, during which, our cattle, standing unshel- 
tered upon deck, were so much injured by the rolling of the ship, 4 
and by the sea washing over them, that they all died before we © 
arrived at our destination. The westerly winds, which usually 
prevail in the high southern latitudes, protracted our voyage to 
the 28th of November: but we had the good fortune to come to 
anchor in fine weather, and landed all the stores without loss or 
damage. 
Tristan da Cunha is situated in 37°6’ south lat. and in 11° 44’ west 
long. The whole island is apparently a solid mass of rock in the form 
YOL. XII. 3 R of 
