I 



112 A NATURALIST ON THE "CHALLENGER 



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presents as a whole a mixture of glaucous grey, and dark olive- 

 o-reen shades ; it bears berries of about the size of sweet-peas 

 which are eaten by the finch which lives in the islands. 



The constant heavy gales do not permit the tree to grow 

 erect ; the trunk is usually procumbent at its origin for several 

 feet, and then rises again often at a right-angle. It is always more 

 or less twisted or gnarled. In sheltered places, as under the cliffs 

 on the north-east of Inaccessible Island, the tree is as high as 25 

 feet, but it is not nearly so high on the summit of the island, though 

 the trunks are said there to reach a length of 30 feet or more. 



The largest trunk I saw was about one foot in diameter, but 

 they are said to grow to eighteen inches. The wood of the tree is 

 brittle, and when exposed, rapidly decays, but is serviceable when 

 dried carefully with the bark on. The German settlers in Inacces- 

 sible Island, used it even for handles to their axes and other tools. 

 The Tristan da Cunha group has a terrible climate. For 

 nine months in the year there is constant storm and rain, with 

 snow. It is only in the three summer months that the weather 

 is at all fine. In October the " bad season," as the islanders 

 called it, was just beginning to pass away, but the weather was so 

 uncertain that the ship might have had to leave her anchorage 

 at a moment's notice, and only a steamer dared anchor at all. 

 Hence no one of our party was allowed to go for more than half 

 an hour out of sight of the ship, nor for a distance of more than 

 an hour's walk from the settlement. 



I botanized under the cliffs on the lowland in the morning, 

 and intended to reserve the upper plateau and cliff ascent for 

 the afternoon, but as I was making my way up the steep 

 slope above the settlement in the afternoon at about 3 or 4 

 o'clock, suddenly a dark squall came scudding over the sea, and 

 rapidly reaching us, and climbing the hill-side, chilled us to 

 the bone. My guide, a small boy, born and bred in the island, 

 crouched down instantly under the tall grass and fern, lying on 

 his side, drawing up his legs, tucking in his head, and screwing 

 himself down into the grass like a hare into her form. We 

 followed his example, and found that the perfection of the shelter 

 to be thus obtained from such scanty herbage was astonishing. 

 The squall being felt at the anchorage, up went the recall 



