TRISTAN DA CUNHA. 113 



flag on board the ship, and as soon as the hail ceased, I had to 

 hurry down to the shore, without having ascended the mountain 

 side for more than 500 feet. I was only able to secure a 

 specimen of the tree fern (Lomaria Boryana), which grows in 

 the islands, and is common also in the Falkland Islands and 

 Fuegia, and at the Cape of Good Hope. 



The boy was peculiarly taciturn, and, like all the islanders, 

 extremely curt in his language, and very independent. Like 

 most of the others he showed a strong Yankee twang in the 

 little I got him to say, and he seemed to have considerable 

 difficulty in understanding what I said to him in ordinary 

 English, and indeed often not to be able to understand at all. 



Having heard that there were penguins in the island, but at 

 some distance, and not to be approached without wading, I 

 had offered a reward of £1 for a pair, with their eggs. I found 

 them ready for me in one of the huts, and I paid for them. 

 Had I known what countless numbers I was so soon to be 

 amongst I should not have made such an offer, but I have found 

 in the long run, that on a voyage like this, where there is so 

 much uncertainty, it is always best to take the very first oppor- 

 tunity, and I always landed on the places we visited with the 

 very first boat, even if it were only for an hour in the evening. 

 It may come on to blow, and another chance may never occur. 

 I strongly advise any naturalist similarly situated to do the same. 



The cottages of the Tristan people are built of huge blocks 

 of a soft red tuff, fitted together without mortar, and are 

 thatched with tussock grass. They are all low one-storied 

 houses, with small enclosures formed with low stone walls about 

 them, in which a few vegetables are grown, and pigs and geese 

 roam about. The potato fields are all walled for shelter from 

 the wind. A large quantity of potatoes are grown, and form the 

 principal source of food. 



The islanders had about 400 or 500 head of cattle and about 



as many sheep. They often lose cattle in the very cold weather 



from exposure. There is no horse on the island. Formerly 



there were numbers of wild rabbits, but they are now almost, if 



not quite, extinct, as are certainly the wild goats and pigs, which 



have been entirely killed off. 



I 



