INTRODUCTORY. 



The various parties which had been organized for observing the tran- 

 sit of Venus in the southern hemisphere, five in all, were dispatched 

 from New York on the 8th of June, 1874, in the United States ship 

 Swatara (3d rate). 



After short stoppages at Bahia and Cape Town, and an unsuccessful 

 attempt to land a party on one of the Crozet Islands, the party to which 

 the writer was attached was landed at the upper (northern) end of Eoyal 

 Sound, a deep indentation in the southern part of Kerguelen Island, 

 otherwise known as •' DesoUition Island." The landing was begun on 

 September 10, and on the 13th the Swatara sailed again on her easterly 

 course, having put up a sufficiently commodious living hut before her 

 departure. 



The party landed consisted of Commander Eyan and Lieut. Com- 

 mander Train, astronomers, and Dr. Kidder, surgeon, all of the Navy ; 

 and Messrs. Holmes, Dryer, and Stanley, photographers. Besides these, 

 there were a cook and carpenter belonging to the party, and three boys, 

 stowaways from Cape Town, afterward turned over to the British man- 

 of-war. 



The preparation and registration of specimens was at first carried on 

 in a small tent, to the great detriment both of the specimens and of the 

 health of the collector, owing to the extraordinary dampness of the 

 climate. Toward the end of October, a hut about ten feet square was 

 erected, and a small stove set up, after which no more specimens were 

 lost through insufficient drying. 



Kerguelen's Island is a region of almost constant precipitation ; only 

 twenty-seven days out of four months being recorded as without snow or 

 rain, and a still smaller number of nights. The thermometer ranged 

 not far from the freezing-point ; the daily average being a little below it 

 in September and October, and a little above it in November and De- 

 cember. Whalers say that in midwinter there is no marked increase in 

 the severity of the weather. The lowest thermometer recorded was 

 18° F., and the highest 64P. The island is also deservedly notorious for 

 the violence of the gales, which almost constantly prevail, and which 



