CHAP. III.] BAHIA TO THE CAPE. 139 



break-lip, there seemed to be very general comfort and content- 

 ment. 



At day-break on tlie l-itli, the summit of the peak of Tristan 

 only was visible from the deck of the Challenger, a symmetrical 

 cone, the sides rising at an angle of 23° to a height of 7100 feet 

 above the level of the sea, covered with snow which came far 

 down, occupying the ravines, dark ridges of rock rising up be- 

 tween. On account of the distance, the lower terrace and the 

 more level part of the island could not be seen. A sounding 

 was taken in 2025 fathoms, globigerina ooze, the bottom tem- 

 perature l°-6 C. The dredge was put over, and brought up 

 two specimens of a small Diadema only. In the evening we 

 resumed our course toward the island, and made all arrange- 

 ments for sending out exploring parties the first opiDortunity. 

 Early on the morning of the 15th we were at anchor close 

 under the land, in a shallow bay open to the westward. A 

 slope of rough pasture, about a quarter of a mile in width, 

 extended to our right, running up from the beach to an almost 

 precipitous wall of rock a thousand feet in height, the mist 

 lying low upon it, so that we could see no farther. To the 

 left, the rampart of rock came sheer down almost into the sea, 

 leaving only a narrow strip of a few yards of shingly beach. 

 A stream ran down from the high ground nearly opposite the 

 ship, and the low fall with which it tumbled into the head of 

 the bay indicated the position of the best landing-place. The 

 settlement, consisting of about a dozen thatched cottages, was 

 scattered over the grassy slope, and behind it one or two ra- 

 vines afforded a difiicult access to the upper terraces and the 

 mountain. The only tree on the island is one which from its 

 limited distribution and the remoteness of its locality has, so 

 far as I am aware, no English name — Phylica arborea. It 

 is a small tree, allied to the buckthorn, not rising more than 

 twenty, or at most thirty, feet, but sending out long spreading 

 branches over the ground. The wood is of no value for car- 

 II.— 10 



