CHAP. IV.] THE VOYAGE HOME. 227 



mountain, which is covered with a fine smooth sward, and 

 planted with sheltering belts and clumps of trees chiefly in- 

 troduced from Australia — Eucalyjytus and Acacia mclanoxylon 

 occupying prominent places — almost like an English park. I 

 do not know a more giddy walk anywhere than round the peak. 

 From the considerable elevation and the small extent of the 

 island, the descent, especially on the south side, looks almost 

 precipitous down to the great rhythmic blue rollers breaking 

 in cataracts of snow-white foam upon the cliffs beneath ; and 

 as the wind is always blowing sufficiently hard to make one 

 feel a little unsteady, it takes some little time to get sufficiently 

 accustomed to the conditions to enjoy the view, which is cer- 

 tainly magnificent. The whole island, such as it is, lies at your 

 feet like a strangely exaggerated and unskillfully colored con- 

 tour map, the great chasms and crater-valleys, even more weird 

 and desolate, looking at them from above ; and the wide ocean 

 of the deepest blue, flecked with white by the trade -wind, 

 stretching round beyond to meet the sky in an unbroken and 

 solitary circle. 



The great curiosity of Ascension is " Wide-awake Fair ;" and 

 although we had seen may such " fairs," perhaps even more 

 wonderful during the voyage, they are always objects of re- 

 newed interest. From Green Mountain, or any of the higher 

 peaks, one can see, lying toward the shore to the right of the 

 road from the settlement, a grayish - white patch some square 

 miles in extent. This is a breeding-place of Sterna fuliginosa, 

 called there the Wide-awake. The birds are in millions, dark- 

 ening the air, when they are disturbed, like smoke ; the eggs 

 are excellent — somewhat like a plover's egg in flavor. Ten 

 thousand dozen are sometimes gathered in the breeding season 

 in a single week ; and as they are nearly as large as hen's eggs, 

 they are of some consideration even as an article of food. 



There are at least four other species of sea-birds abundant 

 on the island: the frigate-bird {Tachypetes aquila), which 



