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XXIX. Sonie Account of the Island of Tristan da Cutiha and 

 of its Natural Productions. By Captain Dugald Carmichael, 



Read Decetnber 16, 1817. 



Th e British Government having judged it expedient to take pos- 

 session of the island of Tristan da Cunha, a military detachment, 

 consisting of about fifty men, with a captain, two subalterns, and 

 a medical officer, was sent to occupy it from the Cape of Good 

 Hope. Motives of curiosity led me to apply for permission to 

 accompany this expedition, which embarked on board His Ma- 

 jesty's ship Falmouth on the 2d of November 1816. A liberal 

 supply of agricultural instruments, with a team of labouring oxen, 

 and some cattle for breeding, was sent on board at the same time. 

 We sailed from Table Bay on the 3d, and two days after en- 

 countered a heavy gale, durmg which, our cattle, standing unshel- 

 tered upon deck, were so much injured by the rolling of the ship, 

 and by the sea washing over them, that they all died before we 

 arrived at our destination. The westerly winds, which usually 

 prevail in the high southern latitudes, protracted our voyage to 

 the 28th of November: but we had the good fortune to come to 

 anchor in fine weather, and landed all the stores without loss or 

 damage. 



Tristan da Cunha is situated in 37° 6' south lat. and in 11° 44' west 

 long. The whole island is apparently a solid mass of rock in the form 



vol. XII. 3 R of 



