94 TRISTAN DA CUNIIA. 



tions of the place in books of travel. The visit of the Dutch 

 brig " Dourga " in about 1827 is omitted.* Before the time 

 of the second exile of Napoleon, the island had been settled 

 by some American agriculturists ; but their adventure failed, 

 and the place was but scantily inhabited until the date at 

 which Napoleon was sent to St. Helena. 



A corps of Artillery was then sent to Tristan, and batteries 

 were begun to be constructed. A corporal named Glass 

 received permission to stay on the island when the men were 

 withdrawn, and a small colony sprang up which has lasted till 

 the present time, Glass having been for many years regarded 

 as a sort of governor. The numbers were at one time over 

 200, but were at the time of our visit about 90 ; the younger 

 members of the settlement constantly migrate to the Cape. 



We anchored at early morning on the north-west side of the 

 island of Tristan da Cunha, nearly opposite to the settlement. 

 The island here rises in a long black cliff range ; above this 

 stretches a plateau about 2,000 feet above sea level, on which 

 can be discerned from below two or three small secondary 

 craters ; above the plateau rises the Peak, a conical mountain 

 with rounded summit, which at the time of our visit and 

 throughout the year, excepting in the middle of summer, is 

 covered over with a smooth shining cap of snow, its lower slopes 

 being dotted over with irregular patches of snow, between 

 which the dark rocks showed out in relief. The whole island 

 has a peculiar cold barren uninhabitable appearance, which 

 seems to be characteristic of the islands of the Southern Ocean. 



The cliffs show a very regular stratification, and are com- 

 posed throughout of a series of beds lying nearly horizontally, 

 but dipping slightly towards the shores, at least they appear to 

 do so east and west of the anchorage. The beds, which are 

 conspicuously marked, are alternately of hard basalt and looser 

 scoriaceous lava, with occasional beds of a red tuiT. The 

 whole section is traversed by numerous dykes, mostly vertical 

 and usually narrow, and is not unlike that exposed in the 

 Grand Cural at Madeira in appearance. 



Streams, or rather cascades, which come dashing down to 

 the sea during the constant heavy rains, have eaten their way 

 into the cliffs, and their beds form conspicuous features in the 

 view as narrow gullies, descending the rocks in a series of 

 irregular steps. At the foot of the cliffs, immediately opposite 

 the anchorage, are debris slopes and irregular rocky and sandy 

 ground, forming a narrow strip of low shore land. 



The settlement lies on a broader and more even stretch of 



* " Vo3age of the Dutch Brig of War ' Dourga,' " p. 2. Trans, by W, 

 Earlc. London, John Madden & Co., 1840. 



