g6 TRISTAN DA CUNHA. 



only by the melting of the snow above in dry weather, were 

 small at the time of our visit ; their water soaks into the banks 

 of sand at the foot of the cliffs and on the shores, and is 

 mostly lost, but in some places reappears in the shape of 

 shallow freshwater ponds close to the sea beach. 



The water of the streams had a temperature of 50° F., 

 whilst the ponds were warmer, 54° F. The temperature of 

 the lower regions of the island is no doubt constantly reduced 

 by the descent of the cold water from the snow far above ; in 

 the gully above the settlement, shrubs of Phylica cwborea com- 

 mence at about 400 feet elevation. 



The trees have in this locality all been cut down for fire- 

 wood, but there is still plenty of wood on the island : Phylica 

 arborea is the only tree occurring in the islands ; it is a species 

 found only in the Tristan da Cunha group, in Gough Island, 

 and in the far-off island of Amsterdam, 3,000 miles distant. 

 Other species of the genus occur at the Cape of Good Hope, 

 but they are low and shrubby. It belongs to the natural order 

 of the Buckthorns {R/iaiiinacecv). 



The foliage of the tree is of a dark glossy green, with the 

 under sides of the narrow, almost needle-like leaves white and 

 downy. Hence the tree, which in habit is very like a yew, 

 presents as a whole a mixture of glaucous grey and dark olive- 

 green shades ; it bears berries of about the size of sweet-peas, 

 which are eaten by the finch which lives in the islands. 



The constant heavy gales do not permit the tree to grow 

 erect ; the trunk is usually procumbent at its origin for several 

 feet, and then rises again often at a right- angle. It is always 

 more or less twisted or gnarled. In sheltered places, as under 

 the cliffs on the north-east of Inaccessible Island, the tree is 

 as high as 25 feet, but it is not nearly so high on the summit 

 of the island, though the trunks are said there to reach a 

 length of 30 feet or more. 



The largest trunk I saw was about one foot in diameter, but 

 they are said to grow to eighteen inches. The wood of the 

 tree is brittle, and when exposed, rapidly decays, but is service- 

 able when dried carefully with the bark on. The German 

 settlers in Inaccessible Island used it even for handles to their 

 axes and other tools. 



The Tristan da Cunha group has a terrible climate. For 

 nine months in the year there is constant storm and rain, with 

 snow. It is only in the three summer months that the weather 

 is at all fine. In October the " bad season," as the islanders 

 called it, was just beginning to pass away, but the weather was 

 so uncertain that the ship might have had to leave her 

 anchorage at a moment's notice, and only a steamer dared 



