38 



THE SEA. 



sweep through the Southern Ocean to Tristan d'Acunha en route to the Cape, where they 

 made an interesting discovery, one that, unlike their other findings, was most interesting 

 to the discovered also. It was that of two modern Robinson Crusoes, who had been living 

 by themselves a couple of years on a desolate rocky island, the name of which, " Inac- 

 cessible," rightly describes its character and position in mid ocean. Juan Fernandez, the 

 locale of Defoe's immortal story, is nothing to it now-a-days, and is constantly visited. 



Fir,. 2. 



DREDGING IMPLEMENTS USED BY THE "CHALLENGER." 



Fig 1, Sounding machines. Fig 2, Slip water-bottles. Fig. 3, Deep-sea thermometer. Fig. 4, The dredge. Fig. 5, Cup sounding lead. 



On arrival at the island of Tristan d'Acunha, itself a miserable settlement of about a 

 dozen cottages, the people, mostly from the Cape and St. Helena, some of them mulattoes, 

 informed the officers of the Challenger that two Germans, brothers, had some time before 

 settled, for the purpose of catching seals, on a small island about thirty miles off, and that, 

 not having been over there or seen any signs of them for a long time, they feared that 

 they had perished. It turned out afterwards that the Tristan d'Acunha people had not 

 taken any trouble in the matter, looking on them as interlopers on their fishing-grounds. 

 They had promised to send them some animals a bull, cow, and heifer but, although 

 they had stock and fowls of all kinds, had left them to their fate. But first as to this 





