254 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER, 



gascar. The genus belongs to the natural order ol the Buckthorns (Rhamnacese), and 

 other species occur at the Cape of Good Hope, but they are low and shrubby. 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 living on the islands. 

 The constant heavy gales do not permit the tree to grow erect ; the trunk is usually pro- 

 cumbent at its origin for several feet, and then rises again, often at a right angle, and is 

 always more or less twisted or gnarled. In sheltered places, as under the cliffs on the 

 northeast 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 seen was about a foot in diameter, but they are said 

 to grow to 18 inches. The wood of the tree is brittle,- and when exposed, rapidly 

 decays, but is serviceable when dried carefully with the bark on. The German settlers 

 on Inaccessible Island used it even for handles to their axes and other tools. 



Inaccessible Island, next in size to Tristan, and the most westerly of the group, receives 

 its name from its appearance; and certainly this name seems most applicable when 

 the island is viewed from a distance of 2 or 3 miles. A nearer approach, however, 

 discloses the fact that beaches exist, here and there, at the foot of the almost perpendicular 

 cliffs, all around the island, and on the northeast and northwest sides these beaches are 

 occasionally so wide as to afford space for building purposes, or pitching tents; 

 and from two points where the cliffs are somewhat broken it is possible, by the aid of 

 the Tussock Grass, which grows on every available spot, to climb to the undulating table 

 top of the island. 



Inaccessible Island is quadrilateral in shape, the sides being nearly equal, each 

 about 2 miles in length, and the angles pointing in the direction of the cardinal points of 

 the compass. Its highest point, on the west side, is 1840 feet above the level of the 

 sea; from here it slopes irregularly towards the coast, terminating on all sides in precipitous 

 cliffs averaging 1100 feet in height. On the south point is a remarkable rocky cone 

 1140 feet, and on the southwestern side another cone 690 feet, in height, but 

 separated from the cliffs by V-shaped chasms, apparently the effect of rain. Separated 

 from the south point by a channel, a cable wide, is a pyramidal rock 60 feet in height, 

 close to which is a smaller rock only 3 feet above the level of the sea, and off the 

 southwest coast of the island are three detached rocks over which the sea is constantly 

 breaking. On the southeast side is a conical rock 230 feet in height, just off the coast, and 

 a cable off the east point is a rock 3 feet above the level of the sea. On the northeast 

 side of the island are two waterfalls, the easternmost being the larger and more con- 

 spicuous (see fig. 100), and off a point in the centre of the northeast coast is a rock 2 



