Historical.] 



SUBANTARCTIC ISLANDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 



XXV 



months, frequently enduring great hardships from want of proper food and from the 

 inclemency of the climate, against which they were only partially sheltered by the hufc 

 which they succeeded in making with timber from the vessel and from the trees 

 growing on the island. They called their home " Epigwait," a name selected by 

 Captain Musgrave from the language of the North American Indians, and mean- 

 ing " near the great waters." The story of their enforced stay on the island is told 

 by the captain with much graphic description, and is extremely interesting, both 

 as showing the fertility of resource shown by the men and as a record of the kind 

 of weather that they experienced. His journal contains many definite facts as to 



Flu. 8. — HeMAIXS Of TliK "GkAI'TOn" WltKfK, CaRNI.EY HaUBOUK, AlXKLAXII ISLANIIS. 



the temperature at various times of the year, the barometric readings, the direc- 

 tion and force of the wind, the habits of the seals, and so on. Among other things, 

 he records an earthquake-shock on Sunday, the 15th May, 1864, saying, " It was 

 not violent, but the tremor continued about a minute." Weary of waiting for 

 the rescue that never came, and dreading to have to endure the hardships of a 

 second winter, the castaways, with great labour and ingenuity, succeeded in im- 

 proving and enlarging the ship's boat which they had saved from the wreck, and 

 in this frail craft, which was only 17 ft. in length, the captain and mate and one 

 of the men started for New Zealand, leaving the other two on Auckland Island, to 

 be rescued subsequently if possible, as the boat could not accommodate more than 



