3IO ST. HELENA 



A Short Account of Tristan d'Acunha. 



A long time to talk of, but a very short time while actually 

 passing, for as a general rule the days were almost exactly alike, 

 and after a short time the regular routine of work made them pass 

 very quickly. The first question which is naturally asked is, 

 " Where is Tristan d'Acunha ? " It is one of a group of three, 

 Tristan, Nightingale and Inaccessible, lying 1,200 miles due south 

 of St. Helena, and 1,500 miles to the west of the Cape, which is the 

 nearest land. This sounds like a paradox, but it is perfectly true. 

 I leave it to your readers to discover the solution for themselves, 

 I will only say that I once gave this puzzle to two English clergy- 

 men, and the reply of one of them was, " Oh, indeed I I didn't 

 know that the land went out so f ar I " But the other was very 

 irate, and said, " Do you take me for a fool ? " The only person 

 who has ever accepted the truth of this seeming paradox uithout 

 demur was a certain sea captain, who at once explained it. The 

 way in which it came about that I went to this outlandish place 

 was rather curious. An uncle of mine saw in a newspaper a letter 

 from the captain of a man of war which had just been to Tristan 

 saying how anxious the people were to have a resident clerg>'man 

 who would also act as a schoolmaster. My uncle cut this letter 

 out and sent it to me, saying in a joke, " Here is the very place 

 for you to go to." He was muoh horrified when I made up my 

 mind rcallv to go there I After arranging matters with the S.P.G. 

 I left England in the mail for St. Helena in September, 1880, hoping 

 to be taken on to my destination in some whaler, but this I found 

 to be impossible, as no whaler was willing to take me at any price ; 

 indeed, one old captain declared that he wouldn't have a parson 

 as passenger in his ship for ;^ioo. I was beginning to despair of 

 getting a passage to Tristan until the next man of war went down 

 there, which was expected here some time in the following Januar)', 

 but after staying on the island for three or four weeks, during 

 which time I had charge of St. John's Church, a small English 

 schooner came in, and the captain agreed to take me down to 

 Tristan at once on pre-payment of a very large sum of money, 

 and considerably more than the expense of a passage to England 

 by the mail. The crew of this schooner consisted of a mate who 

 would have been much smaller if he had ever been washed, a boats- 

 wain who also acted as cook, his sole quaUfication being that he 

 knew nothing whatever about cooking, and two apprentice boys. 

 There was only one cabin in the ship, wliich contained no bed, 

 but the crockery was kept there, and a very strong smelling cheese. 

 After about a week of this luxurious travelling I reached Tristan 

 with considerable difficulty on one of the Saturdays in October, 

 and the schooner was wrecked on the Tuesday or Wednesday 

 following. At first the sea was quite smooth, with a light breeze 

 blowing off shore, but as the vessel was heavily insured, the captain, 

 who was also the owner, gained a good deal of money by the ship- 

 wreck. There wais a horse on board whose body was washed on 



