FROM ENGLAND TO SOUTH AFRICA 11 
in turn all round the table after supper. If he could not 
sing he had to compose a limerick. If he could not com- 
pose a limerick he had to contribute a fine towards the wine 
fund, which was to make some much-discussed purchases 
when we reached Cape Town. At other times we played the 
most childish games—there was one called ‘The Priest 
of the Parish has lost his Cap,’ over which we laughed till 
we cried, and much money was added to the wine fund. 
As always happens, certain songs became conspicuous 
foratime. One of these Iam sure that Campbell, who was 
always at work and upon whom the routine of the ship 
depended, will never forget. I do not know who it was 
that started singing 
“‘ Everybody works but Father, 
That poor old man,” 
but Campbell, who was the only father on board and whose 
hair was popularly supposed to be getting thin on the top 
of his head, may remember. 
We began to make preparations for a run ashore—a 
real adventure on an uninhabited and unknown island. 
The sailing track of ships from England round the Cape 
of Good Hope lies out towards the coast of Brazil, and not 
far from the mysterious island of South Trinidad, 680 
miles east of Brazil, in 20° 30’ S. and 29° 30’ W. 
This island is difficult of access, owing to its steep 
rocky coast and the big Atlantic swell which seldom ceases. 
It has therefore been little visited, and as it is infested with 
land crabs the stay of the few parties which have been 
there has been short. But scientifically it is of interest, not 
only for the number of new species which may be obtained 
there, but also for the extraordinary attitude of wild sea 
birds towards human beings whom they have never learnt 
to fear. Before we left England it had been decided to 
attempt a landing and spend a day there if we should pass 
sufficiently near to it. 
Those who have visited it in the past include the astro- 
nomer Halley, who occupied it, in 1700. Sir James Ross, 
outward bound for the Antarctic in 1839, spent a day there, 
