PROM ENGLAND TO SOUTH ‘AFRICA 17 
shot several Frigate and other birds from the ship, the 
little Norwegian boat—called a Pram—being used to pick 
them up. By way of explanation I may say that Wilson 
is a specialist in birds and is making a collection for the 
British Museum. 
*¢ Weall landed as soon as possible. Wilson and Garrard 
with their guns for birds: Oates with the dogs, and At- 
kinson with a small rifle: Lillie after plants and geological 
specimens : Nelson and Simpson along the shore after sea 
beasts, etc.: and last but not least came the entomological 
party, under yours truly, with Wright and, later, Evans, as 
assistants. Pennell joined up with Wilson, so altogether 
we were ready to ‘do’ the island. I have taken over the 
collection of insects for the expedition, as the other scientists 
all have so much to do that they were only too glad to shove 
the small beasts on me. Atkinson is a specialist in para- 
sites: it is called ‘Helminthology.’ I never heard that 
name before. He turns out the interior of every beast that 
is killed, and being also a surgeon, I suppose the subject 
must be interesting. White terns abounded on the island. 
They were ghost-like and so tame that they would sit on 
one’s hat. They laid their eggs on pinnacles of rock with- 
out a vestige of nest, and singly. They looked just like 
stones. I suppose this was a protection from the land- 
crabs, about which you will have heard. The land-crabs 
of Trinidad are a byword and they certainly deserve 
the name, as they abound from sea-level to the top of 
the island. The higher up the bigger they were. The 
surface of the hills and valleys was covered with loose 
boulders, and the whole island being of volcanic origin, 
coarse grass is everywhere, and at about 1 500 feet is an 
area of tree ferns and subtropical vegetation, extending up 
to nearly the highest parts. he withered trees of a former 
‘forest are everywhere and their existence unexplained, 
though Lillie had many ingenious theories. The island has 
been in our hands, the Germans’, and is now Brazilian. 
Nobody has been able to settle there permanently, owing 
to the land-crabs. These also exclude mammal life. Cap- 
tain Kidd made a treasure depét there, and some five years 
c 
