408 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



learning our wish to land and collect there, he at once granted 

 permission, only stipulating that we should not shoot his goats, 

 which have now increased to about a score, and become, of course, 

 perfectly wild. We were very fortunate in our landing on the 

 Great Salvage, for the entrance to the Southern Bay winds in and 

 out among rocks, many of which are below the surface, and, except 

 in comparatively calm weather, it must be extremely risky, it' not 

 impossible, to land, for the boat has to be backed gradually up to 

 a shelf of rock, and it would be the easiest thing in the world to 

 be stove in when there is anything of a swell. Our men occupied 

 a couple of stone huts built by the Portuguese fishermen just 

 above the landing place, but we preferred our large and com- 

 fortable tent, where we soon made ourselves extremely happy. 

 Innumerable hungry fleas, who gave us a warm welcome, tenanted 

 the Portuguese huts, but we were obliged to make use of one of 

 these to shelter our large collecting-boxes and drums of spirits 

 from the sun, which at times was extremely powerful. 



The Salvages are entirely of volcanic origin, and the dark 

 steep rocks of the Great Salvage, where we pitched our camp, rise 

 from the sea to a height of from one to three hundred feet. 

 Above the precipices the top of the island is comparatively flat, 

 and mostly strewn with sharp, loose stones, and volcanic dtbris, 

 which made short work of shooting boots, cutting them to pieces. 

 The highest point — there are two conspicuous hillocks — rises to 

 a height of about 450 ft. The most striking plants were the wild 

 tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum), with its pretty yellow flowers, 

 pleasant aromatic smell, and small scarlet fruits, which proved 

 delicious eating ; the Ice-plant (Mesembrianthemum crystallinum), 

 with its lovely white star-like flowers; and the Asparagus (probably 

 Asparagus scoparius), which grew to a considerable size, some of 

 the bushes being several feet high, and forming good covert for 

 the Rabbits. There were many other interesting plants, of most 

 of which we procured specimens in flower ; we may mention the 

 curious Phelipcea lutea, belonging to the Broomrape family, with 

 its thick fleshy stem, ending in a dense raceme of yellow bell- 

 shaped flowers. Among the asparagus and tomatoes, as well as 

 on the rocky faces of the island, there were endless Babbits, not 

 very large, it is true, but very fat and in splendid condition, with 

 a flavour quite unlike any we have tasted elsewhere. We 

 attributed their excellence to the tomatoes on which they chiefly 





