Nov.] TRISTAN D'ACUNHA. 353 



Inaccessible Island, which forms the western point of the triangle, 

 lies in latitude 37° 17' south, long. 12° 24' west. It presents a high 

 bluff, of forbidding appearance, which may be seen at the distance of 

 twelve or fourteen leagues. It is about six miles in circumference, 

 with a high flat top, barren, steep, and apparently inaccessible ; some 

 scattered shrubs only are to be seen on it. There are no dangers about 

 it, with the exception of a rock, which appears like a boat under 

 sail, at the south-east point. The ship Blenden Hall, Captain Greig, 

 from London to Bombay, was totally lost on this island, on the 23d 

 of July, 1821 ; eight of the crew perished, in attempting to reach 

 Tristan in an open boat, of their own construction. 



Nightingale Island, the smallest of the group, forms the southern 

 point of the triangle, and Hes in latitude 37° 26' south, long. 12° 12' 

 west. It is descried at the distance of seven or eight leagues, appears 

 irregular, with a hollow in the middle, and a small rocky islet at its 

 southern extremity. Captain Patten, of the ship Industry, of Phila- 

 delphia, mentions " a high reef of rocks, or rocky islets, off the south 

 end of the smallest island ;" and M. d'Etchevery, a French navigator, 

 says, " It has on the north-east point two islets, separated from it about 

 fifty paces, and which have the appearance of an old ruined fort." 



This group was first discovered by the Portuguese in their earlier 

 navigations in these seas, and was further explored and described by the 

 Dutch in 1643, and by the French in 1767. The islands are all of a 

 circular shape, and consist of very high land, with clear open passages 

 between them. They are about three and five leagues apart. Their 

 shores are frequented by hair and fur-seal, sea-lions, sea-elephants, 

 penguins, and albatross. Whales abound in the offing, and I saw 

 several sword-fish near the coast. 



Captain Patten, mentioned above, resided for seven months* on Tris- 

 tan, the largest of these islands, with a part of his crew, for the pur- 

 pose of collecting seal-skins ; during which time he obtained five thou- 

 sand six hundred, for the Chinese market ; and could, he says, have 

 loaded a large ship with oil in three weeks. September he reckoned 

 to be the best month for making oil at these islands. He says that 

 during his stay here, " the prevailing winds were from the northward 

 and westward ; the easterly and southerly winds blowing but seldom, 

 and scarcely ever longer than twenty-four hours at a time. It gene- 

 rally blows fresh, and frequently very hard, from the north-west ; and 

 when a gale came on, it was generally preceded by a very heavy sea, 

 rolling in someiimes twelve, and sometimes twenty-four hours, before 

 the wind rose. The weather is very subject to be thick and hazy, 

 attended with much rain. The summer months are warm, and the cold 

 in winter is not severe." 



Captain Patten's people pitched their tents near the bay before men- 

 tioned and the waterfalls, in the vicinity of which there is a plenty 

 of wood. He tells us " the trees do not grow high, but their branches 

 bend down and spread on the ground. The foliage of the trees that 

 principally abound resembles that of the yew-tree, but the wood is 



* From August, 1790, to April, 1791. 



Z 



