354 TRISTAN D'ACUNHA. [1829. 



like that of the maple, and burns remarkably well ; the trunks are 

 full ten feet in height, and about nine inches in diameter. There 

 are no large or tall trees to be met with. A great deal of drift-wood 

 is found on the east side of the island, but none to the westward. 

 Abundance of wild celery, sour dock (sorrel), and wild parsley is met 

 with." 



AVith respect to animals, the number and variety have been con- 

 siderably augmented since Captain Patten was here in 1791, when 

 there were no quadrupeds to be met with on the island, " except some 

 goats, left there by former navigators, which were very wild." There 

 are now bullocks, sheep, goats, hogs, dogs, and rabbits. " Neither 

 vermin nor venomous creatures of any description," says he, " were 

 observed. Of birds, the principal were a kind of gannets, like wild 

 geese, which the sailors considered as excellent food ; penguins, alba- 

 tross, Cape cocks and hens, and a bird like a partridge, but of a black 

 colour, which cannot fly, is easily run down, and is very well flavoured ; 

 and a variety of small birds that frequent the bushes and underwood. 

 Abundance of birds' eggs are to be obtained in the proper season." 



The most conspicuous feature of this island is the sugar-loaf or 

 conical mountain, near its centre. Between the foot of this mountain 

 and the shore there is a considerable extent of level land, " the soil 

 of which is a fine rich loam, of a red colour, and considerable depth, 

 apparently adapted to the production of every kind of vegetables ; and 

 excepting the danger of devastation from high winds, adequate to any 

 cultivation." The productions of the other islands are nearly the same 

 as those of the large one. Captain Colquhoun, of the American brig 

 Betsy, touched at Tristan, and planted potatoes, onions, and a variety 

 of other seeds, which grew and multiplied. 



Captain Heywood was at this island in 1811, where he found three 

 Americans, who proposed remaining a few years, in order to prepare 

 seal-skins and oil, and sell the same to vessels that might touch there. 

 One of these enterprising Yankees was named Jonathan Lambert, who 

 by a curious and singular edict declared himself sovereign proprietor 

 of these islands. " In a short time he cleared about fifty acres of land, 

 and planted various kinds of seed, some of which, as well as the coffee- 

 tree and sugar-cane, were furnished by the American minister at Rio 

 Janeiro. The seeds sprang up, appeared very promising, and the 

 general aspect was that of a valuable and important settlement. The 

 whole was, however, abandoned, and final possession afterward taken 

 in the name of the British government, by a detachment from the Cape 

 of Good Hope." This was in the year 1817. 



After all this, however, the island was again evacuated, and given up 

 as a British establishment, when several families voluntarily went to 

 it, and took up their abode on it, entirely independent of control from 

 that government. " The island of Tristan d'Acunha," says a London 

 paper of April, 1824, " has now upon it, living in great happiness, 

 twenty-two men and three women. The Berwick, Captain JefTery, 

 from London to Van Dieman's Land, sent her boat ashore on the 

 25th of March. The sailors were surprised at finding an Englishman 

 of the name of Glass, formerly a corporal in the artillery, and the rest 



/ 



