STOBY OF THE BBOTHEBS STOLTENHOFF. 103 
tbe latter. The schooner sailed the same day. Both of 
us were anxious to take passage in her, and intended to 
have done so on her return in a few -weeks’ time, when her 
captain stated he would revisit the island. The interim was 
to have been spent in trapping seal, the season for which had 
commenced. Indeed, the next day we obtained the finest 
skin of our collection. Although civil in making us a 
present of pork and biscuits, to which was added two pounds 
of tobacco, the captain of the Themis declined to barter 
except for seal skins, and of these we were unfortunately not 
possessed. The men of Tristan had come over, they stated, 
to see what we were doing ; but they had not availed them- 
selves of the opportunity by the schooner of sending the 
cattle promised ; and they excused themselves in different 
ways for not having brought them in their own boats. 
Several small articles were appropriated by our visitors 
during their stay of half a day, when they returned to the 
schooner and left the island. No goats or pigs were shot 
by them, and they promised another visit in a fortnight. 
During the next few days we worked hard to catch seals, 
with which to pay our passage to the Cape on the return of 
the Themis . The Themis never returned, and we were 
doomed to disappointment. At the end of October our 
supply of penguin eggs failed, and we were compelled to 
seek another source of subsistence. On the 10th November, 
our supply of biscuit and pork being exhausted, and the 
weather being very calm and fine, my brother and I swam 
around the nearest point to the eastward, with our blankets, 
the rifle, and a spare suit of clothes — the latter, with our 
powder, matches, and kettle in one of the oil casks. Stopping 
the night at the foot of the cliff, the next morning we both 
mounted by aid of the tussack grass to the plateau, and went 
over to the west side, and descended to the vicinity of our 
first abode. Here we built a hut, and, having shot a pig, 
enjoyed a feast of fresh meat. The next day I shot a goat, 
