52 
FROM BERMUDAS TO CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 
the sea-hen, a blue petrel, terns, noddies, night-birds, thrushes, canaries, and blackbirds. In 
all, thirteen varieties of birds were observed on Inaccessible Island. No reptiles, lizards, 
or snakes were seen, the only four-footed animals being pigs. Goats, which were formerly 
found here, are now extinct. Of trees there is but one sort, always in leaf, growing erect in 
sheltered spots, but in exposed places creeping along the ground. 
Having made a circuit of the island for the purpose of surveying and dredging, the 
“ Challenger,” with the brothers Stoltenhoff on board, who had asked for a passage to the 
Cape, proceeded towards Nightingale Island, where is heard no sound more harmonious than 
the squeaking grunt of the penguin. There is present here the same combination of high 
cliffs as in the sister-island, but the whole is nearly cut in two by a sharp depression. The 
valley thus formed is covered with tussock grass, and seems one huge rookery of penguins. 
To penetrate through this grass, which grows to a height of from six to eight feet, is by no 
means easy, and the difficulty is increased by the number of penguins disturbed at every 
step. These, most reluctant to quit their nests, drive their sharp bills into the legs of the 
intruder with a clamour that is absolutely terrifying. The exploring party experienced the 
greatest difficulty in finding their way back to the beach. One of the two dogs that had been 
brought ashore lost his way in the grass, and had to be left behind. He probably perished 
soon afterwards, driven to madness by the yelling, red-eyed creatures amongst which his 
unlucky lot was cast. 
STOLTENHOFF ISLAND. NIGHTINGALE ISLAND. 
The survey of the island was completed on the 18th, and, after a last glance at the 
snowy peak of Tristan, now and then visible between the shifting clouds, we shaped our 
course eastwards for the Cape of Good Hope. The group we had just left behind rises from 
a submarine plateau which, as subsequent soundings tend to prove, connects itself with the 
plateaux of Ascension Island, St. Paul Rocks, the Azores, and Iceland—all centres of volcanic 
disturbances, some extinct, some still active. Together, these plateaux constitute a submerged 
area of elevation which traverses the whole Atlantic from north to south, and is flanked on 
either side by an oceanic valley with an average depth of from three to four miles. 
Assisted by the westerly winds, we made rapid progress towards the shores of Africa. 
On the morning of the 28th October the crests of the Cape Peninsula, amongst which was 
conspicuous the level top of Table Mountain, lay before us, and shortly after noon we rounded 
the Cape which but four hundred years ago divided two worlds unknown to each other. 
At three p.m. on the 28th October, H.M.S. “Challenger" anchored in Simons Bay. 
