ASCENSION ISLAND. 
195 
landed the German commission sent out for the observation of the transit of Venus in 
Betsy Cove, Kerguelen, the “ Gazelle ” visited the shores of the Papuan Archipelago, where, 
unhappily, about a dozen of her men were carried off by fever. 
H.M.S. “Challenger” left Monte Video on the 25th February. On the 13th of March 
she crossed her former track, in the vicinity of Tristan d’Acunha, thus completing the circum¬ 
navigation of the world. On the 27th of the same month we arrived off Georgetown, 
Ascension Island. • 
ASCENSION ISLAND. 
This island has the appearance of a huge heap of volcanic cones, ashes, and cinders. 
Its surface is covered with numerous extinct craters, which, seen from the height of 
Green Mountain, its loftiest summit, 2820 feet above the level of the sea, present a 
truly interesting spectacle. Its windward slopes and most elevated peaks are covered with 
vegetation, while to leeward there is an absolute desert of sand and stones. Black rivers of 
ancient lava wind down on all sides towards the sea. Countless birds resort to the island, 
and their nests cover the ground far and wide. The pedestrian is also surprised by numerous 
land-crabs scampering away at his approach. The island, as is well known, is frequented by 
large turtles, their favourite resort being a sandy bay near Georgetown, where they are caught 
and kept alive in a pond specially constructed for the purpose. 
Georgetown mainly consists of barracks and coaling-sheds, built upon heaps of loose 
soil, which every heavy shower r 
of rain threatens to wash into 
the sea. Its ugliness is com¬ 
pensated for by the charming 
scenery of Green Mountain—a Georgetown, ascension island. 
little paradise of verdure, cool shades and villas adorned with flowers, an oasis in the 
midst of a sunburnt desert. It is used as a sanatorium, and is a welcome retreat during 
the hot season, which here, in truth, lasts nearly throughout the year. During the 
Ashantee war many fever-stricken patients were sent to this spot. 
We left Ascension on the 3rd of April, and, after a long and tedious transit across the 
Equator, arrived at our former anchorage in Porta Praya on the 16th, and in Porto Grande, 
St. Vincent, in the evening of the 18th. Thence proceeding northward, we hoped to reach 
England early in May; but when off the Azores, having sighted the island of Flores, we 
encountered the great atmospheric current which in the spring-time sets in from the shores of 
Northern Europe. Unable to keep a north-easterly course in the teeth of the wind, we were 
driven towards the coast of Spain, and, being short of provisions, made for the port of Vigo, 
where we dropped anchor on the 20th May. Here we met the Channel Squadron, commanded 
by Captain Beauchamp Seymour. From one of the ships came floating the melody of “ Home, 
sweet home,” which, after our long wanderings in strange lands, seemed singularly appropriate. 
