Presently there stepped on deck by the side-ropes a grizzly figure, with

deeply-furrowed features and long, grey beard, clothed in a blue blouse

and coarse linen trowsers, that seemed to have weathered many a winter's

storm. This primitive-looking old man proved to be a Frenchman named Viot,

who had lived here for a considerable time as overseer of a fishing

establishment on the island. Our first question had reference to the

missing men from the _Meridian_. But how sore was our disappointment when

the old sailor in the blouse told us he knew all the particulars of the

catastrophe of the ship, but that he had never come across the slightest

trace of the three unfortunates whom we had enquired about. Viot had

visited the island regularly every year since 1841, except that in which

the _Meridian_ had been lost. The fate of these three shipwrecked men must

therefore remain for ever undetermined, although, considering the

tempestuous weather which usually prevails in the Indian Ocean in the

month of August, it is highly improbable that a boat of such small

dimensions as that to which the captain and his two unhappy

fellow-travellers committed themselves, could reach St. Paul, which was

distant 42 miles from the spot at which the ship was wrecked.

About 11.30 A.M. the naturalists, accompanied by the officers appointed

to assist in the scientific operations, proceeded in two boats to the

shore, for the purpose of making some preliminary observations. When we

reached the bar there opened to our view, covered with luxurious grass

growing in tufts, the walls of a majestic crater, the exquisite regularity

of the cavity of which left the exact impression of an enormous natural

amphitheatre.

[Illustration: DISTANT VIEW OF CRATER-BASIN OF ST. PAUL.]

On either side the ground rises nearly perpendicularly to a height of

about 800 feet, which probably is likewise the average height of the walls

of the crater. On the north side of the basin, a kind of terrace was seen

low down, with huts thatched with straw, while on the shingle of the bar

was planted a not very perpendicular flagstaff, on which, in honour of the

arrival of a ship of war, old Viot had run up the French ensign. As the

_Novara's_ boat swept into the crater-basin, he saluted with the

proverbial courtesy of his nation, which not even the rough occupation of

a whale-fisher had been able to rub out of him. Viot had last come hither

in the preceding March, with a mulatto and a negro on board of a fishing

craft, named the _Alliance_, of 45 tons, in which he had sailed from St.

Denis, on the Island of Bourbon, anew to take charge of the little fishing

station here, which is at present the property of M. Ottovan, a French

gentleman domiciliated in St. Denis.

While at Cape Town we were informed, in reply to our enquiries, by the

first authority in the country, that the Island of St. Paul belonged to

England, and was a dependency of the Mauritius; here, to our astonishment,

we on the other hand learned from the inhabitants that St. Paul at present

was under the protection of the French Government, and, in fact, was an

appendage of the Island of Bourbon, the governor of which long previously

had ordered the French flag to be hoisted, with all the naval formalities,

by a detachment of French soldiers who had been landed from a French ship

of war. According to Viot--who is to all appearance a thoroughly

trustworthy man, but on whom, however, we throw the responsibility of the

correctness of the following information,--the island seems, in fact, to

have been, some twenty years since, the property of a French merchant of

St. Denis, named Camin, who somewhat later entered into partnership with a

person named Adam, a Pole by birth, to whom he ultimately resigned the

entire island.[59] Adam, who was described to us as a man of exceedingly

fierce and determined character, did wonders for the cultivation of the

island. He left a number of Mozambique negroes, whom he compelled to work

through the entire year, exposed to the severest privations, and employed

in hewing stone from the rocks, with which huts were erected, in preparing

a landing-quay on the north side of the basin, and in sowing a number of

plots of ground along the lower margin of the crater with European

vegetables.

[Footnote 59: According to Captain Denham, who visited this island in 1853,

the present proprietor called this fishing station, Marie Heurtevent, and

said he had bought it about five years previously for 6000 dollars from a

Polish merchant of St. Denis, where he himself also resided. (_Nautical

Magazine_, pp. 68, 75).]

About eight or ten years since, Adam (who afterwards, in the course of a

voyage from Bourbon to New Zealand, met a disgraceful death, having been

thrown overboard for his cruelty by the black crew of a small vessel, whom

he had driven to desperation) sold the islands to their present possessor,

M. Ottovan, a ship-chandler of St. Denis, who since then has twice each

year, during the fine season, despatched a small craft of some 30 to 45

tons, manned by from 15 to 18 fishermen, from St. Denis to St. Paul

Island, so as to turn to advantage the unusual abundance of this

fishing-ground. This vessel leaves St. Denis regularly every November on

its voyage of from 24 to 30 days to St. Paul. The return voyage to St.

Denis takes place during the prevalence of the South-East Trades, and

occupies a much shorter time, rarely exceeding 14 to 16 days. The fishing

sloop, during its stay at the island, anchors inside the basin of the

crater, so as to discharge her provisions for the fishermen, and to

facilitate the freighting for the homeward voyage with the fish that have

been caught, as also to guard her against sudden changes of weather, which

in these latitudes, as we ourselves experienced, is, even during the best

season, very stormy and dangerous. The fishermen use the excellent

whaleboats (or _baleinières_), so admirably suited to the heavy swell of

the Indian Ocean, in which they go out in the morning, returning to the

shore at nightfall. The species of fish which is found in greatest

numbers, and is caught exclusively by the hook, is usually called by the

fishermen, "Indian Cod:" it is by no means, however, of the _genus_

Haddock, and very slightly, if at all, resembles the codfish of northern

waters, or common stock-fish, but seems to belong to the class of finger

fish (_cheilo-dactylus-fasciatus_), which is usually classed among the

crow fish (_sciænæ_). These are salted, dried in the open air, packed in

casks, and dispatched in large quantities to the markets of St. Denis. It

is calculated that the number thus sent off in the course of each year

amounts to about 40,000. which are sold in the market of St. Denis by the

hundred, for from 40 to 60 francs (£1 12s. to £2 8s.--total £640 to £960).

The expenses of maintaining the settlement is very small.--Viot has 57

francs a month (£2 6s.); his two companions 40 francs and 25 francs

respectively (£1 12s. and £1); the men engaged in the fishery receive 25

to 30 francs a month, besides provisions. The second voyage of the vessel

ordinarily takes place in January or February, so as to return in April or

May, with a similar cargo. It often happens that the owner of the vessel

finds some more profitable employment for it, when it only returns during

the second year, and their provisions, as meal, rice, biscuit, tobacco,

&c., get rather short. The settlers, however, employ what leisure time

remains after their work is done, in cultivating a number of plots of

ground with cereals and vegetables, potatoes especially returning from

time to time an excellent yield. Of these useful tubers, which grow with

remarkable luxuriance in the turf-soil of the island, they raise from 60

to 80 cwt. annually. Fresh vegetables being articles in great request are

more particularly made available by the inhabitants of St. Paul, by way of

barter, when trafficking with the whalers, from 20 to 30 of which touch

here in the year, to exchange their salt fish, rice, tobacco, cheese,

brandy, &c., for the fresh provisions grown on the island. The number of

vessels that pass within sight of St. Paul in the course of a year may be

reckoned at from 100 to 150, of which, however, only a very few, except

the whalers, visit the island.[60] In the year 1857, for example, it

occurred only twice (one case being an English man-of-war), that passing

ships sent boats to the island, five months of the year having elapsed in

the first instance, and two in the second.

[Footnote 60: All the Dutch Indiamen on the home voyage from Batavia,

during the months of October till May, have been for many years in the

habit of running south till they sighted St. Paul, so as to catch the S.

E. Trades. But it has never been the policy of the Dutch to attract

attention to the eastern seas, and accordingly no information found its

way to Europe respecting these interesting islands, till the period

mentioned in the text.]

When the take of fish in the immediate vicinity of the island does not

seem sufficiently remunerative, the fishermen occasionally launch out to

greater distances. They then bring out from the basin of the crater the

barque that brought them from Bourbon to St. Paul, and remain at sea for

several days, or make for the adjoining island of Amsterdam, the shores

of which are even more frequented by the fish than those of St. Paul.

As already remarked, our first movements were directed solely towards an

examination of its physical features. We were accompanied on this tour of

inspection by Ferdinand, an active, intelligent Mulatto, with thoroughly

French manners. The French stock has this peculiarity as compared with the

German, that it remains unmistakably French, even when mixed with

two-thirds African blood. Ferdinand was for the first time in St. Paul,

having been conveyed hither in the _Alliance_ in the previous March, to

work for M. Ottovan. Family troubles had been the cause of his banishment

to this dismal island. Although only 24 years of age, he was already the

father of two children, whom, he informed us, he had placed at school in

St. Denis; and in sheer despair at the worthless conduct of their mother,

had hired himself hither as a labourer at 40 francs a month, paid by the

owner of the island. He proposed returning to St. Denis in the next ship

that left St. Paul, in the hope that peace might be by that time restored

in his family.

At various spots in the lower rim of the crater-basin, within which

Ferdinand acted as guide, we perceived heavy volumes of smoke emerging

from the shallow parts of the water, which obviously implied the existence

of hot springs. The two most active and largest in circumference were on

the north side of the crater-basin, and were known, the one as the Bath,

the other as the Drinking Fountain. Moreover, at several points on the

north bar, hot water bubbles up from the soil, of such a temperature that

the same person who, with a hook and line had caught a fish in the cold

water basin, might, with the same motion of his hand, let them drop into

the hot adjoining spring, where, in fact, it is boiled within a few

minutes and fit for eating! We have ourselves made this experiment, which

is also mentioned by Lord Macartney, and found the fish thus prepared

exceedingly palatable.

At high water the whole of the hot springs become mingled with the brine

of the ocean, and thus indicate a temperature which is barely perceptibly

higher than that of the latter. Adjoining the landing-place, several late

visitors to the island have endeavoured to perpetuate the record of their

fleeting presence on some compact granite blocks of rock, which are

scattered in the path to the hot springs. Thus, on one of those stones,

fast becoming obliterated by the weather, may be read:--"Savouret, 1841"--

"J. D. Rogers, 1855, Mars."--On a second huge block:--"Hte. Rogers, 1852

to 1857;" and lastly, these names, with difficulty decipherable,

"Pallefournier-Emile, Mazarni-Denoyarez, Grenoble, Canton de Sassenage,

Département de l'Isère, 1844." In general we found none of the

inscriptions on the island that can be recognized.

On reaching the plateau above, which is reached by a narrow, steep, and in

many places rather fatiguing path, from the settlers' huts on the north

side of the basin of the crater, we came to a breeding-place of the

yellow-tufted "Crested or Hopping-Penguin"[61] (_apterodytes chrysocome_)

in which we found at the lowest estimate from 500 to 600 of these singular

creatures, which are adorned with grey-yellow tufts of feathers arranged

in a semicircle above the eyes, and which, as was well remarked by the

naturalist attached to the _Lion_, with the peculiar plumage and the

almost scaly covering of their fin-like wings, suggest a remote

resemblance to the form of a fish. Living part of the year in the water,

and passing most of the remainder on land, Nature has, in a manner,

adapted them for these widely differing modes of life. The dirty

greyish-brown attire of the young contrasts so strongly with the gay

plumage of the old penguin, that at the first glance they hardly seem to

belong to the same species. The females lay only one or two eggs, usually

in October, so that at the time of our visit, the young were only about a

month-and-a-half or so old. These penguins, so graceful and nimble in the

water, as if it were their proper element, are very awkward on land, so as

to be easily caught, or knocked down with a stick. Only in so doing it is

necessary to be on one's guard against a blow from their long sharp bills,

with which they can inflict on their pursuer a by no means trifling wound.

In the course of centuries, during which they have paid undisturbed visits

to this island, they have trodden a well-marked path from their

breeding-place to the edge of the sea; and it is a proof of the wonderful

instinct of this creature, that this place is almost the only point on

the entire island, at which it would be possible for it to reach the sea.

A flock of these hopping penguins presents an odd and peculiar appearance,

as, after leisurely bathing in the sea, and providing a sufficient supply

of food for their young, their elegant heads emerge from the water, when

carefully calculating the effect of the breakers, they ride their crest

and allow themselves to be deposited on the beach; or, after hopping from

stone to stone, the plumes on their heads nodding to and fro, suddenly

plunge headforemost into the sea, like so many somersault-throwers! Not

less diverting are the movements of these animals when, returned from

their laborious wanderings, which they undertake two or three times a day

in search of food for their young, they bend their tottering steps back to

the roosting-place, waddling in their walk like ducks. One always leads

the way as guide and forager-in-chief, and the rest, usually from ten to

fifteen in number, follow him in a column; on reaching the roosting-place,

a piece of level winding ground, they give a shrill cry, and comport

themselves anything but peaceably towards their neighbours, especially if

these have possessed themselves of their accustomed seats. Continual

squabbling and disputing go on, and their croaking and screaming are

prolonged far into the silence of night. They show much tenderness for

their young, shelter them with great care, and defend them with

extraordinary courage and pertinacity against the southern hawk gull[62]

(_stercorarius antarcticus_), which frequently swoops upon the

breeding-ground, and even ventures within reach of man, from whom it

defends itself by violently striking and biting with its beak. Always at

war under ordinary circumstances, they are nevertheless the most faithful

of allies in moments of common danger or necessity. The flesh of the old

penguin has so rank a smell that it is only used by those frequenting the

island in case of the most extraordinary necessity; that of the young, on

the other hand, has a far more agreeable flavour.

[Footnote 61: Called also the "_Jumping Jack_" by the English sailors, from

its custom of jumping quite out of the water, like a porpoise, on its

encountering the slightest obstacle.]

[Footnote 62: Called by the English sailors "Port Egmont Hens" from their

frequenting Port Egmont in the Falkland Isles. They seem to be identical

in species with the "skua," or "bonxie" of the Shetlands.]

The breeding-place of the penguin is about 300 feet above the level of the

water in the basin of the crater.[63] Four hundred feet more of laborious,

steep scrambling, brings the adventurer to the plateau at last, from the

highest peaks of which he readily obtains a view of the greater part of

the island, which is utterly treeless. At many places we found the ground

quite warm, and at one slimy tract, about 600 feet wide, which was noticed

by the naturalists on board the _Lion_, there was positive danger of

sinking several feet into the hot, yielding soil, if we did not advance

with great care. On the other hand, the fierce tongues of flame, which

Lord Macartney alleged were visible at night from the deck of the ship,

and which greatly resembled the celebrated nocturnal fires of Pietra Mala,

in the mountains between Florence and Bologna, were nowhere visible, at

least during the time we were on the island.

[Footnote 63: A second breeding-place, somewhat larger, but much more

inaccessible than that described, occurs on the north-west side of the

island. There among rugged fantastically broken masses of rock, these

extraordinary creatures can sun themselves undisturbed, and have hardly

anything to dread from the destroying hand of man, who could only get

thither with much difficulty, and not without peril to life, by clambering

along the face of a precipitous wall of rock.]

On the north-west side of the islands, facing the sea, two lofty pinnacles

of scoriæ, with truncated summits, rise in cones of such exquisite

regularity of form as speedily attracted the attention of our geologist,

and became somewhat later the chief scene of his activity. In the

immediate vicinity, many traces of lava-streams are visible, which plainly

show the direction in which their currents had flowed. From the upper edge

of the great basin of the crater the ground slopes gradually to the sea,

ending abruptly in a precipice, descending sheer 150 or 200 feet into the

sea.

In order to avoid retracing our steps by the same path, we directed our

guide, the ever active Ferdinand, to conduct us back to the shore by some

other track than that by which we had clambered up to this point;

whereupon he stopped at a point of the upper rim of the crater, where the

ground fell suddenly away quite perpendicular, grasped the rich luxuriant

grass hand over hand, and having proceeded a few steps, invited us to

follow. At the first glance we involuntarily recoiled at the bare idea of

descending into the abyss by such a route, but presently we found our

advance less dangerous and appalling than had at first appeared, when it

was found we might, without any misgiving, let ourselves down by the long

tough grass, the strong stalks of which supplied a safe means of descent.

In less than three-quarters of an hour we had descended from the upper

margin of the crater to the settlement, and at once proceeded on our

return to the frigate. A pretty fresh N.W. breeze had sprung up in the

meantime, which rendered our re-embarkation in our small short boats,

totally unsuited to the tremendous swell of the Indian Ocean, exceedingly

uncomfortable. Arrived at the ship's side, the sea ran so high, and had so

increased the difficulty of laying the boats alongside, that we at first

endeavoured to reach the deck by the Jacob's ladders suspended at the

poop. When, however, one of the sailors (who confessedly have much greater

readiness in clambering than ordinary mortals), while holding on to one of

the ladders, was reached by a tremendous wave, and half his body being in

the water, ran a risk of being carried off by a shark, the scientific

gentlemen in the boats preferred making for the starboard side of the

ship, whence they reached their haven of refuge by the man-ropes.

Although this accident sufficiently manifested the impracticability of our

original plan of returning every evening on board, and of being able to

remain beside the ship during the carrying out of the objects of our

visit, no man supposed as yet that, at this season, the summer of St.

Paul's, the weather might suddenly become so stormy and generally

unfavourable, as thus early to necessitate our re-embarkation, and that

the ship would be compelled, with all speed, to leave her anchorage, and

put to sea for a week under most uncomfortable circumstances.

On 20th November, about 6 A.M., the officers and naturalists, together

with a portion of the crew, 32 in all, left the frigate with a large

quantity of instruments, scientific apparatus, and baggage. This little

expedition was supplied with provisions and water for six days, there

being no springs of fresh water on the island, the frequenters of which

are compelled to depend for their whole supply of drinking-water, partly

on the rain-fall, partly during long-continued dry seasons on the water of

one of the hot brackish springs which occur on the north side of the lower

circuit of the crater. Long accustomed to these fluids and to their

peculiar taste, the inhabitants feel no evil results from their

employment, which very probably would not be the case with those persons

who visit the island for the first time, and whose arduous exertions

necessitate their drinking daily large quantities of water.

On a small eminence, about 150 feet high, above the fisherman's huts on

the north side of the crater-basin, a small wooden cottage was erected for

the protection of the astronomers; and at a distance of about 40 feet, a

second for the magnetic instruments, both of which, with their contents,

were entrusted to Lieutenant Robert Müller. Lieutenants Batlogg and Eugen

Kronowetter, were respectively entrusted with the observations by

theodolite, and with the surveying board. To the last-mentioned gentleman

were also confided the observations with the meteorological instruments,

the researches with the tide-gauge, the instruments for measuring the

velocity of currents, as also the soundings in the basin, and on either

side of the bar,--to assist him in the execution of which Cadet Count

Borelli and Head Quartermaster Cian were detached. We quartered ourselves

as well as we could in the wretched filthy huts which, in summer, serve

the fishermen from St. Denis as a shelter. In one of these hung several

pictures--one representing Napoleon I. riding the inevitable white horse,

the majority consisting of female portraits and scenes of Parisian life,

so that the whole place had quite a Frenchified appearance.

Hardly had the instruments, apparatus, men, and baggage been placed under

shelter, when once more a strong north wind came on, which, during the

night between the 20th and 21st, increased to such a height, that it blew

down the two huts intended for the observations, which had not been quite

finished, and in which, fortunately, the instruments had not yet been

placed--exposing the work already begun to very considerable interruption.

Early in the morning, a whaler approached the island, and sent one of her

boats off for fresh provisions. She proved to be the _Herald_, of New

Bedford, Massachusetts, U. S., out 27 months, and expecting to require to

remain out 11 months longer, in order to complete her lading of oil and

whalebone. She was last from St. Augustin's Bay (Madagascar), which place

she had left two months previously. When the captain, who chanced to be in

the boat, saw the activity of the scientific corps, the results of which

were already beginning to be visible in the hitherto deserted island, he

said that one of his crew had fallen from the mast a few days previously,

and severely injured himself, and forthwith asked whether we could render

him any surgical assistance. Considering the precarious circumstances

under which we ourselves were on the island, we judged it more advisable

to receive the unfortunate whaler on board the frigate, where we could

give him all necessary assistance. As we afterwards learned, the surgeon

of the frigate, Dr. Ruschitztha, notwithstanding the inclemency of the

weather, was ordered from the frigate, and had the satisfaction of

rendering valuable assistance to the invalid.

The foul weather continued all day, and during the night of the 21st, it

became so tempestuous that the frigate was at last compelled to put to

sea. About 3.30 A.M. she began to labour heavily with an unusually high

sea and frequent shifts of wind, accompanied by showers of rain, after a

heavy blow from the N.W., so that at first it was thought on board that

one of these furious gusts, which for several hours past had followed each

other at regular intervals, had sprung the cable, and that the anchor

would be lost. The jib accordingly was hoisted, and the fore-topsail set

with four reefs in it, and an attempt made to weigh anchor. This

operation, at all times laborious, was now especially so, and seemed as

though it would never have an end. Although the capstan was manned, as

already said, at 3.30, it was not till past seven, or four hours later

that the anchor hove in sight. It was the port anchor that had been

weighed, and it was now perceived that one of the flukes had given way,

and was entirely broken off. In such stormy weather it seemed very

uncertain whether the anchor could be brought on board, as it struck with

much force against the ship-side, in consequence of her severe rolling,

and it was only secured at great risk to the life of the men employed. The

cable was unbent, and the anchor slipped, so as to relieve the ship (for

which the anchor still on board was sufficient in the meantime), from the

vehement thumping. The frigate now had to encounter a regular

North-wester, and only after three days of the most furious rolling or

pitching, was she able, aided by northerly breezes, again to reach her

former anchorage. The members of the Expedition, left at St. Paul to

prosecute their scientific labours, occasionally experienced a somewhat

peculiar feeling when the frigate, owing to the severity of the weather,

remained invisible during these three long days; and fancy involuntarily

depicted themselves in the position of men whom the stormy waves of

destiny had cast away on this lonely island in the Indian Ocean, there

perhaps to languish for weary months out of reach of assistance or means

of rescue.

Old Viot, who had come for the sixth time to the island, alleged that such

rainy tempestuous weather at this season of the year was quite an unusual

phenomenon,--an opinion which somewhat later was confirmed by the reports

of several North American whalers. Ordinarily the fine season commences at

the beginning of November, at which period the South wind is the most

prevalent, the sky often remaining clear and hot for weeks together. The

hottest month of the year is January, the coldest June. From May to

October it is exceedingly difficult to land with boats on the island, and

cases not unfrequently occur during the continuance of the stormy season

resembling that which is instanced by the historiographer of Lord

Macartney's embassy to China, in which, during September, 1792, a ship

anchored on the east side of the island, was only able twice, during the

lapse of eight weeks, to send a boat to the island with provisions. On

this station the fishery is confined to the fine season (from November to

April), while for the rest of the year the various huts of the fishermen

are entirely abandoned, being only inhabited by a couple of men, in whose

charge are left the few but by no means valueless implements and apparatus

of the island. These men lead a very monotonous life, though not one of

privation, for the crater-basin supplies the whole year round the most

delicious fish, and craw-fish of the finest kind.

Our sailors used to hang a basket with bait close to the edge of the

crater-basin, sunk a few feet in the water, which they would draw out

every time full of lobsters. In a few hours they frequently caught from

eighty to one hundred pounds' weight of these large and extremely delicate

species of shell-fish. An excursion which was got up one morning to the

South side of the island, in a fisherman's boat, was rewarded in a few

hours with some fifty different sorts of denizens of the deep, some of

which weighed twenty to twenty-five pounds each.

According to Viot's account, snow does not fall often in winter, and in

consequence of the heat inherent in the volcanic soil, never lies long on

it. On the other hand, hail is a tolerably frequent visitant. Rain is of

constant occurrence, and sometimes falls in immense quantities. Viot was

never weary of expressing his astonishment at the enormous size of the

drops of rain which for many a year he had seen fall at St. Paul. The cold

is often pretty severe; while the almost entire want of firing on the

island (for the dung of animals is not obtainable in sufficient quantities

to make its storing worth the requisite labour), deprives the poor

residents of the comfort of a fireside. "If the last storm had not blown

down our hut, we should for long have had to do without fuel," was the

naïve remark on one occasion of the old Frenchman, as he lay stretched out

on a dirty bed, carefully rolled up in his rough woollen blanket. Winter

begins in May and ends in September. During this period the Northerly

winds are often very strong. On 27th June, 1857, there blew for six or

eight hours here so terrific a tempest that the inhabitants of St. Paul

did not venture outside of their huts for fear of being rapt away by the

wind. These storms of winter occasionally rage to such a degree that they

drive before them into the basin of the crater huge masses of water, which

they whirl in wild confusion to an enormous height, showing that the tract

in the Southern Ocean traversed by the hurricanes which occasionally do

such damage about Mauritius and Rodriguez, occasionally embraces the

islands of St. Paul and Amsterdam. In November, at the commencement of the

fine season, the winds are rather variable, and so continue to the end of

March, when the N. and N.W. winds begin once more to blow regularly; these

bring heavy rains and foul weather, after which, except that it is cold

when the wind changes to West with a Southerly tendency, a warmer and

drier climate is experienced. During our stay we frequently had an

opportunity of verifying by observation the steady return of certain winds

in regular succession. For instance, after the N.E. wind had prevailed for

some days, it veered to N.N.W. whence it invariably went to W. by S.,

where it usually stayed some little time, after which it once more went to

N.E.--a phenomenon which went through its phases every six days with

surprising regularity.

There are heavy mists during autumn, but thunder on the other hand is far

from frequent, nor is it particularly violent when it occurs. During a

residence of eighteen days we never saw the centigrade thermometer stand

higher than 66°·2 Fahr., or lower than 53°·6 Fahr. Lord Macartney gave 62°

Fahr. as the average of the thermometer during his visit in February,

1793.

As for earthquakes, a phenomenon whose occurrence at St. Paul would

possess an uncommon interest, Viot averred that during sixteen years that

he had visited the island, off and on, he neither himself had perceived

any indications of one, nor had he at any time heard of any such having

been observed.

On the contrary, Ferdinand (who, nevertheless, had lived but eight months

on the island) affirmed that his predecessor, Rosemond, had told him of

shocks, comparatively slight it is true, which he (Rosemond) had felt

during his several years' abode here. Considering the small circumference

of the island, and the violent surf on its shores, slight oscillations may

not improbably be felt, which are caused by other than volcanic agencies.

Moreover, on the outer margin of the crater-basin, the island presents at

those numerous points, from which at ebb-tide roll volumes of smoke and

steam, so many natural vents for the escape of the confined subterraneous

gases, that in their ordinary state, and so long as they continue open, in

future, there is no especial reason to suppose there will be any

upheavings of the earth's crust in consequence of volcanic agencies. The

earthquake of 14th August, 1857, which was pretty severely felt in Cape

Town and the vicinity, does not seem to have included St. Paul within the

circle of its influence. The present inhabitants of St. Paul, at all

events, unanimously assert that they cannot recall having perceived,

either on the 14th August, or at any time about that period, any shocks of

earthquake whatever, or to have observed any unusual appearances either in

the surface of the earth or in the atmosphere.

We purposely say "at any time about that period," because the inhabitants

of the island do not avail themselves of that assistance so universal

now-a-days of a printed calendar, but trust to memory for keeping a

reckoning of the flight of time. That mistakes should frequently occur

with such a method of computing time is rendered the more probable that

not one of the three denizens of the island can write. For instance, we

once remarked to our worthy Viot that by his own reckoning he had marked

one day more than he had actually lived. "We always get into a mess with

these confounded months of thirty-one days!" was the good-humoured reply

of the ancient wanderer from Nantes.

Although the volcanic soil of St. Paul is everywhere especially adapted

for scientific study, it nevertheless presents few objects with which to

enrich collections of natural history. An island, on which not a single

tree or bush is to be found, and on whose tufa soil, though well adapted

for fruit, only a few grasses, ferns, and mosses thrive, must, so far as

regards the value of his researches, prove as little interesting to the

botanist as the zoologist, who, as we shall see more circumstantially

further on, came across but few representatives here of the animated

kingdom.

At several places, the practical gardener who accompanied the frigate was

ordered to plant a number of European vegetables and anti-scorbutic

plants, such as cabbage, horse-radish, turnips, of various assorted

species, celery, garden-cress, and spoonwort,[64] it is to be hoped with

favourable results. At all events, we had the satisfaction during our

stay, of seeing the tender shoots of some of the vegetables already

sprouting through the surface of the earth. At that time there were not

above a dozen or so cultivated spots on the Island; if, however, these are

carefully cultivated, they can always furnish enough excellent nourishing

provision for from 80 to 100 men. A quantity of potatoes, from 6 to 8

sacks, planted in June, yield, in January or February, a crop of from 60

to 80 casks of 100 lbs. each, or between 3 and 4 tons.

[Footnote 64: The vegetables planted were as follows:--_Brassica rapa_

(rape); _Brassica oleracea capitata_ (sea kail); _Brassica rapa alba_

(white turnip); _Brassica rapa flava_ (yellow turnip); _Raphanus sativus_

(radish); _Lepidium sativum_ (dittandu); _Cochleæia officinalis_ (scurvy

grass).]

Wheat, maize, and barley, also thrive at St. Paul, and their cultivation

has only been discontinued, in consequence of their conversion into bread

requiring a much larger amount of fuel than is at the command of the

residents. On the other hand, all attempts to cultivate beans and peas

have utterly failed hitherto. All kinds of nutritive plants give but one

crop in the year. So also several kinds of trees, which promised to grow

well, considering the resemblance between the climate here and that to

which they were indigenous--such as _Pinus maritima_, various kinds of

_Protea_, &c., and the successful rearing of which would ultimately prove

an extraordinary benefit to all who frequent the island, in consequence of

the great scarcity of firewood--were planted as seedlings by the gardener

attached to the Expedition, in the vicinity of the two huts used for the

observations. Assuredly it will not be one of the least important benefits

of the _Novara_ Expedition, which it will have conferred on St. Paul, if

the growth of the seedlings, planted in its soil with such a noble purpose

in view, should result in the gradual and at all events partial clothing

of the island in the forest.

As to the Fauna of St. Paul, there appears to be one kind of sea-swallow

(_storna_) not hitherto described, the bill and feet of which are of a

coral-red colour, and delicate silver-grey plumage, undoubtedly the most

beautiful of the feathered inhabitants, as the penguin is the most

extraordinary and peculiar creature on the island. Besides these there is

also a pretty grey diver (_Prion Vittatus_), which builds its nest among

the rocks; also a brown gull (_Stercorarius antarcticus_), as also three

kinds of albatrosses (_Diomedea exulans_, _D. fuliginosa_, _D.

chlororhinchos_).

The Crater-basin was somewhat less unproductive than the dry land. The

depth is from 100 to 175 feet. Close to the edge, the sounding line gave a

depth of 10 fathoms (60 feet). Experiments with the dredging-net, although

frequently made, gave by no means satisfactory results. On the other hand,

the rod and line brought up many an interesting addition to our

collection, and frequent strolls at ebb-tide along the barely uncovered

masses of rock that skirted the basin of the crater were rewarded with

numerous discoveries of specimens of conchology. In the centre of the

basin we came upon slimy ground at a depth of 204 feet; near the hot

springs (about 100 feet distant), 19 fathoms (114 feet); and at a third

point, on the south side, 23 fathoms (138 feet). Viot said, that after

repeated soundings at different points, he had found the depth of the

basin varied from 10 to 35 fathoms (60 to 210 feet). The seals

(_Arctocephalus Falclandicus_) of which, according to Macartney, at the

end of last century, thousands daily came to the coast of the island to

bask in the sun, have almost entirely disappeared, so that these animals

are very rarely seen or captured by the inhabitants. Even of the skeletons

of these marine mammals, which, when the naturalists of the _Lion_ were

roaming through the island, used to lie about in such numbers that one

could almost walk upon bones all round the crater, not a vestige is left,

and one can hardly realize that formerly hundreds of thousands of these

animals were slaughtered at this island.

Almost all the quadrupeds of the island are domestic animals that have

been brought hither from Europe and the French colonies--such as swine,

goats, cats, rabbits--which at present live here in a wild state. The

goats, which were first introduced in 1844, are most numerous on the N.W.

of the island; the swine, on the contrary, are not so frequently met with.

During our residence, a boar and a wild cat were killed; a few days after,

the five young of the cat were found, having been compelled to emerge from

their lair in search of food. A female hare, which we had brought from

Cape Town, was also set free on the island, and it was fortunate for the

propagation of these useful animals that there was already a male hare on

the island. A pair of geese was also presented to the colonists, which

perhaps have continued to breed there.

As we thought the island was uninhabited, it was originally our intention

to leave several kinds of domestic animals of different sexes with a view

to propagation; and with that object, when at Cape Town had made various

purchases of useful animals; but, under the circumstances, we relinquished

this intention, as there seemed but little chance of their being left

undisturbed sufficiently long to secure the desired object. Occasionally

cows would be landed from the whalers for the sake of the fresh fodder,

and taken away again after the lapse of a month or two.

The projected scientific operations of the Expedition might easily have

been carried out within eight days, had we not been so obstinately

persecuted with unfavourable weather. Violent north winds, which rendered

it impossible to make any use of the surveying-board in the open air,

alternated in an extraordinary manner with rainbows. Our astronomical

observations were as yet nothing to speak of. Observations with the

barometer, thermometer, current-measurer, and tide-guage, could alone be

prosecuted, the last of which especially gave the following interesting

result, that the hour of high water, both at full moon and new moon, is

not 11 A.M., as given by Horsburgh (7th edition, Vol. I. p. 102), but at

1.10 P.M.[65]

[Footnote 65: According to Lord Macartney, the tide rises at full and new

moon, between 8 and 9 feet perpendicular. A northerly wind always causes

the highest tide, the current of which is from S.E. by S. to N.W. by N.,

and has a velocity of about 3 miles an hour.]

The proper carrying out of the objects of the geognostic enquiries was

hampered by unforeseen obstacles and difficulties. One day the rain would

be so heavy, that the slight covering of our apartments would be

insufficient to protect us any longer from the beating of the rain which

fell in bucketsfull, and began to leak through innumerable seams and

cracks on to the beds, tables, and floor. Did any one think to shelter

himself in the hut of a neighbour?--ere long there commenced a regular

emigration, which very speedily came to a conclusion, by each and all

having the melancholy satisfaction of perceiving that Fortune had set to

work with rigorous impartiality, and had resolved to let each one of us

feel the weight of her displeasure. And so we passed the long dreary hours

in our comfortless huts, that gave free entrance to wind and rain, with

umbrellas outspread or wrapped in our India-rubber cloaks, gazing moodily

at the numerous cases full of valuable instruments, which, instead of

being serviceable to science, were, by the loss of so many splendid

opportunities, doomed to inactivity.

[Illustration: RAINY DAY AT ST. PAUL.]

Fortunately, all showed themselves animated by the utmost zeal for the

undertaking and its successful issue; and, in a word, each fresh

avalanche of difficulties, which sought to thwart our exertions and impair

our forces, served only to reawaken the energies and reanimate the

confidence of each and all amid all our calamities.

So soon as the hovel we inhabited, which had enabled us to make

observations upon the direction and strength of the wind rather than

secured us any accommodation for sleep, had been in some degree restored

to its original condition, we availed ourselves of the slight improvement

in the weather, to examine a tolerably numerous collection of very

beautifully bound books, which were found stowed away in one of the

recesses for books running into the four partitions, and had in all

probability much to dread from the rain-water trickling through the

covering of the roof. These had been brought hither by a former proprietor

of the island, and when it was sold were transferred with the rest of the

stock of tools, &c., to M. Ottovan, who occasionally resided at St. Paul

for a month or two, but seemed, so far as the condition of the books went,

rarely to meddle with them. It was curious enough, however, to encounter

in a lone desert island, so many evidences of the most refined

civilization, so we shall cite in a note some of the most interesting of

this library of about 150 different works, which deserved a better fate

than to moulder away undisturbed till they fell into dust.[66]

[Footnote 66: Among these were the works on Natural History, by Charles

Bonnel (Neufchâtel, 1783); J. S. Laharpe's "Abrégé de l'Histoire Générale

des Voyages, Paris, 1816;" Dacier's "Translation of Horace into French,

with Notes and Critical Remarks. Paris, 1816;" "De la Félicité Publique;

ou, Considérations sur le sort des Hommes dans les Différentes époques de

l'Histoire: A. Bouillon: from the Printing Establishment of the

Typographical Society, Paris, 1776;" "Essay on the Life of the Great

Condé, by Louis Joseph, Prince de Condé, at present in England, London,

1st May, 1807;" "Précis des Journées 15, 16, 17, and 18 Juin, 1815, ou Fin

de la Vie Politique de Napoleon Buonaparte, par M. Giraud, auteur de la

"Campagne de Paris en 1814;" Paris, 1815, 1st vol. 8; "Histoire des

Guerres des Gaulois et des Français en Italie, avec le tableau des

évènemens civils et mílitaires qui les accompagnèrent et leur influence

sur la civilisation et les progrès de l'esprit humain." "Depuis Bellevise

jusqu'à la mort de Louis XII., par lex Adjutant-Général Auguste Jubé,

tribun." "Depuis Louis XII., jusqu'àu Traité d'Amiens, par Joseph Servan,

Général de Division. Dediées à S. M. l'Empereur. Paris, an. XIII. (1805)."

"Manuel des habitans de St. Dominique, contenant un précis de l'histoire

de cette isle depuis sa découverte, etc., par S. J. Duc[oe]urjoly, ancien

habitant de St. Dominique; Paris, 1800, an. X, 2 vols.]

Less fortunate were we in our researches for any document which could in

any way throw any light, direct or indirect, upon the former history of

St. Paul. The only piece of writing which we found that had reference to

the island, was a licence drawn up during the reign of Louis Philippe,

dated 20th February, 1846, to M. Adam, of St. Denis (in the Island of

Bourbon), to proceed to carry out a certain undertaking in the schooner

"_La Mouche_," 30 tons' burthen, under the protection of the French flag.

"_La Mouche_," is the same boat in which Viot had made so many voyages to

and fro between St. Denis and St. Paul. This document, which the poor old

Frenchman drew out one evening from a drawer thickly strewn with dust,

insensibly led the conversation to the quondam owners of St. Paul, and

thence naturally to an enquiry, on our part, as to the number of graves

which dotted this romantic offshoot of Père la Chaise. "The climate is far

too healthy, and the island far too little frequented, to admit of there

being many graves in St. Paul," replied Viot. Of the blacks, whom M. Adam

had once worked so unmercifully on the island, very many perished here

owing to the severity of their treatment, but no one knows where their

bodies lie;--very possibly their bones lie scattered about the island,

like the remains of the much persecuted petrel (_prion turton_), which the

predatory gull throws carelessly from him after he has stripped off the

flesh, and gorged himself on the most delicate morsels. Only two graves

are known to the present residents,--one is the resting-place of an

Englishwoman, who died on board a merchant-ship which happened to be near

the island, and whose grave was dug in the earth on the north side of the

crater-basin; the second covers the body of a ship captain, who was

accidentally drowned in the basin by the upsetting of a small boat, as he

was approaching the bar in heavy weather. His grave is at a short distance

behind the huts of the colonists, and bears traces to this day of the

solemn feelings with which it was erected; an enclosure of large stones

neatly arranged, make the site and its object at once recognisable.

Shipwrecks are unheard of at St. Paul; at least, none such have been known

to occur since it has been occupied by man. On the other hand, they are of

more frequent occurrence at the sister island, as has very lately been

evidenced by the catastrophe of the _Meridian_. However, the elements are

not always to blame for such lamentable occurrences. Ships are sometimes

dashed to pieces on the shores of Amsterdam in the finest weather, so that

one is almost induced to believe that these misfortunes are occasionally

resorted to intentionally, so as to realize some high insurance on a

vessel which has probably already become half unseaworthy--a not very

conscientious method of doing business, of which, however, some of the

natives of Greece and the borders thereof are not unfrequently guilty. In

February, 1855, a North American whaler struck upon the north-east side of

Amsterdam in a calm, and with a clear sky overhead, so that the entire

crew, 30 in number, were able to secure the provisions and their kits. The

captain, with one of the ship's small boats, made for the Island of St.

Paul, 42 miles distant, in the hope, probably, of getting assistance

thence. A lucky destiny so willed it, that (the accident having occurred

in the finest season of the year), a vessel of M. Ottovan's, which by a

strange coincidence was named _L'Ange Gardien_ (the Guardian Angel), lay

at anchor inside the crater-basin, loading with fish. The shipwrecked crew

were indebted to his circumstance that, within 14 days more, they found

themselves at Mauritius. A report circulated among the residents of St.

Paul that the captain of the stranded ship had landed with some of his

companions in a boat on the N.E. of Amsterdam, with the intention of

searching for a sum of several thousand dollars which a previous visitant

to this island was said to have buried there for some mysterious reasons.

While the captain was on shore, vainly searching for a considerable time

after the buried treasure, the shipmaster left in charge in his absence

came too near the island, whereupon the vessel had been lost upon one of

the numerous reefs which lie off the shore. A part, it was added, of the

buried money had, in fact, been recovered. According to Viot, the captain

had dug up 1000 dollars (above £200), and one of his companions 300

dollars.

At last, on the morning of 3rd December--the fifteenth of our stay at the

island--the sky shone so brightly that one could, with more probability

than hitherto, cherish the hope that the various operations we had been

compelled to lay aside might finally be brought uninterrupted to a

successful conclusion. However, the very wet day was again exceedingly

unfavourable for open-air observations, especially astronomical, inasmuch

as a pretty strong North-east wind incessantly drove over the island

clouds of rain, the very heaviest of which, attracted by the mass of the

island, broke right over our heads. Fortunately this spell of bad weather

did not last as long as the first; and when, on 6th December, the _Novara_

once more made her appearance at the island, and enquired by signals as to

the progress made in our appointed work, we were so fortunate as to be

able to reply by the same means, that the most important portion had been

completed, and that the officers and naturalists were ready to re-embark.

About 9 A.M., the frigate anchored in 25 fathoms, close to the spot where

the English ship _Fly_, Captain Blackwood, lay in 1842. It was the third

time that the _Novara_ anchored off St. Paul. Twice before had she

experienced unusually tempestuous weather, which compelled her to sheer

off from such a perilous coast, and expose herself to be lashed for days

together by the raging giant waves of the infuriated element.

One of the boats sent by the frigate to take us off to the ship, brought

at the same time some presents, in memory of the Expedition, for the

residents of the island, who had been so hospitable and obliging during

our stay. The presents consisted of ship biscuit, salted meat, and various

other edibles, wine, a musket, woollen blankets, clothes, shoes, tools,

medicines, vinegar, oil, &c. The simple, modest fellows were immensely

pleased with these unexpected presents, and Viot especially seemed

overjoyed on seeing a number of tools, for want of which many of the

repairs necessary in the interior of their anything but air-tight wooden

habitations, were daily becoming more apparent.

We left a book on the Island of St. Paul, in which the principal memoranda

of what we had achieved were set forth in three languages (German,

English, and French), with the view of supplying to future scientific

visitors, data for further researches and observations, and at same time

incite them to prosecute these we had ourselves made.

We insert here this document, which will yet give witness, probably, of

the scientific activity of the Austrian Expedition at the Island of St.

Paul in the Indian Ocean, at a period when those engaged in it will long

since have voyaged to

"That undiscovered country from whose bourne

No traveller returns."

"The Imperial Austrian Frigate, _Novara_, 44, under the command of

Commodore the Chevalier von Wüllerstorf-Urbair, engaged in a voyage round

the globe for scientific purposes, anchored at nine in the morning of

19th November, 1857, on the Eastern side of St. Paul, with the purpose of

prosecuting astronomical, magnetic, meteorological, and geodesical

observations and measurements, and at same time examine thoroughly the

natural history of the island. Extremely unfavourable weather in great

measure delayed the expedition; and, after having successfully carried out

a series of observations and researches, the results of which will in due

time be published, the officers and naturalists in charge of the various

departments, on the 6th December of the same year, quitted St. Paul, each

bearing with him the most pleasing reminiscences of that interesting

island, and of its three poor, but eminently kind inhabitants.

"For the guidance of future observers the following memoranda may prove

useful:--

"I. That the spot at which observations were taken was on a small

eminence, north of the huts of the colonists, and which may be recognized

by a small pyramid of stones, on which the Austrian Expedition marked the

observed latitude 38° 42' 55'' S., and the longitude 77° 31' 18'' E. of

Greenwich.[67] Further that:--

[Footnote 67: The time, which we took from the Cape Observatory by four

excellent chronometers, gave, on our voyage between the Cape and St. Paul,

a period of forty-six days, a difference of 3 h. 56 min. 11 sec., which

the island was E. of the Cape, so that adding the Longitude of the latter

East of Greenwich (by nautical almanack), 1 h. 13 min. 55 s., we have the

Longitude of St. Paul 5 h. 10 min. 6 s. East of Greenwich (77° 31' 30''

E.) Between Madras and St. Paul, during a long passage of sixty-seven

days, and with six chronometers somewhat less accurately set than the

preceding, St. Paul was found by observation to be 0 h. 10 min. 51.8 sec.

West of Madras (2° 42' 55'' W.) By the longitude of the Observatory of

Madras, 5 h. 20 min. 57 sec. East of Greenwich (80° 14' 15'' E.), as

furnished by the Director of the Observatory, Major Jacobs (whereas the

nautical almanack gave 5 h. 21 m. 3.77 sec. = 80° 16' 0-1/2''). The

longitude of St. Paul would be 5 h. 10 m. 5.2 s. East of Greenwich (77°

31' 23'' E.) The average of the two measurements gives as the average 5 h.

10 m. 5.6 sec., or 77° 31' 26'' E. to be assumed as the final longitude of

St. Paul, while the latitude was taken from the various means of the

height of the sun at the meridian on an average of days. An additional

computation in which allowances were made for the various corrections,

gave, as the latitude, 38° 42' 47'' S.]

"II. That the direction of the true meridian line drawn from this point to

the nearest opposite shore of the South side of the crater-basin was

marked by an oblique (St. Andrew's) cross.

"III. That the tidal-gauge was situated on a rock near the landing-place,

and that the rise of the tide above the mean level of the water (3 feet 5

inches), was marked on a slab of rock smoothed for the purpose.

"IV. Lastly. The magnetic observations were taken in a hut erected for

that express purpose on the little plateau behind the settlers' huts,

where at the same time various sorts of useful trees were planted by the

Expedition.

"The names of the officers and naturalists who, under the superintendence

of the commander of the Imperial Expedition, took part in the various

scientific operations were:--for Astronomy and Terrestrial Magnetism,

Lieutenant Robert Müllar; Botany, Dr. Edward Schwarz and M. Jellinck;

Geodesy and Meteorology, Lieutenant Eugen Kronowetter; for the

Trigonometrical Measurement of the Crater-basin, Lieutenant Gustavus

Battlogg; for Geology, Dr. Ferdinand Hochstetter; Ethnology and Physical

Geography, Dr. Karl Scherzer; Zoology, G. Frauenfeld and J. Zelebor;

Draughtsman and Artist, Joseph Sellemy."

[Illustration: PLATE V.--TRACK FROM ST. PAUL TO POINT DE GALLE. (CEYLON).]

Towards 5 P.M. the last boat came off with the measuring and levelling

instruments, and various articles of baggage.[68] The embarkation was

finally completed. Half-an-hour later the _Novara_ weighed anchor, and we

steered, favoured with most splendid weather and full of pleasing

anticipations, for the adjacent island of New Amsterdam. Not without

sundry twitches of sadness did we remark the sharp crater of St. Paul

gradually fade away like a vision in the gloom of approaching night; and

many undying memories must attach to our residence on that lonely,

world-forsaken island.

[Footnote 68: Remembering how many bottles and glass tubes were shattered,

we have not thought it beyond our province to recommend future scientific

travellers to bring with them a good supply of duplicates of all

instruments liable to breakage, as it is very difficult to get such

insignificant articles replaced out of Europe, and we frequently found on

this occasion the want of some such little instrument interposed an

obstacle to the further usefulness of the instruments.]

And now, at the moment of our departure from the island, be it permitted

us to cast a retrospective glance at the various results obtained by the

Expedition of the _Novara_ during her stay at St. Paul.

Never hitherto on this island, so important by its geographical position

for ships trading with China, the East Indies, Australia, and New Zealand,

have astronomical and magnetic observations and geodesical measurements

been so thoroughly ascertained as by the _Novara_ expedition. Upon a

carefully measured base-line, various points of the upper and lower

margin of the crater were accurately laid down by means of the Theodolite,

and the whole island submitted to a geometric network of angles. At the

same time the geologist, with the aid of the compass and the patent

levels, prepared a chart originally intended for geological purposes only,

while the draughtsman of the expedition added to its value, by skilfully

sketching in from these given points the configuration of the coast-line

of the island. By their united efforts there has been published a chart of

St. Paul, which gives even to the minutest details an entirely correct and

accurate representation of the form and surface of the island. This minute

chart, or plan, was prepared on a scale of 132 Vienna fathoms to one

Vienna inch, or 1/9504 of the natural size. Moreover, it is intended

preparing, from this map and from the various outlines and views taken on

the spot, a plastic model of the island after Nature, which, moulded in

gypsum, will give scientific inquirers the most accurate conception of its

singular structure. Not less interesting for navigators in the Indian

Ocean will be the publication of the various observations which, during

our stay of 18 days, were made with the barometer, thermometer,

tide-gauge, and gauge of the velocity of currents, taken at certain fixed

hours, day and night, as also the soundings in the crater-basin, and on

both sides of the bar. Although the complete publication of these _data_

must await the appearance of the nautical portion of the present work, we

shall give here the most important of these results. The extreme length of

the island from N.W. to S.E., is three nautical miles; the superficial

area is 1,600,000 Vienna square klafter--1 Vienna klafter = 1 fathom = 6

English feet--100 English square feet = 92-986/1000 Vienna square feet.

The highest point of the crater-basin is 846 feet; the greatest diameter

of the upper rim of the crater is 5490 feet; the least 4590 feet; the

greatest diameter of the basin at the level of the sea is 3984 feet, and

the least 3444 Vienna feet.

The observations on the state of the weather, taken with much difficulty,

are not intended to include the regular observations on the exterior of

the island, and in like manner some of those taken in the harbour, or

basin of the crater, must be accepted with a certain limitation. For

similar reasons, we were unable to fix the rate of the current setting

from the sea into the basin, although we secured most extraordinary

results considering the circumstances. The amount of specimens of natural

history which was procured, was very limited, but on that account was the

more valuable. To the geologist, it must be of the very highest interest

to find that St. Paul has been classified, with scientific precision, and

by dint of personal examination and research, in one of the four main

divisions in which, according to the scheme of Alexander Von Humboldt, the

volcanic formations of the earth may be divided. Measured by the latest

distribution of the volcanic strata by the description of stone found, as

laid down by the greatest of German naturalists, St. Paul belongs to the

same class as Chimborazo, Popocatepetl, Teneriffe, &c., in a word, to

what is known as the Chimborazo formation. A section of the east-side,

taken in profile, lays bare its entire geological history, and forms one

of the most instructive means of coming to direct conclusions as to its

geological structure.

The birth of this island from the bosom of the deep, combined with

eruptions of lava and scoriæ, was the last effort of the subterranean

forces. Since that period it has been subject wholly and solely to the

various terrestrial influences, although the lapse of centuries has not

been able to extirpate the last traces of the volcanic fire which once

poured forth its currents of molten lava. A large proportion of the level

ground is hot, and at the lower edge of the rim of the crater appear

several hot springs, the temperature of which, as already remarked, is so

high that fish, eggs, potatoes, &c., can be cooked on them in a few

minutes. The highest point of St. Paul rises 870 feet above the basin of

the crater. Its walls rise abruptly at an angle of about 85°, while the

upper surface of the island (with the single exception of a small plateau

of about 400 feet on the north side) stretches, at first level from the

periphery of the upper margin of the crater, gradually falling away

towards the sea-coast, at an angle of about 13°. On its North-west coast,

where it is from 100 to 200 feet in perpendicular height, the island

presents several small pyramids of pumice, like parasitic warts on the

principal mass.

Like the geologist, the botanist also found in this wild spot an unusual

opportunity of acquiring accurate information as to the occurrence and

propagation of certain kinds of plants in a primitive soil. Six grasses

and one reed (_cyperaceæ_) form the vegetation of the island, one rush and

three or four of the grasses forming the majority. The botanist having

ascended to the plateau found there two grasses, both of which grew to a

certain height only, and at certain places; the one (in the immediate

vicinity of the settler's huts,) the oat, or _avena_; the second a

_digitaria_, in the neighbourhood of the terraced fields, directly

opposite the entrance to the crater, in warm positions, which, so soon as

the earth is a little disturbed, emit jets of steam. It is still uncertain

whether the other kinds of grass, _Poa_ and _Setaria Holcus_, belong

exclusively to St. Paul, or are to be included in the more general group

of geographical plants known as that of the islands of Edward's Island,

Kerguelen's Island, and St. Paul.

Among the grasses there spring up here and there, but on the whole very

sparsely, some wild vegetables which have been planted by previous chance

visitors.[69] In the crater there are also _Sonchus arvensis_ and one

_Plantago_ (Plantain). On the south margin of the crater are _Cerastium_

(maize-ear chickweed), and _Stellaria media_ (chickweed); both grow on a

small piece of ground, and are far from thriving. Of _Cryptogamia_ the

botanist found four sorts. Two _Parmelias_, one _Evernia_, and one

_Cladonia_, the first-named overrunning the blocks on the edge of the

crater with great luxuriance.

[Footnote 69: Such as _Rumex acetosella_, _Cynara Scolcymus_ (artichoke);

_Solanum tuberosum_ (species of nightshade); _Daucus carotta_ (carrot);

_Petroselinum sativum_ (parsley); _Brassica oleracea_ (sea-kail);

_Raphanus sativus_ (horse-radish).]

Of _Algæ_ there were found 33 species. The stones rolled backwards and

forwards by the action of the waves, as also those surfaces which remained

covered at lowest tide, were entirely covered with _Dicurella flabellata_.

Most numerous was _Gigartina radula_, just in a state of fructification.

Every movement of the water calls up slender, delicate _confervæ_, and

pale and coloured _luminariæ_. The breakers have crowned the stones with

festoons of the _Macrocystis pyrifera_. Of Liverworts there were found

_Marchantia_ and _Jungermania_; of foliaceous mosses, _Sphagnum_

(bog-moss), and two kinds of _Bruym_. Two ferns, just beginning to bear

fruit, were found on the plateau, and one _Lycopodium_ (club-moss), which

thrives pretty well, and frequently grows on the _Sphagnum_. On the whole,

the botanist of the expedition found on the island, 11 _Phanerogamia_, 4

_Lichens_, 33 _Algæ_, 2 ferns, 2 Liverworts, 3 foliaceous mosses, 1

_Lycopodium_. In this enumeration are included the European vegetables

cultivated by the residents, as also some untended plants, which

apparently have been introduced with the vegetables, or have been brought

hither by previous visitors. The stony substratum of this island is barely

covered with a plastic vegetable substance, which fills the cracks. The

walls of the crater, as also the entire plateau, present to view a plain,

unrelieved expanse of grass; not, however, like fields clothed with sward,

but single tufts pressing one upon the other, which seem like the

grave-mounds of a hundred bygone generations of plants. Frequently, at the

foot of a block of pumice, all overrun with grasses of all sorts, one

comes upon a moss or a stem of fern on one of the pieces of lava that has

been washed up, or perceives with amazement in some out-of-the-way place,

and utterly neglected, good old acquaintances from Europe, such as

carrots, parsley, potatoes, &c., which apparently have been begun to be

cultivated on some of the terraces, whence they have propagated themselves

in a wild state all over the island. But not a tree, or bush, is to be met

with throughout the island.

In like manner, although the zoologist seemed to have but a poor prospect

at St. Paul, it presented materials for most satisfactory speculation to

the attentive naturalist. Only one of the grasses is infested by an

insect, which appears in great numbers, a very tiny _cicada_ (cricket),

the _Delphis hemiptera_, of which, according to the zoologist of the

expedition, it is hard to say whether it became indigenous to St. Paul

before, or contemporaneous with the arrival of man. Among other insects

that have certainly been introduced here, the zoologist found the common

bluebottle-fly, a gnat, the universally found cockroach, the book-tick

(_acarus eruditus_), one kind of earwig, and the flea; besides the

_Isopodis_, our common barrel-worm,[70] in almost fabulous quantities.

These animals invariably follow man wherever he plants his foot, living

upon garbage or decaying organic matter. With the exception of the

clothes-moth, which has probably been introduced among the wool-stuffs,

there are in the island no butterflies, none of the been tribe, no

_Neuroptera_. Mites also need scarcely be reckoned, since the only

representative, the common cheese-mite, is more apt to become extinct than

to thrive; on the other hand, there are two kinds of spiders, for which

the enormous number of flies furnish sufficient food.

[Footnote 70: These loathsome animals cover the island in such quantities

that one of the naturalists reckoned them at 6,000,000,000, counting 100

as the minimum to each square foot of the island.]

The species belonging to the sea are somewhat more plentifully

represented, although, with few exceptions, very small and insignificant.

The largest shell fish, a _Tritonium_, only attains a length of 3 inches;

_Patella_, which is very plentiful all round the island, is only 1 inch

long; several sorts of snails (such as _Buccinum_, _Defrancia_,

_Mangelia_, _Paludinella_, _Adeorbis_, _Janthina_, _Fissurella_,

_Scutellina_, _Lepidopleurus_, _Bulla_, _Asteronotus_, _Doto_), are barely

a few lines in length, or even less.

The _Brachiopoda_ are represented by a very inferior member, the

_Terebratulina_, only two lines long, which, however, is a giant compared

with one of the two only kinds of mussel, _Kellia_ and _Lima_, which are

occasionally met with here, and are only half-a-line in length.

Among the _Vertebratæ_, the fishery of which is the principal object of

the visits annually paid to the island, one, the _Cheilodactylus_, a

spinous-finned fish, which is extraordinarily abundant all round the

island, supports an important fishery, while _Thyrsites Atun_ were

frequently caught with rod and line from the frigate.

Of _Amphibiæ_, there is not a vestige to be found on the island; the birds

belong for the most part to the powerful-winged web-footed birds that

frequent the open ocean, as, for example, the _Diomedea exulans_ (great

albatross or man-of-war bird), _D. chlororhynchus_ (yellow-billed

albatross), _D. fuliginosa_ (a new one not determined), _Lestris

catarractes_, _Storna sp: Prion Vittatus_, of which the four last-named,

at the time of our visit, had both eggs and young. Of birds with

fin-shaped wings, there was the golden-crested penguin (_Apterodytes

chrysocoma S._), living in two distinct colonies among the precipitous

overhanging cliffs, with innumerable young, already of a pretty good

size.[71] We also remarked several other winged denizens of the deep, which

had alighted on our ship during the last few days immediately preceding

our arrival at St. Paul. According to the fishery-people, the other birds

of the island quit it altogether so soon as their young have grown

sufficiently, and only return when the next breeding season comes round.

[Footnote 71: One of the zoologists, Mr. Zelebor, endeavoured to kill two

penguins that had been caught alive in the island, the one with arsenic,

the other with chloroform. Of the latter, a quantity was administered

enough to have killed a man, but which scarcely affected the penguin, who,

in a quarter of an hour after, seemed quite restored to himself. The

second, which had swallowed two tea-spoonsful of arsenic, died eight hours

later.]

In contradistinction to the sea-birds, M. Frauenfeld remarked but one

single land-bird, a swallow, whose movements seemed to indicate that he

was watching a breeding female. A stray bird on this lonely spot of earth,

nearly 3000 miles away from the main land! Hundreds of questions

suggested themselves on thus unexpectedly coming upon so well-known a

wanderer. What could have condemned him to this self-imposed exile? Was he

a straggler? Was it the first time he had selected this island for a home?

Had it been his own cradle? And would he at some future period find

companions to visit with him, and ultimately share these solitary desolate

abodes?

There were no seals visible,--they have retreated before the attacks and

stratagems of their insatiate pursuer the seal-hunter, and for a long

period have ceased to frequent the island. Indeed, St. Paul furnishes not

a single specimen of mammal peculiar to itself; for all the members of

this great natural division at present on it,--such as goats, swine, cats,

&c.,--having become wild, must necessarily be classed, however unusual,

with rats, mice, and the like. In other respects, all these have not

varied in the slightest from the type of the domesticated animal (although

they have probably lived wild for a hundred years past), except that they

are very shy and avoid the presence of man.

While upon these various points, the stay of the Imperial Expedition at

St. Paul gave many splendid results by means of observations and

scientific collections, it was also productive of a number of important

practical benefits for seafaring people. The geodesical results, for

instance, obtained by the Expedition, demonstrate that there is formed by

the basin of the crater at St. Paul's, despite the small extent of its

coast-line, a secure natural haven which would afford substantial

facilities for ships, to which, on their voyage to China, Australia, or

anywhere in the East Indies, any accident has happened, necessitating

complete and speedy repair, or which might require fresh provisions for

their crews, stricken with scurvy after a long voyage. For, although the

depth of the basin of the crater in the centre is very considerable, and

although the squalls of wind from the N.W. are often very violent, the

ship can always make fast to the land, and so ensure the requisite

security. How far the assistance so cheerfully rendered by science may

have been called for, or how far the route at present traversed by sailing

vessels makes that assistance desirable, must be left to the judgment of

those nations, such as the English, French, and Dutch, which, as having

possessions washed by the Indian Ocean, have a direct interest in the

future condition of such a harbour of refuge, situate equidistant from

Asia, Africa, and Australia.

The morning after our departure from St. Paul, that is to say, on 7th

Dec., we found ourselves not more than ten miles distant from Amsterdam.

The first view of the island greatly resembles that of St. Paul, and the

hypothesis gained constantly in probability that the geological formation

of Amsterdam is nearly identical with that of St. Paul.

A whaler was cruising in the neighbourhood of the island, while one of his

slim whaleboats was pursuing a school of sperm whales, which sported about

in great numbers.

Towards 7 A.M., a boat approached from the whaler _Esmeralda_, Captain

Pierce, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, to ask for surgical assistance for

a sailor who, while engaged a few days previously in hauling a captured

fish alongside, had had his left hand so severely injured by one of the

lines, that amputation had seemed the sole remedy. The Captain had, in

genuine Yankee fashion, assumed the duties of surgeon, and performed the

operation himself. Now that it was over, and when neither praise nor

censure could benefit the patient, he was anxious to know whether he had

done right or wrong. While one of the ship's surgeons was getting ready,

as requested by the captain, to proceed to the bedside of his patient, the

whaler informed us he had already been absent from his family in the

States five months, and would proceed hence to the Sandwich Islands and

the Northern grounds, and finally return home round Cape Horn. If the take

of fish proved good, he hoped to complete the voyage within two years.

Whale-fishing, in truth, is not only a very dangerous and laborious, but

also a most precarious pursuit. Occasionally a ship gets loaded within a

brief space with oil and whalebone, by which, of course, the owner or

charterer makes a splendid profit, and the entire crew obtain a handsome

share. But frequently does it happen that, after a voyage of fifteen

months and more, there is not a single fish taken, in which case the hardy

sailors, who are entirely dependent for their pay upon a share of the

spoil, have had all their labour and undergone all their privations in

vain, while the freighter is poorer by a good round sum. The bare chance,

however, of a rich haul is sufficient to raise to 8000, the number

(probably on the increase) of the ships of varying tonnage and

nationality, which at present encounter the anxieties, dangers, and

hardships attaching to the whale-fishery. It is calculated that, were it

possible to anchor them within signalling distance of each other, they

would form a complete girdle round the earth at the Equator. In other

respects, the incessant activity of the whaler is not without its

advantages for science, since the observations and communications of many

of the captains connected with the whaling business have essentially

contributed to extend our acquaintance with atmospheric phenomena,

especially in high latitudes, on both sides of the Equator.

The loquacious captain, an uncommon quality in a Yankee, could not conceal

his astonishment at encountering an Austrian man-of-war in such a latitude

in mid-ocean, and adverted to this unexpected phenomenon. Captain Pierce

further complained bitterly of the weather, and said that, as long as he

had sailed the Indian Ocean, he had never at this season experienced such

tempestuous weather as during the last week; which was further confirmed

by several other whalers, regular visitors to these waters. Respecting

Amsterdam, Captain Pierce, unfortunately, could give us but very little

information. He had never set foot on the island, nor did he know whether

it was accessible at all. But he spoke highly of the availability of the

coasts for valuable fish. Nowhere in the Indian Ocean, the Captain

remarked, was there such an abundance of fish of all descriptions as at

the Southernmost point of this little-known island. Consequently most

whalers, on their course Southwards, approach this island, and send out

boats to bring in supplies of fish suitable for the table. Usually the

boat is filled in a few hours with delicious food caught with the rod and

line, when the fish are forthwith salted, in sufficient quantities to

supply the crew for several weeks.

Is Amsterdam really a sister-island of St. Paul? Is it, too, of volcanic

origin, upheaved by the same subterranean energy, and does it still show

similar traces of long-continued activity? These questions pressed on us

for solution all the more vividly as we neared this inaccessible island,

when we recalled to mind the mysterious phenomena which D'Entrecasteaux

had observed here in March, 1792, and which have remained unexplained to

this day.[72] The French Expedition saw, it is true, clouds of smoke

emerging alternately from a subterranean opening close to the shore, but

without being able to satisfy themselves whether the vegetation had been

set on fire by the hand of man or by volcanic action, the wind which blew

direct from the island making it impossible to land, unless one was

prepared to run the risk of being suffocated by the rolling masses of

smoke. There was, therefore, to be solved, at Amsterdam, the mystery as to

whether the pillars of smoke, which were observed by the naturalists of

the French Expedition of 1792, issuing from the soil adjoining the sea,

were produced by an actual eruption, or were caused by subterranean fires

in activity.[73]

[Footnote 72: La Billardière, Rélation du voyage à la recherche de la

Peyrouse, fait par ordre de l'Assemblée Constituante pendant les années

1791-94, Paris, 1800. (Vol. I., pp. 112, 113.)]

[Footnote 73: Vide Alexander v. Humboldt's "Kosmos," Vol. IV., pp. 412 and

585; also Physical and Geognostic Remarks, by the same author, prefixed to

this volume.]

About 11 A.M., the two jolly-boats of the _Novara_ were lowered to look

for a landing-place on Amsterdam, while the frigate stood off and on,

under easy sail, at an offing of five or six miles. Our whaling informant

had told us the most abundant fishing-station was at the south point of

the island, while the best place for disembarking was on the N.W. shore.

As, however, upon consideration, it was deemed advisable, looking to the

probability of a N.E. gale springing up, to get to windward of the ship,

so as to be able to fetch her more speedily on our return, the S.E. side

was selected, and our course laid for it accordingly. Along the

acclivities of the coast pyramids of loose stones were visible, resembling

those on St. Paul, but more numerous and of larger dimensions, the entire

island seeming altogether on a much larger scale, and more lofty. On the

West side we observed rocky precipices of from 1000 to 2000 feet in

height, fissured with deep clefts and rents, whereas on the South and

S.E., these presented a more gradual slope.

For above an hour we steered along the shore, which rose sheer out of the

water, without being able to detect a single point at which it was at all

practicable to disembark, so as to scramble up to the high ground. The

entire Eastern side is hemmed around with steep abrupt precipices of 150

to 200 feet high, not unlike skilfully-erected bastions, and clothed with

long thick grass.

As we drew near, we could plainly discern in the water-courses that

descend upon the upper slope--radiating, as it were, from all sides of the

highest peak, which was enveloped in clouds--numerous streams of water,

each pouring through a rift like a thread of silver, after which,

precipitating itself over the steep precipices on the shore, it washed

like a small torrent over terraces and banks of lava, till it was lost in

the sea. If these streams are swollen by the heavy rain in winter, they

may form waterfalls, as mentioned by early navigators, which must impart a

far less pleasing character to the landscape. Two small patches of

dazzling white, like fresh fallen snow, which were visible high above the

slope, we could not make out with the utmost power of our glasses. The

green colour which enveloped the entire island seemed to indicate the

existence of grass vegetation resembling that of St. Paul.

At last, when we had got within two cables' length of the shore, we

encountered enormous green flakes of floating sea-weed, which, becoming

entangled with the rudder, made further progress possible only by dint of

most strenuous exertions. This proved to be the same gigantic sea-tangle

of the Southern hemispheres (_Macrocystis Pyrifera_), which likewise

constitutes a barrier of _fucus_ on the East side of St. Paul. The

sea-calves mentioned by older describers were nowhere to be seen; but on

the other hand we had an opportunity of satisfying ourselves as to the

immense abundance of fish which frequent the coast of the island in a

truly astonishing degree, although the American whaler had prepared us by

his remarks. From bow and stern of the boat hooks and lines were hung out,

and several of the crew were at once kept busy hauling in the lines, at

the end of each of which there usually struggled a fish of some two or

three feet long. These were chiefly umber fish, which are also very

plentiful about St. Paul, where, from their delicacy, they formed a

favourite dish at our otherwise very frugal repasts.

We had now got so near, that we could distinctly perceive grass and the

stems of ferns growing among the clefts of the rocks. However, although

there was a dead calm, and the sea outside was as smooth as glass, the

long ground-swell of the ocean, with its broad flat billows, caused such a

heavy surf on the rock-bound stony beach, that the attempt to pass it was

not to be thought of. The further we advanced along the coast in a

northernly direction, the more distant we got from the ship, and unluckily

in an equal degree our hopes were disappointed of finding a spot at which

we could land, and scramble from the strand up the steep bank to the level

ground above. The south-easternmost point, which at a distance presented

the appearance of a low headland jutting out into the sea, behind which we

had hoped to find a good landing-place, now that we had got close to it,

proved to be a small detached rock; while the shore, as far as the eye

could reach, rose like a wall to a height of from 150 to 200 feet. There

now hove in sight five whalers, who seemed hunting that most valuable of

all the inhabitants of the deep, of the spots frequented by which Maury's

renowned Whale Charts have lately supplied so interesting and useful a

code of instruction. These charts, which are based on a vast number of

observations, of the tracts of ocean and seasons of the year at which

whales are most frequently seen, will at the same time greatly tend to a

solution of the question as to the migration of these enormous mammals;

for it has never yet been settled, whether these animals flee from the

pursuit of man to remote seas, thus continually constraining their

pursuers to seek their prey in new waters, or whether, (as is the most

prevalent opinion), they are always entirely extirpated from one locality,

and accordingly are only to be met with in any numbers in some different

area, in which man has as yet only rarely, if ever, disturbed them.[74]

[Footnote 74: Some very valuable and detailed particulars of the Whale

fishery are to be found in Maury's incomparable work, "The Physical

Geography of the Ocean," and in Dr. Hartwigs' "Popular Treatise on

Animated Nature in the Ocean. (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1855.)"]

After an hour-and-a-half of continuous rowing, and when, in our very

unsuitable boat, we had got about 7 nautical miles distant from the

frigate, we at last found a smooth spot between two reefs, which projected

above the level of the sea like a breakwater, and at once let go the

boat's anchor. A regular landing-place, however, was not to be hoped for

at this point. It was necessary first to make a spring to a block of rock,

and thence, picking one's way among stones rendered slippery by being

covered at flood-tide, endeavour to reach the beach. This we all

succeeded in accomplishing over the rough rocks, without any mischance,

and at last we stood on the firm soil of the Island of Amsterdam, at a

spot which assuredly had never before been trodden by human feet, unless

by some castaway. For only in consequence of the sea being perfectly calm,

which at this season was quite unusual, were we able to reach the shore at

this point.

What a scene of wildest desolation, and inaccessible solitude now met our

gaze! Around us nothing but huge blocks of basalt, some rolled about by

the breakers, and so slippery with half-dry _algæ_, that one was in danger

of falling at every stride; others with their angles and indentations as

sharp, as when first violently torn from their original bed; and behind

these gigantic blocks, a perpendicular wall of rock rising 200 feet sheer,

composed of a schistus of basaltic lava lying regularly and horizontally

one over the other, intermixed with red or brown slag, and yellow tufa.

Immense holes and cavities in the rocky wall, as also the empty spaces

between the broken blocks that had fallen down, and the vast air-holes

scooped out in the lava beds, furnished an undisturbed nestling-place for

flocks of a beautiful sea-swallow, with glossy black head, silver-grey

body, and bill and feet of carmine red--the most elegant and attractive

contrast of colours that can well be imagined upon any bird. These pretty

creatures afforded great amusement to the sportsmen of our little party,

while the geologist acquired a better idea and more information as to the

mineralogy and geognosis of the island beneath the steep wall of rock,

than he could have obtained above, where all seemed to be covered with

thick green grass. But the botanist and zoologist found but little to

repay their search on the beach. The same _Algæ_, the same grasses, the

same _patellæ_ (limpets), as at St. Paul, even to the same caterpillars

swarming upon every tuft of grass in numberless quantities. At several

points, fresh, perfectly good, sweet spring-water trickled down from the

heights, and we could thus confirm the relations of former explorers, that

the island contains fresh water; but whether it can be got at, still

remains a very uncertain question. As we were convinced, after several

examinations and much exertion, that to ascend the precipice from this

spot was impossible, it was resolved, after the men had rested, and a few

observations had been made with the sextant, to re-embark and endeavour to

find a more suitable spot for disembarking.

We quitted this first spot about 2 P.M., and continued to steer along the

coast in a N.E. direction. The character of the scenery remained almost

unaltered. The steep shore wall indeed dipped somewhat occasionally, but

it was never less than 100 feet above the level of the sea. At various

points there appeared, as at St. Paul, between the tufa strata, black

veins of basalt, and fragments of scoriæ, lying upon reddish-brown slag.

Our curiosity, however, was especially excited by the appearance of small

trees and low bushes. At first, while we were yet at some distance, we

could barely distinguish a few dark, clear, green spots amid the universal

dull olive appearance of the vegetation that covered the island; now that

we were keeping closer in, we plainly saw small trees, which seemed most

to resemble forests of pine, as also what appeared to be thick close

brushwood of a light green colour, with which large patches of the middle

and lower slopes of the island were covered. In vain did we watch for some

spot in this singular island at which we might land and climb; at length,

after steering several miles further along the coast, and passing several

promontories advancing from the island, and numerous isolated rocks, we

came, towards 3.30 P.M., upon a number of lava-blocks that had fallen from

above, and, forming a sort of dam or bulwark between the sea and the

shore, seemed to render disembarkation possible. The boat's anchor was

again dropped, and we proceeded to make for the shore by dint of jumping,

as before, from rock to rock; a method of reaching land more agreeable and

better suited to penguins than decorous philosophers!

Among the rocks on the strand lie fragments of shipwrecked vessels--pieces

of masts and yards--dumb witnesses of human disaster, and suffering, and

death! At this point the shore was not very steep. The masses of rock

piled here on each other in wild confusion, made our ascent more

practicable than at our former landing-place, though perhaps they

necessitated greater circumspection. Dr. Hochstetter and M. Zelebor, as

also Lieutenant Kronowetter, and a sailor, started for the height. A

ridge, grown over with grass and rushes, and forming a line of

communication between the upper and lower portions of the island, seemed

the most accessible point. at which to mount to the high ground above. At

first the path led over the colossal rampart of broken rocks and through

the surf, after which came clumps of rushes and clods, in which the former

grew, and thence upwards over masses of slag. It was a regular Sisyphean

task. On the loose rolling _débris_ beneath the feet, for every five feet

forwards, one slipped four backward, so that to climb this height of

little over 100 feet, took nearly a whole hour. At last the adventurous

scramblers stood on the top of the island, on a small bare cone of scoriæ,

whence they were able to overlook a portion of the ground. Dense rush-like

grass, as high as a man, thickly covered the entire surface--

half-withered, half of a lively green; here broken short off by wind and

rain, there still standing erect. Further progress was not to be thought

of, not even as far as the green clump of bushes which had already been

observed from the boat, although it was scarcely a hundred paces distant,

on the surface of the declivity, and although a closer examination

promised to afford many interesting details as to the vegetation on the

island. It would have been necessary to make one's way either through

heaps of withered rushes, requiring to be broken down at every moment, or

across thick, matted, fresh, slippery grass, in order to get anywhere near

the copse that resembled the pinewood. Moreover, owing to the short

allowance of daylight that remained, both were for the present

inaccessible.[75] Evening was coming on, and it was necessary to think of

our return, as we were at a distance of at least eight miles from the

frigate. With the help of pocket-handkerchiefs, which they had tied to the

reeds, the explorers readily found again the place at which they had

ascended, and now speedily returned to the improvised landing-place,

where, meanwhile, the naturalists that had remained behind had occupied

themselves with collecting specimens on the beach, and amid the

surrounding rocks. A singular spectacle now presented itself to the

astonished view. A couple of lucifer matches that had been thrown aside

without further thought, had burst into flames amid the parched rush beds,

and dense volumes of black smoke forthwith rose upon the surface of the

island. The fire speedily spreading among the thick dry grass, soon

assumed a formidable breadth, and ere long a considerable portion of the

east coast of the island was in a light flame. There was now presented to

the members of the _Novara_ expedition, the same spectacle as that

witnessed by the naturalists of the _Recherche_, when D'Entrecasteaux

passed here some sixty years before. It may safely be assumed that the

fire, and the thick wreaths of smoke then visible were like those of

to-day, the result of man's hands, and not of subterranean forces--in

fact, kindled in all probability by fishermen, who were clearing this

uninhabitable island of the close impervious brushwood that so greatly

impedes locomotion, and were rendering it capable of being traversed, as

well as susceptible of cultivation. During the night of 7th and 8th

December, 1857, the sky was clear and cloudless, and the flames crackled

and leaped high above the beach, in an elliptical area, which must have

measured a couple of miles in its major axis. A dense, copper-coloured,

luminous cloud of smoke rose straight into the air, where it spread out

horizontally, till at last a long trail of smoke stretched in a S.E.

direction to the farthest horizon, entirely covering the upper part of

the island. About 2 A.M., according to the report of the officer of the

watch, the spectacle was still more grand and imposing. The conflagration

at that time extended over an immense surface, so that the imagination

might naturally enough be disposed to regard this as the bursting forth of

the pent-up flames of a volcano, with the usual accompaniments of red-hot

streams of lava, clouds of floating ashes, and pillars of flame mounting

to heaven.

[Footnote 75: One of the shipwrecked crew of the _Meridian_, in an article

in the _Nautical Magazine_, for 1854, p. 75, describes at some length the

difficulties of access to this island. We quote it here as a supplement to

our own experiences:--"After we had clambered up to the top by means of

ropes, and after much exertion and considerable danger, we found the

island for a space of two or three miles thickly covered with reeds, from

5 to 8 feet high; behind rose a lofty hill, also clothed with reeds.

Fortunately, during our stay on the island, there was a sufficiency of

fresh water, although in summer, in all probability, there is a great

scarcity. So long as we remained, constant rain fell upon the summit of

the mountain, and kept the numerous little brooks full of water. In order

to signal our situation to any ship that might be passing, we set the

reeds on fire; but the flames spread more furiously than we had

anticipated, so that our lives were endangered. A considerable quantity of

young birds were picked up, which had fallen victims to the flames. On the

29th August, to our great joy, a ship, the _Monmouth_, hove in sight, and

observed our signal; but the surf was at this time so violent that no boat

could reach us. At last, on 31st August, a boat came near enough to the

shore to make us a signal to proceed eastward over the rocks. We set off

at once, but found the path very rugged, and owing to the immense masses

of rock lying around, excessively difficult. Besides reeds and brushwood,

there were no other plants but parsley and endive (_cichorium intybus_).

During the first half of the following day we found no water, but we found

the hail very grateful, which day and night fell incessantly, alternating

with rain. At the first watering-place we came upon an English sailor,

whom the captain of the _Monmouth_ had despatched to assist us. He

informed us we must make for the north side of the island, as no boat

could reach the shore at the spot where we had gone ashore. The

south-coast is the worst part of the island; there the surf breaks

continually against the iron-bound coast; there is nothing resembling a

beach--only here and there enormous blocks of a hard species of stone,

that have fallen from time to time from the cliffs above. On 2nd

September, we had neither provisions nor water. The following day,

however, we found water, and a few cabbage-stalks, which several years

before had been sown by some whalers, and fortunately had thrived. On 5th

September, we reached what is called the Cabbage Garden, and the same

evening arrived at the place where the boat was awaiting us."]

Fortunately, this gigantic conflagration must have done far more good than

harm to this desolate island, covered as it was for the most part with

reeds, since, without destroying any of the vegetation that could be of

service to man, it will greatly facilitate examination by future voyagers,

and adapt it for settlement by fishers and others, who at present seem to

leave it utterly abandoned.

Towards 6 P.M., as it was already getting dark, our two boats set out on

their return to the frigate, from which in the course of the day they had

been distant about fifteen miles. However a fresh Northerly breeze having

sprung up we were able to make sail, and at 7.30 P.M. once more reached

the frigate, when we were received with a storm of questions, principally

turning upon the mysterious far-visible conflagration,--which had been

kindled by a couple of humble Vienna lucifers! During our visit to the

island a variety of observations were also made on board the frigate, to

obtain the position of Amsterdam, as also to determine the elevation of

the most prominent peaks of the island, and the outline of the shore. The

results of these gave the following: latitude 37° 58' 30'' S.; longitude,

77° 34,' 44'' E. of Greenwich; elevation of the highest summit (nearly

corresponding with previous observations), 2891 English feet; of the

second highest, 2651 feet; the length of the South coast, as measured from

the frigate, 32,359 feet; of the Western shore, 5507 feet.

There was still some faint hope that we might visit the island next day.

However, during the night the wind sprung up, the weather became variable,

and we saw ourselves compelled to renounce our cherished desire to

investigate the island thoroughly, the rather that, owing to the

unpropitious weather during the last few weeks, the stay of the _Novara_

in these latitudes had been prolonged so considerably beyond the period

fixed, that no more time could be spared, if it were desirous to avoid

sacrificing the objects of the Expedition with reference to other and more

important departments of scientific enquiry, by engaging in them at a

season in all probability highly unfavourable for the purpose.

Consequently our observations in Amsterdam remained most imperfect;

although the geologist of the expedition was enabled to clear up the

uncertainty hitherto prevailing as to the geological structure of the

island, and to determine upon scientific data, that Amsterdam is an

extinct volcanic cone, of precisely the same character, and belonging to

the same order of volcanic formation as the sister island of St. Paul;

that it probably contains on itself all the usual indications of its

volcanic origin, and that its upheaval probably took place at the same

period. On the other hand, the naturalist regretted to see slip the

opportunity so rarely vouchsafed, of instituting a comparison between the

respective vegetations of these islands, and of making evident how,

simultaneously with the advance of a more luxuriant, and more multiform

vegetable organization, there also appears an entirely new race of

animals, and how closely allied in the economy of nature is the existence

of individual specimens with certain fixed pre-existent types. In any case

St. Paul, which we enjoyed an opportunity of examining in the utmost

detail, is, of the two islands, the most important to the commerce of the

world, not merely as a finger-post on the most frequented deep-sea route

in the Indian Ocean, but also as a haven of refuge for ships and crews.

Already the crater-basin of St. Paul has served in case of need as a

desirable asylum for ships that are half unseaworthy. Not many years since

an English man-of-war steamer came to St. Paul, after a severe storm in

the Indian Ocean, during which her engine broke down, and her rudder was

knocked away, after which she, for twelve days, was steered by a temporary

rudder. The vessel, after discharging the heaviest part of her equipment,

was easily brought into the interior of the crater-basin, and was there

hove down for several months on the Northern barrier, undergoing repairs.

On the 8th December, about 4 A.M., only a dark cloud of smoke in the

distant cloudless horizon indicated the position of Amsterdam. The island

itself, properly speaking, was actually out of sight, for a fresh N.W.

breeze had driven us merrily along during the night. The last hope was now

dissipated of being able to obtain a view of the North side of Amsterdam.

We were now rapidly approaching the region of the S.E. Trades. The breeze

freshened and crept gradually to the West, thence to the South, and

finally to the Eastward. This veering of the wind proved to be a

fore-runner of the Trades, which we got into on 14th December, in S.

latitude 28° 1', E. longitude 85°.

On that day a merchantman hove in sight, which, with favouring breezes and

all sail set, soon bore down on us. She came down without any flag, and

stood right across our bows at so short a distance that we could plainly

read her name--the _Bunker's Hill_, of Boston--on her stern. Thereupon we

ran up our flag; and, as it is as gross a breach of the code of maritime

politeness for a ship to pass across the bows of another in the open ocean

without saluting, as for a man on land to brush quickly across another's

path without apologizing, a blank shot was fired at this unmannerly

American. To this manifestation etiquette lays it down that, as the

hoisting of her flag by a man-of-war is a direct challenge for any

merchantman that may be in sight to hoist its flag, any neglect of these

universally recognized rules must involuntarily give rise to suspicions.

After we had fired the blank shot, the American, by a telegraph of

flag-signals, enquired the latitude and longitude, which in merchant ships

in the open sea is pretty frequently resorted to, in order to know where

precisely they are, as they are not able to make such frequent

observations as ships of war. Before anything else, however, it was

necessary to settle the question of saluting; and this the obstinate

Yankee, in spite of the warning signal, seemed resolved not to notice,

although he well knew the seriousness of his position, as was abundantly

evident in the celerity with which several ladies and gentlemen, whom we

could discern on deck, flew to seek shelter below! A second report,

accompanied by a ball over his stern, at last brought this pertinacious

captain to his senses, and the whistling of the shot had the desired

effect. The "Stars and Stripes" were run up, upon which we signalled the

required latitude and longitude. Probably it was but a petulant explosion

of a silly national vanity, as also the consciousness of commanding a

handsome crack "clipper," that could speedily run out of gun-shot, which

led to this premeditated and persistent violation of one of the most

ordinary rules of politeness. Indeed, even the vessels of the North

American navy itself are frequently compelled in the open sea to treat

their fellow-countrymen in a similar manner; and the captain of the

war-steamer _Minnesota_, looking after the North American interests in

China, was obliged, as we learned afterwards at Shanghai, to enforce a

compliance with established sea usages on one of his seafaring

compatriots, by dint of cannon-shot, in accordance with the undoubted

practice of all maritime nations.

The south-east Trade, which we had hoped would drive us on our destined

course, was not so strong or so steady as we had expected, chiefly

perhaps in consequence of the influence exercised by the Australian

continent, the temperature of which during this, the summer season of the

Southern Hemisphere, is raised to an extraordinary degree by its sandy

surface, that when the air has become thus warmed, it ascends and becomes

more rarefied in its lower strata, in consequence of which its elasticity

becomes so great as to drive back the surrounding colder atmosphere, and

only admit it to contact with the heated air at its most remote limits.

This occurs the more readily, that the heated air, after it has risen to

the more rarefied tracts, expands on all sides, and at a certain distance

from the lower level, begins to add to the pressure of the atmosphere. In

this self-acting zone of increased atmospheric pressure, the winds,

however, are naturally more faint, and, to observers who happen to be on

the exterior of this zone, always appear to take their rise from the

further side. For this reason, probably, we fell in with easterly breezes,

so long as we had the Northern portion of Australia to the eastward of us.

At any rate, the equilibrium of the air seemed to be disturbed, as we

could plainly perceive from the weather and the confused sea. At last on

18th December, the heavens seemed somewhat more propitious, though the

wind still continued easterly; indeed occasionally blew from the north,

and frequent squalls of rain poured pitilessly down upon us. The more,

however, we increased our distance from the Australian continent, that is,

from all land to the eastward, the more steadily blew the south east

Trade. And so we kept standing steadily forwards, till at last, on the

24th December, in 6° 4' S. Lat., and 82° 34' E. Long., we reached the

eastern boundaries of the Trades and got into that of calms.

The heat, which thus far had spared us, began now to be most oppressive,

and was felt all the more owing to the air being extraordinarily damp and

dense. Frequently in the afternoon a passing shower of rain, which would

sometimes completely flood the deck, would cool the air for a few fleeting

moments. Occasionally indeed we had westerly and more rarely

north-westerly breezes, but these were never of long duration, and were

incessantly broken by rains and squalls.

And at this same season, at which in our distant Fatherland, palace and

hut are decked out with unwonted attention, when golden fruits and elegant

presents glitter from the green fir-branches of the Christmas Tree, all

lit up with the neat little wax-tapers, when man's heart seems to overflow

with cheerfulness and love of his fellow-creatures,--at this season we

were languishing far from our dear ones, tormented with the intense heat,

scarcely able to realize to ourselves, that at home it must now be snow

and frost, while keen Boreas is whirling the snowflakes aloft, and howling

a grim accompaniment the while! However, we promised ourselves the

satisfaction of enjoying these pleasures at our own firesides, whereupon

our recollections of home and dear friends imparted to our minds a

wholesome stimulus, arising from the soul-inspiring conviction, that we

too were present in their minds and hearts at this hallowed season. Nay,

several of the officers of the _Novara_ Expedition were surprised when

far at sea, in the very midst of the Indian Ocean, with Christmas gifts,

which thoughtful friends had many months before entrusted to the care of

discreet fellow-voyagers.

After constantly struggling against calms and contrary winds, exactly at

the first stroke of the New Year, at midnight of 31st December-1st

January, we reached the Equator, which we were now crossing for the second

time, and began the year 1858 in the Northern Hemisphere.

On this New Year's Day we had nearly had a great disaster. A lad who was

coming down the shrouds fell overboard. The sea was perfectly calm and

smooth, but already on the morning of this very day we had seen many

sharks, those dreaded foes of man in the domain of ocean, so that the life

of the unfortunate youth seemed seriously imperilled. The same instant in

which the youth fell, saw a life-buoy thrown over, a boat prepared for

lowering, and all usual appliances for a rescue made available. But

although an excellent swimmer, he seemed to lose all presence of mind,

probably through fear, and must undoubtedly have been drowned, had not the

boatswain's mate, and two other sailors, leaped into the water and made

all haste to his assistance. Meanwhile the boat had been got into the

water, by which rescued and rescuers were got safe on board again.

A few months later, the boatswain's mate, for his gallant conduct on this

occasion, received, by the express orders of His Majesty, the silver cross

of merit, while the sailors were advanced one grade.

The current, which runs northward along the coast of Australia, but turns

off to the westward about the tenth degree of South latitude, so as to

pass southward of Ceylon, directly along the Equator to the Coast of

Africa, carried us far to the westward, in consequence of which we had

overcast, uncertain weather, with, for the most part, calms or light

breezes. As we found ourselves approaching the fourth degree of Northern

latitude, a rather fresh N.E. wind sprung up, probably the trade wind of

the Northern Hemisphere, which, however, as we neared Ceylon, again died

away to a calm.

At the same time, in lat. 5° 32' N., 79° 5' E., we fell in with a current

running more than two miles an hour. We had, as it turned out, got to the

westward of the roadstead of Point de Galle, in Ceylon, and found some

little difficulty in making headway against the current. On 7th January,

toward 3.30 P.M., land was made to the eastward, and an hour later, a

Cingalese canoe was perceived making for the frigate under sail. It was

the pilot boat, whose crew, having been informed by a Hamburg brig that a

large ship was in sight, had put to sea to meet us.

At the first sight of this little canoe, it was hardly possible to refrain

from amazement at the courage and hardihood with which the half-naked

Cingalese boatmen could put off some 30 or 40 miles to sea in such a tiny,

narrow boat, that barely gives them room to sit lengthwise. Two

cross-bars, or outriggers, projecting on one side, where they are

fastened externally to a rather massive beam, which swims parallel with

the boat, gave this canoe, apparently so fragile, such stability and

seaworthiness, that it is at all times not less safe than a boat of

European construction.[76]

[Footnote 76: These canoes resemble very closely the "proas," of the

Polynesian Islands, carrying a beam on one side, which is quite straight,

and always kept on the lee of the wind and sea, the change of course being

effected by simply shifting the sail, and steering with the paddle from

the opposite end.]

The natives steer with short paddles, and continue an incredibly long time

at this most exhausting work, as we must conceive it to be. And yet they

are to appearance a feeble race, except that the muscular system of the

upper part of the body is remarkably developed.

The dress of these people is remarkably simple, and usually consists only

of a piece of coloured linen cloth or calico, which, worn short like a

woman's petticoat, is thrown single-fold round the loins.

The pilot, though he could only make himself intelligible in broken

English, speedily came to a good understanding, and offered to sell us

bananas, pine-apples, and cocoa-nuts, as also Ceylon jewels, the latter of

which he carried on his person, secured in a parti-coloured cotton belt.

This reminded us that we were nearing the shores of the country in which

costly stones are found, but precisely on that account, as was natural,

our speculative pilot found but a poor market for his wares.

Off the coast we caught a shark 7 feet long, and 135 lbs. weight--a rather

juvenile specimen--whose teeth, which we examined, were already strong

and sharp enough to seize a man, and strip the flesh off him. Also a

number of large dolphins and other fish, sported in the dead water under

the frigate's stern, and provided plentiful employment for the harpoon and

the rod. Presently we found ourselves within six miles of the land, when a

large number of pirogues forthwith came swarming about us, all of a

construction similar to the pilot boat, and each manned by four half-naked

bronze natives. These offered fruits for sale, especially magnificent,

gigantic clusters of banana. On one such cluster we counted, arranged in

five rows, one over the other, not less than 175 bananas.

On the 8th January, we anchored in the unpicturesque haven of Point de

Galle, surrounded by groves of cocoa-nut palms, directly opposite the

lighthouse tower, and in a fine quartz sand bottom of 16-1/2 fathoms (103

feet English). All large ships, that only intend remaining a short time,

anchor in the open roadstead, the entrance into the inner harbour being

rather difficult, owing to numerous coral reefs. In the roads also lay the

English frigate _Shannon_, from which, in the absence of her captain, the

first lieutenant immediately came on board the _Novara_, and in the

handsomest manner put his services at our disposal.

As the only Austrian Consul on the island was resident in Colombo, M.

Sonnenkalb, the Consul for Hamburg, had the courtesy to receive us with

the most hospitable of welcomes, and proceeded to do us the honours of the

place.

On the 10th we hauled the frigate into the small inner harbour, in order

to facilitate the shipping of stores. The entrance is rather winding,

owing to the numerous shoals, and it is with some little difficulty that

one can find a comfortable, commodious berth among such a crowd of

shipping. We only saluted the flag of the dominant nationality--a

customary courtesy--and were replied to by the batteries on shore. An

officer of the frigate was then dispatched to announce our arrival to the

governor of the station--a major in the English army. This gentleman

seemed not to think it incumbent on him to put himself in the least out of

his way for us. Indeed, we even experienced some little difficulty in

procuring a sufficient supply of drinking water for shipment as stores;

but we must at the same time add, in justice to the representatives of

England in distant countries, that during our entire voyage this was the

one solitary instance in which English military official men did not

display that universal readiness to oblige, which, to their credit, is so

conspicuously and so kindly displayed by them in their intercourse with

foreign nations.

[Illustration: CINGALESE CANOE.]

[Illustration: VIEW OF ADAM'S PEAK FROM COLOMBO.]

VIII.

Ceylon.

STAY FROM 8TH TO 16TH JAN., 1858.

Neglect of the Island hitherto by the English Government.--

Better Prospects for the Future.--The Cingalese, their

Language and Customs.--Buddhism and its Ordinances.--Visit to

a Buddhist Temple in the Vicinity of Galle.--The sacred

Bo-tree.--Other Aborigines of Ceylon.--The Weddàhs.--

Traditions as to their Origin.--Galle as a City and Harbour.--

Snake-charmers.--Departure for Colombo.--Cultivation of the

Cocoa-nut Palm, a benevolent, Buddha-pleasing work.--

Polyandria; or, Community of Husbands.--Supposed Origin.--

Annual Exportation of Cocoa-nuts.--Rest-houses for

Travellers.--Curry, the National Dish.--A Misfortune and its

Consequences.--The Catholic Mission of St. Sebastian de Makun,

and Father Miliani.--Annoying Delays with restive Horses.--

Colombo.--A Stroll through the "_Pettah_" or Black Town.--Ice

Trade of the Americans with Tropical Countries.--Cinnamon

Gardens and Cinnamon Cultivation.--Consequences of the

Monopoly of Cinnamon.--Rise and Expansion of the Coffee

Culture in Ceylon.--Pearl-fishery.--Latest Examination of the

Ceylon Banks of Pearl Oysters, by Dr. Kelaart, and its

Results.--Aripo at the Season of Pearl-fishing.--The Divers.--

Pearl-lime, a Chewing Substance of wealthy Malays;--Annual

Profit of the Pearl-fishery.--Origin of the Pearl.--Poetry

and Natural Science.--Artificial Production of the Pearl.--The

Chank-shell--The Wealth of Ceylon in Precious Stones.--Visit

to a Cocoa-nut Oil Manufactory.--The Cowry-shell, a Promoter

of the Slave Trade.--Discovery of valuable Cingalese MSS. on

Palm-leaves.--The heroic Poem of "Mahawwanso," and Turner's

English Translation of it.--Hospitality of English Officials

in Colombo.--A second Visit to Father Miliani.--Agreeable

Reception.--The Antidote-oil against Bites of Poisonous

Snakes.--Adventures on the Journey back to Galle.--Ascent of

Adam's Peak by two Members of the Expedition.--The sacred

Footprint.--Descent.--The "Bullock-bandy," or Native Waggon.--

Departure from Galle for Madras.--The Bassos (shallows).--A

Berlin Rope-dancer among the Passengers.--Nyctalopia; or,

Night Blindness.--Fire on board.--Arrival in Madras Roads.

The inquirer who becomes acquainted by personal examination with the

important geographical position of the Island of Ceylon (called also

Seilan or Singhala), her commodious harbours, her productiveness, and her

marvellous climate, involuntarily wonders at the stepmother's part that

England has hitherto played with respect to this renowned island of palms

and spices, the Malta of the Indian Ocean, which of all the British

possessions in distant parts of the earth, has, till recently, received

the least care or attention.

It must be borne in mind, however, that Ceylon is an appanage of the

British Crown, and it is not an independent, self-supporting colony. Those

shortcomings of administration, for which the mother country is

exclusively responsible, have been hitherto a complete drag upon her

development. But the English people have this advantage over all other

nations, that once anything has been recognized to be useful and

imperatively required, they proceed to apply it with such energy, that

they are enabled to make up for any neglect with giant strides. During

late years many fetters have been knocked off which formerly impeded the

more active development of agriculture and commerce. The harbour of Point

de Galle (also called only Galle for shortness) has become a central

station for the steam-boat trade with the East Indies, the Burmese

Archipelago, China, and Australia. A telegraphic wire will ere long

stretch from Ceylon to England, such as even now unites the island with

the Coromandel Coast and India; a railway is in course of construction

between the most important commercial centres of the island, and so

obvious are the fundamental benefits it must confer, that ere long the

classical and incomparably beautiful island of Ceylon is destined to shine

a star of the first magnitude in the azure of the Indian Ocean, one of the

most prosperous, wealthy, and blest of islands!

The scientific researches of all kinds, which have in modern days been

instituted in Ceylon, have been attended with the most important results,

bearing upon its history and its various tribes, as well as on its natural

wealth; and the masterly and marvellous work Sir Emerson Tennent lately

published on the isle of Ceylon, seems intended to compensate for many

instances of neglect which Ceylon and its inhabitants have experienced

from the English since they seized on it.

Embracing all the three kingdoms of nature, and following up with learned

accuracy the history of the inhabitants, from the obscure traditions

attending their earliest settlement down to the present day, Sir Emerson

Tennent's work is a perfect pattern of a monography, although upon this

subject the German inquirer will involuntarily, and not without an

emotion of pride, recall to mind Carl Ritter's admirable, well-digested

publication upon Ceylon, in his classical work on Eastern Asia, doubly

meritorious by the very fact that the German scholar never set foot in the

country itself. There are, however, indeed few spots on earth which

present such inexhaustible subjects for the study of the historian as well

as the inquirer into physical science, of the poet and the political

economist, as this romantically-beautiful island, which we have been

taught to regard as the Garden of the World, as indeed the special site of

the Garden of Eden, the first abode of the progenitors of the human race.

We have not to do here, as in most of the islands of southern seas, with a

savage people, that have only, since the first appearance of Europeans,

emerged from a state of barbarism, and been raised one step towards

civilization, but rather find, as in the East Indies and China, a peculiar

type of civilization, which, although widely differing from that of

Europe, yet seems not less valuable and extraordinary. The whites (scarce

7000 in number, of whom 2482 are females), who live scattered over an area

of 24,700 English square miles, have hitherto been too few in number to

exercise any marked influence on the customs or mode of life of a native

coloured population of 1,726,640 souls, and hence it is that Ceylon

exhibits a more romantic and characteristic air than any other British

settlement in distant parts of the globe.

A people like the Cingalese, of such ardent imaginativeness, with a

splendid history, and a religion professed in the various realms of the

East by more than 300 millions of people, gains in interest the more we

become acquainted with them, and the more we make their traditions, their

mode of life, and their customs, the object of special inquiry.

The Cingalese, or indigenous natives (so named to distinguish them from

the other inhabitants of the island, belonging to other stocks and

amalgamated races, who at various periods had settled here, and who call

themselves Ceylonese), were entirely the offspring of Hindoo emigrants,

who, about five centuries before the birth of Christ, came from Hindostan

to Ceylon, and imported their own mode of government, and system of caste,

as also their arts, language, and religion, from the continent into the

island.