Part 199

They accordingly sailed for St. Helena in August 1871, and on the 6th of November left St. Helena for Tristan in an American whaler bound on a cruise in the South Atlantic. The captain of the whaler, who had been often at Tristan d’Acunha, had some doubt of the reception which the young men would get if they went as permanent settlers there, and he spoke so strongly of the advantages of Inaccessible Island, on account of the greater productiveness of the soil, and of its being the centre of the seal-fishing, that they changed their plans and were landed on the west side of Inaccessible Island on the 27th of November 1871,—early in summer. A quarter of an hour after, the whaler departed, leaving them the only inhabitants of one of the most remote spots on the face of the earth. They do not seem, however, to have been in the least depressed by their isolation.

The same day the younger brother clambered up to the plateau with the help of the tussock grass, in search of goats or pigs, and remained there all night, and on the following day the two set to work to build themselves a hut for shelter. They had reached the end of their voyage by no means unprovided, and the inventory of their belongings is curious.

+in der Gegend der Inseln.+

= he persuaded (+gewinnen+, str. v. tr.) his brother for his plan.

+überein´kommen+; to join — to Tristan = to undertake the adventurous voyage to Tristan.

= earn.

= to.

The vessel is bound on a cruise in the Atlantic, +das Schiff ist dazu bestimmt, im atlantischen Ozean umherzukreuzen+.

had — get = doubted (+zweifelte daran+) that the young men would be kindly (+freundlich+) received (+aufnehmen+). Use the active voice with ‘+man+’.

He went there as a permanent settler, +er ließ sich dort dauernd nieder+.

= and of its central (+zentral+) position for seal-fishing.

+das Tussockgras.+

here +Habseligkeiten+, Nom. Pl.

Section 237.

A CURIOUS STORY.

They had an old whale-boat which they had bought at St. Helena, with mast, sails, and oars, three spars for a roof, a door, and a glazed window; a wheel-barrow, two spades and a shovel, two pickaxes, a saw, a hammer, two chisels, two or three gimlets, and some nails; a kettle, a frying-pan, two sauce-pans, knives and forks, and some crockery; two blankets each, and empty covers which they afterwards filled with sea-birds’ down. They had a lamp, a bottle of oil, and six dozen boxes of Bryant and May’s matches.

For internal use they had two hundred pounds of flour, two hundred pounds of rice, one hundred pounds of biscuits, twenty pounds of coffee, ten pounds of tea, thirty pounds of sugar, three pounds of table-salt, a little pepper, eight pounds of tobacco, five bottles of gin, six bottles of Cape wine, six bottles of vinegar, and some Epsom salts. A barrel of coarse salt was provided for curing seal-skins, and forty empty casks were intended for oil. Their arms and ammunition consisted of a short English rifle, an old German fowling-piece, two and a half pounds of powder, two hundred bullets, and four sheath-knives. The captain of the whaler gave them some seed potatoes, and they had a collection of the ordinary garden seeds.

When they had been four days on the island, they had a visit from a party of men from Tristan, who had come on their annual sealing excursion. They were ten days on Inaccessible, and were very friendly in their intercourse with the new comers.

the whale-boat, +das beim Wallfischfang gebräuchliche Boot+. We have not a compound noun to render the English term. Say ‘They had an old boat, which had been used (+benutzt+) for whale-fishing and which they had bought in (S. 46, N. 6) the Island of St. Helena.

here +Überzug+, m., pl. +Überzüge+.

+Für ihre körperlichen Bedürfnisse.+

+Kapwein+, m.

+Jagdmesser+, m.

Section 238.

A CURIOUS STORY.

VI.

They told them that the north side of the island was better suited for a settlement, and transported all their goods (S. 236, N. 11) thither in one of their boats. Being familiar with the place, they showed them generally their way about and the different passes by which the plateau might be reached, and they taught them how to build to withstand the violent winds, and how to thatch with tussock-grass. Immediately after they left, the brothers set about building a house and clearing some ground for potatoes and other vegetables. They killed nineteen seals, and prepared the skins, but they were unable to make any quantity of oil. Towards the end of the sealing season their boat got damaged in the surf, and they were obliged to cut it in two, patch up the best half of it, and use it as best they could in smooth weather, close to shore.

They went from time to time to the upper plateau and shot goats and pigs. When they first arrived, they counted a flock of twenty-three goats; three of these were killed during the summer of 1871-1872 by the Tristan people (S. 157, N. 4), and six by themselves; the remaining fourteen remained over the winter of 1872. The flesh of the goats they found extremely delicate. Pigs were much more numerous, but their flesh was not so palatable, from their feeding principally on sea-birds; that of the boars was especially rank. They found the pigs very valuable, however, in yielding an abundant supply of lard, which they used for frying their potatoes.