Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara Volume I Part 17

E.) Between Madras and St. Paul, during a long pa.s.sage 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 a.s.sumed as the final longitude of St. Paul, while the lat.i.tude 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 lat.i.tude, 38 42' 47" S.]

"II. That the direction of the true meridian line drawn from this point to the nearest opposite sh.o.r.e 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 Mullar; 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."

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 antic.i.p.ations, 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 gla.s.s 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 s.h.i.+ps 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 compa.s.s 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 circ.u.mstances. 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 cla.s.sified, 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 cla.s.s 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 scoriae, 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 princ.i.p.al ma.s.s.

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 gra.s.ses and one reed (_cyperaceae_) form the vegetation of the island, one rush and three or four of the gra.s.ses forming the majority. The botanist having ascended to the plateau found there two gra.s.ses, 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 gra.s.s, _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 gra.s.ses there spring up here and there, but on the whole very spa.r.s.ely, 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); _Bra.s.sica oleracea_ (sea-kail); _Rapha.n.u.s sativus_ (horse-radish).]

Of _Algae_ 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 _confervae_, and pale and coloured _luminariae_. 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 _Algae_, 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 gra.s.s; 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 gra.s.ses 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 gra.s.ses 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 c.o.c.kroach, the book-tick (_acarus eruditus_), one kind of earwig, and the flea; besides the _Isopodis_, our common barrel-worm,[70] in almost fabulous quant.i.ties.

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 b.u.t.terflies, 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 quant.i.ties 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 sh.e.l.l 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 _Vertebratae_, the fishery of which is the princ.i.p.al 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 _Amphibiae_, 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 s.h.i.+p 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 a.r.s.enic, the other with chloroform. Of the latter, a quant.i.ty 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 a.r.s.enic, 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 cla.s.sed, 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 s.h.i.+ps, 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 s.h.i.+p can always make fast to the land, and so ensure the requisite security. How far the a.s.sistance so cheerfully rendered by science may have been called for, or how far the route at present traversed by sailing vessels makes that a.s.sistance 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, Ma.s.sachusetts, to ask for surgical a.s.sistance 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 fas.h.i.+on, a.s.sumed 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 s.h.i.+p'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-fis.h.i.+ng, in truth, is not only a very dangerous and laborious, but also a most precarious pursuit. Occasionally a s.h.i.+p gets loaded within a brief s.p.a.ce 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 s.h.i.+ps of varying tonnage and nationality, which at present encounter the anxieties, dangers, and hards.h.i.+ps 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 lat.i.tudes, 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 lat.i.tude 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 quant.i.ties 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 sh.o.r.e, 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 ma.s.ses 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 Billardiere, Relation du voyage a la recherche de la Peyrouse, fait par ordre de l'a.s.semblee Const.i.tuante pendant les annees 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 fis.h.i.+ng-station was at the south point of the island, while the best place for disembarking was on the N.W. sh.o.r.e.

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 s.h.i.+p, 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 sh.o.r.e, 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 gra.s.s.

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 sh.o.r.e, 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 gla.s.ses. The green colour which enveloped the entire island seemed to indicate the existence of gra.s.s vegetation resembling that of St. Paul.

At last, when we had got within two cables' length of the sh.o.r.e, 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 const.i.tutes 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 astonis.h.i.+ng 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 gra.s.s 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 gla.s.s, 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 pa.s.s 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 s.h.i.+p, 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 sh.o.r.e, 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 accomplis.h.i.+ng 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 a.s.suredly 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 sh.o.r.e 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 _algae_, 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 s.p.a.ces 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 amus.e.m.e.nt 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 gra.s.s. But the botanist and zoologist found but little to repay their search on the beach. The same _Algae_, the same gra.s.ses, the same _patellae_ (limpets), as at St. Paul, even to the same caterpillars swarming upon every tuft of gra.s.s in numberless quant.i.ties. 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 s.e.xtant, 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 sh.o.r.e 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 scoriae, 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 pa.s.sing 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 sh.o.r.e, seemed to render disembarkation possible. The boat's anchor was again dropped, and we proceeded to make for the sh.o.r.e 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 s.h.i.+pwrecked vessels--pieces of masts and yards--dumb witnesses of human disaster, and suffering, and death! At this point the sh.o.r.e was not very steep. The ma.s.ses 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 circ.u.mspection. Dr. Hochstetter and M. Zelebor, as also Lieutenant Kronowetter, and a sailor, started for the height. A ridge, grown over with gra.s.s 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 ma.s.ses of slag. It was a regular Sisyphean task. On the loose rolling _debris_ 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 scoriae, whence they were able to overlook a portion of the ground. Dense rush-like gra.s.s, 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 gra.s.s, 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 gra.s.s, soon a.s.sumed 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 pa.s.sed here some sixty years before. It may safely be a.s.sumed 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.