st is a bay, with a beach of black sand
where a landing with boats can be easily effected, provided there be a
southerly wind. Plenty of excellent water may here be readily procured;
also cod and other fish may be taken with hook and line.

The next island in point of size, and the most westwardly of the group,
is that called the Inaccessible. Its precise situation is 37 degrees 17'
S. latitude, longitude 12 degrees 24' W. It is seven or eight miles in
circumference, and on all sides presents a forbidding and precipitous
aspect. Its top is perfectly flat, and the whole region is sterile,
nothing growing upon it except a few stunted shrubs.

Nightingale Island, the smallest and most southerly, is in latitude 37
degrees 26' S., longitude 12 degrees 12' W. Off its southern extremity
is a high ledge of rocky islets; a few also of a similar appearance are
seen to the northeast. The ground is irregular and sterile, and a deep
valley partially separates it.

The shores of these islands abound, in the proper season, with sea
lions, sea elephants, the hair and fur seal, together with a great
variety of oceanic birds. Whales are also plenty in their vicinity.
Owing to the ease with which these various animals were here formerly
taken, the group has been much visited since its discovery. The Dutch
and French frequented it at a very early period. In 1790, Captain
Patten, of the ship Industry, of Philadelphia, made Tristan d'Acunha,
where he remained seven months (from August, 1790, to April, 1791) for
the purpose of collecting sealskins. In this time he gathered no less
than five thousand six hundred, and says that he would have had no
difficulty in loading a large ship with oil in three weeks. Upon his
arrival he found no quadrupeds, with the exception of a few wild goats;
the island now abounds with all our most valuable domestic animals,
which have been introduced by subsequent navigators.

I believe it was not long after Captain Patten's visit that Captain
Colquhoun, of the American brig Betsey, touched at the largest of the
islands for the purpose of refreshment. He planted onions, potatoes,
cabbages, and a great many other vegetables, an abundance of all which
is now to be met with.

In 1811, a Captain Haywood, in the Nereus, visited Tristan. He found
there three Americans, who were residing upon the island to prepare
sealskins and oil. One of these men was named Jonathan Lambert, and
he called himself the sovereign of t