he country. He had cleared and
cultivated about sixty acres of land, and turned his attention to
raising the coffee-plant and sugar-cane, with which he had been
furnished by the American Minister at Rio Janeiro. This settlement,
however, was finally abandoned, and in 1817 the islands were taken
possession of by the British Government, who sent a detachment for that
purpose from the Cape of Good Hope. They did not, however, retain them
long; but, upon the evacuation of the country as a British possession,
two or three English families took up their residence there
independently of the Government. On the twenty-fifth of March, 1824, the
Berwick, Captain Jeffrey, from London to Van Diemen's Land, arrived at
the place, where they found an Englishman of the name of Glass, formerly
a corporal in the British artillery. He claimed to be supreme governor
of the islands, and had under his control twenty-one men and three
women. He gave a very favourable account of the salubrity of the
climate and of the productiveness of the soil. The population occupied
themselves chiefly in collecting sealskins and sea elephant oil,
with which they traded to the Cape of Good Hope, Glass owning a
small schooner. At the period of our arrival the governor was still a
resident, but his little community had multiplied, there being
fifty-six persons upon Tristan, besides a smaller settlement of seven on
Nightingale Island. We had no difficulty in procuring almost every
kind of refreshment which we required--sheep, hogs, bullocks, rabbits,
poultry, goats, fish in great variety, and vegetables were abundant.
Having come to anchor close in with the large island, in eighteen
fathoms, we took all we wanted on board very conveniently. Captain
Guy also purchased of Glass five hundred sealskins and some ivory. We
remained here a week, during which the prevailing winds were from the
northward and westward, and the weather somewhat hazy. On the fifth of
November we made sail to the southward and westward, with the intention
of having a thorough search for a group of islands called the Auroras,
respecting whose existence a great diversity of opinion has existed.

These islands are said to have been discovered as early as 1762, by the
commander of the ship Aurora. In 1790, Captain Manuel de Oyarvido,, in
the ship Princess, belonging to the Royal Philippine Company, sailed, as
he asserts, directly among them. In 1794, the Spanish corvette Atrevida
went with the d