; IH,
174 THE A T L A N T IC . [criAP. n i .
winter. Tlieir daily allowance of food ivas reduced
to a quantity just sufficient to maintain life, and in
August they ‘ ivere little better than skeletons.’ Help
was, how'ei'er, near. Early in Yugust a multitude of
jienguins landed at a ‘ rookery ’ hard hy their hut,—
stujiid animals, which will scarcely get out of one’s
Avay, and are easily knocked doivn. with a stick, and
udth fleshy breasts, ivholesome enough, if with a
rather fishy ta ste ; and in the end of August the
females began to lay large blue eggs, sufficiently
delicate in fiayour.
A Erench barque hove-to off the beach in the middle
of September, and in her they shipped their seal-skins,
and bartered penguins’ eggs ivith her for biscuits and
tobacco. Had the barque arrived a week earlier the
brothers would have left the island ; hut the eggs had
set them up again, and they determined to remain a
little longer. In October a fore-and-aft schooner,
AA'hich j)roA'ed to be the ‘ Themis,’ a whaler from the
Cape of Good Hope, Avas seen standing toAvards the
island. A gale of wind blew* her off for a couple of
days, but she returned and communicated, landing
some men from Tristan, who had crossed to see Avhat
the hermits Avere about. Their guests remained a day
and a half, and returned to Tristan.
Early in November, th a t is, early in their second
summer, the brothers sAvam round the eastern headland—
Erederick Avith their blankets, the rifle, and a
spare suit of clothes—Gustav Avith powder, matches,
and the kettle in an oil-cask. They mounted by the
help of the tussock-grass to the top of the cliff,
went over to the Avest side of the plateau, and built
a small hut, Avhere they remained a month, living
CHAP. I I I .] B A H I A TO T H E CAPE. 175
on goats’ flesh and fresh pork. On the 10th of
Decemher they returned home, mended their thatch,
dug the early potatoes and put the garden in order.
On the 19th of Decemher the Tristan men made
their second sealing expedition. They remained nine
days on the island, and killed forty seals, one sea-
elephant, and eight of the remaining tAvelve goats.
They left some flour in exchange for an oil-cask, and
this was the last communication between the brothers
and the outer world until the ‘ Challenger’ called
eight months later. In January, Erederick sAvam
round the point again, and mounted the cliff. He
shot four pigs, ran the fat into buckets, and tlircAV
the hams down to his brother on the beach below.
He saw the four last goats, but spared them to
increase their nnmber. In Eebrnary a boat came
to the west side from Tristan, and its crcAv killed the
four goats, and departed without communicating with
the Stoltenhoffs.
The relations betAveen the Tristan people and the
brothers does not appear to have been so cordial
latterly as it was at first, and the Stoltenhoffs helieve
that the object of their neighbours in killing the
goats, and in delaying from time to time bringing
them some live stock Avhich they had promised them,
AA'as to force them to leave the island. It may have
heen so, for the Tristan men had been in the habit
of making a yearly sealing expedition to Inaccessihle,
and no doubt the presence of the energetic strangers
lessened their chance of success.
In March the brothers once more SAvam round the
point and ascended the cliff. After staying on the
plateau together for a fcAV days, it was settled that