About thirty miles from this island are the Martin Van
Rocks, three hundred feet high. In the south Atlantic we sighted the
group of Tristan Da Cunha Islands which had a very gloomy, foggy
look. Tristan is inhabited by English people and I have been told
that the women are particularly handsome there. In this region it is
very chilly and damp and though the thermometer stood at fifty-five
degrees it seemed much colder. At this time we began to prepare for
the heavy weather of our Easting, as the run across the Indian Ocean
is called. New sails were bent and everything battened down. The days
were very short, the sun rising at about half past seven and setting
at five o'clock. We usually made the run about forty degrees south in
order to get better winds. What a dreary outlook it was! Nothing but
sky and water with waves which were mountains high. The only bit of
life outside of our ship's company was a number of birds of a
different nature from any I had ever seen and they followed the ship
day after day. Cape pigeons and albatross were in large numbers. We
caught many of the latter and measured them.
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