Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1868-12-05
UNION AND AMERICAN
MID OCEAN.

Yankee Community ON n Lonely Il
land-A Romance OF the South Al
IRntie.
From an article in the Londol
Atheneum on the recent voyage o
Prince Alfred in the frigate Galatea
we extract the following account o
a curious little community dwelling
in mid-ocean:
On quitting Rio, the romance OF
the voyage began by a call at Tristan
d'Acunha, the largestrock in a lone
ly group of islets IN the great waters
"a group which is said to be fur
Their away from other settlements
than any other land in the world.
Here is a prime fact for romance.
One of the three rocks is called In
accessible, a second Nightingale, and
the third Tristan. The nearest spot
on which men live is st. Helena :;
and that dwarf island is triAe of
1000 miles to the north. A little
story, something like that of the
Pine Islanders, like that of the Pit
cairn Islanders, lends charm to this
lonely group. During the early days
ofEapoleon's captivity in st. Helena,
few sappers and guards were
thrown upon Tristan, who dug
ditch, raised a battery, threw up log
huts and cleared a patch of soil
When they had been year on their
lonely station, they were fetched
away, no one knew why. A corpo-
raj by the name of Glass got leave
to stay behind and keep the place
for the British crown. Three Yam
KEGS had been there before, one of
whom, a man named Jonathan Lam
BERT had taken possession of the
islet, not for the great republic, but
for Jonathan Lambert himself, who
was declared by Jonathan, in a reg
ular proclamation, to be sovereign
owner and prince of the then lonely
rocks. Jonathan being gone, Glass
took up the scepter, and persuaded
two fellows to stay and share his en-
pire Happily Glass had wife,
creole woman, and two children, so
that human interests came into play
at once. The little party, after max
ing Glass Governor of the island,
fell on the soil, part of which Lam
bert had cleared, and harvested
vast quantities of potatoes. Now
and then a stray seaman Joined the
colony, and two women came among
them from the distant cape. Seven
years after Glass and his folks were
left alone, the colony had grown in
to twenty-five men and three women.
Glass told the Captain of H. III. S.
the Berwick, " that they only re-
quired 4 few more women to make
the place all earthly paradise"
Glass is now dead, and his little
colony exists without either gov
ernor or government the men
growing potatoes andmaking shoes,
and the women, strange to say,
wearing crinolines.
The Prince went on shore and
visited the shanties Of those curious
people, to whom the chaplain offered !
his services in baptizing all the
Youngsters and marrying all the
stray couples who might feelvirtous-
ly inclined and ready for the yoke.
The youngsters came up in troops
TO be baptized; but when the rev
arend rpntleman mentioned mar
riage, the maidens were coy and the
bachelors shy to appear. Perhaps
they did not like marrying in the
Princes presence. Mr.. Miller gave
them two hours to consider his
proposition, and fingered in vain.
As he says, with much professional
regret, there were seven girls on the |
island old enough to marry, and
seven young men, all of whom were
eligible" for the sacrifice, yet the
two hours slipped away without
bringing the young men or the
blushing girls to the altar of hymen.
The Prince could not wait; and the
British chaplain, though burning
with zeal to bind these benighted
SWANS and nymphs in holy matri
mony, had to push off for the Gala
tea, leaving them as wild in morals
and free in life as they had been be-
fore his advent. Who will not SYM
pathize III such q case of clerical dis
tress