The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1885-10-17
TRISTAN D'ACUNHA.
A Tiny Oasis In Boundless wilderness Of
Water.

a Tiny OASIS In q Boundless Wudernots OF /
Water.
Probably the remotest and loneliest !
spot on earth is the little island of Iris
tan d Acunha This speck of an island,
which is only seven miles long and six
wide, lies almost midway between Afri-
ca and South America, and a thousand
miles south of the equator.
When Napoleon was imprisoned on,
st. Helena, it was thought that the
loneliest place in the world had been as
signed to him as prison. But st. Hell
ena is fourteen hundred miles nearer a
continent than is Tristan d'Acunha.
Many hundreds of miles of ocean lie be-
tween it and the smallest island nearest
to il. Tristan, in short, is tiny oasis
in boundless wilderness of water, go
from itin which direction you will.
1t is a rocky and cliff-girt little isle,
with solitary mountain q thousand
feet high rearing itself from the midst.
Weeks, and sometimes even months
elapse, without so much as the film of n
ships sail being espied in the distance
from its shores.
Yet on the lonely speck of rock and
EARTH there lives bright, cheerful,
thrifty Christian community which is,
seemingly, quite happy in its isolation
from all the rest of the world. There
are aboet q hundred inhabitants, all
Englishman and Englishwomen. The
N q ic of
eight, who was wrecked on the island
fifty years ago, and has ever since dwelt
there, and has become the patriarch of
the little company.
An English captain, returning from a
long voyage in the course of which he
anchored at Tristan, has recently given
very interesting account of the COM
munity. Those who compose it are
one and all farmers, cattle-raisers, and
shepherds. In the valley of the island
are fertile fields, where potatoes are
grown. On the slopes were grazing some
seven hundred head of cattle and AS
many sheep. The food of the people
consist for the most part of beef, NUT
ton, fowls, potatoes and fish.
AS to the dwellings, they are describ-
ed as being kept very clean and tidy, as
we might expect from English people,
and the people themselves are healthy,
robust and long-lived They have some
whaling-boats, and are very adventure
Gus in their sea-roaming after whales.
They sometimes row as far as twenty
miles out to intercept passing ship.
1t is often the case that that region is
assaulted by mighty tempests of wind,
while the island is subject at times to
what are called the rollers" huge
masses of high-raised water which fair
ly inundate the lofty shores.
Tristan used formerly to produce many
fruits and vegetables which can no lon
ger be grown there. The reason of thi;
is that the island is overrun by rats,
which escaped from ship that anchor
ed there, and which the people have
never been able to exterminate.
The people have preserved the Gus
toms of their English native land. Ii
the center of the settlement stands thu
little English church, to which all th'
inhabitants repair on Sunday mornings
Thus the church-bells OF England anC
the prayer and praise Of the hom'
churches find faint echo across thu
leagues of ocean which stretch between
the motherland and the lonely rock o
the Southern seas.
The people of Tristan, solitary as thei
island is, steadfastly refuse to leave it
They look upon it as their home; to SOM
it is their native land. The ships whicl
now and then touch upon its shores il
vain offer to bring them back 10 tn
haunts of civilization. They have grow
to love their loneliness, and to be con
tent with lot which is str auge and pa
thetic indeed. - Youths COmpdaion.