The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1885-11-13
An Ocean-BOund Home.

Probably the remotest and loneliest
spot on the earth is the little island of
Tristan d d'Acunha. This specll of an
island, which is only seven miles long
and six wide, lies almost midway be-
tween Africa and South America, and
a thousand miles south of the equa-
tor.
When Napoleon was imprisoned on
St. Helena, it was thought that the
loneliest place in the world had been
assigned to him as a prison. But ST..
Helena is fourteen hundred miles near
er a continent than is Tristan d. Acun-
| ha. Many hundreds of miles lie be-
tween it and the smallest island near
est to it. Tristan, in short, is a tiny
oasis in boundless wilderness of wa
ter, 90 from it in which direction you
will.
1t is a rocky and cliff-girt little isle,
with solitary mountain a thousand
feet high rearing itself from the midst.
| Weeks and sometimes even months
elapse, without SO much as the film Of
a ships sail being espied in the dis
tance from it's shores.
Yet on this lonely specks sof rock and
earth, there lives a bright, cheerful,
thrifty Christian community which is,
seemingly, quite happy in it's isolation
from all the rest of the world. There
are about hundced inhabitants, all
Englishmen and Englishwomen. The
Oldest inhabitant is a man Ofseventy
eight, who was wrecked on the island
| fifty years ago, and has ever since
dwelt there, and has become the pa
trlarcn of the little company.
An English captain, returning from
a long voyage in the course of which
he anchored at Tristan, has recently
given a very interesting account OF the
| community. Those who compose it
are one and all farmers, cattle-ralsers,
and shepherds. In the valleys of the
island are fertile fields, where potatoes
mainly are grown. On the slopes were
grazing some seven hundred head of
cattle and as many sheep. The food
of the people consists for the most part
of beef, mutton, fowls, potatoes, and
fish.
AS to the dwellings, they aredescrib-
ed as being kept very clean and tidy,
as we might expect from English
pCCsDlC, ttlltt IilSllISClNCS ctIC iiCSiltIy,
robust and long-lived. They have
venturous in their sea-roaming after
whales. They sometimes row as far
as twenty miles out to sea to intercept
a passing ship.
1t Is often the case that that region
is assailed by mighty tempests Of wind,
while the island is subjected at times
-l.4 / 81
masses of hish-raised water which
fairly inundate the lofty shores.
Tristan used formerly to produce
many fruits and vegetables which can
no longer be grown there. Thereason
of this is that the island is overrun by
rats, which escaped from 81 ship that
have never been able to eNternlinate. ?
Thepeople have preserved the GUS
toms of their English native land. In
the little English church, to which all
the inhabitants repair on Sunday
mornings. Thus the church-bells of
England and the prayer and praise of
the home churches find g. faint echo
across the leagues of ocean which
stretch between the motherland and
the lonely rock of the Southern seas.
The people of Tristan, solitary as
their island is, steadfastly refuse to
leave it, They look upon it as their
home; to some it is their native land.
The ships which now and then touch
upon its shores in vain offer to bring
them back to the haunts of civiliza-
ton. They have grown to love their
loneliness, and to be content with a
lot whicn is strange and pathetic in
deed--Youth's Companions.