Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1885-12-11
thousand miles south 81 yhe enua.

JnOu06nu miles south OF Hhe e1ua-
tor. III q. s. 3. q e M ii
When Napoleon was imprisoned on
ST. Helena, it was thought that the
ioneliest place in the world had been
assigned to him as a prison. But St.
Helena is fourteen hundred miles near
era continent than is Tristan d Acun-
ha- Many hundreds ofsmiles lie be-
tween it and the smallest island near
est to it,. Tristan, in short, is a tiny
oasis in h boundless wilderness OF wa
ter, 60 from it in which direction you
will. s@t5$s i. y >.4r u. III. r..
It is a rocky and cliff-girt little isle,
with q solitary mountain a Thousand
feet high rearing itself from the midst.
Weeks and sometimes even months
elapse, without 50 much as the film OF
ship sail being espied in the dis
lance from it's shores. - >>>"
Yet on this lonely speck of rock and
earth, there lives O bright, cheerful
thrifty Christian community which is,
seemingly, quite happy III its 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
triarch 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. Theefood
OF the people consists for the most pert
OF beef, mutton, 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 themselves are healthy,
robust and long-lived. They have
some whaling boats, and are very ad-
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
SO what is called the "rollers" Or huge
masses of high-raised water which
fairly inundate the lofty shores.
Tristan used formerly to produce
many traits and vegetables which can
no longer be q own there. Thereason
of this is that the island is overrun by
rats, which escaped from q ship that
anchored there, and which the people
have never been able to exterminate.
Thepeople have preserved the GUS
toms Of their English native land. In
the center of the settlement stands
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 faint echo
across the leagues OF ocean which
stretch between the anotherland 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 q
lot when is strange and pathetic in
deed.--Youth's Companions.