El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-09-30
CHAPTER XVII.

CHAPTER XVII.
The Island of Alphonso.
We had some dread of savages, and
being totally unarmed, we penetrated
inland with more anxiety than pleas
ure at first; but ere long we became
convinced that the island was totally
destitute of human Inhabitants.
Not vestige of wigwam or hut, OF
road or path, not even of the smallest
track or trail (save such as the wild
goats made was visible anywhere, and
thus we became impressed with new
emotions of wonder and awe, in tread
ing soil where man lived not-where
no human foot seemed to have trod
and where only the hum of insect life
stirred the solitude of that wild island
of the South Atlantic.
For considerable distance we
traversed fiat ground that was covered
with sedge grass, interspersed by
shrubs of bright green. Beyond this
level plain rose a series of ridges COW
cred by trees, and those ridges formed
the first slope of the great mountain,
which was some thousand feet in
height, and also of the great bluff we
had first deserted at sea.
We found A1phonso to be the largest
of a group of three islands 1t is a
mass of rock nearly twelve miles in
circumference. The other two are
cavernous and inaccessible, and every
approach to them is dangerous and diff
fcult, in consequence of the foaming
of the sea about them, so that during
the weary days of our sojourn there
we made no attempt to explore them,
lest the longboat, in our circumstances
priceless property-might be swamp
ed or dashed to pieces.
Hislop informed me that he had read
somewhere that in the month of
March, 1506-the same year in which
the great Columbus died-two adven-
turers Of Spain or Portugal, named
Tristan da Cunha and Alphonso de
Albuquerque, sailed for the Indies on a
7oyage Of discovery, with fourteen
great caravels.
During this expedition they found
:hree great islands, which they named
after Tristan da Cunha, and elsewhere
three others, which were named from
Alphonso, who, after their fleet had
been scattered by great tempest, sail
ed through the Mozambique channel.
He discovered many sea isles and
channels hitherto unknown to the Por-
tuguese or Spaniards, and ultimately
reached the Indies, of which he be-
came viceroy for Ferdinand the Catho-
lie, and died in 1915, holding that
office,
1t Is very strange that since that
remote period no European country
has turned these islands to any ac-
count, as they do not lie more than
fifty leagues from the general track
of the shipping bound for the coast of
Coromandel or the Chinese seas, and
in time of war would form a useful
and important rendezvous for a fleet.
They lie exactly in that portion of
the wide and mighty ocean where
it was tabled and believed a great con-
tinent would yet be found.
The three isles of Tristan da Cunha.
which lie some hundred miles distant.
have now mixed population of Eng
l1sh, Portuguese and mulattoes: and a
strong garrison was maintained there
during the captivity of the Emperor
Napoleon at St. Helena
Being thus cast away upon a shore
so far from the general track of sbins
we resolved to make preparations for
4 probable residence of some time-to
build a hut wherein to store orr nro-
and to use every means for
adding to our stock, by angling in the
;reeks, which seemed to abound with
1sh, and by hunting in the woods.
when teemed with goats and bears
'unning wild; by collecting birds eggs.
Is the cliffs seemed to be literally alive
With petrels, albatrosses and sea-hens. |
Ind all these exertions were the more
necessary, as none could foresee the
length of our sojourn there.
A ship might heave in sight tomor- |
ow; but year might pass before one
anne near enough to be attracted by
'ur signs.
We resolved to have a signal-post |
recte6 On the mountain top. a beacon
ire prepared, and amid these and |
many other deliberations the night |
losed in and found Us tolerably con-
ented with our island, and even dis
'osed to be merry over misfortunes
hat we could not control.
But considerable speculation was ex-
tied when Billy Wilkins. the cabin