The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-05-31
SMALL INHABITED ROCK.
[From the New York Press.l

lFrom the New York Press.l
Someone has asked what is the
smallest inhabited spot of ground out
side of the British isles that owes allie
glance to the British flag. The ques-
ton is one that few can answer cor
rectly, simple as it seems to be. One
reason for the difficulty is that scat
tered upon the surface of the globe
there are many small British islands,
which are peopled at some periods of
the year and deserted at others. Again
there are various isolated points of
rock. which are crowned with light
houses in which human beings dwell,
thereby making the places inhabited.
Excluding these two classes, it is be-
lieved that the tiniest inhabited British
possession is Inaccessible island, a lone
ly, windswept rock in the south Attain
tic. 1t we'll deserves its name, for it's
precipitouS sides are unbroken by a. sin
gle inlet, and the jewellers upon the pla-
teau which constitutes it's summit have
to ascend and descend by means of a
ladder of twisted walrus hide sixty
fathoms in length. There are four per-
Inns, his wife and two grown up sons,
and they gain their living by harpoon-
ing seals and sea elephants that visit
the surrounding waters in schools at
certain seasons.
Inaccessible island is some 1880 miles
from the nearest mainland, but a little
way to the westward although out of
sight, is Tristan d Acunha, another re-
marka BILE island possession. For a lit
tie while during the Napoleonic wars
England kept a garrison there, and
when it was Withdrawn a corporal, two
privateS and their wives elected to re-
main behind. Their descendants, re-
cruited by few ship-wrecked marin
ers, now number about seventy persons.
They live in thirty hutS, clustered round
a well-built little church, built of stone,
plastered with mud and containing a small
altar, an organ and pulpit-gifts from
Queen Victoria. The people are describ-
ed as intelligent, but they are clothed in
the most primitive fashion in garments
made of albatross skin and goats hide.
Their principal food is goats flesh, fish
and potatoes, and once year a British
man-of-war calls to supply flour, sugar,
tea and other necessaries.
About as far to the eastward of the
is to the westward, but many hundreds
of miles nearer to the Antarctic circle, is
Kerguelen Land, or the Island of Desc
place, possessing an area of about $500
square miles, and is inhabited by one
solitary individual. He is the represent
quarters at the cape, and is relieved every
six months; Were it otherwise his posi-
ton would be intolerable. Macquarie isl
and, mountainous, but well-wooded spot,
although still farther south, is not nearly
bleak Kerguelen, and is coloniZed
by three Englishmen and some twenty
fishing industry.
Great Britain's sway extends over many
known of which is Pitcairn island, a lone
Zealand and South America When the
body thinks of Ireland. Few know that
England owns another emerald isle, a
lonely, seagirt, windswept rock in the Ant
s it is covered eternally with snow and
ice; But the British navy maintains a
liners, and sends a man-of-war once each
year to renew the store of provisions.