Three Years in Tristan da Cunha | Page 7

lamb-houses,
penning them up from about five in the afternoon until eight or nine
next morning. The poor sheep must suffer considerably both from
being driven so much and because they get no food while penned in. In
spite of this barbarous practice the mutton when we first went was very
good--equal, we thought, to the best Welsh mutton, but latterly its
quality much fell off, and we found the sheep were largely infected
with scab. The people occasionally have beef in the winter. Their
method of killing the ox is very cruel, for often the poor animal is
chased about over the settlement by men and dogs, and only killed after
many shots. There is generally a good supply of milk. Betty Cotton at
one time milked sixteen cows, and made a large quantity of butter
which she sent by the man-of-war to her relations at the Cape. The
making of cheese has been quite given up. From July to October the
men get a great number of eaglet, penguin, and mollyhawk eggs--all
sea-fowl. Fish can be caught all the year round. Any groceries obtained
must come from passing ships. Sometimes months go by without tea,
coffee, sugar, flour, salt and soap being seen.
The cooking is done mostly in large pots and frying-pans, as there are
no ovens, though a temporary one is made on special occasions such as
a great feast. The chief meat dish is stuffed mutton, the stuffing

consisting of potatoes and parsley seasoned with pepper and salt. The
greatest delicacy is the stuffed sucking-pig which takes the place of our
turkey.
The animals on the island are cattle, sheep, donkeys, pigs, geese, fowls,
dogs, cats and rats. There were about seven hundred head of cattle in
1905, far more than there was pasture for. Between the months of May
and November of that year nearly four hundred died from starvation.
From the same cause a loss of cattle occurs every few years, but never
before had there been so great a one. The number of sheep was about
eight hundred; of donkeys there were about thirty, and perhaps there
were as many, or more, pigs, which usually have to find their own
living, as also do the geese and fowls. A great number of dogs are kept,
some families keeping as many as four. Most of these too have to find
their own living, which occasionally they do by hunting the sheep and
by night raids on the geese.
The rats came from the _Henry B. Paul_ which was wrecked on Tristan
in 1882. Only about half-a-dozen got ashore, which Mr. Dodgson urged
the men to kill, pointing out what trouble they would cause if not
destroyed, but the men thought a few rats wouldn't hurt, and did
nothing.

CHAPTER IV
The last chapter has related some things that obviously came later to
our knowledge. I now return to the order of my diary and letters.
_Monday, April_ 9, 1906.--Betty Cotton came in early this morning to
look after our wants. She was going to get us an early cup of tea, but at
my suggestion made it breakfast. Later on Graham and I wandered on
to the common. It was such a beautiful morning, and the sea like a
mill-pond. We found many of the women washing clothes, and had a
talk with several of them. The men had gone off early in three boats to
fetch some of the luggage from where it had been landed about eight
miles away. They were not back much before noon. Most of the women

went down to meet them, and as each boat came in assisted in dragging
it up. It was a most picturesque sight to see some half-dozen carts, each
drawn by a pair of bullocks, wending their way down to the beach to
fetch up the luggage which was lying on the shore. The small carts
were slowly filled, and then the oxen were piloted up a most rough and
rocky road by boys who guided them with their whips. Betty, Ellen and
I watched it all from the cliff. A good deal of the luggage was piled in
Betty's sitting-room, and the rest taken to John Glass's house.
_Tuesday, April_ l0.--Today has been so wet and rough that it was
impossible for the men to go for any more luggage. Happily, it is
covered over with a tarpaulin from the Surrey, so we hope it will not
get much damaged. That which was brought yesterday got rather wet,
and we have had to unpack and dry pillows and other things. At present
we are unpacking only what is absolutely necessary, which is but little.
It has been arranged for us to live in this house. Betty is kindly giving it
up to