Three Years in Tristan da Cunha | Page 8

us and is going to live in a room attached to the house opposite.
One and another family is providing for our needs. One will come with
a few eggs which are scarce now, another with apples, and a third with
butter. Then at dinner-time is brought a plate of hot meat and potatoes.
A plentiful supply of milk is provided, and we drink it at dinner.
Although there is hardly any flour on the island they are using what
little there is to make us bread.
The men have already set to to prepare the house which is to be used as
church and school. A widow, Lucy Green, has generously offered it for
this purpose, as she had done before in Mr. Dodgson's time.
_Wednesday, April_ 11.--We went up this morning to the school-house
and found men busy washing the painted ceiling. When we went again
in the afternoon all their work was done and women were washing the
floor. The Communion Table had been brought down from the loft--it
needed only a little repairing. The Communion Cloth from St. Andrews
[Footnote: Malvern Common, Great Malvern.] fits it almost exactly
and looks so well. There is a small prayer-desk and a nice oak lectern,
and we have brought from Mr. Dodgson the stone font he used. The
church will be quite ready for Good Friday services.

The next work to be undertaken will be our house. The people love to
come and see us, and we are not left much to ourselves. Repetto, who
was shipwrecked here about fifteen years ago, was a sergeant in the
Italian navy; he is an intelligent-looking man, short, with dark hair, pale
face, and a slight squint. He married a Green, one of Betty's nieces, and
has six children. Some of the men and women are fine-looking people.
The weather has prevented any more luggage being fetched.
_Thursday, April_ l2.--It has been the same today. The men have
started on the house. To make our bedroom a little larger the partition
has been moved back so as to take in a piece of the kitchen. Our cases
are being used to re-floor the bedroom and passage, which had a large
hole in it. A partition will be taken down in Ellen's room, which will
then open out on to the front door, and a curtain is to be hung across the
opening. The walls of the bedrooms are covered with illustrated papers,
which here take the place of wallpaper. Two girls have been helping to
tear these off, and the walls will be whitewashed. We brought lime and
brushes from the Cape. The doors have the most primitive and varied
fastenings, and one a bit of rope in the place of a handle. Many panes in
the windows are cracked, and one or two have departed altogether.
There is a front and a back entrance. Along the front of the house runs a
path, on the other side of which, with a wall between, is the garden.
This is fairly large and is bounded by stone walls and a hedge of flax.
From its appearance it has had no cultivation for some years. As far as I
can see the only sign of any crop besides weeds is an entangled
strawberry patch. There is a good view of the sea from the house and
garden. I spent most of the morning, which was a fine one, in a
sheltered corner by the brook, where Ellen was washing a few clothes. I
had previously done a little washing too. We already feel at home, and I
am sure we shall settle down happily. We find Tristan far more
beautiful than we expected; the mountains seem very near and are most
imposing, and the light on them at times is very beautiful. Little rivulets
are to be seen coursing down close to the houses. They have been
diverted from the main stream--known as the "Big Watering." We have
one just outside the back door, and not many yards away the Big
Watering itself.

_Good Friday, April_ 13.--We got up at 6.30. Ellen and I are sleeping
in our deck-chairs in the sitting-room. Graham goes out first thing to
fetch water for our baths, as we have not enough utensils to lay in a
store the night before. Life is delightfully primitive here.
A man named John Glass is to be the church clerk, and he appeared
about eight o'clock to carry the harmonium up to the church; service
was at 10.30. No one went into church until we arrived; groups of men
and women were waiting on the common in their Sunday clothes, the
women looking so picturesque in bright garments. The church room
was packed. We learnt afterwards that every man, woman and child
was