famine once more seemed inevitable; the third morning began to dawn upon
the unfortunate company after their stock of eggs were exhausted; they
had now been without food for more than forty hours, and were fainting
and dejected; when, as though this desolate rock were really a land of
miracles, a man came running up to the encampment with the unexpected
and joyful tidings that "millions of sea-cows had come on shore." The
crew climbed over the ledge of rocks that flanked their tents, and the
sight of a shoal of manatees immediately beneath them gladdened their
hearts. These came in with the flood, and were left in the puddles
between the broken rocks of the cove. This supply continued for two or
three weeks. The flesh was mere blubber, and quite unfit for food, for
not a man could retain it on his stomach; but the liver was excellent,
and on this they subsisted. In the meantime, the carpenter with his
gang had constructed a boat, and four of the men had adventured in her
for Tristan d'Acunha, in hopes of ultimately extricating their
fellow-sufferers from their perilous situation. Unfortunately the boat
was lost--whether carried away by the violence of the currents that set
in between the islands, or dashed to pieces against the breakers, was
never known, for no vestige of the boat or crew was ever seen. Before
the manatees, however, began to quit the shore, a second boat was
launched; and in this an officer and some seamen made a second attempt,
and happily succeeded in effecting a landing, after much labor, on the
island, where they were received with much cordiality and humanity by
Governor Glass--a personage whom it will be necessary to describe.

Tristan d'Acunha is believed to have been uninhabited until 1811, when
three Americans took up their residence upon it, for the purpose of
cultivating vegetables, and selling the produce, particularly potatoes,
to vessels which might touch there on their way to India, the Cape, or
other parts in the southern ocean. These Americans remained its only