Three Years in Tristan da Cunha Part 12

_Friday, April 5_.--Yesterday we again got up early and were ready to start for the Ponds, when Henry again sent down to say it was going to rain.

We have two invalids to visit now. The one is Mrs. Henry Green who makes no progress at all, and seems very miserable. I really think she ought to be in bed, but she says their bedroom window does not open, and she feels the heat of the room. The other is Charlotte Swain, who apparently has a housemaid's knee. It is very painful and much swollen. I have painted it with iodine, which has reduced the swelling.

A little time ago we happened to say to Tom Rogers how tiring we found cooking in the sitting-room owing to the fire being on the hearth, which entailed constant stooping. Two or three days afterwards he came to measure the fire-place, and that afternoon he and Bob Green fixed two large stones, raising the fire a good foot. But the men are not always so ready to help. We wanted them to build on an extra room to our house, as there is no larder and the kitchen is very small. Our bedroom and the kitchen share the same window, and when the wind is contrary the smoke pours into the bedroom. We thought the west-end wall might be taken down and the room built without very great difficulty. All hands met to-day to consider this, when most of the men refused to do anything, though some were quite willing to help. The life here very much conduces to every man looking out for himself. Graham tried to point out to them how important it was they should build a church and house if they want a clergyman or teacher to come here in the future; and that they could not expect Lucy Green and Betty Cotton to always give up their houses; but they did not seem inclined to do anything. If a clergyman or teacher came they would like him to board with one of themselves--an impossible arrangement. They do not understand the need of a larder, the greater part of them keeping groceries in the bedroom, sometimes under the bed. We have to keep a large barrel of flour, our bread and milk in the sitting-room.

_Sat.u.r.day, April 6_.--The men appeared _en ma.s.se_ early this morning to say they were ready to start upon the house. We thanked them, but under the circ.u.mstances thought it best not to have the work done. They ought really to build on to their own houses, for some are very short of bedrooms, and the sitting-room has nearly always to be used as a bedroom too. They can build if they like, for a few years ago on his marriage Bill Rogers built a house which looks very well; getting timbers for the roof is the great difficulty. We hear that Lavarello was very sorry he had refused his help to build the room and that night paced up and down vexed with himself for so doing.

_Sunday, April 7_.--This afternoon I started the Girls' Cla.s.s half-an-hour before service. As soon as I left the house all seven girls flew round the corner to join me. For the last hour they had been waiting at Betty Cotton's just opposite. They are very pleased at having a cla.s.s. It makes such a difference teaching children to whom almost everything in the Bible is new. They listened so attentively. We have begun with Genesis and I do hope to make the teaching practical. After service we went to the Henry Greens', who live up the hill in a direct line from here. She is much the same. Chris is at last beginning to walk, but cannot speak a word. I believe they fear he is dumb. He understands very well what is said to him. I never saw a child tumble about more in his attempts to walk, but he does not seem to mind a bit and can walk backwards as easily as forwards.

_Tuesday, April 9_.--Repetto has been levelling the floor of our bedrooms preparatory to putting down some green linoleum, which we got to save labour, as it is so difficult to sweep and keep clean rough boards.

Sailor-like, he slung the beds to a beam of the ceiling, which avoided taking them to pieces.

_Thursday, April 11_.--I have just finished a serge skirt; it has many gores in it, and has turned out better than I expected, indeed, it looks quite tailor-made.

We are having an incursion of rats, and traps are going off at all hours of the day and night. Most of the rats caught are small and more like mice. The other day my favourite chicken walked into the sitting-room and got its head caught in a trap. It extricated itself, but was so stunned it fell over and could not walk; it has since recovered.

_Monday, April 15_.--As there are holes in the roof it had been arranged that the back side of the house should be re-thatched, and the men, fourteen in all, came to-day to do it. We got up soon after five to be ready for them, and had time to go down for a bathe. They began by cutting the tussock in the garden. While they were doing that we partly emptied the loft. By the time we came back from school they were in full swing.

After taking off the old thatch they swept the loft, and a nice time we had of it below. As soon as possible Ellen buckled to to sweep. When their work was done they had tea with biscuits and rock cakes. Nine hundred bundles of tussock were used to thatch the one side of the house. The men fasten the thatch to the rafters with tarred string using a large iron needle. Three men work together, one in the loft, one on the roof, and a third tossing up bundles. We had sent to the Cape for lead to put along the ridge in the place of turf, and this they have put on. We hope now the roof will be rain and dust-proof, and the walls less damp.

Poor Mrs. H. Green is still feeling very miserable; she manages to get about and that is all. Her eldest daughter, Ethel, who is just sixteen, is getting on so well at school. She is by far the best reader, reading quite fluently, and writes very well. She is very staid, and we think she might possibly act as school-mistress in the future. Her brother Alfred, two years older, has perseveringly stuck to his reading. He can hardly master even short words. Still, he is getting on, especially in writing and arithmetic. He is a very clean, neat and orderly lad, and has greatly brightened in appearance since he began coming to school. The elder girls will not do as well as the younger, who will soon outpace them. The former have lately been learning to write letters. Up till now two or three women and Repetto have written for the whole colony.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A GROUP OF ALL THE MEN]

_Sat.u.r.day, April 20_.--We have been thinking with much satisfaction that our letters taken by the _Grey-hound_ will probably be received in England to-day. Since she left a ship has not so much as been seen.

This has been an afternoon of knocks at the door. First, Repetto's, who came to replace the tin round the pipe on the roof, but it beginning to rain he helped instead to put together a churn. We have started making b.u.t.ter. Our next visitor was little Willie Repetto, who came for thyme and parsley. Next came Rebekah to borrow the boot-brushes and blacking for her brother, a weekly request; then Ned Green for matches for his grandmother.

He was followed by Sophy who wanted medicine for her mother, and she by Arthur Rogers for leeks for his mother's soup. Lastly, came Rebekah again with Mabel for nails for nailing birds' skins on their house wall to dry them. This morning there was a request for baking-powder, and Harry Swain brought a pair of horns for a birthday offering. Many days are like this, and our house often resembles a shop.

It was Mary Repetto's birthday this week. I made her a pretty light-blue pinafore. She was very pleased with it, and her mother so much so, that Mary was sent with a live fowl as a return offering, but we did not accept it, as we want them to learn we do not wish to be repaid for presents.

_Sunday, April 21_.--We have been having good attendances in church lately. The men are again attending well, and two new-comers have started.

On Sunday evenings, there being no service, we read aloud. Graham begins, and just now is reading _Religions of the World_. Then I read; my present book is called _Holiness of Life_. I have just been preparing a lesson for the women. I find Ryle's _Expositions of the Gospels_ a great help, they are so simple and practical.

CHAPTER XX

_Wednesday, April 24_.--We have at last made the expedition to the Ponds.

On Monday evening Henry Green sent down word that he was starting early next morning. So on Tuesday we rose at five, and two hours later Graham and I set off ahead. We were glad to get a start so as to ensure a rest before the others came up. We went over the common and down to and along Big Beach. After walking over a sandy stretch there, we climbed up the side of the mountain on to a narrow path and there awaited them. Will Swain came hurrying up looking very hot, he thought we had got down too low. Soon there joined us Henry Green, who was the guide, Rebekah, Ethel, and Lily and Ruth Swain. We then followed the narrow and ascending path across Plantation Gulch, where on the left was a yawning precipice.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE PATH OF PLANTATION GULCH]

Several halts were called, during which we picked and ate berries. It was a long and stiff climb. Towards the top the gra.s.s got longer and we had often to clamber under the branches of trees, of which there were scarcely any lower down. When we reached the top the path led up a stony gulch, from which there was a beautiful view up a valley. Then we had to climb and pa.s.s along the steep side of a hill. After this we were on flatter ground. It was very misty and the scenery reminded me much of the moors of Scotland. We saw many young mollyhawks sitting near their nests and showing white in the undergrowth. We now walked over more level ground, along what Henry called a road but I should hardly call a trail. Then again over very uneven ground and through high ferns. By eleven we were at First Lagoon Gulch, which resembled the dry bed of a wide and deep river.

There we had a light lunch. In about twenty minutes we started again. Our course lay up a steep hill and over much the same sort of ground as before. At noon we were above the ponds. It now came on to rain hard. We tried to shelter under the edge of the cliff overhanging them, but by the time the rain ceased the girls were wet through. There was a thick mist and we could not even see the ponds, of which there are three, and which lay far below. After some deliberation we decided not to descend to them, and turned our steps homeward. We returned at a good rate, the girls flying in front of us. Will Swain took his own way back. With a thick mist hanging all round it would have been impossible to find the way without a guide. At intervals we stopped to wring the wet out of our skirts. I was thankful when we got to the gulch where we had to descend; though the wind was there blowing gales. We got down the first part of the mountain very quickly, but only by frequently sitting down on the long wet gra.s.s to slip down steep pitches. When we got to Plantation Gulch we found a fire and tea awaiting us--the work of Will Swain and the girls. Now we knew why they had hurried on. It was excellent and most refreshing. We were home by three. The next day Rebekah came to wash our muddy clothes. She had made dreadful rents in her skirt, and as she has no idea of mending beyond patching I have darned them for her.

We found Henry Green a most kind and considerate guide. He constantly made short detours in search of the easiest path and often broke off branches to clear the way. I hear he told the men afterwards that he had not thought the "Missus" would have been able to walk so well. I asked him as we went up the hill which was the worst day he had ever been out in on the sea. He said, "The day the _Surrey_ was here, and we were landing the luggage. The wind tore the sail of our boat and so we had not the same control of her."

_Sat.u.r.day, April 27_.--Last night was so cold it kept us all wakeful. Soon after four we were disturbed by a rat, and I thought it a good opportunity to get up and make up the dough. Ellen lit the paraffin stove and warmed the milk and I made the bread and then retired to bed again.

_Wednesday, May 8_.--While I write Graham and Henry Green are engrossed in a game of Tiddley Winks. Henry's wife came yesterday to stay with us, as we thought a change might do her good. Her rheumatism is better, but she is still feeling ill and depressed. She slept in Ellen's room and Ellen on the sofa. This evening she made up her mind to go home, but says she will come again tomorrow. Henry brought a bundle of wood and is sending milk twice a day because she is here.

_Friday, May 10_.--We do not go out much for walks; they are rather pointless without an object. But when it is dusk we often go to the top of the cliffs for a breath of fresh air.

_Sunday, May 12_.--Sophy Rogers said to me as we were going up to the cla.s.s, "We shall miss it when you are gone." I felt encouraged.

_Tuesday, May 14_.--Mrs. H. Green did not come back to sleep, but spends the day here now. She told them at home if she stayed the night here she felt as if she should go out of her mind. She has her meals with us and Graham cracks jokes to make her laugh.

Just as we had finished dinner to-day there was a hasty knock at the door and Bob Green rushed in. We thought he was going to cry "Sail, ho," but it was to say there was a sea-elephant on the Flat Rocks. These are about four miles away to the east of the Hardies. We at once started off, Mrs.

Green coming with us as far as her sister's. A number of women and children were on the way; the men had already gone armed with their guns.

At the potato patches we had to descend the cliff and go for some way along the sh.o.r.e. The men awaited us at a point where the sea was breaking on to the cliff and helped us over. We had to watch our opportunity and make a run for it. We were now in sight of the sea-elephant, which looked like a black log lying on the beach. It was a young one and measured about twelve feet in length. When discovered it was asleep. The coast is very picturesque just there, high rocks standing out in the sea. We all trooped home together and got back in the early evening.

_Wednesday, May 15_.--The men were all out today cutting up the sea-elephant, which when boiled down makes excellent oil for burning.

A ship was seen off the settlement, but it was too late to let the men know in time for them to get back and go out to it. It came well in and we regretted it was not taking our letters.

_Thursday, May 16_.--A four-masted ship was descried towards dusk.

_Friday, May 17_.--This morning Repetto came to the school window and asked me to go and see his wife who had been taken ill in the night with a bad heart attack, and for about two hours had been unable to speak. I found her in much the same condition. After taking a little brandy she felt better, and improved as the day wore on.

_Thursday, May 23_.--The cattle are looking so different this year; the men say they have not seen so much gra.s.s at this time of the year for years. When Mr. Keytel was here he showed the men how to shoot an ox, dispatching one with his first shot. I am glad to say that since that they have tried to do the same. The men are longing for a ship as they have run out of tobacco. Scarcely any one possesses matches now, so we have constant requests for them.

We have begun asking two at a time of the older people to have tea with us on Wednesdays. The younger married people we shall ask to supper, as they do not mind coming out at night. This afternoon we had old Caroline Swain who is seventy-nine and her sister Mary Gla.s.s who is ten years younger.

Caroline has been more or less of an invalid for many years. We glean much of the past history of the island from the old people. They have been telling us of the visit of the Duke of Edinburgh in the _Galatea_ in 1867, in honour of whom the Settlement is called Edinburgh. They remember well his having dinner in this room, and how while he was having it, all unknown to him they vied with one another in trying on his hat.

In view of having an entertainment, we are teaching the girls some of the "Golden Boat songs" as well as recitations which the boys also are learning. It is rather an effort, but we think it will give pleasure.

Some of the infants are learning "Three little kittens" and say it charmingly.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CATTLE, NEAR POTATO PATCHES]

_Wednesday, May 29_.--To-day has been a fete day. It is Will Swain's birthday. He is one of the two young men lately returned from the Cape which, I suppose, accounts for the festivities being on such a grand scale. Two sheep were killed, and the Swains gave a dinner to every one on the island. The elders had dinner at the Hagans' who have the largest room, and the children at Susan Swain's. They sent us a cooked chicken for our dinner.

_Sat.u.r.day, June 8_.--So far we have had a much better winter than last year, there has been more sunshine and less wind.

Graham is gradually getting the meteorological apparatus up. He and Repetto have put in the garden what resembles a meat-safe. It is the screen for the thermometers. I objected to its being placed in the middle of the garden, and so it has been removed lower down where it cannot be seen from the house, rather, I fear, to Repetto's regret who regards it as a very desirable ornament.

_Friday, June 14_.--Today William has been getting kelp to put on our garden. As the gate into the garden is not large enough for the cart to pa.s.s through a portion of the wall had to be pulled down.

_Thursday, June 20_.--Last Sunday evening Mr. And Mrs. Repetto came in.

After a talk we had reading aloud and sang some hymns. One wishes one could be of more real help to the people. Yesterday we had old Eliza Hagan and Lucy Green to tea. Ellen sang to them some of Moody and Sankey's hymns to the accompaniment of her autoharp. Graham told them we thought of camping out a night or two on the mountain; at which they were much concerned and tried hard to dissuade us. At last Eliza said a comfortable air of conviction, "Mumma won't go with Puppa." He conveyed them home one on either arm, both being rather decrepit.

_Sat.u.r.day, June 22_.--We are having a spell of cold weather, and snow is to be seen on the top of the mountain. It is more like our winter at home.

Fortunately there is not much wind.

_Thursday, June 27_.--Today the men have all been working on a patch of ground near here, just across the Big Watering, which Henry has let us have for wheat. It has to be sown this month. They seem pleased to do it.

They have been fairly busy lately cutting a large quant.i.ty of wood for the winter, which is piled near their houses. Old Sam Swain and Tom Rogers go out every month fishing in order to find out for Mr. Keytel when the fish are at their best.

Last night we had Tom and his mother to supper. She appeared soon after 5 o'clock and they stayed till about 9. We had fish cakes and a semolina mould with jam. Tom much enjoyed playing Tiddley Winks, and I think would have gone on happily till midnight. We ended the evening with a hymn and prayers.