On a small eminence, about 150 feet high, above the fisherman's huts on the north side of the crater-basin, a small wooden cottage was erected for the protection of the astronomers; and at a distance of about 40 feet, a second for the magnetic instruments, both of which, with their contents, were entrusted to Lieutenant Robert Müller. Lieutenants Batlogg and Eugen Kronowetter, were respectively entrusted with the observations by theodolite, and with the surveying board. To the last-mentioned gentleman were also confided the observations with the meteorological instruments, the researches with the tide-gauge, the instruments for measuring the velocity of currents, as also the soundings in the basin, and on either side of the bar,—to assist him in the execution of which Cadet Count Borelli and Head Quartermaster Cian were detached. We quartered ourselves as well as we could in the wretched filthy huts which, in summer, serve the fishermen from St. Denis as a shelter. In one of these hung several pictures—one representing Napoleon I. riding the inevitable white horse, the majority consisting of female portraits and scenes of Parisian life, so that the whole place had quite a Frenchified appearance.
Hardly had the instruments, apparatus, men, and baggage been placed under shelter, when once more a strong north wind came on, which, during the night between the 20th and 21st, increased to such a height, that it blew down the two huts intended for the observations, which had not been quite finished, and in which, fortunately, the instruments had not yet been placed—exposing the work already begun to very considerable interruption.
Early in the morning, a whaler approached the island, and sent one of her boats off for fresh provisions. She proved to be the Herald, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, U. S., out 27 months, and expecting to require to remain out 11 months longer, in order to complete her lading of oil and whalebone. She was last from St. Augustin's Bay (Madagascar), which place she had left two months previously. When the captain, who chanced to be in the boat, saw the activity of the scientific corps, the results of which were already beginning to be visible in the hitherto deserted island, he said that one of his crew had fallen from the mast a few days previously, and severely injured himself, and forthwith asked whether we could render him any surgical assistance. Considering the precarious circumstances under which we ourselves were on the island, we judged it more advisable to receive the unfortunate whaler on board the frigate, where we could give him all necessary assistance. As we afterwards learned, the surgeon of the frigate, Dr. Ruschitztha, notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather, was ordered from the frigate, and had the satisfaction of rendering valuable assistance to the invalid.
The foul weather continued all day, and during the night of the 21st, it became so tempestuous that the frigate was at last compelled to put to sea. About 3.30 a. m. she began to labour heavily with an unusually high sea and frequent shifts of wind, accompanied by showers of rain, after a heavy blow from the N.W., so that at first it was thought on board that one of these furious gusts, which for several hours past had followed each other at regular intervals, had sprung the cable, and that the anchor would be lost. The jib accordingly was hoisted, and the fore-topsail set with four reefs in it, and an attempt made to weigh anchor. This operation, at all times laborious, was now especially so, and seemed as though it would never have an end. Although the capstan was manned, as already said, at 3.30, it was not till past seven, or four hours later that the anchor hove in sight. It was the port anchor that had been weighed, and it was now perceived that one of the flukes had given way, and was entirely broken off. In such stormy weather it seemed very uncertain whether the anchor could be brought on board, as it struck with much force against the ship-side, in consequence of her severe rolling, and it was only secured at great risk to the life of the men employed. The cable was unbent, and the anchor slipped, so as to relieve the ship (for which the anchor still on board was sufficient in the meantime), from the vehement thumping. The frigate now had to encounter a regular North-wester, and only after three days of the most furious rolling or pitching, was she able, aided by northerly breezes, again to reach her former anchorage. The members of the Expedition, left at St. Paul to prosecute their scientific labours, occasionally experienced a somewhat peculiar feeling when the frigate, owing to the severity of the weather, remained invisible during these three long days; and fancy involuntarily depicted themselves in the position of men whom the stormy waves of destiny had cast away on this lonely island in the Indian Ocean, there perhaps to languish for weary months out of reach of assistance or means of rescue.
Old Viot, who had come for the sixth time to the island, alleged that such rainy tempestuous weather at this season of the year was quite an unusual phenomenon,—an opinion which somewhat later was confirmed by the reports of several North American whalers. Ordinarily the fine season commences at the beginning of November, at which period the South wind is the most prevalent, the sky often remaining clear and hot for weeks together. The hottest month of the year is January, the coldest June. From May to October it is exceedingly difficult to land with boats on the island, and cases not unfrequently occur during the continuance of the stormy season resembling that which is instanced by the historiographer of Lord Macartney's embassy to China, in which, during September, 1792, a ship anchored on the east side of the island, was only able twice, during the lapse of eight weeks, to send a boat to the island with provisions. On this station the fishery is confined to the fine season (from November to April), while for the rest of the year the various huts of the fishermen are entirely abandoned, being only inhabited by a couple of men, in whose charge are left the few but by no means valueless implements and apparatus of the island. These men lead a very monotonous life, though not one of privation, for the crater-basin supplies the whole year round the most delicious fish, and craw-fish of the finest kind.
Our sailors used to hang a basket with bait close to the edge of the crater-basin, sunk a few feet in the water, which they would draw out every time full of lobsters. In a few hours they frequently caught from eighty to one hundred pounds' weight of these large and extremely delicate species of shell-fish. An excursion which was got up one morning to the South side of the island, in a fisherman's boat, was rewarded in a few hours with some fifty different sorts of denizens of the deep, some of which weighed twenty to twenty-five pounds each.
According to Viot's account, snow does not fall often in winter, and in consequence of the heat inherent in the volcanic soil, never lies long on it. On the other hand, hail is a tolerably frequent visitant. Rain is of constant occurrence, and sometimes falls in immense quantities. Viot was never weary of expressing his astonishment at the enormous size of the drops of rain which for many a year he had seen fall at St. Paul. The cold is often pretty severe; while the almost entire want of firing on the island (for the dung of animals is not obtainable in sufficient quantities to make its storing worth the requisite labour), deprives the poor residents of the comfort of a fireside. "If the last storm had not blown down our hut, we should for long have had to do without fuel," was the naïve remark on one occasion of the old Frenchman, as he lay stretched out on a dirty bed, carefully rolled up in his rough woollen blanket. Winter begins in May and ends in September. During this period the Northerly winds are often very strong. On 27th June, 1857, there blew for six or eight hours here so terrific a tempest that the inhabitants of St. Paul did not venture outside of their huts for fear of being rapt away by the wind. These storms of winter occasionally rage to such a degree that they drive before them into the basin of the crater huge masses of water, which they whirl in wild confusion to an enormous height, showing that the tract in the Southern Ocean traversed by the hurricanes which occasionally do such damage about Mauritius and Rodriguez, occasionally embraces the islands of St. Paul and Amsterdam. In November, at the commencement of the fine season, the winds are rather variable, and so continue to the end of March, when the N. and N.W. winds begin once more to blow regularly; these bring heavy rains and foul weather, after which, except that it is cold when the wind changes to West with a Southerly tendency, a warmer and drier climate is experienced. During our stay we frequently had an opportunity of verifying by observation the steady return of certain winds in regular succession. For instance, after the N.E. wind had prevailed for some days, it veered to N.N.W. whence it invariably went to W. by S., where it usually stayed some little time, after which it once more went to N.E.—a phenomenon which went through its phases every six days with surprising regularity.
There are heavy mists during autumn, but thunder on the other hand is far from frequent, nor is it particularly violent when it occurs. During a residence of eighteen days we never saw the centigrade thermometer stand higher than 66°·2 Fahr., or lower than 53°·6 Fahr. Lord Macartney gave 62° Fahr. as the average of the thermometer during his visit in February, 1793.
As for earthquakes, a phenomenon whose occurrence at St. Paul would possess an uncommon interest, Viot averred that during sixteen years that he had visited the island, off and on, he neither himself had perceived any indications of one, nor had he at any time heard of any such having been observed.
On the contrary, Ferdinand (who, nevertheless, had lived but eight months on the island) affirmed that his predecessor, Rosemond, had told him of shocks, comparatively slight it is true, which he (Rosemond) had felt during his several years' abode here. Considering the small circumference of the island, and the violent surf on its shores, slight oscillations may not improbably be felt, which are caused by other than volcanic agencies. Moreover, on the outer margin of the crater-basin, the island presents at those numerous points, from which at ebb-tide roll volumes of smoke and steam, so many natural vents for the escape of the confined subterraneous gases, that in their ordinary state, and so long as they continue open, in future, there is no especial reason to suppose there will be any upheavings of the earth's crust in consequence of volcanic agencies. The earthquake of 14th August, 1857, which was pretty severely felt in Cape Town and the vicinity, does not seem to have included St. Paul within the circle of its influence. The present inhabitants of St. Paul, at all events, unanimously assert that they cannot recall having perceived, either on the 14th August, or at any time about that period, any shocks of earthquake whatever, or to have observed any unusual appearances either in the surface of the earth or in the atmosphere.