All the islands of the Tristan da Cunha group have a similar flora and fauna. They are covered in parts with tussock grass (_spartina arundinacea_) and bracken. One small tree, the “Island tree” (_phylica nitida_), grows at levels up to about 2,000 feet. The smaller plants include twenty-nine species of flowering plants and twenty-six ferns and lycopods. Numerous seabirds nest on the islands, including mollymauks, terns, sea-hens or skua gulls, prions, black eaglets, “Pediunkers,” and several kinds of petrel. On the rocky beaches we saw a number of small land birds, one species of which resembled a thrush and the other a finch. They were very tame and could be easily caught. The islanders showed us several rookeries where rockhopper penguins congregate in large numbers during the nesting season. The rockhopper is a pretty bird with a crest of yellow and black feathers. Its call is rather deep and harsh—“Alōh-ha!” as nearly as I can write it. But for the difficulty of landing Inaccessible Island would be almost as suitable a spot for a small settlement as Tristan da Cunha. A few cattle are kept there. The islanders from Tristan make frequent visits in their boats. Experience has taught them what are the most suitable weather conditions for effecting a landing. It appears that the winds follow a fairly definite cycle, and the islanders can predict with some degree of certainty the conditions likely to be met with in the next few days. One has to give the islanders credit for their boatmanship, for their craft are frail and require the most careful handling to prevent their being stove in. Of the men taken with us on the _Quest_, Henry Green and John Glass had never been away from the islands. They were really two extremely nice men. Douglas writes of Henry Green who accompanied him: Henry proved to be a delightfully refreshing character. His simple outlook on life, facts being facts to him and needing no reason, the pride he took in his ability to climb and find his way over the islands, notwithstanding his years, and his love of his own hearth, marked him out as one of the best, if not the best, of those who live on Tristan. What a strange life they lead, passing day after day of their long lives in this restricted environment with the same outlook, amongst the same people and with only occasionally the sight of a new face, which passing, never returns, for no one ever goes back to Tristan. As Macklin shows, their longevity is remarkable; few seem to die under ninety years of age. I returned to the settlement via the southern side of Tristan to enable Worsley to carry out a series of soundings, and arrived there at daybreak on May 24th. We proceeded in through the kelp and came to anchor.