I had lunch on the summit with Mr. and Mrs. Cronk. They have two pretty children. Mr. Cronk has been farm superintendent for twenty-five years. It must be a funny life in this remote spot. He is responsible for all the vegetation, and takes a great pride in his work—certainly he has made his mark on the world. The whole garrison is being removed, and is due to leave in a few months. He goes too, and regrets that no one is being left to carry on the work he has so carefully inaugurated. He has had to overcome many difficulties, and is disappointed that the labour of so many years will be thrown away. The big plants grow all right and do not require much attention. The young ones must be shaded from the fierce sun, and unless this shade is provided artificially the only seeds that flourish are those which fall beside the parent plant and derive shade and a certain amount of moisture from it. The summit of the island, being often clouded in mist, is very damp, and those who live there for any length of time suffer considerably from rheumatism. I descended towards “Wideawake” Plain again, visited the circular crater of a volcano, and crossed it to enter a belt of loose, broken pieces of cellular lava. The inside was covered with sand, was bare of vegetation, and had round it a circular track which gives it the name of the “Devil’s Horse-ring.” On my way back I passed again over a sandy plain, where I saw a number of small rabbits. I enjoyed my day immensely and was pleasantly fatigued after my climbing. I suffered badly from sunburn, which will probably get worse in the next few days. My neck and legs are chiefly affected. Marr, who had spent the day with Douglas on a geological expedition, was also badly burned, and had a temperature of 103° F. I had to put him to bed.... The coaling was completed during the afternoon. We had many visitors to see us off, and left finally at 4.30 P.M., setting course for St. Vincent. The next part of our journey proved uneventful. We crossed the equator to run into hotter weather, the sun being near its northern limit of declination. With a light following wind there was no draught, and the ship was covered daily with dust and ashes from the very dirty Ascension Island coal. So bad did it turn out that Kerr and his staff had the greatest difficulty in maintaining a sufficient pressure of steam, and the work of the stokers was consequently very hard. Young, Ross and Murray (a new hand taken on at Cape Town) stuck splendidly to their work during this uncomfortable and trying stage of the journey. [Illustration: WEATHERPOST HILL, ASCENSION ISLAND, LOOKING EAST The whiteness is due to the Laterite, which is a weathered product of Trachyte _Photo: Wilkins_] [Illustration: A VIEW IN SAN MIGUEL IN THE AZORES _Photo: Wilkins_]