This island is about nine miles in length, and seven breadth; and is nothing but an extinguished volcano, which seems formerly to have occasioned here the most horrid devastation. It contains no water, has no inhabitants, and does not produce a single blade of grass. Wherever the eye extends, nothing is seen but large accumulations of calcined stones, and black pyramidal masses of rock, which strike the traveller with astonishment, whether beheld near or at a distance, and fill his mind with an awful idea of the power of the volcano, as well as of the force of nature in general, which seems as if she had intended to annihilate herself in this horrid desert[254]. This island is continually buffeted by the waves of the ocean, which throw an immense number of shells on the shore, where they are so long beat till they at last become dust, and are converted into the whitest and most beautiful sand that can any where be seen. At the same time the sea often casts on shore large tortoises, which, if they fall on their backs, cannot recover their natural position, and therefore rot amidst the sand. The neighbouring seas teem with fish; and for that reason the island is inhabited by a great number of men-of-war birds, and other sea-fowl, which feed on these fish, and construct their nests in the clefts of the rocks. These men-of-war birds, though they seldom see a human being, are so tame, or rather so stupid, that they suffer themselves to be caught with the hand[255]. I caught five or six of them, which did not make the least resistance. In the course of three days 1000 at least of these birds were caught and carried on board our frigate. As they were more than the crew could immediately consume, they began to spoil, and occasioned such a stench that we were apprehensive it might produce some infectious disease. But our commander called the whole crew upon deck, and gave public orders that all these fowls, without the least favour of exception, should be thrown overboard. As this island contains no springs, nor the least trace of vegetation, it is, as already said, entirely uninhabited; but in order that mariners may know the proper landing-place, a cross has been erected on a high rock, which serves them as a land-mark. I found here several pieces of petrified wood, which clearly exhibited the form they had when converted into stone by the volcanic eruption that laid waste the island. They are a great curiosity to the naturalist. The fish caught in the adjacent seas are remarkably fat, and for that reason unwholesome. The air here is so mild, so pure, and so clear, that people may pass the night under the bare heavens without the least danger. Tortoises are found of so monstrous a size as to be capable of bearing four men on their backs. They begin however to be rather scarce, on account of their being too much sought after by navigators, who rob the ocean of its inhabitants.