Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake Volume Ii Part 6

Livestock is plentiful and the prices are moderate.

There are many natives living in the settlement. They afford a striking contrast to the wretched specimens of Australian aborigines one occasionally sees in the streets of Sydney. Many of the men are athletic and well made, and in their gait and expression exhibit much manliness of character. The faces of some of the princ.i.p.al people present good specimens of elaborate tattooing. The women appear strange figures from their ungainly modern dress, consisting merely of a loose smock of calico, fastened at the neck and wrists. Some were tolerably handsome (according to our notions of female beauty) and among them were several halfcastes. Their fas.h.i.+on of dressing the hair is curious--in front it is cut short in a line across the forehead, but is allowed to grow long behind. We met Waka Nene, a Maori chief, possessing considerable influence, especially in the neighbouring district of Hokianga, who, by siding with the English during the war, rendered such important services that the Government rewarded him with a pension of 100 pounds per annum, and a house in Kororareka. Besides this he owns a small vessel or two employed in the coasting trade. I peeped into the hut of one of his people. A small entrance served the combined purposes of door, window, and chimney, the roof was so low as to preclude one from standing upright inside, a small fire was burning in the centre of the earthen floor, and a heap of mats and blankets in one corner pointed out a sleeping-place.

Behind Kororareka one of a series of hills overlooking the town is memorable as the site of the flagstaff, the cutting down of which by Heke was one of the first incidents of the Maori war. On March 11th, 1845, an attack was made upon the place before daylight, by three of the disaffected chiefs. Kawiti with one division entered the town from the southward by a pa.s.s between two hills, and after a short conflict forced a party of marines and seaman from H.M.S. Hazard to retire with the loss of seven killed and many wounded. While this work was going on, a small detachment of soldiers occupying a blockhouse on the flagstaff hill was surprised by Heke and his party, who killed four men, and drove away the remainder, and levelled the flagstaff to the ground. The English residents took refuge on board the s.h.i.+pping, and two days afterwards the Maoris sacked and burned the town with the exception of the two churches, and a few houses contiguous to the property of the Roman Catholic Mission.

The greater part of the country about the town is covered with fern and the manuka bush (Leptospermum scoparium) the latter a low shrub with handsome white or pinkish flowers. In some of the ravines two species of tree-ferns of the genus Cyathea grow luxuriantly in the moist clayey soil. Everywhere one sees common English weeds scattered about, especially the sow-thistle and common dock, and a British landsh.e.l.l (Helix cellaria) has even found its way to New Zealand and is to be met with in some of the gardens.

Much rain had lately fallen, and many of the paths were partially converted into watercourses. I walked across to a neighbouring bay, and employed myself in searching for sh.e.l.ls in the mud at low-water. Some bivalves, common there--various Cythereae and Mesodesma chemnitzii--const.i.tute an important article of food to the natives, who knew them by the name of pipi. A marshy place, at the mouth of a small stream, was tenanted by a curious wrinkled univalve, with a notch on the outer lip, Amphibola avellana of conchologists.

May 18th.

I joined a party made up to visit the falls of the Keri-Keri river, and we started, after an early breakfast, in one of the s.h.i.+p's boats. The morning was dull and rainy, and we had occasional showers during the forenoon. In an hour after leaving the s.h.i.+p we entered the estuary of the river, a large arm of the sea, which we followed for several miles. The scenery reminded me of that of some of the sea lochs on the west coast of Scotland, and although fern was here subst.i.tuted for heath, the Scotch mist was perfectly represented at the antipodes. The country is scantily wooded, and the muddy sh.o.r.es are occasionally fringed with a small mangrove (Avicennia tomentosa). Here and there were a few settlers'

houses, with the accompanying signs of cultivation. One of the small islands, and also a hilltop on the northern sh.o.r.e, had an artificial appearance, their summits being leveled and the sides scarped--they were the remains of former fortified villages or pahs. At length the estuary narrowed, and a.s.sumed the appearance of a winding river, with low hilly banks covered with fern and bushes. One and a half miles from this brought us to a rocky ledge across the stream, preventing further progress in the boat, and marking the junction of the fresh and salt water.

Here Mr. Kemp, a schoolmaster of the Church Mission Society, has been located for upwards of thirty years. A well built store, a neat cottage and garden, and residences for a few Maoris, complete the establishment.

From this place a dray-road leads to the extensive Missionary establishment at Waimate, distant about ten miles. Crossing the river, we started for the falls, in charge of a sharp little urchin who acted as guide. After leaving the narrow valley which the river has cut for itself through a superstratum of yellowish clay, the country becomes nearly level--a dreary plain, covered with fern and the manuka bush. The extensive tract of country now in sight is said to have once been a great kauri forest--a few of these n.o.ble trees (Dammara australis) were pointed out to me from a distance. When about halfway we left the road, and within the distance of a mile our guide contrived to lead us into five or six bogs, where we were up to our knees in water, besides entangling us in several thickets nearly as bad to penetrate as an Australian scrub. At length we arrived in sight of the waterfall, then in full force from the quant.i.ty of rain which had lately fallen.

The Keri-Keri, after a long course through a country composed chiefly of upland moors and gently undulating hills, here suddenly precipitates itself over a rocky wall into a large circular pool eighty feet below, then continues its course for a while between steep and densely wooded banks. Behind the fall the rock is hollowed out into a wide and deeply arched cave, formed by the falling out of ma.s.ses of columnar rock. A winding path leads to the foot of the fall, whence the view is very grand. Some of the party crept over the slippery rocks, and reached the cave behind the fall, where they were much gratified with the novelty of the scene. The luxuriant and varied vegetation in the ravine affords a fine field for the botanist. The variety of cryptogamic plants is very great--every rock, and the trunk of each tree, being covered with ferns, lichens, and mosses. Among the trees I noticed the pale scarlet flowers of the puriri or New Zealand Teak (Vitex littoralis) the hardest* and most durable of all the woods of the country. A short search among the damp stones and moss brought to light some small but interesting landsh.e.l.ls, consisting of a pupiform Cyclostoma, a Carocolla, and five species of Helix. This leads me to mention, that although the number of New Zealand landsh.e.l.ls. .h.i.therto described scarcely exceeds a dozen, this does not imply any scarcity of such objects in the country, as an industrious collector from Sydney, who spent nine months on the northern and middle islands, obtained nearly a hundred species of terrestrial and fluviatile mollusca. The scarcity of birds during our walk surprised me, for the only one which I saw on sh.o.r.e was a solitary kingfisher (Halcyon vagans): during our ascent of the Keri-Keri, however, many ducks (Anas superciliosa) flew past the boat, and gulls, terns, and two kinds of cormorants were numerous.

(*Footnote. This wood was much used in the construction of the pahs which, in 1845, under the Maori chiefs Heke and Kawiti, long resisted the attacks of disciplined forces, aided by artillery. In reference to the puriri wood used in the palisading of one of these, it was officially stated, that "many of our six-pound shot were picked out of the posts, not having actually entered far enough to hide themselves.")

Returning to the road by a path which avoided the swamps our guide had taken us through, in little more than half an hour we reached Mr. Kemp's house, and after partaking of that gentleman's hospitality returned to the s.h.i.+p. On our way we landed at sunset for an hour upon a small island, which will probably long be remembered by some of the party as having furnished us with a supper of very excellent rock-oysters.

Having effected the necessary repairs, and disposed of the decked boat, we left New Zealand on May 22nd on our homeward pa.s.sage. On July 5th having pa.s.sed to the eastward of Cape Horn we bore up for the Falkland Islands, having taken forty-three days to traverse a direct distance of a little more than 5000 miles. During this period the wind was usually strong from the south-west, but on various occasions we experienced calms and easterly winds, the latter varying between North-East and South-South-East and at times blowing very hard with snow squalls. The lowest temperature experienced by us off Cape Horn was on the day when we doubled the Cape in lat.i.tude 57 degrees South when the minimum temperature of the day was 21 and the maximum 26 degrees. This reminded some of us that we had now pa.s.sed through not less than 75 degrees of temperature in the s.h.i.+p, the thermometer in the shade having indicated 96 degrees during a hot wind in Sydney harbour.

A pa.s.sage such as ours, during which at one time we were further from land than if placed in any other portion on the globe, must almost of necessity be a monotonous one. We saw no land, not even an iceberg, and very few vessels. For five or six successive evenings when in the parallels of 40 and 41 degrees South between the meridians of 133 and 113 degrees West we enjoyed the fine sight of thousands of large Pyrosomae in the water, each producing a greater body of light than I ever saw given out by any other of the pelagic-luciferous mollusca or medusae. The towing net was put over on several occasions but produced little or nothing to repay Mr. Huxley for his trouble: so that even a naturalist would here find his occupation gone were it not for the numbers of oceanic birds daily met with, the observation of whose habits and succession of occurrence served to fill up many a leisure hour. It being the winter of the southern hemisphere, the members of the petrel family, at other times so abundant in the South Pacific, were by no means so numerous as I had expected to find them, and in the higher southern lat.i.tudes which we attained before rounding Cape Horn, albatrosses had altogether disappeared, although they had been abundant as far to the southward as 41 degrees South. The most widely dispersed were Daption capensis--the pintado or Cape-pigeon of voyagers--Procellaria hasitata, P. coerulea, P. lessonii, and P. gigantea, of which the first and second were the most numerous and readily took a bait towing astern. It is probable that all these species make the circuit of the globe, as they are equally distributed over the South Indian Ocean. Some interesting additions were made to the collection of Procellariadae (commenced near the equator with Thala.s.sidroma leachii) and before leaving the Falklands I had captured and prepared specimens of twenty-two species of this highly interesting family, many members of which until the publication of Mr. Gould's memoir* were either unknown or involved in obscurity and confusion. Among these is one which merits special notice here, a small blue petrel, closely resembling P. coerulea, from which it may readily be distinguished by wanting the white tips to the central tailfeathers. It turns out to be the P. desolata, known only by a drawing in the British Museum made more than half a century ago, from which this species was characterised. When in lat.i.tude 50 degrees 46 minutes South and longitude 97 degrees 47 minutes West I saw P. antarctica for the first time; one or two individuals were in daily attendance while rounding Cape Horn and followed the s.h.i.+p until we sighted the Falkland Islands. I had long been looking out for P. glacialoides, which in due time made its appearance--a beautiful light grey petrel, larger than a pigeon; it continued with us between the lat.i.tudes of 40 and 58 degrees South and occasionally pecked at a baited hook towing astern.

(*Footnote. Magazine and Annals of Natural History for 1844 page 360.)

One may naturally wonder what these petrels can procure for food in the ocean to the southward of 35 degrees south lat.i.tude, where they are perhaps more numerous than elsewhere, and where the voyager never sees any surface-swimming fishes which they might pick up? It is, of course, well known that they eagerly pounce upon any sc.r.a.ps of animal matter in the wake of a vessel, hence it is reasonable to suppose that they follow s.h.i.+ps for the purpose of picking up the offal, but they may also be seen similarly following in the wake of whales and droves of the larger porpoises. Almost invariably I have found in the stomach of the many kinds of albatrosses, petrels, and shearwaters, which I have examined, the undigested h.o.r.n.y mandibles of cuttlefish, which would thus appear to const.i.tute their princ.i.p.al food; and, as all the petrel family are to a certain extent nocturnal, it seems probable that the small cuttlefish on which they feed approach the surface only at night.

July 8th.

Yesterday at noon we pa.s.sed close to Beauchene Island, a dreary, bushless place, half covered with snow. Vast numbers of pintados were about, also some albatrosses, the first that had made their appearance for several weeks back. In hopes of reaching an anchorage before dark we stood in for Bull Road, East Falkland Island, but after running fourteen miles, and sighting Sealion Islands, this was found impracticable. The s.h.i.+p was kept away to the eastward, and, after wearing several times during the night to avoid closing the land, a course was shaped to take us to the settlement. Pa.s.sing inside of the Seal Rocks we rounded Cape Pembroke, on which is a tall beacon, and anch.o.r.ed at dark inside the entrance to Port William.

July 9th.

The thermometer fell to 18 degrees during the night, and the water froze on the decks during the holystoning. A cold dreary aspect was presented when the sun rose upon the snow-clad country around, but the sight of a herd of cattle on sh.o.r.e conjured up visions of fresh beef and made ample amends. We beat up Port William, and, pa.s.sing by a narrow channel from the outer to the inner harbour, or Port Stanley, anch.o.r.ed off the settlement. We found a solitary vessel lying here--an English brig bound to California.

The settlement of Stanley was formed in July, 1844, by the removal thither of the former establishment at Port Louis--Port William being considered preferable as a harbour, besides being easier of access and more conveniently situated for vessels calling there for supplies. The inner harbour, which communicates with the outer one by a pa.s.sage not more than 300 yards wide, is four and a half miles in length by half a mile in width, with anchorage everywhere. The towns.h.i.+p extends along the centre of the south sh.o.r.e, as a small straggling village of wooden houses, the uncompleted residence of the Lieutenant-Governor being the only one built of stone. The population, I was told, is about 300: of these thirty are pensioned soldiers, many of whom with their families are temporarily lodged in a large barrack, which curiosity one day led me to visit. Its inmates are all Irish, and appeared to be in anything but comfortable circ.u.mstances, although such as work as labourers receive three s.h.i.+llings per diem, and mechanics are paid in proportion. One of them, who had served in Van Diemen's Land, said he often envies the lot of a convict there, for "sure we are fretting to death to think that we have come to this in our old age after serving our king and country so long." They all bitterly complained of having been deluded at home by highly-coloured reports of the productiveness of a country where grain will not ripen, and which has not yet been found capable of producing a tolerable potato. Of the remainder of the place little can be said. There are two good stores where we procured nearly everything we wanted at very moderate prices: beef of very fair quality is sold at 2 pence per pound, wild geese at 1 s.h.i.+lling 3 pence each, and rabbits at four s.h.i.+llings a dozen. The only vegetables, however, were some small Swedish turnips, which we got by favour. Lastly, a s.h.i.+p may obtain water here with great facility from a small reservoir from which a pipe leads it down to the boat.

We had to remain at Port Stanley for thirteen days before the necessary observations for determining the rates of the chronometers could be obtained. During this period a thaw occurred, followed by hard frost and another fall of snow, making the country as bleak and desolate as before.

By all accounts the winter has been unusually severe. The ground had been covered with snow for four weeks previous to our arrival, and many cattle the horses had perished; I also observed at the head of the harbour some beds of mussels, most of which were dead, having doubtless been frozen when uncovered at low water. The average mean temperature on board s.h.i.+p during our stay was 33 degrees, the maximum and minimum being respectively 37 and 25 degrees.

I was obliged to content myself with short excursions, for the inclemency of the weather would not permit of camping out at night. The appearance of the surrounding country may briefly be described: ridges and peaks of grey quartz rock of moderate elevation form boundaries to shallow valleys, or become the summits of slopes extending with gentle declivity towards the sh.o.r.e. The ground almost everywhere, even on the hills, is boggy, with numerous swamps, rivulets and pools. The peat in some places is as much as six feet in thickness; it forms the only fuel on the island, for not a single tree occurs to diversify the landscape, and few of the bushes exceed a foot in height. The general tint of the gra.s.s and other herbage at this season is a dull brownish-green. Bays and long winding arms of the sea intersect the country in a singular manner, and the sh.o.r.es are everywhere margined by a wide belt of long wavy seaweed or kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) which on the exposed coasts often forms immense beds of various species, some of which attain to gigantic dimensions.

On my first walk I was surprised at the extraordinary tameness of the smaller landbirds: a thrush (t.u.r.dus magellanicus) almost allowed me to knock it down with my cap, and some other birds were quite as familiar as our robin in winter--a pair of loggerhead ducks (Brachypterus micropterus) were quietly pluming themselves on the jetty at government house, and others were swimming along sh.o.r.e within pistol shot of a public road; at first I thought they were domesticated, and refrained from firing. The loggerhead is a large and heavy bird for a duck: one which I shot weighed eighteen pounds, and it has been recorded as sometimes weighing as much as twenty-nine pounds. From the disproportionate smallness of its wings it is incapable of flight, but employs these members as paddles in hurrying along the surface of the water when alarmed, using its feet at the same time with much splas.h.i.+ng and apparent awkwardness, leaving a broad wake behind it on the water--hence the not inappropriate name of steamer which is sometimes applied to it. Not being fit to eat, and moreover from its strength and the closeness of its plumage difficult to kill, it is not much molested by sportsmen. Another bird very likely to attract attention is the kelp goose (Bernicla antarctica) generally seen in pairs along the rocky coasts: the plumage of the male is of a beautiful white, that of the female is dark and glossy, variously speckled and barred.

July 24th.

We sailed from Port Stanley yesterday at daylight, and after entering Berkeley Sound beat up as far as Hog Island, off which we anch.o.r.ed at sunset, at a distance from the old settlement of Port Louis of about two miles and a half. As the sole object in coming here was to obtain magnetic observations at the spot used for that purpose in 1842 by the Antarctic Expedition under Sir James Ross, for which one day would suffice, we had little time to make excursions in the neighbourhood. Two parties were made up to shoot rabbits in some large warrens which have long been established on the sh.o.r.es of Johnson Harbour and at the head of Port Darlington, but they met with very little success. I preferred accompanying Captain B.J. Sulivan for the purpose of seeing his gauchos use the la.s.so and bolas in catching some cattle required for the s.h.i.+p.

This officer, who formerly commanded H.M.S. Philomel, employed for several years upon the survey of the Falklands, has been one of the first to avail himself of the proposals made by Government to develop the resources of these islands by throwing them open to private enterprise; in a.s.sociation with several gentleman in England he has set on foot an establishment for the purpose of curing beef, hides, and tallow, which, it is expected, will be in full operation in the course of next year. The terms upon which settlers of the better cla.s.s are invited to East Falkland are, I believe, the following: the purchaser of a block of land of a quarter of a square mile at the minimum price of eight s.h.i.+llings an acre (64 pounds) is ent.i.tled to a lease of 10,000 acres of contiguous land for the period of twenty years, at the rent of 10 pounds per annum, with right of pre-emption. Also, according to part of an agreement between Government and Mr. Lafone (an Englishman residing at Montevideo) by which the latter has acquired a right to all the wild cattle on the island (estimated at 30,000 head) until the year 1860, he is bound to reclaim annually a certain number, and supply them to purchasers at the fixed rate of thirty s.h.i.+llings a head.

We landed on Hog Island where Captain Sulivan's herd of eleven hundred cattle (besides a number of horses) had been kept during the winter, supported chiefly by the tussock gra.s.s fringing the sh.o.r.e, which they had cropped so closely that, being a perennial plant of slow growth, two years' rest would be required to enable it to regain its former vigour.

Large patches of this magnificent gra.s.s*--Dactylis caespitosa of botanists--along the sh.o.r.es of the mainland have been destroyed by the cattle in their fondness for the nutritious base of the stem, a small portion of which, as thick as the little finger, has a pleasant taste and may be eaten by man, to whom it has occasionally furnished the princ.i.p.al means of subsistence when wandering in the wilds of these inhospitable islands. Great numbers of upland geese (Chloephaga magellanica) chiefly in small flocks, were feeding on various berries and the tender gra.s.s.

Although seldom molested on this island, they became rather wary after a few shots had been fired--still a sufficient number to answer our purpose were procured without much difficulty. Unlike the kelp goose, which has a very rank taste, derived from its feeding chiefly upon the filmy seaweeds covering the tidal rocks, the upland goose is excellent eating, and formed a welcome addition to our fare on board. Loggerheads and other ducks, cormorants, and grebes, were swimming about among the beds of kelp, and oyster-catchers of two kinds, gulls, kelp-geese, and many other birds frequented the sh.o.r.es.

(*Footnote. For a full account of this useful plant, the growth of which in Britain in certain favourable maritime situations has been attempted on a large scale, I would refer to Botany of the Antarctic Voyage by Dr.

J.D. Hooker page 384 and plates 136 and 137.)

Meanwhile one of the gauchos rode over from Captain Sulivan's establishment on the main by a ford pa.s.sable at low-water, and was sent back for a companion to a.s.sist him in catching the cattle. He was an old weather-beaten half-bred Pampas Indian of the name of Escalante, whose capability of enduring fatigue and privations of every kind were described as being remarkable even in a gaucho. At length the cattle were collected and driven up, and although eight hundred out of those composing the herd had been reclaimed only three months, yet the whole were easily managed by the two men on horseback, who rounded them in without difficulty upon the summit of a low hill close to the slaughtering-place. A fine dun heifer four years old was the first selected; it was detached from the herd after some trouble, and pursued by both gauchos who, throwing off their ponchos, untwisted the bolas from round the waist, and, after swinging them round the head several times, threw them in succession at the beast's hind legs but without taking effect, as each time the animal stumbled for an instant and the bolas slipped off the legs without becoming entangled. Stooping as he pa.s.sed to pick up the bolas from the ground, Escalante uncoiled his la.s.so, and getting upon the cow's left flank, drove her at full speed towards the foot of the hill; when distant about twelve yards from the chase, he threw the la.s.so which he had kept swinging horizontally and slowly round his head for a few minutes back--the noose fell over the animal's head and neck, catching one of the forelegs, which was instantly doubled up under the throat by the drawing of the noose, when the beast staggered and fell, but rose again immediately on three legs, and attempted to charge the horse and rider. Catching one of the forelegs and neck in this manner is considered the master-stroke in la.s.soing, being the most difficult of execution: Captain Sulivan told me that a one-armed man at Montevideo, famous for his skill in la.s.soing, on one occasion for a wager caught nine out of ten bullocks in succession after this fas.h.i.+on. It was admirable to observe the manner in which the horse eased off the shock of bringing up an animal much heavier than itself, and by keeping a strain upon the la.s.so urged the furious beast onwards to a triangle which had been put up. The other gaucho, Andrez Pelaluya by name, meanwhile was riding up behind, and at length threw his la.s.so over the heifer's flanks, the slack of the noose falling down upon the ground--in throwing up her heels the hind legs were dexterously caught, when in a moment the beast was dragged over on one side and firmly moored. Leaving the horses to keep up the strain--for the la.s.so is made fast to an iron ring in the saddle--the riders dismounted, and Escalante drawing out a long knife from his belt and renewing the edge upon a steel which he carried in one boot, quickly despatched the beast. A second heifer was afterwards picked out from the herd and caught by the horns; as the animal, maddened with terror, was galloped past with the la.s.so at full strain, I must confess that being a novice I did not feel quite comfortable, and instinctively clutched my gun, not being altogether sure that the la.s.so might not break--but, although no thicker than the little finger, it is of immense strength, being made of plaited hide. This beast was secured and butchered pretty much as in the former instance; the bolas had been thrown at the hind legs, but caught only one, round which the three thongs and b.a.l.l.s were so tightly interlaced as to require some patience in extricating them.

While slaughtering the cattle it was amusing to notice the familiarity of the carrion hawks, hundreds of which were collected about, perched upon the little hillocks all round, watching every movement of ours, or hovering overhead within the distance of a few yards. They are the Milvago australis, a bird of which the s.e.xes differ so much in appearance, that they were pointed out to me as distinct species. The settlers and others call them rooks, and another very common carrion bird of the vulture family (Cathartes aura) is known here as the john-crow. On board the s.h.i.+p the sight of some quarters of beef secured to the mizen cross-trees had attracted numbers of these hawks, and upwards of a dozen might have been seen at one time perched upon the rigging, including one on each truck; on sh.o.r.e they made several attacks upon a pile of geese lying near the boat, and although repeatedly driven off with stones, they returned as often to make a fresh attempt.

July 25th.

Yesterday afternoon some of our people employed in cutting gra.s.s upon a small island close to the s.h.i.+p, stumbled upon a huge sealion asleep in one of the pit-like recesses among the tussocks. At first it was supposed to be a dead bullock, but the beast on being disturbed rose upon his fore flippers, and, displaying a formidable array of teeth, roared loudly* at the disturbers of his rest, who, being unarmed, rushed helter-skelter to the boat and went off to the s.h.i.+p. They returned immediately with an a.s.sortment of pikes, muskets, and pistols sufficient to ensure the destruction of a host of sealions; but after cautiously investing the place, it was discovered that the beast had very prudently got out of the way, nor this morning could he be found by a person who went to make a second search.

(*Footnote. "Sometimes when we came suddenly upon them, or waked them out of their sleep (for they are a sluggish sleepy animal) they would raise up their heads, snort and snarl, and look as fierce as if they meant to devour us; but as we advanced upon them, they always ran away; so that they are downright bullies." Cook's Voyages Volume 4 page 187.)

On this--Peat Islet of the chart--the tussock gra.s.s grows in great luxuriance, and to a stranger presents a most singular appearance. Its cl.u.s.ters of stems--frequently upwards of a hundred or more in a bunch--are raised from the ground upon a densely matted ma.s.s of old and decayed roots, two or three feet high, from the summit of which the leaves, frequently six feet in length, arch gracefully outwards. The tussock gra.s.s has been likened to a palm on a small scale, but altogether it reminded me more of the Xanthorrhoea, or gra.s.s-tree of Australia. We saw many seals swimming about among the kelp, and on the sh.o.r.e found the carcases of several which had lately been killed with clubs, each of the skulls having been fractured by a blow at the root of the nose. They were of the kind known here as the hair-seal, the skin of which is of little value. It is still very abundant; but the fur-seal, from the indiscriminate slaughter of old and young for many years back has become scarce, and is now confined to a few favourite localities--rookeries as they are called, a name also applied at the Falklands to any great breeding place of penguins or other seafowl. A few days ago a party of five sealers returned to the settlement after a short absence, with the skins of no less than 120 fur-seals, worth, I was told, twenty-five s.h.i.+llings each.

Here I found two pairs of the sheathbill (Chionis alba) a bird whose place in the system has puzzled ornithologists. It has been variously considered as being one of the galinaceous birds, the pigeons, the waders, and even as belonging to the web-footed order. Its habits are those of the oyster-catchers,* however different the form of the beak, which in the sheathbill is short, stout, and pointed, and enveloped at the base by a waxy-looking sheath. Its feet are like those of a gallinaceous bird, yet one which I wounded took voluntarily to the water and swam off to a neighbouring point to rejoin its mate. Cuvier, besides erroneously mentioning that it is a native of New Holland, states that it feeds on carrion; the stomachs of two which I examined contained seaweed, limpets, and small quartz pebbles. The people here call it the rock-dove, and from its snow-white plumage it forms a conspicuous object along the sh.o.r.es.

(*Footnote. When the above was written I had not seen the remarks on Chionis by M. Blainville, whose anatomical investigation a.s.signs to it precisely the same position in the system--or next the oyster-catchers--which appeared to me to have been indicated by its habits. Voyage de la Bonite Zoologie tome 1 page 107 plate (oiss.) 9.)

We resumed our homeward voyage on July 25th, and thirty-six days afterwards crossed the equator in 24 degrees west longitude. The last pintado left us 240 miles within the tropics to follow an outward-bound vessel. Another petrel much resembling it--a new species with longer wings and different markings, the head, neck, and upper surface being dark chocolate, and the lower parts white--was abundant between the lat.i.tude of 46 and 40 degrees South, and between the parallels of 36 and 35 degrees South, Procellaria conspicillata was numerous, but unfortunately I had no opportunity of procuring specimens of either.

Five days after leaving the Falkland Islands, we encountered a very heavy gale, commencing at south-east, and blowing hardest at east, when the barometer was down to 29.264--next day the wind went round to the south-west and moderated. From the lat.i.tude of the entrance of the River Plate up to lat.i.tude 15 degrees South, we experienced northerly winds between East-North-East and West-North-West, after which we got winds commencing at South-West and merging into the South-East trade, which we may be said to have fairly got in 13 1/2 degrees South lat.i.tude and 23 1/2 degrees West longitude, and lost in 6 degrees North lat.i.tude, and 22 degrees West longitude. We picked up the North-East trade in lat.i.tude 13 degrees North and longitude 24 degrees West and carried it up to lat.i.tude 29 degrees North and longitude 37 1/2 degrees West. I mention these particulars as the limits of the trade-winds as experienced by us were considered to differ considerably from what was to be expected at this season of the year. Gulf weed made its first appearance in lat.i.tude 24 degrees North and longitude 35 1/2 degrees West but in small quant.i.ty, and was last seen in lat.i.tude 38 degrees North and longitude 33 1/2 degrees West in detached pieces, mostly dead. About 31 1/2 degrees North and 37 3/4 degrees West it was very plentiful, occurring in long lines from one to fifty yards in width, extending in the direction of the wind.

Some pieces which were hooked up furnished on being shaken numbers of a minute univalve sh.e.l.l (Litiopa) many small fish--especially pipe-fish (Syngnathus) and numerous crustacea (of which Planes minuta was the most plentiful) while several delicate zoophytes were encrusted or attached to the weed. In short each little patch of gulf weed seemed a world in itself, affording the shelter of a home to hundreds of minute and wonderful animals.*

(*Footnote. The gulf weed is still regarded as of questionable origin.

Has it--unlike all other seaweeds--always existed as a floating plant, or has it been detached by storms from the bottom of the sea and carried by the currents of the ocean into the well defined region it now occupies and out of which it is never met with in any great quant.i.ty? Without entering into proofs, the princ.i.p.al of which are its not yet having been found attached to the sh.o.r.e, and the invariable absence of fructification--it seems probable that those botanists are in the right who consider the gulf weed (Sarga.s.sum bacciferum) to be merely an abnormal condition, propagating itself by shoots, of S. vulgare, which in its normal state grows upon the sh.o.r.es of the Atlantic and its islands.

See note by Dr. J.D. Hooker in Memoirs of Geological Survey of Great Britain volume 1 page 349.)

September 29th.

With only another day's supply of fresh water on board, we were glad this morning to have the islands of Pico and Fayal in sight. The view, as we closed the land, standing in from the south-westward for the roadstead of Horta, was very fine--on our left we had the beautiful island of Fayal rising to the height of 3000 feet, its sides gradually sloping towards a range of maritime cliffs, while the lower grounds, in full cultivation, indicated--along with numbers of neat white-washed cottages and occasional villages--a well peopled and fertile country, contrasting strongly with those from which we had lately returned. To the right was Pico--with the summit of its peak (stated to be 7,613 feet in height) peeping out from a ma.s.s of snowy clouds descending almost to the sh.o.r.e--and the centre was occupied by the more distant island of St.

Jorge with a portion of Graciosa dimly seen projecting beyond its western end.

After having been for two months cooped up on board s.h.i.+p, I was glad to have a quiet walk on sh.o.r.e. In a ravine at one end of the town it was pleasing to see numbers of old acquaintances among the birds, bringing vividly to my recollection that home which we had now approached so closely. Martins were hawking about, the whitethroat warbled his short s.n.a.t.c.hes of song among the bushes, and blackbirds and starlings flew past. And although engaged in the matter-of-fact occupation of searching for landsh.e.l.ls, by turning over the stones, I could not help being struck with the beauty of the terraced walks and overhanging gardens; the beautiful belladonna lily--here run wild in great abundance--made a fine show. At Point Greta the rock pigeons--the original stock of the domesticated race--were flying about in large flocks or sunning themselves on the sea cliffs. A heavy shower of rain, by bringing out the landsh.e.l.ls, enabled me to pick up half-a-dozen species of Helix, Bulimus, and Pupa, at the foot of the hedgerows; I was anxious to procure some to ascertain whether any were non-European forms; one was even quite a new species. On a white-flowered convolvulus with succulent leaves, I found numbers of the caterpillars of a large hawk-moth (Sphinx convolvuli) which some ragged urchins who followed me showed great dread of, running away when I picked one up and shouting to me to throw it away, else I should die. One was afterwards brought on board by an English resident--as a very venomous reptile, which had caused three or four deaths during his stay on the island. The recurved horn on the tail has been regarded as a sting, and the poor harmless creature, having once got a bad name, is now by the Fayalese, in the absence of snakes or scorpions, made to supply their place.

The town of Horta contains, I was told, upwards of 10,000 inhabitants. It is prettily situated on the sh.o.r.es of a small bay, extending between two rocky headlands. The landing-place is at the remains of a mole under the walls of Fort Santa Cruz, the only one of numerous ruinous fortifications where a few guns are mounted; even these are in so wretched a condition that the commandant admitted that it would require several hours'

preparation before they would be fit to return our expected salute, and seemed glad when told that as a surveying s.h.i.+p we were exempted from saluting the flags of other nations. A sea wall runs along the face of the town; parallel with this is the princ.i.p.al street, with others at rightangles extending up the hill, the narrow streets are clean and well paved--the houses, generally of one storey, are built of tough grey trachyte.

Almost every inch of available ground upon the island of Fayal has been turned to good account: Indian corn is the chief agricultural product.

With our usual bad fortune in this respect we were too late for the grapes and the oranges had not yet come in. The lower grounds are divided into small enclosures by stone walls, and subdivided by rows of a tall stout reed (Arundo donax) resembling sugarcane. Although taxes and other burdens are heavy, and wages very low, yet to a mere visitor like myself there appeared none of those occasional signs of dest.i.tution which strike one in walking through a town at home, nor did I see a single beggar.

In Fayal and Pico the most careless observer from the anchorage of Horta can scarcely fail to a.s.sociate the number of smooth conical hills with former volcanic activity; and in looking over Captain Vidal's beautiful charts of the Azores, nearly all the princ.i.p.al hills throughout the group are seen to have their craters or caldeiras. Fayal exhibits a fine specimen of one of these caldeiras in the central and highest part of the island. At an elevation of a little more than 3000 feet, we reached the ridge forming the margin of a circular crater, rather more than a mile in diameter, and 700 feet deep. The outer slope is gradual, but the inner walls are steep, deeply furrowed by small ravines and watercourses, and covered with gra.s.s, fern and heath-like bushes. The bottom contains a considerable extent of swampy meadowland, a shallow lagoon, and a small hill with a crater also partially filled with water. The view here is magnificent, enhanced, too, at times by the rolling volumes of mist overhead, at one moment admitting of a peep at the blue sky above, in the next concealing the rim of the crater and increasing in idea the height of its wall-like sides. The caldeira, I may add in conclusion, is said to have been formed during the last eruption of Fayal in 1672, but this statement appears to be very doubtful.