Hamilton. — Notes on a Visit to Macquarie Island. 5(53 



instant. We could not see that they caught anything in the 

 way of food, but they seemed to come off in large parties from 

 the shore and swim round the ship, playing and springing clean 

 out of the water, and after a little time returning to the shore, 

 landing on the crest of a wave, and scrambling up the stony 

 beach in a most comical way. The wind swept down from the 

 hills with such force that our anchor dragged, and in endea- 

 vouring to get it up the cable' parted, and we lost the anchor 

 and 45 fathoms of chain. We were not in a condition to 

 go to sea again, so the vessel was run in quite close to 

 the land, and another anchor dropped in about 8 or 10 

 "fathoms. This fortunately held ; and at 10 o'clock on the 

 following morning (the 12th March), the tide being high, we 

 were safely landed on the shingle-beach, after passing through 

 the great beds of kelp which cover the rocks near the shore. 

 Our party was left here while the ketch went north to the 

 anchorage at the Nuggets to discharge her cargo of coal, casks, 

 and stores, and take in her cargo of casks of oil for the Bluff. 



The island has for some years been visited by parties from 

 Port Chalmers and the Bluff, for the purpose of procuring sea- 

 elephant oil and penguin-oil, both of which oils are much 

 used in commerce, particularly in the manufacture of twine 

 and rope. The slaughter of the sea-elephants has practically 

 ceased, but the heaps of bones and the quantities of oil 

 obtained indicate that a large number have been killed in the 

 past. The chief industry now is the boilmg-down of the royal 

 penguin (E. schlegeli). For the purposes of the party, the fat 

 birds are selected as they pass up and down from the sea to 

 the " rookery," usually those of a year old. After being killed 

 with a club, the penguins are bled and partly cleaned, and 

 then thrown bodily into the steam digesters and steamed for 

 some hours. The season for fat birds lasts only for about six 

 weeks, and during that time the party are kept hard at work. 

 This is at the end of January. The oil from the digesters 

 pusses into large vats, and the refuse is thrown out into heaps, 

 and if there were any means of bringing it easily to civilized 

 parts it would be of great value as manure. From the vats 

 the oil is put into casks, and on the arrival of the vessel the 

 casks have to be rafted out through the surf to the ship. This 

 is a difficult and dangerous operation, and requires much ex- 

 perience and skill. The oil is refined at Invercargill. Mr. 

 Hatch has been put to much trouble and expense in establish- 

 ing the necessary buildings and machinery and the excellent 

 accommodation, both at the Nuggets and at Lusitania, for the 

 men who go down. These men usually form a party, and con- 

 tract to furnish so many gallons of oil during their stay on the 

 island. One very serious item of expense is found in the 

 necessity for taking down all the wood and coal requisite for 



