kerguelen's land. 213 



An idea of the relations of the various birds to one another 

 in the struggle for existence will be gained from the following 

 incident : I saw a cormorant rise to the surface of the water, 

 and lifting its head, make desperate efforts to gorge a small 

 fish which it had caught, evidently knowing its danger, and in 

 a fearful hurry to get it down. Before it could swallow its 

 prey, down came a gull, snatched the fish after a slight struggle 

 and carried it off to the rocks on the shore. Here a lot of other 

 gulls immediately began to assert their right to a share, when 

 down swooped a Skua frcm aloft, right on to the heap of gulls, 

 seized the fish and swallowed it at once. 



The shag ought to learn to swallow under water, and the 

 gull to devour its prey at once in the air. The Skua is merely a 

 gull which has developed itself by fighting for morsels. 



We fell in with three American whaling schooners at 

 Kerguelen. They work Heard Island for Sea Elephants and 

 Kerguelen for whales more especially. They get their principal 

 hands at Fogo in the Cape Verdes on the way out ; the Portu- 

 guese there being very willing to embark, even for a South Sea 

 whaling cruise, in order to escape the military conscription. 

 The schooners, which belong to two different owners, are tended 

 by a barque, which brings out provisions and takes home oil and 

 skins. 



A difficulty would arise from a whale when struck running 

 through the thick beds of kelp (Macrocystis) which everywhere 

 form tangled barriers at a certain distance from shore. This is 

 got over by having large very sharp knives ready, which are 

 held close beside the line as the boat scuds through the water, 

 dragged by the whale, and cut a clean passage in the weed. 



The whales are killed by means of a bomb, a cylindrical 

 iron tube full of powder provided with a fuse and pointed at 

 one end ; at the other, provided with feathers like an arrow. 

 The whole is not unlike a laro-e crossbow bolt. The feathers 

 are made of vulcanized indiarubber, and when the bolt is 

 rammed into the gun from which it is fired, are wrapped round 

 the end of the shaft. As soon as the bolt leaves the muzzle 

 they expand, and prevent the bombs wobbling or capsizing. 



The invention is extremely ingenious. The bomb is fired 



