HEARD ISLAND. 231 



the muddy and yielding plain, and through the glacier stream, 

 although the skull was almost more than I could carry, in 

 addition to rock specimens and a big vasculum. We got off only 

 just in time, for a considerable sea was running by the time that 

 we reached the ship. 



We were to have landed again on the following morning; 

 but the wind shifted, and there was a thick fall of snow, covering 

 the deck to the depth of two inches, and rendering the shore of 

 an uniform white, excepting where a few black precipitous rocks 

 showed out here and there in relief. The moraines were scarcely 

 visible, and we realized how fortunate we had been in having hit 

 upon so fine a day for landing on the island. 



We got under way at about 5.30 a.m. As we left the bay 

 we saw, even at this early hour, one of the wretched Portuguese 

 starting off to walk the beaches in search of his prey, the 

 miserable Elephants. 



