The Sea and the Cave 73 



fathers of the old town of La Serena some miles inland. 

 And while this is one of the driest and most deserty parts 

 of the world, I spotted a little marsh not far from the in- 

 land town. As soon as I sipped down the warm sweet 

 champagne and could make a polite getaway, I skipped 

 out and found that the marsh was swarming with frogs. 

 This was all to the good, and I caught a number of them. 



A few days later at Pisagua a penguin which I had seen 

 from a distance came swimming right up to our ship just 

 after we dropped anchor. Here the water was crystal clear 

 and the bird, nipping its head from side to side as it peered 

 about, came right up to the side of the ship. Then it dove 

 with a sudden plunge and passed straight under the keel, 

 giving me time to run across the deck to see it come up on 

 the other side of the vessel. Since boyhood I had longed to 

 see a penguin at large. To me the sight was as memorable 

 as that glimpse of the giant dolphin which, to rid himself 

 of a sucking fish, rubbed it off against the side of our ves- 

 sel in the harbor of Port Said and then, making a quick turn 

 over backwards, snapped up the fish and ate it. 



The great herds of sea lions along this part of the South 

 American coast were also sources of amusement and inter- 

 est. In those days ships anchored far off shore and one 

 reached the town in longboats which were laboriously 

 rowed shoreward. The sea lions leaping in the air and 

 calHng out with their characteristic raucous cries were 

 jolly companions on every trip to land. 



I recall one rather gruesome event, when all the lizards 

 around Areca seemed to be concentrated near a graveyard 

 which had been, shall I say, seriously disturbed by a recent 

 earthquake. It was hard even for a rabid enthusiast to fol- 



