382 VOYAGE OF THE CHANTICLEER. 



gradually larger, the whole feathered process enters. It re- 

 sembles in some measure a very fine double-edged saw, work- 

 ing by half turns as it destroys the wood. It is frightful to 

 contemplate the ravages which these creatures are capable of 

 committing on ships ; they would soon scuttle a first-rate man- 

 of-war. — Vol. i. p. 124. 



Early in December the water in the harbour at Staten 

 Island was covered with Medusa', and on the following night 

 a most brilliant illumination of the water ensued. On the 

 external convex side of those MeduscB, which Mr. Webster 

 examined, were eight longitudinal rows of small imbricated 

 processes, slightly curved, and acting as a series of little flippers, 

 for they had the power of rapid motion, and appeared like the 

 delicate cogs of a small wheel. When desirous of moving, 

 several or all these flippers were put in motion, and thus the 

 animal could proceed with great rapidity; the motion of the 

 flippers imparting to them a succession of beautiful colours, 

 green, rose colour, gold, crimson, blue and purple. The 

 moment the motion ceased, the colours were no longer per- 

 ceptible.— Vol. i. p. 126. 



From Staten Island, Captain Foster sailed southward, to 

 the group of islands known by the name of South Shetland, 

 and anchored in a cove or basin within Deception Island. 

 This island, and indeed even the description of it, must be a 

 treat to the geologist. Although it is twenty-seven miles in 

 circumference, it bears every appearance of having been the 

 summit of a volcano, abounding in ashes, &c. ; it consists of a 

 circle of rocky hills, united excepting at one point, and en- 

 closing a large harbour or basin, which occupies nearly the 

 whole of the interior. The number of objects in natural 

 history found here was very limited ; the only mammalious 

 animal mentioned, is called the sea-leopard, a species of seal, 

 nine feet in length, five feet in circumference, and in weight 

 eight hundred pounds. Among birds, the voyagers saw 

 myriads of penguins, two species of tern, the black-headed 

 gull, the stormy petrel, and two other species of Procellaria ; 

 the Pelicanus graculits, or blue-eyed shag, and the Var/ijml/s 

 alba, or Cape pigeon ; the last mentioned appeared merely to 

 have accompanied the ship, and not to have been an inhabitant 

 of the island. There were plenty of a small species of shrimp, 

 but they were not fit to be eaten, and a small lizard-tailed 



