CnArMAN. — 0)1 the Inlands south of Neic Zealand. 513- 



what I had not seen one do before — made a savage snap at its 

 egg and punctured a small hole in it. INIr. Bell went more to 

 the west, and climbed a steep hill called the Menhir. It had a 

 stone peak at tlie summit hke the menhirs or Druids' stones ol 

 Brittany, and had doubtless been named by a Breton. We 

 had a good view of the island, which is circular, and is almost 

 cut in two by Perseverance Harbour, a fiord of volcanic origin 

 some miles long, witli an entrance from the south-east. In the 

 part of the island where we no^v were, the plants, though not 

 as numerous as at Adam's Island, w^ere even more beautiful. 

 Here the Plaurophyllum speciosum was in better season, and 

 the flowers were of a much deeper purple than those we had 

 seen before. From being isolated the plants had grower better, 

 and each was a picture in itself. Here, too, the Celmisia 

 vcrnicosa grew leaves less polished than at the Aucklands. but 

 5in. and Gin. long — i.e., usually twice as long as those we had 

 gathered before. The flower-heads were numerous, from six 

 to twelve on each plant, and were in full perfection. The 

 figure in Hooker's " Flora Antarctica " is an admirable repre- 

 sentation of this plant. Their centres were of two colours — 

 light and dark purple — but we attributed this to difl'erence in 

 degree of maturity. I brought back some of them, but have 

 found them more difiicult to preserve alive than the small 

 plants from Adam's Island. The grass w-as much drier ; in- 

 deed, that appeared to be the character of the country, but, 

 as other travellers do not bear this out, the season may be ex- 

 ceptional. The albatroses were of enormous size ; some were 

 brought down for museums. An ingenious man of the sea found 

 that it was easier to tow them than to carry them. As ho 

 worked to leeward, according to the prevailing wind, he had 

 the he of the tussocks with him. A string was put round the 

 beak, and the albatros was towed down to the ship without 

 much trouble ; the grass being dry they arrived quite clean 

 and uninjured. We only got a few eggs, and these had chicks 

 in them — an additional attraction at the museums. None of 

 the eggs could be blown ; the chicks had to be taken out 

 through a square hole cut in the side. In many places I 

 found pebbles and small angular pieces of stone resting on the 

 ground or on the tops of the tussocks ; one very large piece 

 weighed a pound. These nmst have been dropped by sea- 

 birds bringing up food — shell-fish — from the rocks. It affords 

 a mode of accounting for small stones in unexpected places 

 near the sea. 



In the afternoon we again went round the west coast and 

 entered Perseverance Harbour, which is a very fine sheet of 

 water, with straight shores. There are several good anchor- 

 ages. Mount Honey, the highest hill on the island, is on one 

 side, and Lyall Pyramid on the other. The ridges on either 

 33 



